Wild wet windy weather were the words to describe the weather that we persevered through at the final even for the OKBT season on September 7/8 on Charleston Lake. But that was not to deter any of the 83 die hard anglers from taking one last opportunity for the year to get some valuable AOY points and come away with a victory.
Saturday saw the skies open and rain all day long. Add to that some wind and it made for an uncomfortable day if you didn’t have good rain gear with you. The fish didn’t seem to mind though as numbers and size were being submitted for judging. Chris Weir was on fish and posting quality all day. Holding on through most of the day he would walk away with a solid 4th place to go into day two anchored by a nice 20.00” smallmouth. Day 1 ended with Chris Butzen leading with 86.25” followed closely by Shane Fernandez and Kris Totosko both with 85.75”.
Sunday came around with a rapid drop in temperature overnight and high winds. The call was for 25-30kph with gusts of up to 50kph and I am sure they were close on the call. That didn’t seem to phase anyone as once again the fish were hitting the board. If you could get to your areas the bass were munching. Some new names were coming up the board with catches and there was still hope that someone could pull of a win with the right fish. The board went dark with 90 minutes to go, and we would have to wait to see the results at the awards.
Chris Butzen came through with his first win in the OKBT with a two-day total of 175.00”. Ryan Tyler put up a 169.25” bag to take home second and another first timer to the podium, Shane Fernandez put up a solid 167.75”. Some great fish rewarded these guys after two tough days on the water. Dave Poole took home big fish honours with a 20.25” largemouth.
The angler of the year race was tight but top honours went to Mike Morand. For his efforts all year Mike received a Garmin Echomap Ultra2 10sv and Garmin LVS 34 Livescope system. The top Female angler award went to Karen Poole with a $500 prize from Second Wind Physiotherapy. The AOY also listed the top 25 who qualified for the OKBT Classic on September 28th. Stay tune for information about this event.
We once again did our awards ceremony and as in the past we brought out all the stops with all the sponsors gear and the big year end awards and prize lots. The Old Town Big Water 132 PDL went to Andrew J.D. Moore. What an upgrade for him to come back next season in. Scott Barton and Ryan Phipps both received Power Pole Micro Anchor systems, Clayton Bircham and Brian Arnold both have $500 to spend at Fogh, Mig Sig is going to love the Tackle 1 Ryugi Prize Pack, Cassandra Charity and T.h. Jackson Huang both have new Garmin units and Chris Visser will be using a new Daiwa Steeze AGS rod. After the big awards were drawn of the remaining gear was handed out. Everyone went home with something at the end of the day. What a way to end the year is all I have to say.
Thanks you all our sponsors who make this all happen. As I always tell you, these companies support us so it is up to us to support them. They make the OKBT better with all their help
#FoghMarine#underarmour#maloneracks#powerpole#radioworld#DaiwaCANADA
#bubba#oldtownkayaks#garmin#gagnonsports#anglerschoice#dakotalithium
#tackle1#yolotek#cancastfishing#streamside#migsigoutdoors
And last, but certainly not least a big thanks goes out to all of you anglers that came out and participated. I hope you all had a good time this year and learned a few things along the way. 2024 was an awesome season. We introduced a new format with a couple of additional ALL-IN events and some new lakes to fish. We will strive to make 2025 better again for you all. Schedule to be released soon so stay tuned.
See you all next season.