Richard Bates Claims the D13 Championship Victory
[print_link]
Richard Bates of Yorktown, Virginia takes the win on the Chickahominy River for AFT D13 on September 8th and 9th, 2018. By winning the Virginia Division Championship, Richard Bates became the division Angler of the Year. This was his third victory for the season. On day 1 Richard caught the biggest stringer of the tournament with five-fish that went 14.58 pounds. He went into the second day with a one- and one-half pound lead over the eventual second place angler James Funk who netted exactly 13 pounds Saturday. On Sunday Richard caught a second limit of bass that went 9.95 pounds and sealed a margin of victory of 1 3/4 pounds and won him the $1000 first place prize.
“I had a fantastic day Saturday catching all of my fish on topwater baits. Come Sunday I really struggled to catch another limit of bass. The top water bite was gone. I have changed my tactics over the course of this season to take up a lot faster style of fishing, and I picked up a spinner bait on Sunday after realizing the fish were not on topwater. I also had to travel a lot more and cover a major portion of the Chickahominy River. Whenever I came to a promising cluster of pads I would throw a frog, and my biggest fish of the day at 3.62 pounds came on the frog,” said Richard.
James Funk was the only other angler in the field that brought in a limit of fish both days. He collected 13 pounds on the first day and another 9.72 pounds Sunday to finish in second place.
Rounding out the money winners for this event was Calvin Hunter who weighed in nine-fish that totaled 20.04 pounds.
Big fish for Saturday went to Michael Larocque who caught a 4.22 pound largemouth to anchor his creel.
The biggest fish for the tournament was caught by Rick Cornett. He weighed in a 5.15 pound fish that he netted on Sunday.
The Virginia division will open its 2019 season on October 13 at Kerr Lake using the Rudds Creek day use area.
For more information about this Division and future events visit http://www.drawtrail.com/2018DivPage.php?Division=13
or contact the local Director for Virginia Division 13 Gary Conner at 757-293-8651
The American Fishing Tour offers low cost, close to home bass tournaments that are designed for the weekend angler. All ABA anglers fish for money and points. The points advance the angler to their divisional championship and the top 500 anglers in the US are invited to the American Fishing Tour National Championship.
American Bass Anglers is committed to providing low cost, close to home tournaments for the weekend angler and at the same time offer each competitor an upward path for individual angler progression. For more information about American Bass Anglers, the ABA Open Series, the American Fishing Tour or the American Couples Series, visit www.americanbassanglers.com.
American Bass Anglers, Inc. is supported by Triton Boats, Mercury Outboards, Hydrowave, T-H Marine, Abu Garcia, Berkley, Garmin, Maui Jim, Power Pole, Optima Batteries and GEICO. American Bass Anglers, Inc. can be contacted at (256) 232-0406 or visit AmericanBassAnglers.com