The 2020 U.S. Angler’s Choice Championship
was held October 21st & 22nd on the regions foremost trophy fishery Lake
Chickamauga, Dayton Tennessee. At full pool Lake Chickamauga offers
36,240 acres of navigable waters and 784 miles of beautiful shoreline.
This would be the stage in which 232 teams would compete, all looking for that winning pattern or
area that would lend enough weight to take home one of three Bass Cat
Boats rigged with Mercury Outboards.
The Fall date was rescheduled from the original date of early April. The
Covid Lockdowns forced this change. One day we may revisit Chickamauga
in the Spring. As with many fisheries, the difference in fishing success
between the two seasons can be like night and day.
The event was hosted by Rhea Economic & Tourism Council - Fish Dayton. The official lodging site for the event was the
Sleep Inn, in Dayton. The layout and proximity of the weigh-site within
the town makes the venue hard to beat for an event location. Dayton offered teams and
families plenty of entertainment while not on the water and some
fantastic places to dine. The people living in the Dayton community
are some of the friendliest you will find anywhere in the country. The
community brought out homeland security to manage traffic and parking at
this event, a first class job was done.
Teams registered Tuesday and those that had qualified for the receipt
draw and won received prizes from MotorGuide, Power-Pole, Mercury,
Fitzgerald Rods and cases of oil provided by participating Bass Cat
Dealers. Fitzgerald Rods Divisional Champions were recognized and
awarded two Fitzgerald rods per each team along with plaques for their
accomplishments and free memberships into the 2021 season.
Weather during practice was beautiful, great Fall weather, cool mornings
with temps rising to the seventies and eighties during the day. The
fishing however was tough as is often the case in the Fall. As teams
woke on the first day of competition they were greeted with clear skies
and a cool morning, with temps around fifty degrees at take off and ending up in the
eighties at weigh
time. The weigh-in started at 4pm and although the fishing was tough we
would see glimpses of the true trophy fishery Lake Chickamauga is known
for.
When the scales closed after day one, the
Lake Egypt team of Jake and Zach Zeigler found themselves leading the
event with three fish, yes three fish weighing 18.83lbs. Quality bites
to say the least. The team increased their catch to four fish on day two
but the quality of those day one bites disappeared as they weighed
9.16 lbs, still good enough to finish the event in fourth place place.
Day two the weather was nearly identical to day one with the exception
of fog in the morning. The fog delay lasted one hour and forty minutes.
Adam Hutson & Bruce Hutson 2020 U.S. Angler's Choice Champions!
The final day weigh-in concluded only minutes
after the last flight checked in. The Wappapello Lake Division team of
Adam Hutson and Bruce Hutson put together two strong, consistent days and took
the win. They were crowned U.S. Angler's Choice Champions. The team brought
seasonally solid bags to the scales on both days. On day one they weighed in
14.69
lbs and followed it up on day two with 17.17 lbs, giving them a two
day total of 31.86 lbs and the title. The team focused their efforts on
a 100 yard stretch of grass matt but the real sweat spot was only the
size of two boats and had a deeper ditch near it. The team reported
fishing frogs over the grass and only left the area briefly on day one. They stuck to this area
exclusively on day two and all
of their fish weighed came from this area about the size of two boat
lengths.
Adam and Bruce hauled home a new Bass Cat Pantera II rigged with a Mercury 200
ProXS and more cash and prizes for their win!
2nd Place Jason Picket and Jeff Hampton
The second place team of Jason Picket and
Jeff Hampton fishing out of the Indianapolis Division The
team focused their efforts on a 150 yard stretch of grass mat on both
days of competition. The
weapons of choice were frogs. The team brought
14.91 lbs to the scale on day one and followed it up with 15.06 lbs on day two,
giving them a two day total of 29.97 lbs. That was enough to take home a new Bass Cat Classic rigged
with a Mercury ProXS 150 for the finish.
Power-Pole Top Contenders Third place
finish went to Mitch Van Ert and Caleb Kuphall
The Power-Pole Top Contenders Third place
finish went to the Southeast Wisconsin team of Mitch Van Ert and Caleb
Kuphall. The team focused their efforts on a main lake sparse grass. The
team reported fishing spinnerbaits in water
depths of two to three feet. Six of the nine keepers weighed were caught
in this fashion. They reported one key bite came from punching and
another on a jerkbait. Mitch
and Caleb weighed in 17.55 lbs on day one and followed it up with
12.12 lbs on day two giving them a two day total of 29.67 lbs. The team earned $11,830.00 for their finish.
Draw Boat Travis Engram and Jon Somers
The luckiest team at the
event had to be Travis Engram and Jon Somers as they won a Bass Cat
Pantera Classic with a Mercury 150 ProXS by DRAW by simply being present
at the final day weigh-in, they didn't even have to catch a fish but
they did!!
Lunker Lure Classic Big Bass Tavis Schlosner and Tycian Hanson 10.69
lbs
The Lunker Lure Classic Big
Bass went to the team of
Tavis Schlosner and Tycian Hanson it weighed in at 10.69 lbs and earned the team $1,160.00 for day one Big Bass and
$1,500.00 for the overall biggest. That one fish earned the team
$2,660.00
If you were unable to fish last season or make it to the championship
come join us in 2021! Call 618-521-2255 for a trail near you.
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