Lake Anna – Sturgeon Creek Marina
3/29/2014
Final Results
1st Place Mike Hicks & Keith Lupo
2nd Place Chad Hicks and C.G. Hicks
Click Here To See Final Results
Hicks and Lupo take Season opener on Lake Anna
Richmond Marine Center’s AC Tournament Trail Virginia Division started the season on Lake Anna Saturday March 29th. We had 25 teams in the event today launching out of Sturgeon Creek Marina. Conditions were tough to say the least. We had heavy rains in the forecast with air temperatures expected to be in the mid 50’s all day. We started the day off with a fog delay that lasted over an hour and had teams really anxious to get out and capitalize on the low light conditions.
After the fog delay and rain most of the day, the team of Mike Hicks and Keith Lupo topped the field of anglers with 5 bass weighing 17.52 lbs. The winning team also captured the Big Bass award for the tournament with a beautiful bass weighing 6.52 lbs. Hicks and Lupo found there winning fish shallow in the 3-5 foot of water with spinnerbaits and crankbaits. The spinnerbait, fished by a shallow stump was the bait responsible for the big bass of the day. They stated the key to victory was covering water in the mid lake area to catch their fish. With the first place prize and big fish the team took home $1,474 in winnings.
Second Place honors when to the team of Chad Hicks and C.G. Hicks with 4 bass weighing 12.27 lbs. The Rockville VA team stated they were fishing main lake pockets and coves with shallow and medium diving crankbaits. For their efforts the team took home $700.
Finishing third was Don Warren and Robert Whitus with 4 bass tipping the scales at 11.00 lbs even. Team Warren and Whitus were targeting bluff walls and rock on the main lake looking for pre-spawn largemouth with crankbaits and a Yum Flash Mob Jr. They were fishless until about 12:30 when they ran to an area that had been unproductive earlier in the day and started catching their fish. The team took home $403 for their 3rd place finish. They were also the winners of the AC Tournaments Decal Contingency Award and will receive another $100 from AC tournaments.
Rounding out the top 4 was the team of Clay Lewis and Mike Nelms. They weighed only 2 fish for a whopping 9.02 lbs. If you only catch 2, those are the right kind to catch. The team collected $213 for their winnings.
The Virginia Division also offers the Missile Baits “Boost Award” to the team that finishes the first spot out of the money in each event. The Missile Bait “Boost Award” winning team for Lake Anna was the team of Ray Emery and John Hutchins. The team will receive $50.00 in Missile Baits products of their choice. Congratulations!
For the event, we had a total of 39 fish brought to the scales for a total weight of 111.71 lbs for an average of 2.86 lbs per fish. Only 16 teams of the 25 participating were able to bring fish to the scales. With some of the best sticks in the area, these figures show how tough the fishing was for most of the field.
Richmond Marine Center’s AC Tournament Trail Virginia Division could not exist without great sponsors. We would like to thank Richmond Marine Center for logistics and organizing the set up and take down for the event. If you are looking for a new bass boat or need service on your current rig, give Ben Gibson a call, they will take great care of you and your equipment.
A big thank you goes out to Hopkins Gun and Tackle located in Mechanicsville, VA for the awesome weigh-in trailer that provided us protection during the terrible weather conditions. If you have not visited their store, make plans to do so soon. They carry everything a bass fisherman could want and need for their tournament success.
We would like to thank these other great sponsors, Missile Baits, ALX Rods, Optima Batteries, Jethro Baits, Lowrance Electronics, All Terrain Tackle, Propeller Dynamics and Sqwincher.
AC Tournament Trail National Sponsors: Legend Boats, Mercury Outboards, Motorguide, Rayjus, SolarBat, TFO Rods, Lunker Lure, Fishidy, SureLife, EGO S2 Slider and Bass Tackle Depot.
Our next event will be on Lake Gaston on April 19th at Eaton Ferry Marina. If you have questions about the upcoming events or the tournament trail, please feel free to give me a call. Jeff Salmon 804-221-7653
