Fishing News - 11/11/00
From BASS
Curt Lytle Goes Wire to Wire Claiming Missouri BASSMASTER Central
Invitational
OSAGE BEACH, Mo.---November 11, 2000--- No weight recount was necessary for Virginia pro Curt Lytle. He took the lead on day one at the $232,000 Missouri BASSMASTER Central Invitational and never looked back.
Lytle brought in a 14 pound, 3 ounce creel on Saturday giving him a three-day total of 42-15. With the win he takes home $51,000 and earns valuable points towards the BASS Masters Classic.
Lytle's weight easily outdistanced runner-up Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Tex., who finished with 36 pounds, 3 ounces. Local favorite Chad Brauer captured third with 35-15; Dustin Wilks of Raleigh, NC claimed fourth with
35-13; and Mark Tucker of nearby Kirkwood, Mo. finished fifth with a total of 33 pounds, 3 ounces.The win is the first on the BASSMASTER Tournament Trail in four years of competition for Lytle. "I have won other tournaments," he said, "but this is definitely the biggest win I have had. A lot of people questioned me when I left my job as a mechanical engineer, but now it is all working out."
Lytle fished steep bluffs far up the Osage River, where he caught his fish
on both a blue and chrome jerkbait and a brown and white medium-diving crankbait. As the water temperature continued to get colder each day, Lytle had to make his retrieves slower and slower to attract the fish."I was basically fishing a February pattern," he explained, and the bass were really lethargic. The main thing was to fish really slow, because the fish were just not aggressive at all."
Faircloth likewise found his bass far up the Osage, where he used crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and tube jigs around both rock and wood cover where the river channel swung close to the shoreline. In contrast, Brauer spent all three days flipping and pitching jigs under boathouses just a few miles from the weigh-in site.
Fourth place finisher Dustin Wilks caught many of his fish on a soft jerkbait, fishing it around shallow cover in rocky coves in the Grand Glaize Creek. When his second day partner, Scott Pauley (who finished 14th) outfished him with a small jig, Wilks quickly changed, and fished it, as well, in the same shallow water.
Mark Tucker, in second place entering the final day, fished more than 85 miles up the Osage River near the Truman Lake dam, where he used tube jigs and spinnerbaits around shallow cover. He managed only three bass the last day and fell to fifth.
Ironically, Lytle had not planned to fish this tournament because after a
poor finish in the Louisiana Invitational on the Red River he felt he had lost his opportunity to qualify for the 2001 BASS Masters Classic. His wife, Brandy talked him into entering the tournament and she was by his side when he accepted the winner's plaque.The BASSMASTER Tournament Trail is the oldest and most prestigious pro bass fishing circuit. It continues to set the standard for credibility, professionalism and sportsmanship as it has for more than three decades.
Sponsors of the 2000 BASSMASTER Tournament Trail include: Ranger Boats, RangerTrail Trailers, Mercury Outboards, Chevy Trucks, ACDelco Batteries, Worldwaters.com, Humminbird/Zercom Marine, Pennzoil Marine, Flowmaster Exhaust Systems, First USA/B.A.S.S. Platinum Visa, MotorGuide Trolling Motors, Gore-Tex Outerwear, GMAC Insurance.
The event is sponsored locally by Lake of the Ozarks Convention and Visitors Bureau.
B.A.S.S. Web site: http://www.bassmaster.com.
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