Embracing Mike Iconelli’s famous “Never give up” mantra, northern region anglers Danny Cross and Duggan Wilson held their composure and recovered from a disappointing first day weight of just 12.34 pounds, only to come out “guns blazing” on the second and final days, to produce respective 37.95 and 29.36 pound five-fish limits, and take the Coors Light Future Pro Tour Classic crown.
“We don’t know what to say right now”, stated Danny Cross, visibly amazed at their nearly 80-pound 15-fish limit, and first FPT Classic win. I have the best partner out there and we work together as a team extremely well, never doubting each other’s skill level or contribution – and that alone makes things work for us”.
“The good fish we had located in practice (2 weeks prior to the event) would not move up because of the extremely cold mornings that came into play during the official pre-fish days. We knew that if they would move up, we could catch them good, and they did just that (moved up) on Saturday and Sunday. When they moved up onto some shallow, grassy flats we found near the mouth of Rodman Slough, we were able to catch them on River2Sea swim baits and by “fast-burning” Lucky Craft LV10’s through the grass, and had a 25 pound limit by 9am”.
For the win, Danny and Duggan took home the keys to a new Ranger Z118 powered by an Evinrude ETech, with Humminbird and Minnkota Electronics valued at nearly $40,000.
Refusing to go “Gently into that good night”, as the famous Dylan Thomas poem would suggest, Justin Nelson and Tony ‘the Tiger” Koregelos made a dramatic fight out of it down-to-the-wire, missing Classic glory by just a little over a pound, bagging a 78.01 pound 15-fish limit, and taking runner up honors.
“We came to win and left it all out on the water, as we knew it would be our last shot at a FPT Classic title.
But our hats go off to Duggan and Danny for a well-deserved victory”, noted Justin and Tony Koregelos, who are 2-time FPT Anglers of Year, and by FPT rules, must move on from FPT competition.
We wish both Justn and Tony much success in their future fishing endeavors, as we are confident that their tenure with the Future Pro Tour has properly prepared them for pro-level competition.
As predicted, it was a Classic for the ages, and we would like to express our sincere appreciation for all of the participants that made this event a huge success. A special thanks to Robinson Rancheria Casino Resort for hosting the event, as well as the Lakeport Chamber of Commerce for ensuring excellent weigh-in site facilities.
And a SPECIAL, SPECIAL thanks to Jeff Huth of Ranger Boats, who worked the entire event, ALWAYS “has the back” of the anglers, and works tirelessly for the good of the bass fishing industry.
A new Coors Light Future Pro Tour Season starts soon!
A new 2015 Coors Light Future Pro Tour season starts soon beginning with New Melones on March 21st for the central region, and on March 28th at Lake Berryessa for the northern region so get registered NOW so that you too can be part of the most exciting amateur bass fishing circuit in the west!
See you there!