Tony Green Wins GBCF Top Six At Clarks Hill

A Bandit 200 and a 1/2-oz. Rat-L-Trap fished in dirty water in Georgia’s Little River was exactly how Tony Green became this year’s Georgia Bass Chapter Federation (GBCF) Top-Six state champion. Tony weighed in 30.40 pounds of Clarks Hill bass for the March 10-11 tournament, where the top-six anglers from 73 GBCF-affiliated bass clubs converged for a shot at finishing in the top 12 and moving on to the Southern Division Championship in June.

“I was catching them in 1 to 3 feet of water midway in the pockets,” said Tony. “There was some 15 foot water close.”

Some anglers reported catching fish in the ditches in 10 to 20 feet of water on shaky heads and jigs, while others were catching them shallow cranking in staging areas in only 1 to 3 feet of water. Anglers believe there were enough fish staging that the full moon on March 21 should put a decent wave of fish in the backs and on the bed, if warm weather moves in and holds. On day two, the water temperature was in the mid 50s.

Tony collected $1,000 for his Top-Six win, but he also won an additional $7,000 under the Ranger Cup program for being the highest finisher in a Ranger and the highest finisher with a Yamaha motor. This special incentive was available due to GBCF’s new affiliation with FLW Outdoors, under its The Bass Federation (TBF) program. Before the switch, GBCF was partnered with the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS).

Joining Tony at the Southern Division Championship will be Patrick Brown (27.65), Jon Hair (26.77), John Allchin (26.50), Frank Wodzisz (26.40), Woody Parks (25.93), Justin Lanier (25.59), Matt Hunter (25.21), Dan Cosby (24.68), Mario Dent (24.39), Michael Deen (24.28) and John Long (24.09).

These top-12 anglers fish June 18-20 at North Carolina’s Lake Norman. At that event, the top-two Georgians will move on to the national-championship event, where they’ll be chasing the chance to win a new Ranger and Chevrolet and compete for one year on the FLW Tour. At the national championship, the top finisher in each division earns a spot to fish in the Forest Wood Cup.

The 26 B/M was the highest-placing team in the Clarks Hill tournament. Their six representatives put together 107.85 pounds of fish in two days. Team members included Wendell Grantham, Steve Byrd, Robert Dees, Glen Dykes, Robert Edore and Van Kennedy. They won $1,000 and bragging rights for the year.

The 26 B/M were followed by Augusta B/M (103.80), Four Rivers B/M (101.97), Metro Atlanta Hawg Hunters (101.00) Clark Hill B/M (94.83), Meadowcreek B/C (86.41), Valdosta B/M (84.24), Procasters (83.75), Cumming B/M (81.22) and the Spalding County Sportsman Club (79.86).

Complete team and individual results are available at www.gabassfed.org, and coverage will appear in the April issue of GON.