Bass Tournament News

Hall wins co-angler title, Ranger 177TR Boat and Evinrude or Yamaha Outboard Motor
FLW Outdoors News

Palestine Texas professional bass angler Shinichi Fukae wins the FLW Series Eastern Division tournament on Lake Champlain with a four-day catch of 20 bass weighing 73-12
Photo Credit: FLW Outdoors

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Aug. 28, 2010) –Shinichi Fukae of Palestine, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to win $49,349 in the FLW Series Eastern Division tournament on Lake Champlain with a four-day catch of 20 bass weighing 73-12.

The catch gave him the win by a mere 5-ounces over Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., who caught a total of 20 bass weighing 73-7 and earned $19,740.

“I just fish,” said Fukae, who was looking for pay back after a 5th place at Lake Champlain in 2006 and 6th in 2008. “I drop-shot all week with a shad shape worm.

“Today, I almost broke the camera guy,” replied Fukae when asked about the high winds that affected Lake Champlain today. “Waves were really bad, I lost two fishing poles.”

Fukae opened the tournament in 12th place Wednesday with five bass weighing 18-12 that he caught on a drop-shot while fishing the Inland Sea. On Thursday he added another five bass weighing 18-12 to jump into third place. He then caught five bass weighing 17-13 on Friday to make the crucial top-five cut in second place. On Saturday he sealed his victory using the same drop-shot with a shad shape worm that had worked for him all week.

When asked about his weigh marks, Fukae indicated that he had 980 on Lake Champlain; however, he only used 15 of those spots for this tournament. Fishing suspended fish in 30 – 40 feet of water he indicated that he was looking for bait fish that resembled shad.

Rounding out the top-five pros are:

3rd:  Jason Ober, Johnstown, Pa., 20 bass, 70-10, $14,805
4th:  Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 20 bass, 70-1,
      $9,870
5th:  David Wolak, Wake Forest, N.C., 20 bass, 66-9,
      $8,883

The remaining pro anglers in the top-10 were:

6th:  Michael Wolfenden, Warwick, R.I., 15 bass, 52-14,
      $8,389
7th:  Jim Gildea, Weston, Mass., 15 bass, 51-12, $7,896
8th:  Jason Knapp, Uniontown, Pa., 15 bass, 51-1, $7,402
9th:  Scott Parker, Londonderry, N.H., 15 bass, 50-11,
      $6,909
10th: Lancen Halbert, Enoree, S.C., 15 bass, 50-7, $6,415

A complete list of results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.

Overall there were 25 bass weighing 77 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 5 pros Saturday. The catch included five, five-bass limits.

Christopher Hall of Clarks Summit, Pa., won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger 177TR with a 90 horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard motor Friday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 47 pounds, 7 ounces followed by Tony Bushey of Champlain, N.Y., in second place with 15 bass weighing 47-7 worth $4,918.

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