Cox and Carson Win 2014 Wolfson Tourney with over 30 pounds
Getting there is half the fun. Sometimes, it’s the better part of the challenge too.
John Cox and Keith Carson made a long run over wind-whipped waters in an aluminum boat to fish an hour-and-a-half. It was all the time they would need to outrun the other 447 boats, on the water and on the leader board, and win the 25th Annual Wolfson Children’s Hospital Bass Tournament.
Cox and Carson caught 5 bass that weighed 30.14 pounds and won the top prize of $10,000.
Better yet, they helped to support a great cause. The Wolfson tournament has generated more than two million dollars for the hospital over the past quarter of a century. Local professional anglers often fish the Wolfson when their major league tournament schedule does not require them to be elsewhere. Cox is an FLW Tour pro. He has won at bass fishing’s highest level of competition. But today’s effort was worth more than the paycheck. “Any time there’s this kind of tournament, to help out the kids, everybody should come out to them,” said Cox as Carson nodded in agreement.
“We made a super-long run,” said Cox. “It was amazing how it all worked out.”
The duo braved 3-to-4-foot waves as they crossed massive Lake George. That makes for a sporty ride in any boat but lightweight aluminum rigs can be tossed about especially hard compared to long, heavy fiberglass boats. The morning ride wasn’t particularly bad but the ride back to weigh in had Cox and Carson hanging in and hanging on.
The Crestliner boat and 150hp 4-stroke Mercury outboard performed well on the 180-mile round trip which required 2 stops for gas. “We made it back with 10 minutes to spare,” noted Carson who drove the boat and, as Cox pointed out, “at least had the steering wheel to hang onto.”
Once they pulled into their fishing hole – a depression in a field of pencil reeds – Cox caught their biggest bass on his 3rd cast. He knew exactly where to pitch his beaver-style bait. “We had them staked-out,” said Carson about the spawning bass. “We went and found them on Thursday so we ran straight there. John caught the first one. It was about seven-and-a-half pounds. We caught the rest of them within the next hour. We knew where they were.”
Cox and Carson added some extra weight on their return trip. “We were coming back and flipped into a mat and caught a 4-pounder,” said Cox. They didn’t know it at the time, but they would have won even without that final fish. Their margin of victory was nearly 8 pounds.
Matt Beck and Jim Denton were the runners-up with 22.40 pounds and a check for $4,000. “We just went to (Lake) George, worked our way back,” said Denton before adding, “We caught one a crankbait; we caught one on just about everything. It was one of those days.”
Denton noted that he and Beck couldn’t fish their spots in George because of waves that pounded the area so they “punted”. The team executed on their opportunities. “We had 8 bites all day. We caught all 8 of them.”
Dennis Redd and Tommy Boston placed 3rd with 21.09 pounds. Their efforts were rewarded with a check for $3,000. “We started out north, went all the way to Green Cove Springs,” said Redd. The Lake City residents got after it early and caught their fish on frogs and spinnerbaits. Watermelon/red was the hot frog color according to Boston.
“We had them all by about 10 o’clock,” said Redd. “It died after 10. We caught one last fish about 3 o’clock today. We just fished grass points. I found some fish on Wednesday so we went up to where I found fish on points Wednesday and fished our way back to Palatka.”
Casey Geiger and Loren Murwin were 4th with 20.58 pounds.
Steven Nelson and Randy Cable had 20.18 pounds. They edged-out Eric Lewis and Phil Cury (20.17 pounds) for the 5th spot by 0.01 pounds.
William Boyd, Jr. and E.J. Bryant won big bass honors with a specimen that weighed 9.67 pounds.
Stanley Hunt and Rhonda Thagard won Thursday’s Lads & Lasses tourney with 27.99 pounds including the day’s biggest fish at 10.51 pounds.
Lee Stalvey, Jr. and Sara Stalvey placed 2nd with 20.49. Stanley Williams and Susan Marshall were 3rd with 20.48.
Michael Strange and Mark Blevins won Friday’s VIP tourney with 24.48 pounds. The also caught the biggest bass of the entire week at 11.75 pounds. Many folks said it looked bigger than that, but Tournament Director Mike Oglesbee, who agreed that the fish looked bigger, said “I had just had the scale certified that morning.”
Oglesbee keeps his scales accurate as he runs the OGS Tournament trail – more info at OGSTournamentTrails.com.
