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| FishTails |
Burdette Takes Northern Qualifier
[September 10, 2002] - Chris Lawrence
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| WVBF President John Burdette with two of the bass that helped him win
the WVBF Northern Division Championship on the Ohio River at New Martinsville. |
If you had asked John Burdette about his fishing year in 2001, the answer likely would have been filled with anxiety.
The first year of the new millenium was rather forgetful for the West Virginia Bass Federation President. Failure
and missed opportunity has a way of motivating a person. Burdette's 2002 performance in the West Virginia Bass
Federation could serve as a self-help novel.
Checking the scorecard for this year, Burdette and partner Jim Summers, finished second in the Buddy Trail and
secured berths in the State Tournament. The pair won the Prickett's Fort event and finished in the top ten in three
other Buddy Trail events. Off the water, Burdette was named the National B.A.S.S. Federation Member of the Year.
Topping off the year, Burdette won the Northern Division Qualifier September 8.
"I must be living right or something." Laughed Burdette. "I've had a lot of good fortune and hopefully
it will continue at the state tournament."
Burdette's fortune didn't look to be holding out after the first day of the two-day event out of New Martinsville.
"I only caught one fish on Saturday. But I had three big fish blow up on a buzzbait."
Since the first day lead was only five-pounds, Burdette feared those missed fish would haunt him. However, instead
of fretting over the losses, Burdette turned them into opportunities.
"Yeah, I'd missed them, but now I knew where three big fish were located. I just had to figure out how to
catch them."
Burdette returned to Fish Creek on Sunday fairly confident he had the three weighty fish figured out.
"I went to a four-inch ringworm in that grass. I had to slow way down, but finally I caught them." Said
Burdette. "I had one other big fish that I missed on a buzzbait and a Splash-It on Sunday."
Turns out those missed fish did not come back to bite him as he weighed in a two day total of 9lbs-13oz and secured
top spot in the Qualifier.
Second place finisher Mike Hansen of By-State BassMasters felt extremely confident in his ability to do well on
his home-water. The Woodsfield, Ohio angler spent most of the weekend running and gunning around Wheeling Island.
"I was about like everybody else. I really thought I'd do a lot better." Lamented Hansen. "I don't
know what the problem was, but they just didn't bite like I thought they would. Some guys though that hurricane
moving in shut them down. I personally think that Sternwheeler Festival in Marietta caused a lot of the problem."
The festival attracted large numbers of pleasure boats on the mighty Ohio River for the weekend. The resulting
wakes left waters choppy and difficult to navigate-let a lone finesse' fish.
Hansen admits he threw about everything in the tackle box, but is hesitant to offer the winning combination with
three other non-Federation tournaments coming on. His efforts were good enough to land four-fish weighing 7lbs-9oz.
Hansen's creel included the tournament lunker, a 4lb-9oz largemouth.
Another local, Gary Sapp of New Martinsville, scored a good weekend to take third in the tournament. Sapp locked
up to the Hannibal Pool. He considers it "home water" and felt far more confident in his abilities there.
Truly the pattern gave him the first day lead.
"In practice I had 'em patterned on mud flats." Says the Cameron, West Virginia resident. "I had
to adjust though and find mud flats with wood cover. They bit better for me on Saturday. I caught a lot of fish
both days, but I couldn't get the keeper bite on Sunday."
Sapp says he used spinnerbaits to locate and land most of his 6lb-1oz bag.
With the exception of Burdette, it was a local's tournament. Rounding out the top five were Danny Brown of Pomeroy,
Ohio with 5lbs-8oz. William Johnson of Washington, Pennsylvania was fifth after a tiebreaker. Johnson's Washington,
Pennsylvania BassMasters Club is in its first year with the West Virginia Federation. A 1lb-13 ounce fish anchored
his 4lb-14oz stringer. That was bigger than Greg Luff's biggest fish, so Luff settled for sixth with 4lb-14loz.
Luff and Hansen's efforts paid off in the club competitions as By-State BassMasters landed the club championship
with a total of 18lbs. -2oz.
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| A couple of Federation anglers wait for the final results on sunday
in New Martinsville. |
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| Tom Spiker (Center) wonders who will win the "Big Fish Money"
on sunday. Spiker, a fixture at the Northern Divisionals for many years, traditionally handles the lunker pot. |
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| The WVBF Northern Divisional Top Four (l to r) Gary Sapp, Mike Hansen,
Danny Brown, John Burdette. |
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