Day Three Southern Divisional Results
LAGRANGE, Ga. — Kentuckian Brandon Card has definitely been playing some hot hands the last couple of years at the BASS Federation Nation Southern Divisional.
Competing in his first divisional last year, Card was the top angler on his state team and this year he earned top honors on his Kentucky team and also was crowned the tournament’s overall champion with a three-day catch of 13 West Point Lake bass weighing 40 pounds, 6 ounces.
By winning the divisional and finishing as Kentucky’s top angler, Card also qualified for his second-straight trip to the BASS Federation Nation Championship, the ultimate test of amateur bass fishing’s best, to be held Oct. 25-29 on the Red River in Shreveport, La.
Other state champions who qualified for the national championship were Jeff Green, South Carolina; Rob Digh, North Carolina; Tony Beck, Georgia; David Mock, Florida; George Crain, Alabama; and Donnie Cox, Tennessee.
The Central Divisional qualifiers will be among the 55 championship contenders vying for a berth to the Bassmaster Classic set for Feb. 18-20 in New Orleans, La.
Card caught four keepers the first day fishing a 3/8-ounce Cumberland ProCaster jig with a Strike King Rage Craw along riprap but the bite had slowed by the end of the day, so on Day Two the 23-year-old Bluegrass Bassmasters club member switched to casting a Chatterbait and flipping a Texas-rigged Berkley Chigger Craw to catch a limit.
“I thought I could catch them on the Chatterbait today and I threw it a lot but never got bit,” said Card. “So finally about 11:00, I started flipping the Chigger Craw and caught a couple of good fish. Then about 12:30, I caught two more good fish and that was it.”
South Carolina won the team competition and claimed the divisional’s top prize of a $41,000 Skeeter ZX190 bass boat rigged with a Yamaha VZ150 outboard motor. The Palmetto State’s 16 anglers recorded a cumulative weight of 270 pounds, 13 ounces.
Junior Bassmasters also competed in the Central Divisional today and their catches were combined with the weights of the adult anglers for each state team. The top Junior Bassmaster in the 11- to 14-year-olds age division was Ryan Edwards, Stuart, Fla., with a catch of four bass weighing 8-4. Logan Holt of Creedmoor, N.C., topped the 15-18 age group with five bass weighing 13 pounds. Both young anglers qualified for the Junior Bassmasters World Championship to be held in conjunction with the Federation Nation Championship in October.
