Bruce and Diane Askew of Lawrenceville, Georgia took home the title of Couples National Champion at the 2016 Couples National held at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina. Running out of Green Pond Landing, the Askews brought in a five fish limit on both days of the tournament. On day one, their weight was 10.36 pounds and on day two their weight was 14.27 pounds giving them a two-day total of 24.63 pounds. They took home $4,000 for their efforts. This win secured the Angler of the Year title for the team as well. For this, they took home a TH Marine prize pack, a Doctor Dans supply box, and two Abu Garcia Revo XS.

“We have been out on the main lake both days fighting the wind. Bruce is like Hoover, he just sucked up every fish around and we had a glorious two days. We caught a lot of fish and were able to cull a lot. Lots of things went wrong but we were able to just keep plowing through. He was wonderful and we had a great trip,” Diane said. “I have to give credit to my partner here. She was so good with the net. She caught fish that were coming of and even some in midair. I got caught up a few times and she was there to get in the boat for us. She gets the credit for all of this. It was definitely team work,” said Bruce.

Coming in second was Jimmy and Samantha Langley of Monroe, Georgia. They brought in a five fish limit on both days of the tournament that weighed 10.77 pounds on day one and 12.66 pounds on day two giving them a total weight of 23.43 pounds. Samantha Langley secured their day two weight with a 4.75-pound kicker earning her women’s Big Bass. The Langleys took home $800 for their effort as well $650 for the big bass.

“We fished up in Tugaloo yesterday above Tugaloo State Park and stayed there until lunch time. Samantha caught a 3.90 pounder yesterday on a spinner bait. We were throwing worms, spinner baits, and jigs. Today, we decided not to go back to Tugaloo and just dropped the trolling motor in the creek close to here and started fishing. We had our limit before 9 o’clock and she caught the 4.94 pounds on a spinner bait,” said the Langleys.

Placing third was Bob and Debbie Brown of Seneca, South Carolina. The team brought in a five fish limit of both days of the tournament that weighed 12.13 pounds on day one and 10.87 pounds on day two giving them a total weight of 23.00 pounds. They anchored their third place finish with a 4.22-pound kicker. They took home $600 for their efforts.

“We were able to practice a few days before the event. We thought we were going to have a good buzz bait pattern for the tournament. On Thursday we basically went junk fishing and caught them on a little bit of everything. Today we were able to use a buzz bait. Today we started out a 4.5 pounder and thought wow we are going to have a good day but then it got tough but we managed to get four more in the boat,” stated the Browns.

Brad and Ana Rutherford of West Columbia, South Carolina placed fourth in the Couples National event. The Rutherfords brought in a five fish limit both days the weighed 11.45 pounds on day one and 10.48 pounds on day two giving them an overall weight of 21.93 pounds. They took home $400 for their efforts.

“We pre fished a little on Wednesday and that was the only day we got to fish. On the first day, we caught some of our fish shallow and some of them deep. We were just throwing a jig around and fished with some on top water baits. We changed up a bit today. We caught some of our fish on top water and the rest came will sing a drop shot,” said Brad.

In fifth was Gary and April Michaud of Chesnee, South Carolina. They brought in a five fish limit both days that weighed 11.08 pounds on day one and 9.02 pounds on day two giving them a total weight of 20.10 pounds. The took home $300 for their efforts.

“Both days, we threw a crankbait in the morning and threw a jig in the afternoon. We make our own jigs. It was a 3/8 brown jig with a little bit of red in it. We did not pre fish any so we went out on luck,” stated Gary.

Don and Martha Goodfellow of Simpsonville, South Carolina took home Men’s big fish with a weight of 4.98 pounds. He took home $650 for their efforts.

“We only caught one decent fish throughout the tournament. I have to give Martha a lot of credit here because there was not a lot of lip left on the hook. I got it off of a dock in a creek in about 18 inches of water. I pitched a monster worm in there and I set the hook and next thing I know she was handing me the net,” Goodfellow said.

About American Bass Anglers: American Bass Anglers is committed to providing low cost, close to home tournaments for the weekend angler and at the same time offer each competitor an upward path for individual angler progression. For more information about American Bass Anglers, the Ram Truck Open Series, the American Fishing Tour or the American Couples Series, visit www.americanbassanglers.com.