Chamber of Commerce announces winners of 36th annual bass tourney
First place went to Monica and John Hampel of Reno, Nev.
>> The Lake County Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the winners of the 36th Annual Clear Lake Team Bass Tournament, generously sponsored by Sutter Health. This tournament began in 1987 and immediately demonstrated to the community how important bass tournaments are to our local economic development. This year, 111 teams registered for the event, bringing 222 anglers to Lake County for the two-day tournament.
Coming in first place were Monica and John Hampel of Reno, Nevada. This is the first time in the history of this tournament that a woman has taken the top prize. In addition to the 55.73 pounds of bass that the team caught during the two-day tournament, Monica also
caught the largest fish on both days. On Saturday, she caught a bass that weighed 8.18 pounds and another that weighed 8.03 pounds on Sunday. The couple left the tournament with $7,000 of prize money, $5,000 for receiving first place and $1,000 for each of the “Big Fish.”
The second-place team, Paul Bailey and Seth Dandridge, of Kelseyville and Clearlake Oaks respectively, caught 54.84 pounds of bass and took home $5,000 in prize money. The team won an additional $1,000 for catching the “Heaviest Bag” as the five bass that they caught on Sunday weighed 31.94 pounds. The thirdplace team, Mike Hitomi of Lucerne and Frank Ono of Hidden Valley Lake, caught 51.83 pounds of bass and took home $2,000 in prize money.
In addition to acknowledging Sutter Health's generous sponsorship, the Lake County Chamber of Commerce would also like to thank American Bass. Craig Sutherland has served as the tournament's director for the last three years.
He and his team have done a wonderful job organizing the logistics of the event to ensure the safety of the anglers and the bass alike. The Clearlake Bassmasters served as the release boat for the event, ensuring that all of the bass caught during the tournament were released back into the lake, alive and well. Finally, we are also grateful to David Noland of HD Video Creations for serving as the event's photographer and videographer.
Planning has already begun for the 37th Annual Clear Lake Team Bass Tournament, so look forward to more information as soon as a date has been secured. All tournament results are now live on the Lake County Chamber's website: www. lakecochamber.com/clearlake-team-bass-tournament/