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| FishTails |
Panas Nets Nine for State Title
[October 21, 2002] - BY CHRIS LAWRENCE
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| Scott Panas captured the WVBF State Championship October 20, 2002 at
Sutton Lake. |
Martins Ferry, Ohio angler Scott Panas sat on cloud nine as West Virginia Bass Federation officials tallied the
final numbers of the 2002 State Tournament. Fresh back from his first state team appearance in Connecticut, Panas
noted it had been an exciting couple of weeks.
"Last year was the first year I ever made the state team. This has really been an exciting month!" Said
an elated Panas showing no signs of nervousness.
Why should he? Panas had scored a four-fish limit on day one. His stringer included a 4lb-4oz. smallmouth and put
him in the drivers' seat. His second day went almost as well with one of the few five-fish limits of the weekend
at a drawn-down Sutton Lake.
"The cloud cover really helped me." Noted the Mound City Bassmasters member. "A lot of guys down
here Carolina rig and fish really deep. Those clouds kept the fish shallow and that's what helped me out. I was
able to fish to my strength."
Cloud cover would be an understatement as fall showers blanked central West Virginia for the event. Miserable mist
and steady shower activity kept everything wet. An autumn chill also kept most anglers bundled up with temperatures
just low enough to be uncomfortable.
Panas says the real story of the tournament is the fact that he was there at all.
"There was a mix up in our vacation schedules at work." He laughed, "I didn't know if my boss was
going to let me come. I showed up just in time for the Friday night meeting and I hadn't pre-fished at all."
In fact, the last time Panas had been on Sutton Lake Bill Clinton was the president, George W. Bush was Governor
of Texas and Bob Wise was still representing the Lake's district in Congress. But Panas consulted with a couple
of club members and got at least enough information to get started.
"My partner and I fished this in spring 1999." Said Panas. "I went to a bank where we had caught
fish that time and started throwing topwater and flukes. We caught a couple, so my partner and I stayed there.
Eventually he caught a limit and I had four including that big smallmouth."
The smallmouth was one of those bass that fell prey to the topwater bite, a Spit 'n Image to be exact. But truly
the 100 to 200 yard stretch of bank really didn't stand out. It was a sloping bank with rocks on the main lake-which
describes 90 percent of the lake at Sutton.
"I think those clouds just kept them in there and active."
Panas finished with a total of 11lbs 5oz. The strong two day bag left the nearest competition well behind. John
Smith of Capitol City Bassmasters took second with 8lbs-5oz. John Burdette of BCW Bassmasters carried 8lbs-3oz
to the scales for third. Fourth was Bobby Sizemore of Ohio River Six with 7lbs-2oz. Rounding out the top 5 was
Matt Cochran of Bear Creek Bassmasters with 6lbs-15oz.
The rest of the top finishers qualifying for the state team for 2003 were:
Tim Isaacs A&B Bassmasters 6lbs-2oz
Russ Smarr Elk river Bassmasters 6lbs-1oz
Robby Fleshman Kanawha River Bassmasters 5lbs-14oz
Roger Cook A&B Bassmasters 5lbs-12oz
Brad Napier Cardinal Bassmasters 5lbs-9oz
Ed Bryan A&B Bassmasters 5lbs-7oz
Kevin Goff Outcast Bassmasters 5lbs-1oz
Lester Marsh Mon Valley Bassmasters 5lbs-0oz |
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