The inaugural ICAST Cup presented by FLW bass-fishing tournament on Lake Toho brought many participants. But, it was the Mystik Lubricants-sponsored trio of Bill Dance, Cody Detweiler and Dave East that brought a five-bass limit to the scale Tuesday morning totaling 17 pounds, 1 ounce to win . For their victory, the trio each earned trophies to take home and the title of ICAST Cup Champions.
The event marked the start of ICAST, the largest sportfishing trade show in the world. The tournament launched out of Big Toho Marina in Kissimmee, Florida, and featured 61 teams competing for bragging rights and to raise money for the KeepAmericaFishing™ foundation. Each company that sponsored a boat donated a minimum $100 entry fee to the foundation in order to compete. After the final fish had been weighed Tuesday, more than $6,300 was raised for the KeepAmericaFishing™ foundation.
“I’ve said many times that you’re only as good as the people you fish with and Cody (Detweiler) certainly knew what he was doing,” said Dance, the professional bass-fishing legend who has hosted Bill Dance Outdoors for more than 40 years. “I was very, very fortunate today and I fished with two great guys.”
The team estimated that they caught around 10 bass in the three-hour event, with the majority of their fish caught on a white and red Bass Pro Shops XPS Buzzbait and a few on a watermelon red-colored frog. They targeted two grassy areas within sight of the marina for the duration of the event.
“We were fortunate to get out there and catch our fish in the first two hours of the day,” Dance said. “This is the first year that this tournament has been held and I had a super time. I really enjoyed the early start and the quick format and it is all for a great cause. If the Good Lord is willing, I’ll be back next year.”
The top 10 teams finished the tournament in:
1st: Mystik Lubricants – Bill Dance, Cody Detweiler and Dave East, five bass, 17-1
2nd: Luck-E-Strike Corp. – Michael Michelli, Keith Poche and Jeff Phillips, four bass, 15-10
3rd: Typhoon Optics – Steve Reed, J.T. Kenney and Drew Mixon, five bass, 14-9
4th: Pro Angler Fishing App – Ben Daniels and Edwin Rivera, five bass, 12-14
5th: Lew’s/Sportsman’s Warehouse – Jay Richens, Tony Davis and Hayden Finnigan, five bass, 12-10
6th: Ardent – David Kiefer, Fred Roumbanis and Stephen Tyson Jr., five bass, 12-5
7th: Outkast Tackle – Connor Summers, Troy Morrow and Walker Smith, five bass, 11-8
8th: Yo-Zuri – Toru Komatsu, Mike Surman and Hideyuki Nomura, five bass, 10-10
9th: C&C Bait Co. – John Brazzell, Jim Root and Michele Eichstead, five bass, 9-9
10th: Star Brite – Lee Sisson and Evan Boutwell, two bass, 9-3
Complete results for the tournament can be found at ICASTCup.com.
Photos from the event can be found at FLWFishing.com/icast.
KeepAmericaFishing™ is leading the fight to preserve your right to sustainably fish on our nation’s waterways. As the voice of the American angler, KeepAmericaFishing works to keep our public resources – our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams – open, clean and abundant with fish. For more information, please visit KeepAmericaFishing.org.
For more ICAST 2015 coverage, details and tournament information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2015 over the course of 240 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.