August 14, 2004

Reed claims victory at Central Open

PADUCAH, Ky. - On a day when fishing was at its toughest on the Tennessee, Ohio and Cumberland rivers, Texan Matt Reed cruised to an easy victory at the CITGO Bassmaster Central Open presented by Busch Beer.

Reed hauled in an astonishing 15-pound, 14-ounce limit on day three to catapult him from 10th place to the win with a three-day weight of 30-6.

"My current thing that I had been doing up at the dam was dead," Reed said. "I mean, there was no current. The same rock pile that I caught a 4-and-a-half pounder off of the first day, I just went back to it and it was on.

"We'd get them going for about 15 or 20 minutes and then they'd quit. Then about 15 or 20 minutes later, you'd kick them off again and you'd catch three, four or five more.

"It was just an awesome day. My partner and I kept laughing and saying, 'We're on this fishery and this is happening today.' It was just a deal that I stumbled on. It was a very insignificant rock pile."

Reed won the $50,000 top prize that included a fully rigged Triton bass boat.

Second place went to Iowa's Aaron Nelson. Nelson stayed in the primary spot that he had been fishing the first two days.

"The area that I was fishing was blocked from the current by a sand bar," Nelson said. "It was actually at the mouth of a creek and there was a ton of laydown wood there. It was everywhere. You couldn't make a cast without hitting some wood.

"I was just blind casting the first two days with a crankbait. Today, they didn't want anything. I couldn't catch them on the wood, I couldn't catch them on the crankbait anymore. I started burning a quarter-ounce Rattle Trap and caught a 3 pounder and some good fish."

Texas' James Stricklin (24-7), Indiana's Rodney Hardwick (23-15) and Louisiana's Wade Leblanc (23-3) rounded out the top five.

On the non-boater side, Illinois' John Farmer, who drew boater Matt Reed for the final day of his first BASS tournament, took top honors with a three-day weight of 21-8.

"I fished with goose bumps about the last two hours that I was out there," Farmer said. "I was kind of catching one on just about everything I threw today. We pulled up on this spot and I would call it Matt's (Reed) best spot and I made a cast in and caught a 4 pounder.

"I caught seven keepers today. It was a great day, just fantastic."

Tennessee's Keith Amerson (18-9), Texas' Dean Perkins (14-2), Oklahoma's Kirk Smith (12-0) and Louisiana's Mike Williams (11-3) rounded out the top five.

Farmer will take home the non-boater top prize of a $24,000 Triton bass boat and an additional $400 from Purolator for the Purolator Big Bass of the Day on the non-boater side for his 4-2 lunker.

The Purolator Big Bass of the Day went to Texan John Hope on the boater side. His 4-11 bass earned him $1,000 from Purolator, but wasn't enough to knock off Art Garza's 5-7 from day one. Garza was awarded another $1,000 for the Purolator Big Bass of the Tournament.

The CastingKids competition was held at JR's Executive Inn Saturday. In the 7-10 age group, Mount Sterling Kentucky's Jacob Hiler, 9, was the champion and in the 11-14 age group it was 12-year-old Ashleigh Cato from Madisonville, Kentucky. Both children will advance to compete at the state level later this year. Event instruction was provided by the Kentucky BASS Federation.

Sponsors of the CITGO Bassmaster Central Open presented by Busch Beer include CITGO Petroleum Corp., Busch Beer, Purolator, Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Toyota, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Lowrance Electronics, Flowmaster Exhaust Systems, MotorGuide, Bass Pro Shops, and BankOne.

Local Sponsors include JR's Executive Inn.


BASS Communications -Aug 14, 2004

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Posted by DODGE at August 14, 2004 10:18 AM in Tournament (BASS)

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