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Matt Skucius of
Manhattan misses cutoff for co-anglers by .36 lbs, 8 other Kansans
fished event
Virginia's Hicks Takes Lead After Day
Three of Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series Championship
Nov. 16, 2007 - APPLING, Ga. While
a cool blast continues at Clarks Hill Lake, this week's competition
heated up a notch Friday as Mike Hicks of Goochland, Va., took
over the lead with a three-day total of 30.29 lbs. in the Toyota
Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series Championship operated by American
Bass Anglers as the top 25 anglers made the cut and moved on
to fish Saturday.
Matt Skucius of Manhattan missed the cutoff
for co-anglers by .36 lbs. as he fininished in 29th. Eight other
Kansans fished the event. Other co-anglers were Tony Kincaid
of Hutchinson, Jack Deathridge of Wichita, Raymond
Smith of Topeka, Chad Williams of Augusta and Bill
Amis of Shawnee. Terrance Knueppel of Haysville, Gale
Brown of Cassoday and Craig Shepherd of Junction City
Hicks, who had a Day Three total of 12.72 lbs.,
and 24 other anglers who made the cut Friday are trying to make
it to the 2008 Bassmaster Classic, set for Feb. 22-24 on Lake
Hartwell out of Greenville, S.C. The winner of the championship
earns that right, along with this weekend's $100,000 top prize.
Hicks previously fished the Bassmasters Top 150
for four or five years, and his father, Thomas Hicks, competed
in two Bassmaster Classics. "I met Ray Scott when I was
10 at the Classic, I sat beside him at a press conference. My
history with BASS in my family goes way back."
The leader's strategy included mostly search baits
in shallow water. He said most of the bass he found were chasing
bait.
Trailing Hicks by about 1 1/3 pounds is Jason Bordelon
of Pineville, La., who moved up to second place Friday after
boating a five-fish limit weighing 13.14 lbs for a three-day
total of 28.90 lbs. Shonn Blassingame of Sunset, Texas, who had
the lead after Day Two, moved to third place after a Day Three
total of just 7.34 lbs. Blassingame isn't far from catching the
top two anglers, however, with an overall weight of 27.75 lbs.
for the tournament.
"I'm not going to complain, if I can duplicate
it tomorrow, I'll probably be there," Bordelon said. "It's
just going to be hard to do, the bite is tough. The better fish
bit today for some reason."
Both Hicks and Bordelon intend to stick with the
same strategy for the final day of competition.
"There's a lot of fish there, I can't catch
them all, but I feel like I'm going to catch them tomorrow,"
said Hicks, 32. "The fish changed a little bit since practice,
but they're still in the same area. We didn't have as much wind
today, which made it a lot easier to fish some other areas, move
a little bit. And I think that's what helped me catch the weight
that I caught."
Douglas Young, of Salisbury, N.C., who led after
Day One, made the cut in 22nd place with a three-day total of
20.30 lbs.
Michael N. Brown of Madison, Ala., leads Pat Burke
of Moberly, Mo., in the co-angler division. Brown has a three-day
total of 15.19 lbs., while Burke has 14.91 lbs.
Everyone in the Bassmaster Weekend Series Championship
field had to qualify by finishing in the top eight within their
respective regional divisions 25 divisions overall. One
wild-card qualifier from each division also made the Weekend
Series Championship field.
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