“Next year we hope to expand the North Carolina Division and get more North Carolina lakes on the schedule,” Lucas said.

Prior the the 2013 season, the Anglers Choice Trail had only one division which drew heavily from both Virginia and North Carolina. Lucas decided to split the series into two divisions this year to try to relieve some of the pressure on the Virginia Division and perhaps spread out the competition a little.

However the Virginia Division remained as strong as ever so all the split did was make one strong trail with major entries into two strong trails with major entries.

“The North Carolina Division has come along a lot better than what was expected,” Lucas said. “We started off with about 50 boats in the first tournament and in a couple of tournaments we had 100 boats.”

Lucas said he anticipates the numbers will be down a little this Saturday when the North Carolina Division visits High Rock Lake because it is not being held in conjunction with a Virginia Division tournament.

“Our per-registration numbers are lower, but that is to be expected. We are expecting 40 to 50 boats this weekend on High Rock. This time of year during the daytime with all the recreational boats on the lake the guys don’t come out as much,” he said.

“A lot of them are already qualified. We usually drop down a little towards the ends of the season except for the guys still in the points race. They always come to battle it out,” Lucas added.

“But we expect the numbers will be up the following weekend because that will be a dual-tournament weekend on Kerr. We are pushing 80 entries already on the Virginia side and 50 to 60 on the North Carolina side. I guess going to Buggs island in the summertime doesn’t bother those guys too much.”

Lucas said that while there are some teams bunched up near the top, the North Carolina Division points race is still up for grabs and it probably will not be decided Saturday on High Rock.

“It’s going to come down to the next weekend when we will crown the North Carolina and Virginia points champions at Buggs Island. “It’s still anybody’s game and we find that a lot. When you have six regular season tournaments and give 300 points for each tournament it provides wiggle room where you can have a couple of bad tournaments.”

In fact, only 15 points separates the top four teams in the North Carolina Division with two tournaments to go – and only one of those teams has not had a zero finish in at least one tournament. William Kemp IV and Scott Griffin lead the points standings thanks to a 7^th place finish in the March 10 tournament on High Rock, 16^th place March 24 on Lake Gaston, 63^rd place April 7 on Smith Mountain Lake and 17^th April 28 on Kerr.

However, Phillip Vanderveer and Damien McMahon trail by only four points and they zeroed in the first and second tournaments, finished 33^rd in the third and rebounded with a 7^th place finish in the fourth tournament on Kerr.

Mark Cox and Brian Stacy are 9 points back, having zeroed in the first tournament, finished 6^th in the second, 30^th in the third and 46^th in the last tournament. Ralph Hollifield and Mike Luckado are just 15 points behind the leaders, with a 9^th place finish in the first tournament, a zero in the second, 49^th in the third and 23^rd in the last tournament.

“You can come to all six tournaments and catch one or two in each tournament and that will get up in the middle of the pack or upwards in the points, even in the top 10,” Lucas said. “It will come down to the last one and those top guys are all pretty close.”

Lucas said he wanted to remind anglers that on these final two weekends the tournaments will start earlier – 6 a.m. instead of the normal 7 a.m. in the earlier tournaments.

“Because of the warmer temperatures we want to start early and get off the lake early. That includes this weekend and also both days the next weekend on Buggs Island.”

Anglers Choice Marine Team Trail – NC Division

Sat, Jun 22, 2013

High Rock Lake

Tamarac Marina

Call Chris Lucas 276-358-0844

www.anglerschoicemarine.com