Ty Faber and John Gardner expected to be deer hunting in Wisconsin by Friday. There’s been a change of plans.
The Colorado anglers won the Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship on Thursday at Paris Landing State Park in the northwestern corner of Tennessee. They boated a 2-day total of 37-10 on Kentucky Lake, which not only clinched the team title, but gave each angler a 1-in-6 chance of fishing in the 2017 Bassmaster Classic next March.
Not long after they hoisted the team championship trophies over their heads, it was time for a reality check.
“This hasn’t sunk in just yet,” Gardner said. “I’m still trying to process it. I have no idea what we’re going to do tomorrow.”
Faber and Gardner drove suffered through a dreary practice session that was accompanied by wind, rain and falling temperatures. They only caught one fish between them during practice, and figured they’d be able to keep their road trip of America alive by heading for Wisconsin Thursday evening after the second day of fishing in the team tournament was complete.
But the duo lit into the bass on day 1 with a four-fish haul that weighed 22 pounds. They followed up with four more bass on Thursday that weighed 15-10. Though they only landed eight of a possible 10 bass, their total still was enough to hold of the Missouri tandem of Ashley Medley and Scott Clift, who finished second with 37-03. Barron Adams and Trevor Prince of Blue Ridge, Ga., placed third with 36-13.
The Top 3 duos will be split, and the six individual anglers will fish for 2 more days with the final berth in the Classic on the line.
Faber, 31, and Gardner, 58, won a Nitro Z30 and Mercury 225 Pro XS boat and motor package valued at $41,995. Faber also collected a $500 check for landing the big bass on Thursday (a 7-07 lunker.)
The 7 1/2-pound monster carried the bag, but it was a 1 1/2-pound squeaker they caught with 10 minutes of fishing time remaining that provided the winning edge.
“We’d have been excited before this tournament if you had told us we’d have caught eight fish,” Faber said.
Faber is a plumber by trade and Gardner a taxidermist. They’ve fished together on the Ultimate Bass Team Trail in Colorado for 6 years.
