August 31, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com
1 Kevin VanDam 2,543,958.33 2 Denny Brauer 2,218,901.71 3 Rick Clunn 1,856,794.53 4 Larry Nixon 1,634,858.58 5 Peter E Thliveros 1,583,439.00http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/news/story?id=2999045
August 26, 2007 – basszone.com
Russellville, AR – Russellville, Ark. – Versatility is the name of the game in professional bass fishing, and when the forces of Mother Nature wreak havoc on the competition lake, champion still find a way to adapt. Such was the case at the 2007 Bassmaster Legends presented by Ramada Worldwide, the final Major of the year, and perhaps the future; as flexibility overcame specialty.
The Super 6 Competitors who blasted off into the Russellville, Ark. morning are among professional bass fishing’s most decorated stars. Each of them have pocketed more than $500,000 in their careers, they represented four Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year Titles, three Bassmaster Classic Championships, a Toyota Rookie of the Year Crown, and a total of 23 BASS Wins.
At stake for the champion of the Bassmaster Legends was a $250,000 payday. For two members of the Super 6, Dean Rojas of Grand Saline, Tex. and Timmy Horton of Muscle Shoals, Ala., a win would make either of them the fifth man to enter the Bassmaster Million Dollar club; signifying compiling more than a million dollars in career earnings.
Rojas had grabbed the lead from the rest of the Elite 12 on the third day as cloudy skies and thunderstorms blanketed the Russellville area giving him the advantage with his trademark Spro Dean Rojas Bronzeye Frog. However, his six-ounce lead left him looking over his shoulder at the rest of the field, and watching as clearing weather was on the way.
With the bluebird skies and light winds came a tough frog bite, and Rojas gave way to 2007 Bassmaster Classic Champion Boyd Duckett. The 47-year-old Duckett won his second title of the year, and he did it by adjusting, and letting the fish tell him what to do.
http://www.basszone.com/2007eliteseries/dardanelle/day4/story.htmAugust 26, 2007 – bassfan.com
As the reigning Bassmaster Classic Champion, Boyd Duckett had a free pass into each of this season’s three Majors. It didn’t do him much good until this last one.
The Alabamian finished 50th (one spot from dead-last) and 36th (better, but still way out of the money) in the first two no-entry-fee events that paid $250,000 to the winner. Today, he claimed the last of those quarter-million-dollar checks for himself.
He caught a 13-09 limit from the six-hole course on the Illinois Bayou portion of Arkansas’ Lake Dardanelle, and that gave him a 30-01 total for the final 2 days of the Legends Major. He outdistanced runner-up Jason Quinn of South Carolina by 10 ounces.
Quinn weighed 14-07 today for a 29-05 total and, like Duckett, he moved up one place in the standings from day 3. Michigan’s Kevin VanDam caught the biggest final-day sack (16-00) and also climbed one spot to finish 3rd with 28-06.
http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=2460August 25, 2007 – basszone.com
Russellville, AR – The skies over Lake Dardanelle greeted the Elite 12 Anglers at the Bassmaster Legends with an angry air. The Russellville Ark. experienced thunderstorms that brought cooler temperatures, clouds, wind and rain to the Illinois Bayou.
At stake for all of the anglers was not only the $250,000 first place prize money, but also the knowledge that he went head to head with 50 of the world’s best bass anglers and claimed the title of Bassmaster Legends Champion. Each of the anglers knew that this was the last chance to claim the title of Major Champion, as the Legends is not only the final Major for 2007; but is quite possibly the final Major ever.
As if the pressure of a big title and huge payday were not enough, the ambiguity of entering the six-hole course during the final round also lends itself to elevated heart rates. Most of these competitors had spent little time in the Illinois Bayou prior to the event, with the exception of riding the course after close of competition yesterday, or just before blast off today.
Add the unique variables that changing weather can provide to the outcome of a bass tournament, and the recipe is complete for a certain amount of anxiety. For one Bassmaster Elite Series angler, combination it was a welcomed sight.
http://www.basszone.com/2007eliteseries/dardanelle/day3/story.htmAugust 25, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Saturday dawned with a thunderstorm rolling across Lake Dardanelle. It seemed like a godsend for the 12 anglers who qualified for the semifinal round of the Bassmaster Elite Series Legends tournament, presented by Ramada Worldwide.
“I’m loving it,” Ish Monroe said. “Anytime you haven’t had rain for awhile, and then you get rain, the fish start getting active, and they want to bite.”
Aaron Martens led the field after two days on Lake Dardanelle with 33 pounds. During Friday’s weigh-in, Martens said, “If we can just get some clouds. Just a few clouds.”
Martens got more clouds than he wanted Saturday morning, when the two-day totals were zeroed for the next two days of competition. The 7 a.m. downpour prevented him from re-rigging his rods, as he planned to when he arrived early for the 9 a.m. takeoff. But Martens, who celebrated his 35th birthday Friday, wasn’t complaining.
“It allows you to move a lot faster,” said the Leeds, Ala., resident. “You don’t have to finesse them. You can go power fishing.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/majors/news/story?id=2990845August 24, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — It was 30 minutes before the anglers were set to take off when Kevin VanDam decided it was time to take a look at the Day One standings for the Bassmaster Legends presented by Ramada Worldwide.
He commandeered a copy from a reporter and unfolded the sheet of paper with hands that are scarred and scabbed from catching huge numbers of fish on Thursday. His name sits seven places down the list, but he was more interested in Jason Quinn, who sits right on the cut line in 12th.
For 30 seconds VanDam studied the sheet — perhaps doing math or maybe planning his day in his head — but he eventually broke the silence.
“Ten pounds,” he mumbled under his breath as he handed the sheet back to the reporter and moved on. At 15 pounds, 15 ounces after one day, 10 pounds would obviously give VanDam 25-15. Quinn caught 13-6 on Day One, which in most angler’s eyes, would put the 12-cut at 26-12 (double Day One). So, unless he possesses a third-grade math level, VanDam saw something else on that sheet.
The cut was a popular topic Friday morning as the anglers readied their boats to take off on a lake/river system that can take just as quickly as it can give. And the cut never means more than it does at a Major, where the weights are zeroed after two days and the anglers move to completely new water for the weekend.
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/majors/news/story?id=2989659August 24, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — It would be generous to say Lake Dardanelle looked like the California Delta on Thursday, but a glance at the leaderboard and it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch.
Fred Roumbanis, a recent transplant from Calfornia to Oklahoma, took the lead in the Bassmaster Legends presented by Ramada Worldwide with a 20-pound, 5-ounce bag on Day One, and he has a few of his old neighbors following close behind. Ish Monroe, of Hughson, Calif., sits in third with 18-5 and the winner of the Elite Series tournament on the California Delta earlier this season, Aaron Martens, is in sixth with 16-0.
“I was just going back to my roots from fishing Clear Lake and the Delta,” Roumbanis said. “I had no idea what to expect, but when I got here, I saw the grass and I felt right at home. There’s current, it’s a river, and I’m basically just finding areas that have a distinct river ledge or drop off in a creek.”
Roumbanis said he didn’t even know Dardanelle was a part of the Arkansas River before he pulled into town and started looking at some maps. Three days later, he had it figured out better than every angler in the 50-man field, including four guys who currently call Arkansas home — Scott Rook, Mike McClelland, Stephen Browning and Mike Wurm.
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/majors/news/story?id=2989016August 22, 2007 – bassfan.com
The current battle of Kevin VanDam vs. Skeet Reese is nowhere near finished, but it’s already a memorable one.
VanDam, as always, remains incredibly consistent. Reese is consistent too, but absolutely red-hot right now as he steps right from a win at the Potomac into this week’s Bassmaster Legends Major at Lake Dardanelle.
For a brief period, VanDam held a seemingly insurmountable lead in the BassFan World Rankings presented by Tru-Tungsten, but with a win at the Potomac, Reese trimmed that lead back down to a little less than 5 points.
It’s worth noting too that both are locked in a duel for the BASS Angler of the Year (AOY) award. Reese leads that race, which is based on a straight points system for a single year, by 107 points. The Legends Major doesn’t affect the AOY race, but it does affect the World Rankings.
To help characterize the battle for the No. 1 spot in the World Rankings, here’s an overview of how both VanDam and Reese have finished over the past 2 years, with some statistical notes.
http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=2451August 17, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com
LA PLATA, Md. — With the conclusion of this week’s Capitol Clash presented by Advance Auto Parts on the Potomac River, BASS has finalized the 51-angler field for the Bassmaster Legends presented by Ramada Worldwide, the final of three Bassmaster Majors in 2007, set for Aug. 23-26 in Russellville, Ark.
The Legends, which recently was relocated to Lake Dardanelle from the Arkansas River because of unsafe conditions on the River, will feature television coverage at 9 a.m. ET Saturday, Sept. 1, on ESPN2.
Before the Potomac River Elite event, three Elite Series anglers had qualified for berths in the Legends: 2007 Bassmaster Classic champion Boyd Duckett of Demopolis, Ala.; 2006 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year Mike Iaconelli of Runnemede, N.J.; and Scott Rook of Little Rock, Ark., winner of the 2006 Bassmaster Legends.
The 48 other anglers qualified today at the conclusion of the Capitol Clash. Those qualifiers include the top 47 anglers in combined Angler of the Year standings through the past two years and the leader in the Toyota Rookie of the Year race, Derek Remitz of Madison, Ala.
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/elite/news/story?page=b_story_Majors07_Legends_QualifiersAugust 16, 2007 – espnoutdoors.com
CELEBRATION, Fla. — Competing on Lake Dardanelle in the dog days of summer will be a refreshing challenge to many Bassmaster Elite Series pros when they hit the Arkansas lake Aug. 23-26 in pursuit of the $250,000 first prize of the Bassmaster Legends presented by Ramada Worldwide out of Russellville, Ark.
Fifty-one Elite pros earned berths to compete in the Legends. Honoring BASS founder Ray Scott, the Legends is the final of three Bassmaster Majors events this season.
Dardanelle — a 34,000-acre, 50-mile-long Arkansas River impoundment — will be a first-time stop for the Majors and Bassmaster Elite Series. The fishery was the site of a Bassmaster Elite 50 tournament in May 2005.
“I’ve never fished there in August,” said Elite pro Scott Rook of Little Rock, Ark., who won the 2006 Legends event on the Arkansas River out of Little Rock. “I’ll have to see what the conditions are when I get there, but normally this time of year there’s no current flow at all so … fish are deeper and on big brush piles.”
As the defending Legends champion, Rook is one of three Elite pros whose berth was guaranteed. The other two are 2007 Bassmaster Classic champion Boyd Duckett of Demopolis, Ala., and 2006 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year Michael Iaconelli of Runnemede, N.J.
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/elite/news/story?page=b_story_Majors07_Legends_preview