SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY, La - When her primary Red River spot produced zero bass for her Saturday, Laura Gober of Pendergrass, Ga., went to Plan B for the limit of five bass that sewed up a win for her at the Mercury Marine Women’s Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats event out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La.
With a total weight of 34 pounds, 9 ounces, Gober capped off the five-event WBT season by keeping in front of first-day leader Lisa Johnson of Center, Ala., who finished second with 30 pounds, 2 ounces. Third place was taken by one-time WBT winner Sheri Glasgow of Muskogee, Okla., whose 28-00 put her squarely in place to claim the 2007 Toyota Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year crown. In fourth was the reigning WBT Championship winner Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., who had 27-12. In fifth place was Jo Dee Lake of Bessemer, Ala., who had 27-00.
Gober’s prize was a $50,000 Triton/Mercury boat rig.
“Last year at Dardanelle I was in the top six, but bombed there this year, so it’s great to come here and finish off the year with a win,” said Gober, who led the event on the second day.
The key to her win was “private water,” spots she didn’t have to share with any other contender.
“I live on Lake Lanier (Georgia), which is deep and clear. When I got here Friday and saw the river, I said, ‘No way,’ not here. I thought I might as well turn around and go home because I’m not used to anything like what I saw on the Red River.
“Then I decided to search for clear water, and found some, but couldn’t get a bite. But I knew bass were in the river, so I went looking for places nobody else was.”
Gober found small, shallow oxbows in 2 feet or less of water. When the spot that produced her limit on Friday didn’t help her out Saturday, she moved to her backup spot, a series of small holes near the Red River’s Jimmy Davis Bridge she’d located earlier.
There she threw a Zoom Baby Brush Hog in junebug and camo colors, plus a Netbait Baby Paca Craw in sapphire and black/blue flake rigged with a 3/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight and a blood-red Peter T Force Bead.
The first-day leader, Johnson adapted quickly to the river.
“I’ve never been here before,” said Johnson, co-owner of a tree service business in Alabama. “I had to learn how to work in a river that changes so much — up, then dropping, then up again. It was different each day.”
Her primary lure was a black Zoom Trick Worm rigged with a 1/8-ounce weight and dressed with Rejuvenate, a fish attractant.
In the co-angler division, Karol Whitehurst of Winnsboro, Texas, won taking home $1,000 cash and a Triton/Mercury boat rig valued at $25,000. Her 30-pound, 1-ounce total bested Dianne Kegley or Norphlet, Ark., who finished second with 16 pounds, 9 ounces.
“I’m turning pro next year,” said Whitehurst, 50, an X-ray technician whose Saturday victory was her second this year as a WBT co-angler.
“I didn’t use any techniques here that I used to win at Lake Guntersville (Alabama),” added Whitehurst. “The river was totally different, and I had to adjust each day according to the river conditions and to each pro’s spots and styles.”
Her primary lure was a Texas-rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hog in a green-pumpkin and blue flake finish. Her largest fish of the tournament, a 5-1, came on a custom-made, 1-ounce football jig.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Cheryl Bowden of Plano, Texas, with 15-12; Robertina Filburn of Vine Grove, Ky., with 15-01; and Donna Newberry of Van Buren, Ark., with 14-06.
The Lake Keowee championship out of Greenville, S.C., Feb. 21-23, 2008, is the event that’s up next for the Women’s Bassmaster Tour.
Sponsors of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour include Mercury Marine, Triton Boats, Lowrance Electronics, MotorGuide, Advance Auto Parts and Plano. Local sponsors of the Red River event include the Shreveport Regional Sports Authority and Bass Pro Shops.
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