Tim Horton absolutely blew away his competition and won the Bassmaster Elite Series at Lake Champlain by a killer 13-pound margin. His final total was 83-10. He caught a 19-04 limit today in less than an hour – just a few dozen casts – and quit fishing.

He'd put four bass in his livewell, and his fifth fish was a Champlain monster that hit a crankbait. It sealed his decision to return to the ramp.

His confidence that he'd won was evident when he returned to the Plattsburgh Boat Basin launch site 5 hours early, at 10 a.m., and lounged in his boat at the dock – eating lunch, greeting fans and killing time until the weigh-in.

The weather was a bit breezy but not horrible on the big lake today, and the anglers didn't have to spend a lot of time navigating big waves – just 4-foot rollers.



The first victim rolled under by the Horton tidal wave was Skeet Reese, who was able to climb up the leaderboard every day and ended one spot shy of the win, taking 2nd with 70-13.

Steve Kennedy, who lead by 4 ounces on day 1 but couldn't maintain the pace, dropped to 3rd with 68-13 total.

Tommy Biffle bagged 19-04 today for a 4-day total of 68-11 and 4th place.

Cliff Pace was 5th with 67-02.

The rest of the Top 12 final standings shook out like this:

6. Takahiro Omori: 67-00
7. Shaw Grigsby: 65-15
8. Yusuke Miyazaki: 65-11
9. Fred Roumbanis: 64-15
10. Britt Myers: 64-02
11. Peter Thliveros: 63-04
12. Bradley Hallman: 62-01



ESPN Outdoors
Photo: ESPN Outdoors

Horton said his flurry this morning 'was like experiencing fishing for the first time.'

Kevin VanDam went into Champlain with a 62-point advantage over Reese in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race. VanDam missed the final cut and ended in 27th place. Reese needed to finish 4th or better to overtake KVD, so his 2nd place finish gave him that and more.

There are 3 events left in the Series.

Horton Excited

"It's exciting (to win), and having my family here was really neat," Horton said. His wife and daughters drove from Alabama for 24 hours with about 3 hours of sleep to get to the weigh-in to see him win his third tour-level tournament.

"I ran about 70 miles this morning and fished for an hour, and it was the most unbelievable hour I ever had," he noted. "It was like experiencing fishing for the first time. It was bliss. I wish everybody who fishes could have an hour like that."

He caught around 30 fish on a crankbait in the last 40 minutes of the hour he fished. Then he decided to run back to the launch site.

"I didn't want to get caught in bad winds, so I came back at 10:30 a.m.," he said. "I didn't want to get into any trouble. It seemed like the safest thing to do to come in and tie up, and not risk anything.

"If we'd have been where 8- to 10-pounders were common I couldn't have done it. It turned out to be a good move, since the wind got up later in the day."

Though he caught most of those fish today on a crankbait and weighed in 4 of them, the other fish bit a Booyah jig, as did most of his fish the last 3 days. One rockpile produced most of his catch.

The full details of his winning pattern, and pattern information for the other top finishers, will be posted soon.

2nd: Reese Fished Two Tournaments

Reese has said it before, and said it again today: "I'll take 2nd place all day long if I can win Angler of the Year."

He weighed the day's best bag (20-04) today to grab 2nd place with 70-13, and take the lead in the AOY race.

ESPN Outdoors
Photo: ESPN Outdoors

Skeet Reese has moved back into the Angler of the Year lead.

"We had two tournaments going today," he added. "The AOY was one, and the other was against these 11 guys here."

About his finish, "I feel good," he said. "I had a great day of fishing. I was able to figure it out day by day and bring in bigger and bigger bags.

"I came across a school on the second day, but I didn't know what I'd found until late yesterday. I started hurting them pretty good, and was excited to be able to start on them today.

"I hunkered down on my one school today, and just milked it for all it had," he noted.

He ran 50 to 60 miles each day to the south end of the lake and fished outside edges of grassbeds with Lucky Craft topwaters and crankbaits.

3rd: Kennedy Had Fun

Kennedy took an early lead on day 1, then held 2nd for the next 2 days, before slipping to finish 3rd. He weighed just 14-04 today, his lightest bag of the tournament. His weights decreased every day.

"I had a lot of fun fishing a topwater frog every day," he said. "They'd knock it a foot and a half in the air, then I'd shake it and they'd come back and hit it again. All my weigh-in fish came on the frog in matted-over milfoil.

"Third place is a great finish, although I had a chance at a better bag today. I missed two 4-pounders early, then an even bigger one later. So I'm not happy with my execution today, but I've enjoyed fishing here all week.

"These are some of the most awesome bites you get all year," he added. "I had one fish today that hit five times before I caught him. It just makes it fun, just feeding them over and over until they eat it.

"The big ones didn't come back for it usually, but the 2- to 3-pounders would come back a bunch of times."

He said there are thick beds of water chestnut in the very south end of the lake, and he and Davy Hite caught big fish there on day 1.

ESPN Outdoors
Photo: ESPN Outdoors

Steve Kennedy had a blast and said, 'These are some of the most awesome bites you get all year.'

"They started mowing or cutting that stuff on day 2 with these big machines, and by day 3 they'd got all my spots. But they have to cut it or it'd take over and you'd never get a boat in there. Hydrilla is tame compared to that stuff."

4th: Biffle Feels Good

Biffle generally increased his weights every day, and brought in his tournament-best bag of 19-04 (identical to Horton's day-4 bag) today, giving him 68-11 and 4th place.

"I feel good about my finish," he said. "I moved up every day. I had a chance at a real good bag today, but I lost a couple 5-pounders.

"It was rough out there today but I went south anyway – my back's killing me," he added.

He elected not to make the run yesterday, and said on the weigh-in stage that he regretted that decision, though it probably helped his sore back.

He fished grass and reeds all 4 days with topwaters and flipping baits. His biggest fish today weighed 5-02.

5th: Pace Okay With Finish

Pace gained ground daily, and also weighed his best effort today – a limit of 18-02. He totaled 67-02 for the tournament and finished 5th.

"It feels worse than 4th, but I'm happy to have put it together and made the Top 12," he said. "I improved every day, and I fished a clean event.

"Practice was not really good," he noted. "I got a few quality bites doing different things, but one key feature was common to all and that let me fish where conditions allowed me to go.

"I looked for new places every day," he added. "I had a lot of water to run today that wasn't beat up, and that enabled me to do better each day. I was kind of surprised to move up to 5th actually."

He fished topwaters and flipped in milfoil mixed with other vegetation in very shallow water.

Notable

> Day 3 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.

> All three times Horton has won a tour level event, he's done so convincingly. His first winning margin was 16 pounds at the 1999 Bassmaster Maryland Top 150. His next was 17 pounds in 2001 at the Toho Bassmaster. Today's 13 pounds is the lightest.

> Horton won at the Potomac River in 1999 in a similar manner, fishing primarily one isolated piece of structure.

> Omori had burned his right hand and finger badly when cooking oil caught fire in his kitchen a week before this tournament. Against doctor's orders, he fished – but he fished left-handed. He had only one so-so day en route to finishing 6th, and weighed today's big bass, a 6-03 brute.

> Today's Top 12 had to hit the road right after the weigh-in to drive to Buffalo, N.Y. to get ready to explore Lake Erie in the morning for the ninth of eleven Bassmaster Elite Series events.

> To view the updated AOY standings, click here.

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Timmy Horton -- Muscle Shoals, AL -- 20, 83-10 -- 315 $109,000
Day 1: 5, 21-02 -- Day 2: 5, 24-12 -- Day 3: 5, 18-08 -- Day 4: 5, 19-04

2. Skeet Reese -- Auburn, CA -- 20, 70-13 -- 295 -- $31,000
Day 1: 5, 16-04 -- Day 2: 5, 16-13 -- Day 3: 5, 17-08 -- Day 4: 5, 20-04

3. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, AL -- 20, 68-13 -- 295 -- $26,000
Day 1: 5, 21-06 -- Day 2: 5, 17-14 -- Day 3: 5, 15-05 -- Day 4: 5, 14-04

4. Tommy Biffle -- Wagoner, OK -- 20, 68-11 -- 285 -- $18,000
Day 1: 5, 15-14 -- Day 2: 5, 17-00 -- Day 3: 5, 16-09 -- Day 4: 5, 19-04

5. Cliff Pace -- Petal, MS -- 20, 67-02 -- 280 -- $17,000
Day 1: 5, 15-00 -- Day 2: 5, 16-00 -- Day 3: 5, 18-00 -- Day 4: 5, 18-02

6. Takahiro Omori -- Emory, TX -- 20, 67-00 -- 276 -- $18,500
Day 1: 5, 17-09 -- Day 2: 5, 12-07 -- Day 3: 5, 19-05 -- Day 4: 5, 17-11

7. Shaw E Grigsby, Jr -- Gainesville, FL -- 20, 65-15 -- 272 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 16-11 -- Day 2: 5, 14-03 -- Day 3: 5, 18-14 -- Day 4: 5, 16-03

8. Yusuke Miyazaki -- Mineola, TX -- 20, 65-11 -- 268 -- $14,500
Day 1: 5, 13-00 -- Day 2: 5, 20-07 -- Day 3: 5, 16-13 -- Day 4: 5, 15-07

9. Fred Roumbanis -- Auburn, CA -- 20, 64-15 -- 264 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 17-01 -- Day 2: 5, 20-03 -- Day 3: 5, 14-05 -- Day 4: 5, 13-06

10. Britt Myers -- Lake Wylie, NC -- 20, 64-02 -- 260 -- $13,500
Day 1: 5, 14-10 -- Day 2: 5, 18-07 -- Day 3: 5, 18-13 -- Day 4: 5, 12-04

11. Peter E Thliveros -- Jacksonville, FL -- 20, 63-04 -- 257 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 17-04 -- Day 2: 5, 14-07 -- Day 3: 5, 19-02 -- Day 4: 5, 12-07

12. Bradley Hallman -- Norman, OK -- 20, 62-01 -- 254 -- $13,300
Day 1: 5, 15-14 -- Day 2: 5, 16-00 -- Day 3: 5, 16-09 -- Day 4: 5, 13-10

Big Bass

> Day 4 -- Takahiro Omori -- Emory, TX -- 06-03 -- $1,000
> Day 3 -- Bradley Hallman -- Norman, OK -- 04-13 -- $1,000
> Day 2 -- Fred Roumbanis -- Auburn, CA -- 05-07 -- $1,000
> Day 1 -- Davy Hite -- Ninety Six, SC -- 05-08 -- $1,000