“We’ve had good participation and high entries this year,” said Lucas. “We had 170 entries at Buggs Island once this year but we drew more than 200 in the last two tournaments on Smith Mountain Lake.”

Lucas said he does not expect 200 boats at Kerr this weekend because most teams have already qualified for the championship. Anglers must fish four of the six tournaments on the schedule to qualify for the Classic Oct. 13-14 on Smith Mountain Lake,

“Anybody who has only fished three tournaments needs to fish this one,” he noted. “Hopefully, we will get between 125 and 150 teams Saturday.”

Entries have remained high all season long, despite high gas prices that have adversely affected many other tournament trails, Lucas said, because they feed the fishermen at every tournament, give away “a ton” of door prizes, guarantee a minimum $2,000 for first place in each tournament and have manufacturer’s contingency programs which include the Ranger Cup, Stratos 2X and Triton Gold programs.

“Our entry fee is $100 with $2000 guaranteed for first place with a 70-boat field – and we pay 45 places,” Lucas said. “The boat we give away at the Classic is a new Ranger Z118 boat with a Mercury Opti Max motor and trailer and Lowrance electronics. We doll that boat up a lot and we have a lot of people wanting to win it.”

And he is expecting a big turnout for the Classic, he said.

“After our fourth tournament we had 150 teams qualified, so the Classic could be really big.”

Lucas said a number of teams could still win the $1,250 prize for the points championship, depending on the finish in Saturday’s tournament.

“It’s pretty close up on top. We give 300 points for first place per tournament, so it is still wide open. I think anybody in the top 25 could probably win the points title. Realistically, the 25^th place team would have to have some things happen,” he said. “If the 25^th place team won they could pass a lot of people with those 300 points. It just depends on how everybody above them finishes.”

Going into Saturday’s tournament the team of Kenny Reynolds and Brandon Reynolds is sitting on top of the standings, just 19 points ahead of Mike Altizer and Mike Pendleton.

The Reynolds team started the season on top, finishing first in the season opener on Smith Mountain Lake with their best catch of the year – a five-fish limit that weighed 23.31 pounds. They followed that with their worst tournament, weighing in five at 9.47 pounds to finish 89^th on Kerr Reservoir April 7.

But their next three tournaments were extremely consistent – a limit April 28 on Kerr that weighed 13.07 pounds for 8th place, a limit May 19 on Smith Mountain that weighed 12.59 pounds to finish 23rd, and another limit June 16 on Smith Mountain that weighed 12.45 pounds for 20th place.

As for the fishing on Kerr for Saturday, Lucas said he has no idea what the fish are doing right now.

“I heard one guy has been winning a bunch of tournaments deep cranking. I’d like to think a man can Carolina rig and fish deep with a jig this time of year,” he said.

“The one thing I will stress hard is to tell the guys to keep their live wells running. The water will be warm and we want them to keep the live wells running continuously to make sure the fish stay in good water. We don’t want to stress the fish or lose any.”

 

Anglers Choice Marine Team Trail

Sat, Jul 28, 2012

Kerr / Buggs Island Lake

Occoneechee State Park Ramp #1

Call Chris Lucas 276-358-0844

www.anglerschoicemarine.com