Rough Start Ends With Big Win
April 22, 2023-LaFollette, TN: The Morristown Marine Team Trail made stop #4 of the 2023 Season in Campbell County, TN on beautiful Norris Lake at Lonas Young Park in LaFollette on Saturday morning. 258 teams registered for the tournament and the majority of them were in the water for blast off looking to claim a share of the $50,405.00 payout in one of 43 places paid. Thankfully, the rainstorms that moved through the area very early Saturday morning were gone for blast off and we were left with some light cloud cover. While the fishing weights were not indicative of the number of fish caught, they were still solid, healthy fish coming to the scales. Of the 258 registered teams, 129 of them weighed at least one fish for a total of 565 fish weighed and 561 released alive back into Norris Lake. The total weight of fish caught was 1,237.04 lbs. There were 86 teams who weighed a full 5 fish limit. Saturday morning’s blast off took 55 minutes, averaging 3.9 boats per minute, while weigh-in lasted an hour and 40 minutes, which averages out to 1.29 bags weighed per minute. We appreciate everyone’s patience and cooperation during these events. That is one of the reasons it moves so smoothly.
The team of Brance Gibson and Bradley Harveston won 1st place with a total weight of 14.94 lbs. This is a day neither of these guys will forget. About a mile from blast off, they took a rogue wave sideways while running and lost control of their boat, actually throwing both men into the water. We spoke with both guys after blast off and ensured everyone was safe and unhurt. Smartly, both men were following our Trail’s safety rules and were each wearing their life jackets and the kill switch was attached and functioned exactly as it is designed. After we met with them in the blast off boat, these two tough guys elected to continue fishing even though they were soaked, they had no spare clothes, it was not a warm morning so both of them were cold, they’d lost their wallets, cell phones……. And yet, they stayed to fish. Brance told us, we had a long run to make to get to the fish we thought we could catch, but I think we’ll stay right here close by and see what happens. If it don’t work out, we’ll head home”. Apparently, that was not in the cards. As Bradley told us at weigh in, “The good Lord took care of us twice today. Once keeping us safe during the incident and the second time was guiding us to a holler we’d never fished and catching a good bag”. Their mostly largemouth bag was anchored by a toad 4.54 lb’er that held Big Largemouth for quite a while, before eventually being replaced. Brance and Bradley received a check for $10,000.00 for their crazy day. Way to go guys!!
Following in second place was the team of John Napier and Steven Barnett with a 14.56 lb bag. John and Steven will get checks for 2nd place overall, 1st Highest Finishing Skeeter, and 1st Humminbird/MinnKota for a total payday of $8,250.00. Good job guys!
Right on their heels in 3rd place was the team of Jason Lake and David McAdams with a 5 fish limit weighing 14.51 lbs. In addition to 3rd place overall, Jason and David will get a check for 2nd Highest Finishing Humminbird/MinnKota for a total payday of $3,150.00. Great job guys!
4th place went to Ronnie Carey and James Goodin with a 14.29 lb bag. Ronnie and James also got 2nd Highest Finishing Skeeter, for a total of $3,500.00 for their day of fishing. Congrats, guys!
Rounding out the top 5 was the team of Luke Houston and Trevor Lay with a total weight of 14.17 lbs. Luke and Trevor will get checks for 5th overall, 3rd highest Finishing Skeeter, and 1st Morristown Marine Used Bucks for a total payout of $3,000.00. Great job guys!
Check out the full results here: Results with Payout
The Citizens Bank Big Largemouth went to the team of Mike Watson and Jerry Farmer with a toad green fish weighing in at 4.61 lbs. They will receive a check for $1,235.00 for catching this toad! Congrats!
The Citizens Bank Big Smallmouth payout went to the team of Shawn Brown and Jonathan Brown with a monster 4.30 lb brownie. These guys will get a check for $1,235.00 for their big fish. Way to go, guys!
Highest Finishing Minn Kota and Humminbird Bonus paid out this weekend as follows:
1st: Napier/Barnett, 14.56 lbs. $250 Humminbird/MinnKota Bonus
2nd: Lake/McAdams, 14.51 lbs. $150 Humminbird/MinnKota Bonus
Humminbird: Simply. Clearly. Better. Check out how to get in on the One Boat Network at https://www.minnkotamotors.com/ and get paid for running the best equipment on the water.
Highest Finishing Gray Fox Insurance payout went to Keith McDeerman/Von Dilbeck with 13.40 lbs for $250.00 2nd Highest Finishing Gray Fox Insurance payout went to John Carroll/Randy Heatherly with 12.02 lbs. Their choice to insure with Gray Fox Insurance paid them back $250.00 Saturday. Get in touch with Randy Heatherly and the gang at Gray Fox Insurance in LaFollette, TN and get in on the payback!
The Morristown Marine Bucks program paid out as follows:
Morristown Marine New Bucks:
1st: O’Quinn/O’Quinn, 12.94 lbs. $1,000.00 Bonus.
2nd: Ownby/Lusk, 12.62 lbs. $750 Bonus.
The Morristown Marine New Bucks pays back those who purchased a brand-new boat from us in 2020, 2021 or 2022. This is just our way of saying “Thank You” for choosing your new boat from us.
Morristown Marine Pre-Owned Bucks:
1st: Houston/Lay, 14.17 lbs. $500 Bonus.
2nd: Wilson/Houston, 12.76 lbs. $250 Bonus
Thank you both for choosing to spend your hard-earned dollars at Morristown Marine. All you have to do is purchase a certified pre-owned boat from Morristown Marine to qualify for this payout.
Highest Finishing Skeeter Bonus:
- Napier/Barnett: 14.56 lbs, $3,000.00
- Carey/Goodin: 14.29 lbs, $1,500.00
- Houston/Lay: 14.17 lbs, $1,000.00
- Milton/Sharp: 14.01 lbs, $800.00
- Brown/Brown: 13.62 lbs, $700.00
- Lee/Harrison: 13.33 lbs, $500.00
- O’Quinn/O’Quinn: 12.94 lbs, $250.00
- Clinton/Chapman: 12.88 lbs, $200.00
- Noble/Hunt: 12.66 lbs, $150.00
- Ownby/Lusk: 12.62 lbs, $100.00
As with previous tournaments this year, Tom’s Sporting Goods and GHAC are sponsoring gift cards to Tom’s Sporting Goods for the 11th Highest Finishing Skeeter. For the Norris tournament, that goes to 23rd place, Ron Bishop and Jason Matherly with 12.47 lbs. Congrats guys! And a big thank you to Tom’s Sporting Goods and Goble Heating and Cooling.
Again this tournament, Abu Garcia and Tim Hoskins are giving away to brand new Abu Garcia Revo baitcasters to the 1st place out of the money. This time, that goes to Donnie Skelton and Donnie Skelton Jr at 44th place with 10.85 lbs. Way to go guys! And a big thanks to Tim Hoskins for putting this together and Abu Garcia for supplying the reels!
Morristown Marine would like to give a special thanks to Skeeter Boats, Yamaha, Humminbird, MinnKota, Gray Fox Insurance, Campbell County, Campbell County Sheriffs Office, Jay Munsey and the team with Parks/EMA for help with parking, Old Stage Printing, Volunteer Trenching, Jimmy Taylor Plumbing, Lake View Dock, Citizens Bank, Cumberland Gap Spring Water, Jerry’s Bait Shop, Value RX Pharmacy, Jefferson County, The Roane Alliance/City of Rockwood, GH&C, Toms Sporting Goods, AZ Rags, Abu Garcia and Smoky Mountain Fiberglass for sponsoring the 2023 Morristown Marine Team Trail. If not for the help of these sponsors, this tournament trail could not exist. Thank you all so much for your support of our anglers.
We want to thank our staff and crew for another great event. We also want to thank you, the anglers, for coming out in record numbers, again, to fish with us. There are a number of tournament trails these days and we sincerely appreciate you choosing to fish with us. Next stop: Watts Bar Lake, Tom Fuller Park in Roane County, TN on May 6! See you then for the last stop of the 2023 regular season!
Please take a moment to complete the Economic Impact Report for Norris: Here
