Triton Boats Tournament

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BIG FISH=BIG BUCKS FOR KENTUCKY LAKE AREA
by Steve McCadams
www.stevemccadams.com
June 6th, 2008

The Paris Landing sector of Kentucky Lake was a busy place last weekend with two tournaments held on the same day out of Paris Landing State Park. Both the Triton Boat Owners event and the Bass Pro Shops Big Cat Quest tournament were competing for people and parking space at their weigh-ins on Saturday but the bass and catfishermen took it all in stride.

Triton Boats held its Triton Gold Elite Tournament on Wednesday and Thursday here in the Paris area and followed up on Friday and Saturday with its Triton Boat Owners Tournament.

Folks in this area are still talking about the amazing stringers of bass caught by Rogne Brown of Hixson, TN. The east Tennessee angler managed to catch almost 100 pounds of bass in four days while fishing the Paris Landing area of Kentucky Lake.

No one is sure what his secret is but it sure is working. Rogne weighed in 49.90 pounds of Kentucky Lake bass to walk away with the $40,000.00 Champions prize.

Some 339 teams showed up to fish Friday and Saturday at beautiful Paris Landing State Park. Tim Rhoades emerged from the battle with a hard fought victory under his belt with an amazing 50.83 pounds for 2 days (a 5 pound average).

Tim wouldn’t divulge his fish catching secrets, as he is a local and fishes Kentucky Lake Tournaments regularly. Tim won $7,000.00 for 1st place and another $3,000.00 for 1st big fish for a $10,000.00 payday. Not bad for catching “ little green fish “ to quote Rick Clunn. Second place was Rogne Brown who two days earlier had won the Triton Gold Elite Tournament. Brown only had 49.22 pounds this time for a four day total of over 99 pounds.

The Triton payback was 100% along with a beautiful 21X2 boat powered by a 225 Optimax engine from Mercury Marine. Command Sergeant Major Larry L. Chapman of Clarksville, Tennessee won the draw boat. After 30 years of defending our great country what a fantastic reward for Command Sergeant Chapman who is thinking of retiring next year.

In all Triton paid out over $66,000.00, plus a new boat valued at $48,000.00 and another $12,000.00 in fishing related products. No wonder the Triton Owners Tournament is the tournament so many look forward too. And if that’s not enough the anglers caught over 7000 pounds of fish Friday and Saturday here on Kentucky Lake.

Many of the teams were here for almost a week and dropped a lot of dollars in the local economy ranging from lodging to restaurants.
Taking the top spot in the Bass Pro Shops Big Cat Quest out of Paris Landing State Park on Saturday was the team of Bill and Julie Kunzeman of Concord, IL with a five fish limit weighing 55.75 pounds. It earned them $5,000 for catching that mess of catfish here on Kentucky Lake.

The big fish of the day went to David Shipman of Corinth, MS for a dandy tipping the scales at 26.45 pounds to earn him $1,000. Shipman was also on the second place team with Kevin Moss of Corinth, MS and they landed five fish weighing 48.40 pounds to win $2,500.

Local anglers making the payback were Kevin Ray of Buchanan and his partner Steve Tomlin of Providence Forge, VA who managed to weigh in only three fish weighing 32.90 pounds for 9^th place but it earned them a check for $450.

Parisian Steve Daniels placed 10^th with five fish weighing 30.20 pounds to earn $425.

Steve McCadams is a professional hunting and fishing guide here in the Paris Landing area. He has also contributed many outdoor oriented articles to various national publications.

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