Ranger M1 offers record $3.64 million purse
MOBILE, Ala. – Team Castrol pro David Dudley, 26, from Manteo, N.C., earned a permanent spot in the record books Saturday with a historic $700,000 win in the Ranger M1 bass tournament on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. His five-bass catch weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces gave him the title by nearly 2 pounds over Team Fujifilm’s Randy Blaukat from Lamar, Mo.
Dudley won the world’s most lucrative freshwater fishing tournament by gambling on a new fishing spot that he had never fished prior to Saturday’s final round. The “promise land,” as Dudley referred to his winning hotspot following the weigh-in, was an isolated oxbow about 85 miles north of the launch site in Chocolotta Bay. He used a black, blue and purple jig with a Zoom blue sapphire chunk trailer to land his historic catch. In the qualifying rounds, Dudley fished an area about 70 miles north of the takeoff, but by the end of day three, he’d lost confidence in the location.
“I felt my water was fished out,” Dudley said. “I just didn’t have any more confidence in the area, so I took a gamble and it paid off. The moon really affected the tide Friday night. When I saw the water as high as it was at takeoff, I was bubbling with joy. I knew then that I could get into the oxbow.”
Dudley, who plans to use his winnings to build a church in Lynchburg, Va., survived Thursday’s cut from 150 to 20 pros in second place with a two-day, opening-round total of seven bass weighing 21 pounds, 9 ounces. He then advanced to Saturday’s final round in second place with a four-bass, 9-pound, 11-ounce catch Friday. Dudley’s final-round catch weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces was the heaviest five-bass limit of the tournament.
Dudley’s biggest tournament payday prior to the Ranger M1 was a second place showing at the 2001 Forrest Wood Open on Lake St. Clair worth $100,000. With is win Saturday, his career earnings now top the $1 million mark.
Rounding out the top-five pros are Blaukat (five bass, 14 pounds, $110,000); local favorite Jason Kilpatrick, Satsuma, Ala. (four bass, 8 pounds, 10 ounces, $62,000); Mark Rose, Marion, Ark. (two bass, 2 pounds, 5 ounces, $33,000); and Team Yamaha pro Takahiro Omori, Emory, Texas (one bass, 1 pound, 12 ounces, $32,000).
Co-angler Tim Hurst, Oxford, Ala., won his division Friday and pocketed $170,000 with four bass weighing 7 pounds, 9 ounces. The win didn’t come easily for Hurst, however, as runner-up David Millsaps, Woodstock, Ga., came within an ounce of the winning weight with a single bass. Millsaps’ huge 7-pound, 8-ounce largemouth drew gasps from the crowd and other competitors as he placed it on the scale. That one bass earned him $62,000.
Hurst, a regular competitor in the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, advanced to the final day of co-angler competition in fourth place with a two-day, opening-round total of five bass weighing 8 pounds, 5 ounces. His biggest win prior to Friday was in 1996 when he won $2,871 in a BFL tournament on Alabama’s Wheeler Lake.
Saturday’s final weigh-in was broadcast live to more than 84 million households as part of “FLW Outdoors” on the PAX TV network. Each week “FLW Outdoors” delivers the latest tournament news and live tournament coverage to the nation’s outdoor enthusiasts.
Anglers competing in the Ranger M1 represent the United States, Canada and Japan.
Tournament sponsors include Wal-Mart, Ranger Boats, Chevy Trucks, Citgo, Conseco, EverStart Batteries, Faded Glory, Garmin Electronics, Mercury Marine, Minn Kota, Snickers, Yamaha Outboards and Plano.