The sixth qualifying event of the 2005 National Boat Mart TVA Tournament Series was held on Lake Freeman, in Monticello, Indiana out of Dodge Camp. The anglers expectations were very skeptical, Freeman has been fishing terribly all year, and has had the reputation for light weigh-ins with every tournament this season. As a bonus there would also be air temperatures in the mid 90’s high humidity and a heat index of 107 degrees to add to the misery. Typical Indiana bass tournament.
This event would be a close one.
When weigh-in time rolled around a few anglers had given up early, and taken one of their two scratch tournaments. While others had gutted it out and posted zero’s on the weigh-in board. Only nine anglers would come in with fish. That’s a tough event, by anyone’s standard.
Some anglers are as tough as the lakes they fish, and Adam Wright is one of them. Adam Wright of Monticello, Indiana came in with three bass tipping the scales to the 5.48 pound mark, to seal the victory and collect his second series win this season and second series win of his career. Here’s how his day progressed from his interview at weigh-in. “I caught all three of my fish on a spinnerbait. Had two by 7 o’clock and then I went to the river to avoid being beat to death by boat traffic. I don’t really have a bunch of spots in the river but I figured I would fish the spots that I had and then just start fishing new water in the hopes of finding one or two more. Then I caught my third fish at 11:45am in the river” remarked Wright.
Burnettsville, Indiana Jerry Drazer was in second with three bass weighing in at 5.01 pounds. “This was a tough one, I earned every bite I had today. My fish came on finesse worms that I dipped regularly and liberally in Kick-N-Bass. My fish came off the main lake throughout the day, except for a run I made upriver earlier, I stuck it out with the Jet Skiers and “Water Farmers”. (A term used to describe pleasure boaters that run with their bow up in the air throwing out large wakes as they plow through the water) It’s good to be lucky in these tough events, it goes a long way sometimes” laughed Drazer. Drazer is sponsored by Hendrickson Chrysler-Doge-Jeep, Kick-N-Bass, Fishingworld.com, SuperWash Car Washes, and Interstate Batteries.
Rounding out the Top-5 was Demotte, Indiana’s Don Deerwester third with three bass weighing in at 4.80 pounds, Kokomo, Indiana’s Frank Brown fourth with two bass weighing in at 3.80 pounds, and Brian Roberts of Dayton, Indiana fifth with one nice smallmouth bass weighing in at 3.27 pounds. Roberts also took Big Bass honors for the second event in a row. He’s get a reputation now for catching big fish.
The NBM-TVA Bass Series is proudly sponsored by: National Boat Mart, FishingWorld. Bass Maxx Charging Systems, Hendrickson Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Wrede & Son’s Excavating, Wild Bill’s Outpost, Kroger, Land-O-Champs Trophy, Lafayette Glass Company and Monticello Shell.By: TVA Staff
