“Battle Of The Border”

Sept 4, 2010

Around mid-July, Bass Weekend Series angler Kris Johsnon thought about putting together a fishing tournament for anglers by anglers. He made many friends through the FLW outdoors BFL, BWS, LAPR, and Warbird Outdoors among others.  Lots of his friends were in MD and VA. So he thought let’s make a tournament that will highlight MD and VA’s finest bass anglers. With the help of close friend and accomplished angler Rodney “Tank” Mosley and friend Jason Berry owner of Potomac Mix Tackle this would get it all rolling on Sept 4, 2010. $6000 dollars worth of sponsorship money and product were raised in 6 weeks.  Lots of door prizes were given away; food and refreshments were also provided for the 100+ anglers that were involved.   52 teams representing MD and VA came out to compete in this piscatorial battle.  The winning team got their state park the cash donation part of the proceeds. Preparations were done on Facebook, phone, and word of mouth.  This was a lot of work in 6 weeks.  When the Battle was over the top 5 teams from were from VA. Team Virginia also won the State Title with their top weight. Team Virginia raised $1300 dollars for Leesylvania State Park, Woodbridge, VA.

Special thanks to our sponsors:  Sportsman Marine, JB Custom Rods, Power Pole, Interstate Batteries, Maui Jim Sunglasses, Seduction Lures, Auto Ink, Potomac Mix Tackle, Commonwealth Guide Service, Donegan’s Tree Service, Hopkins-Navies McDonalds, Pure Poison Jigs, Gander Mountain, Outdoor Action with Teddy Carr, Bass Boat Saver, Flip Clipp, and Steve Chaconas of National Bass Guide Service for awesome pictures of this great event.  We thank Leesylvania State Park for allowing us to put on this great event on a Labor Day Weekend. Last but not least the anglers that helped participate in this event. Thank You.

John Hutchins and Fakhruddin Rahimi 17.76 lbs
Rich Newton and Rob Grike 14.33 lbs
Bart Wines  and Tony Kronebusch 14.21 lbs
Teddy Carr and Justin Carr 13.69 lbs
Mickey Petry and James Donegan 12.99 lbs

Total Weight
VA team- 262.25 lbs
MD team 145.99 lbs

Karnes Breaks New Ground With PAA

GARLAND, Texas – Sandi Karnes never has tossed a lure on Lake Tawakoni but all that will change next week in the PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix.

The 10-year pro from Livingston, Texas, will become the first woman to compete in the PAA Tournament Series when the three-day event begins next Thursday. Karnes lives on Lake Livingston north of Houston and has fished tournaments for years, but is stoked about her first PAA tournament.ht

“I joined the PAA at the first of this year and seriously considered fishing the Tournament Series this season,” Karnes said. “When the Bassmaster Women’s Tour shut down I was hoping the women would go with the PAA, but they decided to form another circuit. That wasn’t the direction I wanted to go.

“I started fishing the Bassmaster Open tournaments and thoroughly loved it. The men have treated me with a ton of respect and encouragement, and it’s been great. I met (PAA Board member) Dave Mansue and he encouraged me to join the PAA and fish, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

The tournament begins next Thursday at West Tawakoni City Park, where the daily launches and first two weigh-ins will be held at 3 p.m. The final weigh-in featuring the Top 30 pros will be held at Bass Pro Shops in Garland beginning at 4:30 p.m.

Karnes is a certified Realtor and owner of Hands On Realty in Livingston. She and her husband, Sam, also own a boat dealership through www.niceboats.com. They live on Lake Livingston and fish regularly on it and other area lakes.

“I told him I was considering retiring this year, but as things went on I decided to stick around for another year,” Karnes said. “I’ve been fishing professionally for more than 10 years, but I’ve fished my whole life. It’s the typical story everyone says … I started fishing with my parents and grandparents. Those were our weekend adventures, at the lake, and when we had the opportunity to buy property we wanted to be on the water.”

Karnes enjoys the Texas lakes, but also likes visiting new lakes. During the WBT seasons she fell in love with Guntersville Lake in northeast Alabama, which offers anglers a diversity of tactics and strategies. She finished 10th in the WBT tournament at Guntersville in 2007.

“I told my husband I was ready to pack up and move there because it’s such a beautiful area and great lake,” she said. “But we’d be too far away from our grandchildren.”

Karnes has been spending time studying maps of Tawakoni and Google Earth images of the lake. Although a shallow bite is expected, there are some deep-water possibilities as well. She’s going in with an open mind for the three-day practice period that begins Sunday.

“I’ve never been there before so I don’t know what to expect, but I have a few places I’ll take a look at when I get there,” she said. “I take my fishing very seriously but also enjoy it very much. I have so much support from all kinds of people … here in our community, our local bank sponsors me, people call and email to ask how tournament fishing is going. It’s just been really great and I’m looking forward to next week.”

Tournament facts: The tournament is the third of four in the 2010 PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix. The winner will earn a prize package worth $45,000 including cash and a new Phoenix 719 Pro XP boat powered by a Mercury Optimax 225hp engine and outfitted with a T-H Marine Atlas Jackplate. Eligible anglers also may benefit from the Bass Pro Shops Tournament Rewards and Phoenix Boats First Flight bonus payout programs.

Daily launches and the first two days’ weigh-ins will be at West Tawakoni City Park. Saturday’s final weigh-in featuring the top 30 pros will be held at the Bass Pro Shops in Garland. All launches and weigh-ins are free and open to the public. Free seminars will be held at Bass Pro Shops beginning at 12:30 p.m. prior to the Saturday weigh-in.

Free seminars featuring Bradley Hallman, Pete Ponds, Edwin Evers and Jason Quinn will be held at Bass Pro Shops on Sept. 8. The seminars begin at 5:30 p.m.

About the PAA – The Professional Anglers Association is a non-profit organization that gives professional anglers a unified voice in order to aid in the growth of the sport of professional bass fishing. The PAA also aims to administer educational programs to the average angler, to increase enjoyment of the sport, and to embrace sound conservation practices to further the future of the sport. Web: www.FishPAA.com

PAA Associate Sponsors: The PAA Tournament Series is sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, E21 Carrot Stix, Lazer Trokar, Markel Insurance, Phoenix Boats, Nitro Boats, T-H Marine, Fishouflage, SolarBat, U.S. Reel, Sign Designs, BoatU.S. Foundation, Mercury Marine and Jasper Engines and Transmissions.

PAA Hosts: The City of Garland, Texas

Gagliardi on the FLW Final Day

We caught up with Chevy Pro Anthony Gagliardi who missed the win on Champlain by a mere 5 ounces. Fishing pressure, or lack of it, was big factor on the final day for Anthony. Without having to worry about other anglers moving in on his primary area, it allowed him to fish some other areas. He started the day throwing topwater and caught his second biggest fish of the day (4.09) along with 2 other small keepers on top. He then moved to his primary spot to finish his limit and cull up to his 18.3 to put him in second. Anthony did say he had to change up a bit on Saturday. Days 1 and 2 he used a c-rig and on day 3 it was a 5/16oz Spot Remover, but he had to really scale down in the final round, switching to a spider grub and a 1/4 oz finesse jig hook. He did catch his big fish of the tournament on a crankbait off a random point. It was déjàvous all over again for Gagliardi, he finished second on Champlain last July in a tour event.

Note: Frank Scalish’s pre-tournament predictions last week were spot-on.

For full results and event details, visit flwoutdoors.com

Day Three at Champlain

Strike King pro Mark Rose brings us the lowdown from Champlain on cut day.  Mark told us he was pleased with his 28^th place finish, keeping him in the hunt to qualify for the 2011 FLW Cup. Rose keyed on huge schools of smallmouth relating to bait in 30 to 50 of water on a drop shot.  His primary bait was a Strike King Perfect Plastic finesse worm and credited Seguar Tatsu 6lb line(it’s super strong)for putting the most fish in the boat. I was a deal where he spent a lot of time watching his Lowrance electronics. Mark said he went through a lot of fish each day but could not get over that 3.5 to 3.6 lb mark.  Looking back he would have liked to have had a area to hunt for a big kicker Largemouth.

Note: Mark had Mechanical problems on days 2&3

For full results and event details, visit flwoutdoors.com

The Leader’s Lowdown on Day Two

Here is what day two leader Anthony Gagliardi had to say. After a tough morning on day one, he decided to head straight to his primary spot, not knowing if his fish would bite early.  It paid off big for the Chevy pro, he had fifteen pounds in the boat by nine-thirty and spent the rest of the day culling to get to the nineteen pounds fifteen ounces he carried to the scales. Gagliardi relied on three baits throughout the first two days, a Lake Fork Craw and a Lake Fork Baby Creature.  He also said when the bite got tougher he was able to catch a few on the Lake Fork Ring Fry.  With only a twenty mile run, weather should not be a huge factor in his game plan for the rest of the week.

Note: From the day one report Scalish said the guy with 18-19 pounds a day would be golden.

For full results and event details, visit flwoutdoors.com

Frank Scalish on the Champlain FLW

The big water master Frank Scalish brings us a little insight on the FLW Series event on Champlain this week.  He stated that it should take an 18-19 pound daily average to take home the gold, despite dock talk that you’ll need 20 plus a day.  Scalish said if he were fishing the event, he’d target smallmouth.  On Champlain, largemouth are always a factor, and can be dangerous, but smallmouth (of the 4-5 lb range) will be concentrated and much easier to limit with than the more scattered largemouth will be.  Scalish points out that those fishing deep with dropshots, carolina rigs, tubes, and jigs will find the best concentrations, and the biggest fish.  We’ll see how day one plays out and bring you another report tomorrow.

For full results and event details, visit flwoutdoors.com

JVD on the Open in Detroit

Jonathon VanDam looks back at the Northern Open. Finishing in 44th place, just a little over two pounds out of the cut, JVD told us he really would not change a lot about the way he fished the tournament. Jon said most guys were just hunting around St. Clair looking for five bites, “it was a deal where you would fish around for miles without a bite and come across a spot where you could catch a few good ones.” Most of Jon’s fish were caught on a soon to be released Strike King Series 5 crankbait in the infamous Sexy Shad color. –Imagine that, a VanDam throwing a sexy shad crankbait.

For complete details and tournament results, visit bassmaster.com

Day One Lowdown

We caught up with Jason Quinn and got the lowdown on day one of the Northern Open. Coming off a fifth place finish last week in the PAA event at Lake Norman Quinn may have found the zone.  With only a day and a half practice Jason opted to stay on St. Clair.  (This is his first time on the Hudson)  The smallmouth are scattered and are in a summer pattern, suspended over grass in about 17 feet of water.  Jason focused on channel ledges using a Rapala DT10.  The DT10 can be burned back to the boat and smallmouth love the tight wobble.  “The fishing was not fast and furious by any means. You just have to keep your head down til you get a bite.”  Finishing the day in sixth place with 19.6 and looking forward to day two.

Side note: We are hearing most of the leaders are fishing Erie. That could play to the guys fishing St Clair’s favor if the weather changes.

Complete standings at bassmaster.com

Hudson River Lowdown

National Guard / Lucky Craft Pro Brent Ehrler gives us the lowdown from the Hudson River.  Here is what he had to say about the Bassmaster Northern Open:  Brent will be traveling 40 to 50 miles one-way each day to fish Lake St Clair, targeting big smallmouths, but hasn’t found a single “magic spot” that will load the boat. The lake has been fishing tougher than normal, the fish seem to be scattered, and you have to cover a lot of water.  The key to this tournament is going to be grinding it out and hoping for fifteen pounds a day. The spoiler for Ehrler may be Lake Erie. He stated, “they may be catching twenty-five pounds a day on a frog on Erie.” I guess we will have to wait and see.

Edwin Evers gives Bass East the Lowdown

Check out how Ediwn caught his fish in the PAA event presented by Bass Pro Shops at Lake Norman. He used three baits and keyed on docks with with brush to take the win. >

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