The Anglers Choice Marine Team Trail has been going great through the first six of seven tournaments, said tournament director Chris Lucas, and entries are pouring in for the final qualifier Saturday on Kerr/Buggs Island.

“Registration numbers are huge,” Lucas said. “We had 173 at Smith Mountain two weeks ago and we are knocking on the door of 200 entries per tournament. That is great considering the gas prices. If we grow like this next year we will be knocking on the door for 220 entries per tournament.”

Lucas said 130 teams have already qualified for the Classic Sept. 24-25 on Smith Mountain lake and about 40 more could qualify this weekend.

“If we get those qualified we could have 160 to 170 boats in the Classic,” he said.

The tournaments are laced with opportunities for win money, he noted, and the team of Jeff Freeman and Kevin Baldwin took ultimate advantage of them to earn a total of $9,450 in the May 11 tournament on Smith Mountain Lake by qualifying for the Triton Gold Program and having the right setup on their boat for all the contingency money.

“Hopefully, we will have another winner like that,” Lucas said.

The entry fee per tournament is $100, with an optional $20 Big Fish pot. Payback will be to one in every five boats registered, with $2,000 guaranteed for first place with at least 70 boats entered, and more than 70 have already entered for Saturday, he said.

Anglers must fish four of the six scheduled tournaments to qualify for the championship. First place in the classic will win a new Ranger Z118 bass boat with a Mercury Opti Max motor and trailer.

Always a very popular tournament, this year Lucas said more new sponsors have come on board and there is plenty of bonus money to be paid out. The series is Triton Gold registered which means this year that a winner in the right Triton package can take home an extra $7,000. Anglers can also win with the Ranger Cup program and the Stratos 2X program.

There are also two big fish awards. Jiffy Automotive will award $500 to the Big Fish of the Year and there is a $500 Sea Tow Big Fish Bonus that goes to any annual active member of Sea Tow that catches the Big Fish of the tournament at all Smith Mtn. tournaments and at Kerr and Gaston.

One of the top prizes of the year is the $1,250 awarded to the points champions by Jiffy Automotive and even though Saturday is the last qualifying tournament the points championship is still anybody’s game, Lucas said.

Ronnie Anderson and Jeremy Terry are sitting atop the points going into Saturday’s tournament, but they are trailed closely by Wayne Burchett and Raymond Secrest who are just six points behind. Jim McCullough and Mike Stinette were right at the top before the June 11 tournament on Smith Mountain Lake where they did not weigh a fish and slipped to 20^th in the standings.

“They just could not get on anything in the tournament,” Lucas said. “They caught them in practice but could not get them in the tournament itself.”

But Saturday will determine the points champions and there is plenty of hope for a lot of teams in the field to pull it out, Lucas said.

“In a field that big and when you get 200 points for a win anything could happen.”

Saturday’s tournament will start an hour earlier than usual, 6 a.m. instead of 7 o’clock, and the weigh-in will start an hour earlier with the first flight coming in at 2 p.m. instead of 3 o’clock.

“It’s gong to be a typical summertime tournament on Kerry,” Lucas said. Guys will catch a few fish early on top and then get out on the points and Carolina rig. I think some of the better fish at Buggs in the summer are caught on deep crankbaits, but that is an art into itself. You have to know how to do it and when to do it.”

 

Anglers Choice Marine Team Trail

Sat, Jun 25, 2011

Kerr / Buggs Island Lake

North Bend State Park

Call Chris Lucas 276-358-0844

www.anglerschoicemarine.com/TournamentTrail