Big Gamble Pays Dividends For Team Gordon
May 6, 2023-Rockwood, TN: The Morristown Marine Team Trail made the final stop of the 2023 Season in Roane County, TN on Watts Bar Lake at Tom Fuller Park in Rockwood on Saturday morning. 250 teams registered for the tournament and 228 were in the water for blast off looking to claim a share of the $49,585.00 paid out over 42 places. The weather was fantastic with a nice, cloudy start that held the shad spawn for just a little while longer and the day morphed into a high, bluebird sky with great sunshine and just a touch of wind. The fishing was tougher for most anglers than it should have been for the weather and time of year. However, the fish that came to scales were all very healthy, chunky specimens. Of the 250 registered teams, 109 teams weighed at least 1 fish for a total of 456 fish weighed with 451 of them being released alive and well back into Watts Bar Lake. A grand total of 1,084.73 lbs of fish hit the scales Saturday for an average bag weight of 9.9 lbs. In all, 61 teams weighed a full 5-fish limit. Saturday morning’s blast off took 50 minutes, averaging 4.56 boats per minute. Weigh-in was an hour and 47 minutes from scales open to scales closed, averaging 1.1 bags per minute weighed. Thanks to all of you guys for making both parts run so seamlessly!
The team of Jeremy & Philip Gordon took first place with a total weight of 19.91 lbs, anchored by a 4.79 LM. Jeremy and Philip told us they locked through to Chickamauga, eventually, as there was a barge in the lock first thing Saturday morning and caused a nearly 3-hour delay in the locking process. The Gordons told us they had found some shallow fish in practice and went straight to them. They were there and some bigger ones had moved up. The caught their limit and went to try some offshore spots for an upgrade, but was only able to cull once. With the delay on the way down and the time it takes to come back up, the guys only had about 3 hours to fish, so to catch almost 20 lbs in less than half a day is impressive. In all, The Gordons will cash checks for first place, Highest Finishing Skeeter, 1st Humminbird/MinnKota and 1st Morristown Marine New Bucks for a toal payday of $14,250.00. In addition, Jeremy’s Skeeter qualifies for Skeeter Real Money, so he will add another $5,000.00 on top of that for winning in a new Skeeter. Just another example of how it pays to fish out of a Skeeter! Way to go guys! Heck of a day!
Following in second place was the team of Brian Jordan and Mike Smith with a 18.70 lb bag. Brian and Mike will cash checks for 2nd place overall and 2nd Highest Humminbird/MinnKota, totaling $4,650.00 for their day of fishing. Congrats, guys!
3rd place was the team of Wendell Cooper and Brian Yarborough with a total weight of 16.82 lbs. Wendell and Brian will deposit $3,000.00 for their bag of fish. Great work, guys!
4th place went to Michael Vanosdale and Chase Henley with a limit weighing 14.96 lbs. Michael and Chase will get a check for $2,000.00 for their hard work! Congrats guys!
Rounding out the top 5 was the team of Brad Warfield and Tristan Warfield with 14.40 lbs. The father and son team will get a check for $1,500.00. Way to go guys!
Check out the full results here: Watts Bar Results with Payout
The Citizens Bank Big Largemouth went to the team of Bill Jenkins and Tim Wheelon with a big ol green fish weighing in at 5.47 lbs. They will receive a check for $1,160.00 for catching this toad! Congrats!
The Citizens Bank Big Smallmouth payout went to the team of Danny Crass and Jacob Hairrell with a monster 4.77 lb brownie. These guys will get a check for $1,160.00 for their big fish. Way to go, guys!
Highest Finishing Minn Kota and Humminbird Bonus paid out this weekend as follows:
1st: Gordon/Gordon, 19.91 lbs. $250 Humminbird/MinnKota Bonus
2nd: Jordan/Smith, 18.70 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 Jamie Ward/Steven Petz with 13.03 lbs for $250.00 2nd Highest Finishing Gray Fox Insurance payout went to Keith McDeerman/Von Dilbeck with 11.09 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: Gordon/Gordon, 19.91 lbs. $1,000.00 Bonus.
2nd: Ward/Petz, 13.03 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: Wilson/Houston, 11.26 lbs. $500 Bonus.
2nd: Epperson/Chapman, 2.23 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:
- Gordon/Gordon: 19.91 lbs, $3,000.00
- Teaney/Alexander: 13.67 lbs, $1,500.00
- Phillips/Phillips: 13.54 lbs, $1,000.00
- Woods/Gee: 13.12 lbs, $800.00
- Ward/Petz: 13.03 lbs, $700.00
- O’Quinn/O’Quinn: 12.85 lbs, $500.00
- Majni/Brooks: 12.78 lbs, $250.00
- Morgan/Morgan: 12.68 lbs, $200.00
- Osborne/Meade: 12.23 lbs, $150.00
- Dunn/Dunn: 12.17 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 Watts Bar tournament, that goes to 28th place, Mark Ownby and Wandell Lusk with 12.00 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 43rd place, Mike Watson and Jerry Farmer with 11.54 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, City of Rockwood and Becky Ruppe, The Roane Alliance and Jennifer Brown, Parks and Rec/Jacob Andrews 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, Campbell County, 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 and regular season. The time, effort, long hours and early mornings don’t get noticed by very many people, but we want you guys to know how much we appreciate all the sacrifices you make to help us with this trail. Thank you so much! We also want to thank you, the anglers, for coming out all season 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: 2023 Classic on Cherokee Lake at Cherokee Dam in Jefferson County, TN on October 21 & 22! We will see all who qualified then! In the meantime, we will be posting the Bass Team Champs qualifiers and the final MMTT points standings for 2023.
Please take a moment to complete the Economic Impact Report for Watts Bar: https://bit.ly/WB_Econ
