Gandee wins Gaston
Local co-angler wins on home lake
SOUTH HILL, Va. – Stren Series co-angler leader Charles Gandee of Efland, N.C., never even needed to get out of bed this morning.
In fact, he could have slept in, enjoyed a nice breakfast, watched college football all day, wandered down to the final day weigh-in at 4 p.m. and picked up his brand new Ranger boat that he received as the Co-angler Division winner of the Stren Series event on Lake Gaston.
That’s because Gandee had built up such a lead in the Co-angler Division over two days that he did not have to catch a fish today to win. Which is a good thing, because even though he did fish his heart out today, he never boated a keeper and retained victory.
“I can’t believe I did not weigh-in a fish and still won,” said Gandee, who entered the day with a 6-pound lead over second place. “This is the biggest tournament win I’ve ever had and all day I thought I had blown it.”
Gandee fishes the Piedmont BFL Division as a boater. While practicing for that event a couple weeks ago, he stumbled upon something interesting at Lake Gaston.
“Instead of going with the usual small, finesse shaky-head stuff, I decided to tie on a big 10-inch Power Worm to see what would happen and the fish started eating it up,” Gandee recalled.
Needless to say when he entered the Stren Series event as a co-angler, he was anxious to try his little trick on the pros.
Sure enough, they started finesse fishing and he started wailing on big bass with the big worm.
One day one he caught three bass for 7 pounds, 2 ounces. On day two, he caught one of the biggest limits of the tournament: 13 pounds, 12 ounces for a two-day total of 20 pounds, 14 ounces.
Today, the big worm trick did not work, but it did not matter because no one else in the co-angler field brought in enough weight the final day to break his 20-14 mark.
Gandee’s worm rig consisted of a Berkley 10-inch Power Worm (green pumpkin) rigged with a 3/16-ounce tungsten weight and rigged on 15-pound test line.
Bae second
Moo Bae of West Friendship, Md., finished second with a three-day total of 14 pounds, 15 ounces worth $2,662.
Bae has a good kinship with South Virginia lakes. He has scored a top 10 on Gaston before and won the Stren Series as a co-angler on Kerr Reservoir last year.
This week he fished a Senko and a Carolina rig to catch his fish and ended up one keeper short of victory.
“Today I fished with Dave Lefebre and it was great,” Bae said. “I caught about 30 or 40 fish off his schooling fish but only three were keepers. Most of those fish came off a Carolina-rigged Brush Hog and a Senko.”
Jarmon third
Phil Jarmon of Apex, N.C., finished fourth in the Co-angler Division with a three-day total of 18 pounds, 14 ounces worth $1,996.
Jarmon caught his fish on a “secret” topwater bait that he would not reveal out of respect for the man who gave him the lure 10 years ago.
Yund and Hoogenboom round out top five
George Yund of Albany, N.Y., finished fourth with a three-day total of 18 pounds, 7 ounces worth $1,663.
Kevin Hoogenboom of Twinsburg, Ohio, finished fifth with a three-day total of 16 pounds worth $1,497.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers in the Stren Series Northern event on Lake Gaston:
6th: Mark Cummings of Pembroke, N.C., three-day total of 16-0, $1,331.
7th: Keith Redd of Virgilina, Va., three-day total of 15-8, $1,164.
8th: Jerry Hayden of Charlotte, N.C., three-day total of 13-3, $998.
9th: Trudy Noechel of Lost Creek, W.V., three-day total of 13-1, $832.
10th: A.J. Zitzmann of Montreal, Q.C., three-day total of 8-12, $665.
Lankford wins Co-angler of the Year on Stren Series Northern Division
Congratulations to Jeff Lankford of Harleyville, Pa., for winning the Co-angler of the year in the Stren Series Northern Division with a total of 736 points.
Lankford’s finishes this year included a 14th at Potomac, 23rd at 1000 Islands, 13th at Champlain and 18th at Lake Gaston.