Medlock rockets to co-angler win

Missouri co-angler gets boost from pro winner to stage comeback

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. – Co-angler Tom Medlock of Licking, Mo., fished with pro Dan Morehead today, and both anglers shared the similar experience of digging their way out of sizeable deficits to come back and blow by the competition in their respective fields.

Medlock started out in the hole by 7 pounds this morning and brought in 14 pounds, 7 ounces of bass to win the Co-angler Division by 4 pounds with a two-day total of 19 pounds, 13 ounces.

“This feels great,” he said. “I rode in rodeo competition for years, but nothing I did compares to this. It just feels great.”

Medlock fished a Zoom Trick Worm in watermelon candy with a 1/8-ounce weight on 12-pound-test fluorocarbon to catch his fish.

“I probably caught 12 or 13 keepers today,” he said. “Dan let me borrow his scales, and we both just kept culling up ounces at a time. It was a lot of fun.”

Medlock won $5,000 for his win.

“I’ve been looking a Ranger boat,” he added. “That check is probably going to go towards it.”

Mark Taylor of Mansfield, Mo., who led the Co-angler Division all three previous days, just could not keep pace with Medlock’s string today.

He finished second with a two-day total of 14 pounds, 7 ounces.

“I fished with Danny (Burns) today and we made a really long run to his water,” Taylor recounted. “When we got there the wind had destroyed his area, and we just couldn’t get anything else going.”

Jim McDevitt of Eldon, Mo., finished third with a two-day total of 10 pounds, 13 ounces.

Mark King of Gurdon, Ark., finished fourth with a two-day total of 8 pounds.

Brett Pinion of Webb City, Mo., finished fifth with a two-day total of pounds, 1 ounce.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers in the EverStart Central Division:

6th: Ron Seabaugh of Barnhart, Mo., two-day total of 4-13

7th: Mark Guin of Crossett, Ark., two-day total of 4-10

8th: Matt Krekovich of Granite City, Ill., two-day total of 2-10

9th: Todd Lanning of Springfield, Mo., two-day total of 1-7

10th: Harold Danford of Alba, Texas