Shaffer wins Stren Series event on Mississippi River

Brien Vaughn wins co-angler title

FORT MADISON, Iowa – Pro Dick Shaffer of Rockford, Ohio, caught four bass weighing 9 pounds, 3 ounces Saturday to win the Stren Series Central Division tournament on the Mississippi River with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 27 pounds, 10 ounces. For his victory, Shaffer earned $15,733 cash and a 198VX Ranger Boat powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor and Lowrance electronics.

“It feels great,” Shaffer said. “I made a lot of last minute decisions based on the weather and it worked out. I fished a couple of shallow sloughs today and wore the bark off of all seven logs that were in there. I opened the tournament using spinner bait; on the second day I switched to a jig and some speed crawls and today I used a zoom speed crawl for all four of my fish.”

Rounding out the top five pros were Chad Kerr of Burlington, Iowa (9 bass, 22-06, $6,293); Michael Stetich of Omaha, Neb. (9 bass, 18-09, $5,034); Steve Fryrear of Stronghurst, Ill. (9 bass, 18-02, $4,405); and Derek Jenkel of Pinckneyville, Ill. (11 bass, 17-12, $3,776).

Mike Deushane of East Peoria, Ill. caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Thursday – a 5-pound, 02-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $225.

Brien Vaughn of Kinmundy, Ill., won the Co-angler Division and a 177TR Ranger powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and trailer, with a three-day total of 6 bass weighing 11 pounds, 08 ounces.

Vaughn, along with most of the other anglers, agreed that fishing conditions this week were tough, the weather kept changing and the water levels fluctuated from day to day.

“The water went up and then it dropped and got muddy. I kept fishing the same stuff but in different areas,” said Vaughn. “I used a 3/8 ounce black & blue jig with a blue sapphire super chunk trailer. Today we fished the same 75 yard stretch all day long, and it worked!”

Vaughn came back with an empty bag on Thursday while fishing with pro Sam Rosefsky of Morris, Ill., to open the tournament tied for last place. On Friday he caught three bass weighing 6-04 to make the top-10 cut in fourth place while fishing with pro Peter Cherkas of Grimes, Iowa. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with three bass weighing 5-04 while fishing with Todd Schmitz of Goshen, Ind., for whom he paid a great deal of gratitude.

“Fishing was really tough and Todd was just a great guy to be with today,” said Vaughn.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Brad Baldwin of Dayton, Ohio (4 bass, 9-05, $2,768); Rod Yoder of West Lafayette, Ind. (4 bass, 8-00, $2,076); Kenny Woods of Hazard, Ky. (3 bass, 6-09, $1,730); and Dennis Marcinek of Chicago, Ill. (3 bass, 5-14, $1,557).

Neil Lemaster of Ft. Madison, Iowa, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday – a 3-pound, 14 ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $112.

After four qualifying events are complete in each Stren Series division – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western – the top 40 pros and 40 co-anglers based on the points standings from each division advance to the Stren Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., Nov. 5-7 for a shot at $150,000 in the Pro Division and $60,000 in the Co-angler Division. The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers from each division will also qualify for the 2010 Walmart FLW Tour® and Walmart FLW Series®, bass fishing’s top professional circuits. The highest-finishing pro and co-angler from each division at the Stren Series Championship also qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where anglers will compete for the $1 million grand prize – the most lucrative award in bass fishing

In Stren Series competition, pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on. The full field competes on days one and two, with the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advancing to day three based on their two-day accumulated weight. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all three days.

Total awards are based on a 200-boat field in every tournament.

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