CLEWISTON, FL – As summer comes to a close, the legendary bass on Lake Okeechobee are showing no signs of cooling off. Especially when it comes to winning weights. The top 20 teams in this weekend’s Roland Martin Marine Center Series qualifier presented by HUK brought 18 plus pounds to the scales. And the top team of Tony Bennett and Trey Coile sacked just under 28 pounds that netted them $6,000 plus contingency winnings in Florida’s highest paying team tournament event.
“Honestly, it was probably the best call I made all year,” Bennett said. “I’ve struggled all year, coming over 3 to 4 times a week, sometimes 5, and putting my time in. Eventually it pays off. Today, I made the right call.”
And the call paid off. Along with the $6,000 winner’s check, the team also netted $2,000 in Ranger Cup winnings and another $250 with the Mercury Contingency.
The familiar team of Brandon Medlock and Chuck Methaney confirmed their knowledge of Lake Okeechobee with a 2nd place finish, bringing in a limit of 23.28 pounds and netting a check for $3,000.
“We got bit all day,” Medlock admitted. “I found a couple spots earlier in the week but we had to run the whole lake to fill our limit. We were throwing mainly Bitter’s Beavers and Medlock’s Jigs and just waiting for the reeds to start shaking.”
Rounding out the top 3 was the team of Moses Wilson and Phillip Ford, that weighed in 22.37 pounds and collected $1,700 for the 3rd place finish.
“We ran familiar spots that we usually run in tournaments and it paid off for us,” Wilson said. “We were using 4 inch Gary Yamamoto Senkos® in june bug with a 1/2 oz. tungsten weight. We lost one that might have gotten us closer to 30 pounds but thankful for what we got.”
As the highest paying team tournament trail in Florida, the payouts continued. Steve Fairtrace weighed the biggest bass of 8.20 for the U.S. Sugar $500 Big Bass Award. Jae Evens collected $100 Gambler Bucks for the 2nd Big Bass Award with a 7.69 bass. Ron Veale collected $250 as the highest finisher to cross the stage in HUK gear. Jennifer Beal was highest finishing female angler and received $100 from Mary Ann Martin. The Gilbert South Florida Chevy Dealers awarded Tuff Durrance $250 as the highest finishing owner. Matt Demott received $100 from Mercury as the highest finishing youth angler. And going small paid off big with the team of Clyde Arnold and Neal Meadors, collecting $300 from AV Inspection for the smallest limit of 8.5 pounds.
With our adjusted schedule, the 4th and final qualifier is less than a month away on October 10, 2020. Remember, teams must fish 3 or the 4 qualifiers to qualify for the Championship in December with a top prize of $25,000 and more. Register here to make sure your team is set.
We appreciate you joining us and following CDC guidelines with face masks and practicing social distancing to help prevent the spread of COVID. By doing our part, we’ll get through this together. Thanks again and we’ll see you in a few weeks.
