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LaPoint and VanNatta 
Ride Deep Bite to 
Championship with 31.31lbs.

Long and Murphy 2nd

Team Davis 3rd


Reported by Ben Henderson and Matt Eisenbacher: Ben is sponsored by Center City Marine, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha, and Humminbird. Matt is the producer of Eiron Breaker jigs and buzzbaits and is sponsored by Mid America Outdoors, Nitro Boats, Mercury Marine, Bass Pro Shops, Mustad, Power Pro, Smelly Jelly, and Leigh Environmental. Visit Matt's Web Page - click here

Water Temp: Lake stained, low 70’s
Lake Level: 838.62 falling, normal 839.00
Air Temp: 50’s at take off, near 70 at weigh-in
Wind: NW 10-15
Weather: Cloudy
30 teams

Thirty teams qualified to fish the Best of the Best two day event this past Saturday and Sunday at Pomme de Terre and the dock talk suggested that the team to beat was Shane Long and Tom Murphy. Shane and Tom really put a winning pattern together the last time at Pomme and closed the year out strong narrowly missing the points championship. They took a strong lead after day one with five fish that topped the scales at 15.55 lbs while the team of Jimmy and Jackie Davis sat in second with less then a pound separating the two. Lurking in third was the team of Mike and Mark Fann with a Day 1 limit of 14.50 lbs while Rick LaPoint and JE VanNatta held 4th with a solid limit of their own. Rusty Gill and Jason Overholser held big bass honors after Day 1 with a solid largemouth going 5.10 lbs, with all that, the stage was set for the final finale. With this kind of excitement after the first day, Day 2 promised to be a real thriller! (Eee-Hee, Michael Jackson pun). At the end of Day 2 over twenty limits came across the scales with a total of 173 fish weighed, with a combined weight of almost 350 lbs (average fish going 2.00 lbs).

Taking the lead on Day 1 of a two day championship tournament is not always the best place to be. Sitting back a couple spots with a solid limit and knocking on the back door may be an easier proposition because all the pressure is off. 
Kicking in the back door on Day 2 of the Best of the Best Championship presented by Center City Marine was the team of Rick LaPoint and JE VanNatta. They were locked into 4th place on Day 1 with a respectable limit of 11.70 lbs. but were about 4 lbs behind leaders Shane Long and Tom Murphy. Rick worked a small limit in the boat early on a shaky head finesse worm shallow but JE showed Rick how to catch the deep fish late in the day as he culled most of the early bass out. Figuring out the deep bite also set the stage for Day 2.

Knowing they had nothing to lose, only a new Skeeter SX 190 powered by a Yamaha 150 HPDI valued at $25,000, Rick and JE went for the win by staying on the deep bite. This proved to be the perfect move as the big girls were up feeding. They were able to put their largest two fish in the livewell early in the morning and continued to build a phenomenal Pomme bag weighing 19.61 lbs which was anchored by the Day 2 big bass of 4.69 lbs. For a total weight of 31.31lbs. of Pomme Bass. All of their fish came on a homemade brown and green ¾ oz football jig poured by JE tipped with a Zoom craw. The winning team held their boat in 20-22 feet of water while casting to long points and humps. While their bites came away from cover on Day 1, Day 2 found the bass holding in brushpiles mainly in 10-12 feet on three areas. The key to their bite was slowly dragging the jig and maintaining bottom contact the entire cast. They both used Grandt’s Custom Rods and 15 lb Seagar fluorocarbon to complete their winning run which is a repeat of last year’s performance at the Best of the Best Championship for Rick. The team is sponsored by Center City Marine, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Motors, Mini Kota Trolling Motors, Hummingbird Fish Finders, Grandt Rods, Tajens Custom Lures, LocRBar, Hamby's Protectors, Kickin’ Bass Fish Scents, Critter Baits, H3O, and their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

JE VanNatta and Rick LaPoint with part of their winning catch

First Place Prize 2006 Skeeter SX 190 powered by a Yamaha 150 HPDI

"reprinted with permission of Mid America Outdoors - www.maout.com"