BRANSON WEST, Mo. (April 21, 2008) - Boater Travis Fox of Springdale, Ark., won the Bass Fishing League Ozark Division bass fishing tournament on Table Rock Lake Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 17 pounds, 7 ounces. The victory earned Fox $4,012 and placed him one step closer to qualifying for the Lake Ouachita Regional Championship in Mount Ida, Ark., Oct. 23-25, where he could ultimately win a new 198VX Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.
"I started off right across from take-off, where my co-angler caught a keeper right off the bat; I was worried all of my other spots were taken, so I ran up to the Indian Creek area, and I think all 137 other boats in the tournament were up there," Fox said. "I tried to start off on my best spot, but there was a boat sitting there, so I basically just hopped around and fished some other spots with limited success. Then, I picked a spot I did not fish in practice, but wanted to check out; there weren't any other boats there, and it was just too good. It was basically the mouth of what looked like a spawning cove."
Fox caught his best fish, a 7-pound, 11-ounce keeper on his third cast in that cove. He continued to move around, fishing the trees with a spinnerbait and trying to hit the banks other people hadn't fished yet.
Fox only had four keepers at 2:30 p.m., and was still a half hour boat ride away.
"I didn't know if I could catch that fifth one or not," Fox said. "A friend in practice told me about a dock where he could catch a keeper every single cast. He and his co-angler planned to go there to catch their limits, but said they'd leave it alone after that so I could go there, too, if I needed to. With a half hour left, I ran up there and caught a keeper on my second cast, then hurried back in."
Rounding out the top five boaters are Gene Purdy of Bentonville, Ark. (five bass, 17-05, $2,360); Chris Burgess of Webb City, Mo. (five bass, 16-07, $1,574); Joe Dickey of Rogers, Ark. (five bass, 16-00, $1,022) and Wes Endicott of Joplin, Mo. (five bass, 16-00, $1,022).
Gene Lineberry of O'Fallon, Mo., took home the Boater Division Big Bass award, earning $695 for a 8-pound, 13-ounce bass he caught on spinnerbait.
Blase Frick of St. Louis, Mo., earned $2,360 as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to five bass weighing 16 pounds, 10 ounces that he caught fishing bushes slowly with a spinnerbait.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Scott Parsons of Bentonville, Ark. (three bass, 14-08, $1,180); Kelly Phillips of Hindsville, Ark. (four bass, 13-11, $787); Jeremy Huddleston of Jefferson City, Mo. (four bass, 13-10, $551) and Timmy Burt of Blue Springs, Mo. (five bass, 13-04, $472). Parsons earned $347 as the co-angler Big Bass winner after catching a 6-pound, 4-ounce bass he caught on a spinnerbait.
Ozark Division anglers will visit Truman Lake in Clinton, Mo., May 10 for their third regular-season event, followed by an event on Grand Lake in Grove, Okla., June 21. A two-day Super Tournament, the division's fifth and final event, will be held on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Mo., Sept. 27-28.