FINAL WRANGLER/B.A.S.S. National Championship FINAL.

SHREVEPORT, La.--(BW SportsWire)--April 24, 1999--

A college student, tackle shop manager, glass shop owner, landscaper and fishing guide have advanced to bass fishing's world championship event as amateurs to compete alongside the sport's top pros at the BASS Masters Classic.

They are Chris Elliott, a 23-year-old college student from Raleigh, N.C., Michael Iaconelli, 26, a tackle store manager from Runnemede, N.J., Rodney Wagley, 42, a glass shop owner, Kurt Walters, 36, a landscape manager from Aurora, Co., and Art Ferguson, 34, a fishing guide from Rochester, Mich.

The five qualified for bass fishing's world championship by winning their individual divisions at the Wrangler/B.A.S.S. National Championship held here on the Red River. Each are members of the B.A.S.S. Chapter Federation, the grass-roots side of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, which also conducts the multi-million dollar BASSMASTER Tournament Trail.

The Federation is divided into five geographical divisions. Iaconelli, who placed first overall with a three-day weight of 44 pounds, 15 ounces, will represent the Eastern Division. He also pocketed the $15,000 first place prize for the win.

Third-place overall finisher Wagley caught 43 pounds, 15 ounces to place tops in the Central Division. Elliott placed fourth overall with a score of 42 pounds, 5 ounces, to earn him the Southern vie in the Classic. Walters had 40 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the Western Division, and Ferguson caught 39 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the Northern Division.

Each of the five also become Wrangler Anglers by virtue of their finishes, meaning they will have paid entry fees in the BASSMASTER Invitational Tournament Trail of their choice for the 1999-2000 season.

The top finishers found their fish staging midway along secondary transition areas between the flats and main river channel. Such a scenario paid off for overall winner Iaconelli, a member of the Bass Fever Excaliburs club in his hometown. Throughout the competition, his fish staged on semi-submerged timber situated between a spawning flat in the back of an oxbow lake and the main river channel.

With the water dropping during the tournament, he discovered in ingenious pattern that enabled him to stay in one location even though the conditions changed.

"The fish didn't move at all, the just moved up and down the water column depending on the light conditions," he said. "On Thursday (day one), it was cloudy and windy so they were shallow, about three or four feet. The sun came out on Friday and they dropped vertically to about seven feet. Today the conditions were the same and they were at about the same depth."

Iaconelli used a Stone Jig (blue/black), a homemade bait he helped design for Fort Fishing Lures, an upstart lure company in his home state. He added a Reaction Lures' Grub (black, blue) for added strike appeal. Thursday, he used a 3/8-ounce model before switching to a 1/2-ounce size Friday and today. He used the lighter jig Thursday to prolong the bait's time in the strike zone and switched to the heavier bait to reach the deeper fish Friday and Saturday.

The jig was an asset, since it allowed him to fish the jig vertically with the changing light conditions. His lure presentation focused on pitching and flipping the jig to individual lay-down trees and allowing it to free fall to the proper depth.

"When the fish were shallow, I'd let it drop and then pick it up again," he said. "I'd never let it fall any deeper than where the fish were holding at the time. It was about like slow-rolling a spinnerbait."

He used that exact bait and technique on Friday when the fish were deeper. Specifically, it was a 1/2-ounce Viper Spinnerbait (white/chartreuse) sporting three Colorado blades.

This tournament broke two all-time records for the Wrangler/B.A.S.S. National Championship. They were for total tournament weight and single one-day catch. Collectively, the 51 anglers caught 1,422 pounds, 7 ounces from the Red River, with the single-day record broken here by Delaware's Bruce Lynch with 22 pounds, 4 ounces. That record was also set here in 1997 by Zimbabwe's Gerry Jooste.

Sponsors of the Wrangler/B.A.S.S. National Championship are: Wrangler Rugged Wear, Ranger Boats, RangerTrail Trailers, Chevrolet Trucks, ACDelco Batteries, MotorGuide Trolling Motors, Mercury, Kmart, Humminbird/Zercom, JERZEES OUTDOORS, Flowmaster Exhaust Systems, Quantum Rods and Reels, Plano Tackle Systems, Eagle Claw Fishing Hooks, Berkley Powerbait, Berkley Trilene, Pennzoil Marine, Shreveport Regional Sports Authority, Shreveport Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau.