Larry Marquez wins WON Bass Tour event at Lake Havasu

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz.—A promising first round for the competitors in the WON Bass Tour event last weekend at Lake Havasu deteriorated for most of the field, but local angler Larry Marquez kept the pedal down, and won comfortably with 31.56 pounds. Relying on a lipless Lucky Craft crankbait in a small backwater area in the river, he and his daily AAA partners tallied 16.54 and 15.02 pounds consecutively, as Marquez garnered the $20,000 top prize in the pro division. With a Ranger Cup award, plus other contingency cash, his winnings came to $27,150. On a windy weekend that saw the lake level dropping slightly, there were five pro anglers who recorded 14 pounds or more on Saturday, however none but Marquez could maintain momentum. First day leader Michael Rooke, recently moved to Lake Havasu City, opened with 16.54 pounds, but a broken trolling motor kept him near the launch ramp on day two and he finished in second place with 26.35 pounds, good for $8,500. Third pl.ace among the pros was Rick Francis of Cibola, Ariz. who weighed in 26.21 pounds and earned $6850, while fourth place went to Joe Uribe Jr. of Lake Forest who jumped from 21 st place, despite only catching four bass on Sunday. He finished with 24.99 pounds and took home $6590. Rounding out the top five spots was Michael Knight of Bakersfield with 24.52 pounds, good for $4,560. Despite the conditions, there were a number of quality bass recorded, the largest being a 6.21 pounder taken by AAA competitor Tom Biciolis on Saturday. It was an $800 prize. On Sunday, pro Jeff Wylie of Scottsdale, Ariz. took a 4.48-pound largemouth, biggest of the day and also garnered $800. In the AAA ranks, Kent Palmer of Alpine finished on top with 28.94 pounds, earning him $1,600, while Lester Albury of San Marcos tok second with 26.78 pounds. San Diego County finished its sweep of the division as Charles Harney of Lakeside finished third with 24.25 pounds. Rounding out the top 5 places were in foruth, Kevin Dawson of Sandy, Utah with 23.12 pounds, while Todd McIntosh of La Quinta took fifth with 21.03 pounds. Complete results of the tournament appear on www.wonbass.com.