Everything went right for Chris Risner and Timothy Eaton during Friday’s second round of the Bassmaster Team Championship on Lake Guntersville.
Even some things they never could have imagined.
The Michigan anglers, who qualified for the event through their home state’s D&R Sports Center Tournament Trail, caught five bass that combined to weigh 24-13 and claimed the title with a 2-day weight of 48-70. Two of their best fish came around mid-morning on one magical cast.
“Chris had just finished telling me that he needed me to catch an 8-pounder,” Eaton (on the right in photo) said. “Then on the very next cast, I got a bite and set the hook. I couldn’t believe it. It was 8 pounds of fish, but it was two of them on the same bait — a 5-pounder and a 3-pounder.
“That’s when we started to feel like maybe it was just meant to be. This is our biggest dream come true.”
Risner and Eaton finished just ahead of the Texas team of Dean Alexander and Thomas Martens (46-10) and the Louisiana pairing of Nickolas LeBrun and Randy Deaver (45-4).
Now the six anglers from the Top 3 teams will compete individually against one another on Saturday in a fish-off. The winner will earn a bid to the 2016 Bassmaster Classic.
The Classic fish-off was originally slated for Friday and Saturday. But since Thursday’s round of team competition was wiped out by fog, the fish-off has been shortened to 1 day with two separate sessions.
The six anglers will leave Lake Guntersville State Park at 6:30 a.m. Saturday and return to the park for the day’s first weigh-in at 10:30 a.m. Then as soon as the morning weigh-in is completed, they will go back onto the lake for a second four-hour session.
They’ll be allowed five fish for each session, and the angler with the highest total weight at the end of the day will earn a Classic berth.
