CLEWISTON, FL - As summer comes to a close, the legendary bass on Lake Okeechobee are showing no signs of cooling off. Especially when it comes to winning weights. The top 20 teams in this weekend’s Roland Martin Marine Center Series qualifier presented by HUK brought 18 plus pounds to the scales. And the top team of Tony Bennett and Trey Coile sacked just under 28 pounds that netted them $6,000 plus contingency winnings in Florida’s highest paying team tournament event. 

“Honestly, it was probably the best call I made all year,” Bennett said. “I’ve struggled all year, coming over 3 to 4 times a week, sometimes 5, and putting my time in. Eventually it pays off. Today, I made the right call.”

And the call paid off. Along with the $6,000 winner’s check, the team also netted $2,000 in Ranger Cup winnings and another $250 with the Mercury Contingency. 

The familiar team of Brandon Medlock and Chuck Methaney confirmed their knowledge of Lake Okeechobee with a 2nd place finish, bringing in a limit of 23.28 pounds and netting a check for $3,000.

“We got bit all day,” Medlock admitted. “I found a couple spots earlier in the week but we had to run the whole lake to fill our limit. We were throwing mainly Bitter’s Beavers and Medlock’s Jigs and just waiting for the reeds to start shaking.”

Rounding out the top 3 was the team of Moses Wilson and Phillip Ford, that weighed in 22.37 pounds and collected $1,700 for the 3rd place finish.

“We ran familiar spots that we usually run in tournaments and it paid off for us,” Wilson said. “We were using 4 inch Gary Yamamoto Senkos® in june bug with a 1/2 oz. tungsten weight. We lost one that might have gotten us closer to 30 pounds but thankful for what we got.”

As the highest paying team tournament trail in Florida, the payouts continued. Steve Fairtrace weighed the biggest bass of 8.20 for the U.S. Sugar $500 Big Bass Award. Jae Evens collected $100 Gambler Bucks for the 2nd Big Bass Award with a 7.69 bass. Ron Veale collected $250 as the highest finisher to cross the stage in HUK gear. Jennifer Beal was highest finishing female angler and received $100 from Mary Ann Martin. The Gilbert South Florida Chevy Dealers awarded Tuff Durrance $250 as the highest finishing owner. Matt Demott received $100 from Mercury as the highest finishing youth angler. And going small paid off big with the team of Clyde Arnold and Neal Meadors, collecting $300 from AV Inspection for the smallest limit of 8.5 pounds.

With our adjusted schedule, the 4th and final qualifier is less than a month away on October 10, 2020. Remember, teams must fish 3 or the 4 qualifiers to qualify for the Championship in December with a top prize of $25,000 and more. Register here to make sure your team is set.  

We appreciate you joining us and following CDC guidelines with face masks and practicing social distancing to help prevent the spread of COVID. By doing our part, we’ll get through this together. Thanks again and we’ll see you in a few weeks.

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The following are the assigned boat numbers for Saturday, September 19, 2020 RMMC Series Qualifier.

Please refer to IMPORTANT NEWS LINK HERE for updates on check-in and weigh-in.

If you have any questions, CONTACT US.

[Download Boat Numbers]  

PLEASE WEAR A CLOTH FACESHIELD OVER YOUR MOUTH AND NOSE TO HELP PREVENT THE SPREAD OF COVID.

• Registration at marina store @ 4:30am (NOTE: anglers must wear face mask to enter store)

• Take off will be 6:45am. Boat check will be at the end of the Marina Dock. You must go through boat check or your weight will not count. Scales will be open at 1:00 just in case someone wants to come in early.

• Please stage on the outside of the locks as we will call out boat numbers from there.

• When you come back to weigh in stay on your boat at the dock. Staff will be on the dock, when your boat number is called raise your hand so we can bring you a bag. Both team members will be allowed to bring fish up to the scales

• Once you weigh-in you can pull your boat out of the water. We will send you a link via text to connect to our streaming of the leaderboard and live weigh-in. If you are not in the money we ask that you do not hang around. We don’t need big crowds so the CDC doesn’t shut us down.

*** Boat numbers will be released at approximately 5:00pm today ***

CLEWISTON, FL - Saturday was your typical summer day in Southeast Florida with light to moderate winds, heat index over 100 and hurricane threats approaching from the south. Everything was pointing to the dog days of summer on Lake Okeechobee for qualifier #2 of the 2020 season of the Roland Martin Marine Center Series presented by HUK. Apparently, the bass didn’t get that memo. They came to play.

Over 65% of the 149 teams filled their livewells with 5 bass limits. The top 20 of those limits weighed in over 18 pounds. And when they were all weighed, the team of Justin Morgan and Garrett Folbrecht cashed the big check with a winning weight of 27.32 pounds.

“Every move we made today seemed to work,” Morgan said. “We caught a couple nice ones early, moved and added another 5 pounder and Garrett added a 6.5 pounder later in the day.”

“I practiced earlier in the week and found a few bites but nothing solid so I just decided to throw a Hail Mary today and see what happens,” Morgan explained. “We went North and I was mainly throwing a Bass Assassin Tapout and a Spro poppin’ frog all day.”

As the reigning 2019 Roland Martin Marine Center Series Champion and 2020 qualifier champion, Morgan has collected over $31,000 in the series in the last 9 months. Does he have any plans for his winnings?

“I just bought a house and we have a baby boy on the way,” Morgan said. With the $6,000 first place check and another $250 in Mercury Contingency rewards, that’ll buy a lot of diapers.

The second place team of Roger Crafton and John Ochs spent the day flipping and weighed in 5 bass for 24.86 pounds and collected $3,000. The team of Joe Hobson and Jeremy Hobson rounded out the top three and weighed in 23.7 pounds that netted them $2,000.

As the highest paying team tournament trail in Florida, the payouts continued with Bob Stevens collecting the $500 U.S. Sugar Big Bass award with his 8.93 pound Okeechobee monster. Buck Durrance collected $1,000 as the highest finishing Ranger Cup compliant angler. Gambler Baits awarded $100 to the 2nd Big Bass of 8.14 pounds to Kim Summerfield. The top HUK Gear award of $250 added to Roger Crafton’s 2nd place winnings. The highest finishing Gilbert Family of Cars award of $250 added even more to the Buck Durrance payday. Amber Bass received a check for $100 as the top finishing Female Angler from Mary Ann Martin. The Bruiser Baits bonus check of $125 added to our Champions’ payday. Brice Prowant collected $100 with the Mercury Youth top finisher award. And the team of Tavano and Caldwell may have brought the smallest limit of 5.72 pounds to the stage but it was worth $300 with the AV Inspection smallest limit award.

We want to thank our anglers for enduring the summer heat and for doing their part to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by wearing masks to stage. We appreciate it and we look forward to seeing you next month on September 19, 2020 for Qualifier #3. Keep in mind, teams must fish 3 or the 4 qualifiers to compete in the Championship in December. Register now and we’ll see you next month.

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The following are the assigned boat numbers for Saturday, August 22, 2020 RMMC Series Qualifier.

Please refer to IMPORTANT NEWS LINK HERE for updates on check-in and weigh-in.

If you have any questions, CONTACT US.

[Download Boat Numbers]