Bassmaster Elite Series veteran and 1982 Classic champion Paul Elias lost thousands of dollars worth of equipment when his camper was broken into on Easter Sunday at a boat ramp on Lake Chickamauga.
Elias, who began practice for last week's Bassmaster Southern Open that day, said the break-in occurred between 2 and 5 p.m. at a launch in the Dry Branch vicinity. The thieves got away with a Mercury racing prop worth about $1,000, along with hundreds of baits of both the hard and soft-plastic varieties. They also pilfered a large quantity of braided line.
He thinks the perpetrators must have been interrupted, as they only got away without about half of the vehicle's contents. Elias had planned to travel directly from Chickamauga to this week's Elite Series derby at Ross Barnett Reservoir, but instead had to make a quick trip home to Laurel, Miss. to restock.
"I only got broke into one other time, and all they got that time was clothes," he said. "This is the first year I've ever had a camper on the truck – in the past I've always just had a bed-topper. I'm going to have to rethink that.
"A lot of times we don't think about how much money we've got tied up in the back of our vehicles. That was a lot of merchandise."
Anyone with information about the incident can call the Rhea County Sheriff's Office at (423) 775-7837.
