“This is the fourth tournament for the division and anglers must have fished at least one qualifying event to advance to the two-day tournament. You can’t just join at High Rock and fish that event,” said tournament manager Gary Conner.

“The reason we are going to Falls for the first time is because the fishermen asked for it,” Conner said. “They told us, ‘Hey, Falls is a good lake in the summertime,’ so we are giving it a shot.”

Conner said registration will be held at the ramp from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, with the pre-tournament meeting at 7 p.m., for anglers looking to fish and get qualified for the division championship Aug. 27-28 on High Rock Lake.

While Conner said he had no BWS tournament history to draw on for Falls and had not seen results from any recent local tournaments, the advance information on Saturday’s event posted on the BWS website (www.abaproam.com) Wednesday advised that the lake can produce largemouths in the 5- to 8-pound range and smallmouths in the 4- to 5-pound range.

In five-bass daily bag tournaments, it usually takes about 20 pounds to win with the lunker topping six pounds so fishing summer patterns – shallow early and deeper later in the day – should be a good game plan.

Not only will Saturday be the last chance to qualify for the two-day championship, it could unclog the logjam at the top of the points standings in both the pro angler and co-angler divisions – or make it even tighter.

“It’s very tight at the top for both the pro side and the co-angler side,” Conner said. “Rob Digh of Denver, N.C., and Tony Hatten of Huntersville, N.C., are two of only three anglers who have caught a limit in every tournament. Shane Miller, who is ranked 8^th in the points, is the only other angler with a limit in every tournament.”

On the pro side, Digh and Hatten are tied with 733 points, but Ryan McMurtry of Abbeville, S.C., who won the 2010 Bassmaster Weekend Series on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville last November to qualify for the 2011 Bassmasters Classic, trails them by just five points and Brandon Gray of Bullock, N.C., is only three poinits behind McMurtry. In fact, Jason Dew of Whitesville, N.C., is within 45 points of the leaders in 10^th place in the standings.

Conner said there are only three anglers on the co-angler side who have caught a limit each time and the points logjam is just as tight as on the pro side. In fact, Ben K. Dacey of Chesterfield, Va., is 10^th in points and trails points leader Chad Shroeder of Dallas, N.C., by just 46 points.

Shroeder has 733 points, but Winfred Branch of Polkville, N.C., is just two points back. There is a slight bit of breathing room the rest of the way down as Robert “Shane” Holleman of Asheboro, N.C., is 11 points back of Branch and Steve Cannon of Wilkesboro, N.C., in 4th place, trails Holleman by 9 points. In 5^th place, Jim Jenkins of Crumpler, N.C., is 6 points behind Cannon and only 28 points back of the leader.

 

Bassmaster Weekend Series North Carolina Division

Sat, Jul 30, 2011

Falls Lake

Ledge Rock

Call Gary Conner 256-230-5627

www.abaproam.com