Oklahoma angler wins $600,000 in Ranger M1, world’s richest bass tournament
Fox Sports makes television history
CYPRESS GARDENS, Fla. – In an exciting final round of championship bass fishing action Sunday, Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla., scored an impressive win in the Ranger M1 Millennium and collected a check for $600,000 – the largest cash award in sport fishing history – as viewers across the nation tuned in to watch the historic first live broadcast of the world’s richest bass fishing tournament on FOX Sports.
“I was hoping to catch a big fish today,” says Robertson, whose Millennium win instantly ranks him as one of the sport’s all time leading money winners. “I guess I caught them big enough.”
Robertson caught nine bass today, allowing him to cull or release four smaller fish to push his total five-bass weight to 10 pounds, 6 ounces. Three of his keepers came in the last 25 minutes of the tournament, and all were caught using a Rattle Trap in shallow water.
For the first time in network history, sports fans nationwide were able to see the action unfold live on the network television’s first broadcast of a bass fishing tournament. FOX Sports employed a crew of more than 100 production professionals to cover the 9-mile, 14-lake venue using more than 15 boats, a helicopter, mobile production facilities, and sophisticated radio frequency relay equipment. FOX also tapped Emmy-winning Major League Baseball play by play announcer Joe Buck and former all-star catcher and baseball analyst Bob Brenly to call the action. Fishing legend and Ranger Boats founder, Forrest L. Wood, provided expert commentary.
“This is another huge development for competitive fishing and fishing overall,” said Irwin L. Jacobs, Chairman of Operation Bass Inc., the world’s largest bass tournament organization. “Fishing is one of the most popular sporting pastimes in America today, due to its accessibility, and it is now becoming a top spectator draw as well.”
Winning $150,000 in the Co-Angler Division with four bass weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces was Jerry Tice of Chipley, Fla. Tice, a furniture salesman by profession, also caught the day’s big bass, a 4 pounder good for an additional $2,500. He caught the fish on a Zoom Trick worm within an hour of the event’s 6:30 a.m. takeoff.
Prior to the Ranger M1 Millennium, Tice’s total tournament winnings amounted to $10,000, and his single largest win was $5,000.
The championship’s youngest competitor, 16-year-old Ross Taylor of Burnsville, Minn., finished in fourth place and collected $12,500. “I hope to go pro in a year or two and get a college education,” Taylor says. But in the mean time, he’ll be happy to pay off his truck and put some money in the bank.
The Ranger Millennium featured four days of elimination style competition to narrow the field of 200 pro and 200 co-anglers to 10 in each division for Sunday’s final. Only the top 50 anglers, based on the heaviest combined weight of their Thursday and Friday catch, advanced to Saturday’s second round. The weight of Saturday’s catch determined the 10 pro and co-angler finalists who advanced to Sunday’s round where weights were again cleared, and contestants fished for the heaviest one-day catch weight to determine the champion.
Following each day’s weigh-in at Cypress Gardens, Fla., the bass were released alive back into the Winter Haven chain of lakes.
Sponsors of the Ranger M1 Millennium tournament are Wal-Mart, Ranger Boats, CITGO Petroleum, Evinrude Outboards, Garmin, and Watkins Inc. Associate sponsors are Black & Decker, Coca-Cola, EverStart Batteries, Eveready Flashlights, Land O’ Lakes, Wheaties, Hamburger Helper, Chex Mix, Fujifilm, Uniroyal, Wrangler, Coleman, Chevy Trucks, Fenwick, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Timex, Poulan/Weed Eater, and VISA.
The Ranger Millennium M1, run by Operation Bass, is a catch-and-release event. Operation Bass, headquartered in Gilbertsville, Ky., historically maintains a 98-percent live release rate.