The 2010 Northern Division Championship is Underway

Day 1 Takeoff

Day 1 Takeoff

Sept 8, 2010 – Day one of the Northern Division Championship began today on Patoka Lake in Jasper, Ind.  TBF anglers from six different states vie for the titles of individual northern division champion and state team champions; 12 anglers, the top two from each state, will advance to the 2011 Federation National Championship where they’ll compete for over a quarter of a million in cash and prizes and the chance to “Live the Dream” for a year on the FLW Pro circuit.  Fishing was extremely tough out there with 78 anglers and a total of 28 blanks; however, the anglers are hopeful and determined as they look to tomorrow to turn up the heat as day two of the 2010 Northern Division Championship begins. Continue reading

Bergen Bassmasters provide major support for the 2nd Annual Open Bass Tournament to benefit the Troops c/o the USO

August 29, 2010
 
Perfect weather greeted 40 teams who fished in this year’s Open tournament to benefit the troops c/o the USO. The Lake Champlain event was coordinated and managed by the Plattsburgh Bass Club c/o Rick Perry and Ben Wright (president NY TBF). The weigh-in was managed by the National FLW staff c/o Bill Taylor and Chris Hoover.  Karen Clark, USO at Fort Drum Director, was on hand and was pleased to take back approximately $3,000 for the Fort Drum NY USO Center. Assisting Rick in garnishing sponsors and supporters were Nick Albano, Bob Murphy, Robert Curtis, John Ernest, Lance Cahoon, Scott Mitchell, John Williams and Dave Lipari of the Bergen Bassmasters (NJBF). Placing in the money (and ahead of many pros), were Scott Mitchell and Lance Cahoon. Their six bass limit of 19-14 exceeded the 19-10 bag weighed in by Chris Hall and Dave Wolak. Chris had won the FLW non-boater division the day before and Dave Wolak finished in the Top Five of the FLW pro division.
 
After cash pay outs to the first 8 teams, 13 other teams were awarded top quality prizes. Finishing in the prize category were Bergen’s Dave Lipari and Plattsburgh native Jim Jefferies. They weighed in 18-12 for 11th Place. With a 14-15 limit, Nick Albano and Joe Sancho won a free entry for the annual November Mohawk River Snowball Tournament (courtesy of Iceman) and a $100 Rangerwear Gift Certificate (six were donated via Duane Sennett of Ranger Boats). Plattsburgh Bass Club members, making the prize category; included Tony Bushey, Jim Jefferies and Ben Wright.
 

Sponsors donating non cash prizes via the Bergen Bassmasters were, North Jersey Marine c/o Harvey Knight, Reynolds Marine c/o Tom Reynolds, Northern Bass Supply c/o Sandra, Ranger Boats, The Iceman Dave, Bearpaws c/o Johnny Olsen, Ramsey Outdoors c/o Bob Murphy, Daiwa, NY Giants c/o Robert Curtis, The Meadowlands Renaissance Hotel, the WFN, MegaStrike c/o Bobby Urhig and Optima Batteries. Rick Perry and his club obtained additional support such as $1,000 in lunker money from the Econo Lodge and airline tickets from Direct Air.

Bergen’s USO Core Committee confirmed a 3rd Annual Open Benefit event and it will be held on Lake George (Mossy Point) out of Ticonderoga NY. The date of our third event is set for Sunday – September 11, 2011. For this major event, Robert Cartlidge will have his staff and professional caliber TBF trailer on site. With the support of the FLW, TBF, NY TBF and the NJBF, we are expecting over 100 boats! What better way to honor 9/11 than to conduct a benefit tournament for our troops! The recipients will be the troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan c/o the USO of Metropolitan New York.

Once again, congratulations are in order for Bergen’s Scott Mitchell and Lance Cahoon.

 
1    Jacob Powroznik / Ralph Mylhousen      6 bass              21-14
2    Chip Harrison / Renee Shley                  6 bass              21-9
3    John Cox / Keith Carson                         6 bass              21-2
4    Brian Bylotas / Brian Bylotas Jr             6 bass              20-14
5    Brad Rightour / AC Campbell                 6 bass              20-4
6    Scott Mitchell / Lance Cahoon                6 bass              19-14
7    JJ Ziolkowski / Craig Henry                   6 bass              19-13
8    Chris Hall / Dave Wolak                         6 bass              19-10
9    Tony Bushey / ED Pecore                       6 bass              19-1
10  Tom Reynolds / Todd Wysmuller           6 bass              18-12
11  Jim Jefferies /  Dave Lipari                    6 bass              18-7
12  Brian Travis / Ben Wright                       6 bass              18-2
13  Bryan La Belle / Adam Stretter              6 bass              18-1
13  Dave Diodato / Christine Potter             6 bass              18-1
15  Scott Monsoor / Ken Hoffman                6 bass              17-9
16  Gary Yamamoto / Derek Yamamoto      6 bass              17-7
17  Derrick Hughes / James Smith               6 bass              15-12
18  Randy Yarnell / Kathleen Yarnell           6 bass              15-8
19  Joe Sancho / Nick Albano                       6 bass              14-15
20  Eric Low / Steve Wilson                          6 bass              14-10
21 Craig Powers / Howard Hammond           6 bass              13-12
22  Bobby Urhig / Mystery Man                   6 bass              13-5
23 Bill Vella / John Williams                         6 bass              13-4
24  Dale Brown / Duane Son                         6 bass              13-1
25  John Ernest / Robert Curtis                    6 bass              12-10
26 Dave Dixon / Bob Murphy                       6 bass              12-0
27  Pat Golden / Mike McDonald                 4 bass              10-14
28  Robin Aguglia / Dan Konkoski               5 bass              9-15
29  Darreck Martineau / Jim Martineau      3 bass              9-1
30 Jeffrey Randal / Amber Randall             5 bass              8-8
31  John Hines / Larry Belrose                     3 bass              5-2
32  Mark Melnyk / Dave Mayette               2 bass              3-9
33  Dennis Fontaine / Michael Clark            2 bass              3-2
34  Jason Bezio / Dave Bezio                        1 bass              1-8

Remaining teams did not weigh in; 179 out of 181 bass released alive

Ohio Names New Junior State Champions

Thirty-Four boats with sixty-seven young competitors fish the OBF youth State Championship on O’Shaughnessy Reservoir August 22.  The water was a little stained from the recent rains but that did not seem to affect former Junior National Champ Daryk Eckert as he was the only angler to bag a limit of five fish taking his age group with 5.88 lbs total..  Tristen Walters led the 11-14 year age group with two nice fish weighing in at 3.91 lbs including the big bass for his group of 2.15 lbs.  Johnny McKenzie had big bass honors for the 15-18 Year age group with a 2.94 lbs largemouth.
 
1st Place 15-18: Daryk Eckert
Boat Capt: Bob Hall
15-18 Year Age Group
Name
Club
Fish
Total
Daryk Eckert
CJB
5
5.88
Johnny McKenzie
RV
1
2.94
Haleigh Caldwell
GJB
2
2.68
Jarrett martin
GJB
2
2.56
Max Kaufman
CJB
1
2.47
T. J. Savage
HH
2
1.96
Macy Zenner
NP
1
1.57
Billy Duncan
RV
1
1.28
Dustin Evans
HH
1
1.27
Jeb Beeman
TC
1
1.16
Eddie Haffman
CJB
1
.93
Hunter Coldwell
SS
1
.86
Garret Carr
RV
1
.82
 
1st Place 11-14: Tristen Walters
Boat Capt: Ron Tucker
11-14 Year Age Group
Name
Club
Fish
Total
Tristen Walters
CJB
2
3.91
Alex Connor
SS
1
1.3
A. J. Bright
TC
1
1.14
Reese Eddleblute
PCR
1
1.07
Kyler Bennett
WS
1
1.06
Alex Vick
CJB
1
1.03
Jackob Spork
SS
1
.97

 

Greg Zellers and Shane Edgar-2010 National Guard Junior World Champions

12 TBF Division Champions began the final day of the 2010 National Guard Junior World Championship on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Ga. today; two champions emerged victorious. Greg Zellers, from Winamac, In., representing the 15-18 age group and the TBF Northern Division and Shane Edgar from Glendale, AZ. representing the 11-14 age group and the TBF Western Division. Not only can these champions boast the titles but also the $5,000 in scholarships and thousands in sponsor merchandise they’ve received for their wins. Both anglers held tense expressions as they anxiously watched the other ten anglers weigh their bags. Every weigh bag was black and each angler was instructed not to share any news, so it was exciting down to the very last ounce. They gave their all; only two walked away with the championship titles, but all walked away champions.

Greg Zellers earned the right to be called a national champion bringing solid fish to the scales both days. He caught only one fish, the biggest of the day, to secure his first place spot that weighed 3lb 7ounces. “I can’t even

Greg Zellers

Greg Zellers

 begin to explain how excited I am right now,” Zellers said. “It’s exciting, a dream come true.” Zellers fished mostly deep water yesterday and had planned to head shallow today. “The fish on the graph were suspended in about 15ft of water so I just gave it a nice little pull and let it sit there for a minute. Then, I let it sink back down; I got a nice reaction out of it.” Several anglers took the opportunity to pre-fish the water in the months leading up to the event, including Zellers. “A while back I fished Lake Lanier for a week and found some comfortable spots.” Zellers admits, “It made me feel good about the tournament.” Yesterday, Zellers volunteer boat captain was Ed Hall. Today, he was paired with National Guard Pro, Clifford Perch, who volunteered as a boat captain. “ Ed and Cliff are just excellent people to be around, real cool guys.” Zellers not only thanked his boat captain but also his family, sponsors and supporters. “It means the world to me to have people that want to help kids; they’re making it possible for kids, not just adults, to go fish big tournaments like these.” Commenting on what this week meant to him he added, “Every kid that walks in able to fish this tournament gets a new experience in life and it helps them find their ways.” Fishermen have many techniques on the water, for this national champion one technique is at the heart of them all. “Fish hard and never give up.”

The 2010 National Guard Junior World Champion in the younger division, 11-14year olds, is Shane Edgar, from

Shane Edgar

Shane Edgar

Glendale, Az., representing the Western Division. He caught one fish weighing 2lbs. “It just hasn’t sunk in yet,” Edgar said. Long-time Georgia TBF State President, Larry Lewis, was his boat captain today and Doug Youngblood and local pro, Mike McFarland, were also high on Edgar’s list to thank. Lewis as well as Edgar’s sponsors were very influential to his success. “I just want to thank Tammy Cox at Berkley; I ordered some rods late and she made sure she got them to me. Also, I used some new reels all week.” Edgar’s technique all tournament was a drop shot. “I used a drop shot with a pink worm; kinda cool.” He was also extremely thankful to his parents for all their support. “I’m really excited that my parents travel and support me,” he said. His mother then replied, “He has wanted this so bad for so long and especially since he came in third at last years National Guard Junior World Championship; we are just so happy for him.”

Full results of the tournament can be seen on our results page.