Hembree and Prater Dodge Rain For Big Win
April 10, 2021-Morristown, TN: The third stop of the 2021 Morristown Marine Team Trail blasted off in Morristown, TN at Cherokee Lake with a field of 213 boats. Anglers were greeted with a cloudy, 45 degree blast off. The fishing was tough for the most part, with heavy rains and muddy waters in recent days. In all, 449 bass hit the scales for a total weight of 1,027.82 lbs. Of the 213-boat field, 115 teams weighed at least one fish. 55 teams weighed a 5 fish limit. The total payout for the Cherokee tournament was $46,215.00 across 36 places and all contingency money.
Todd Hembree of Jacksboro, TN and Carl Prater of Jacksboro, TN took home 1st Place with a 19.42 lb bag anchored by a toad largemouth of 5.28 lbs. They told me they caught most of their fish up the lake with soft plastics and culled all day. Todd and Carl collected a $10,000.00 check for 1st place, along with Highest Finishing Skeeter money of $3,000.00 and $250 for Highest Finishing Humminbird/MinnKota Bonus. The total winnings for their hard work is $13,250.00!! Congrats on a great bag during a tough day, guys!
Following them in 2nd place was Fred Casto of Wallen, TN and Preston Craig of Lenoir City, TN with 16.55 lbs. Fred and Preston will collect a check for $3,000.00 as well as 2nd Highest Finishing Humminbird/MinnKota Bonus of $150.00. Total payout for their day of fishing $3,150.00. Way to go, Fred and Preston!
3rd place went to Joe Slagle of Bristol, TN and Garrett Clark of Kingsport, TN with a 5 fish total of 15.09 lbs. Joe & Garrett’s bag won them a check for $2,500.00.
4th place belonged to Joey Solomon of Elizabethton, TN and Daniel Taylor of Elizabethton, TN with a total weight of 14.95 lbs on a 5 fish limit. Good job, guys! Joey and Daniel cashed a check for $2,000.00 for their day of fishing.
Rounding out the top 5 was the team of James Bentley of Luttrell, TN and Danny Bentley of Greeneville, TN with a 5 fish weight of 14.73 lbs. James and Danny collected a 5th place check for $1,250.00. They also won 2nd Highest Finishing Skeeter ($1,500.00) and Highest Finishing Morristown Marine New Bucks($1,000.00). Their total payout for today was $3,750.00!! Congrats, James and Danny!
The Citizens Bank Big Largemouth went to Derek Turner of Jacksboro, TN and Tyler Albright also of Jacksboro, TN with a 5.44 lb behemoth! Nice fish, guys!
The Citizens Bank Big Smallmouth went to Randy and Kelley Penney of New Market, TN with a 3.90 lb smallmouth. Congrats!
The two teams winning the Gray Insurance Group Bonus were Kenneth Owens and Kenny Botts (14.24 lbs) and Brian Dortch and Jason Marshall (12.54lbs). These teams received an extra $250 each, just for choosing Gray Insurance Agency out of LaFollette, TN. Give Gray Insurance and Randy Heatherly a call and get in on the payout!
Morristown Marine Bucks paid out to James and Danny Bentley (14.73 lbs) for Highest Finishing New Boat from Morristown Marine to the tune of $1,000.00 and to Rusty Wilson and James Bailey (11.51 lbs) for $750.00 on 2nd Highest Finishing New Boat from Morristown Marine. Highest finishing Pre–owned Boat from Morristown Marine went to Brandon Hartgrove and Steve Robinson (13.32 lbs) for $500 and to Mitch Cochran and Ean Carroll (9.39 LBS) for $250. We appreciate each of you choosing to purchase your boat at Morristown Marine. Thank You!!
Morristown Marine would also like to thank Skeeter and Yamaha as well as Humminbird and MinnKota for their support and partnership, The Morristown Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, The Morristown Fire Dept for filling our fish care tanks and Cherokee Park staff for having gravel hauled in and spread for our trailer set up. The Hamblen County Sherriff’s Office for help with traffic control, Gray Fox Insurance Agency, Citizen’s Bank, Cumberland Gap Spring Water, Old Stage Printing, Volunteer Trenching, Power Pole, Lakeview Dock, Taylor Plumbing, Smokey Mountain Fiberglass, Shotcrete, Ridge Realty, B&H Sales, Valu RX Drugs, Rainey Battery, L&M Sales. Without our sponsors, our tournaments would not be what they are today. Please show your appreciation by choosing to do business with these sponsors.
Amanda and I want to send a special thanks to the team of folks that make these tournaments possible. Mitch Martino, Shannon Glass, Bradley & Samantha Walker, Cody and Kacie Shipley, Shawna Slagle, and Kevin Connor. Thank you, to each one of you, for countless hours of work and devotion to make this thing go!
The 2021 season is in full stride and with only 2 tournaments to go in the regular season, the time is flying by!! We appreciate every one of you for coming out to fish with us. We’ll be ready to do it all over again in two weeks on April 24 at Douglas Lake and the City of Dandridge in Jefferson County. The big females should be up and ready to give us some really good fishing there. See you all then!
** All checks will be available for pick-up at the store on Monday and Tuesday. Remaining checks will be mailed Wednesday to the address we have on file for you. We are beginning to utilize email for logistics information and economic impact reports. Please check your email and look for emails from Morristown Marine Team Trail.
We ask that you take about 30 seconds to complete the Economic Impact Survey: https://bit.ly/cherokee_econ