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Jeff Coble Wins Redman All-American
Jeff Coble, 37, of Henderson, N.C., won the 17th annual Red Man
All-American Bass Championship and $100,000 Saturday on Lake Hamilton
near Hot Springs, Ark., with a final round catch of five bass weighing
11 pounds, 6 ounces.
Coble caught five bass weighing 12 pounds, 2 ounces on
opening day
of the three-day championship event, which features the best weekend
anglers in the nation, to take the early lead. He then boated five
bass weighing 11 pounds on day two to retain his lead. After starting
from scratch with the other finalists on Saturday, he caught a
five-bass limit using a jerkbait, crankbait and plastic worm to edge
Keith Green of Arkadelphia, Ark., by 5 ounces - the narrowest margin
of victory in Red Man All-American history.
"I caught a couple of fish on a jerkbait early, then
switched to a
crankbait," said Coble, who was fishing his 4th All-American after 16
years on the tournament trail. "I was pretty confident that 10 pounds
might win, 11 pounds would probably win and 12 pounds would definitely
win."
Coble's highest All-American finish prior to Saturday's win
came
in 1992 when he placed eighth on the Arkansas River near Muskogee,
Okla.
Rounding out the top five competitors were Green with five
bass
weighing 11 pounds, 1 ounce; Ricky Smith of Collinsville, Miss., with
five bass weighing 9 pounds, 9 ounces; Gary Simpson of Gainesville,
Fla., with five bass weighing 8 pounds, 7 ounces; and David Poort of
Olathe, Kan., with five bass weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces.
The 2000 All-American, which is the culmination of the
140-event,
1999 Red Man Tournament Trail, featured an elimination-style format.
The full field of 51 anglers competed for two days with only the top
five anglers based on heaviest total catch advancing to the final day.
In 2001, the Red Man Tournament trail, which opened
competitive
fishing to the masses in 1983, will become the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing
League (BFL) as the world's largest retailer continues its expansion
in the fishing market.
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