Brent Cripe of Logansport, Indiana took first place in the ECS Anchor Supply Tanners Creek tournament on June 10th. Brent weighed in 2 bass totaling 5.32 pounds including a beautiful 4.17-pound smallmouth, which took second biggest bass of the tournament.

      Taking second place was Bruce Mathews of Memphis, Indiana with one bass weighing 4.56 pound. Bruce also took big bass of the tournament with his one big fish bite. In Third was Dave Gipson of Anderson, Indiana with 2 bass totaling 4.15 pounds.

      As river tournaments go this time of year. It was not much of a surprise to have fog but this was a major slowdown in the tournament with a 2-hour delay on the take off. "We came to the ramp at 3:30 and the skies were clear", said tournament director Dan Simmons. "We started checking in boats at 4:00am and about 5:00 we seen it coming". The thick fog rolled in and we had no choice but to delay the tournament", said Dan. With the 2-hour delay an extra hour was added to the tournament to give anglers more opportunity to catch fish. Even with the fog lifting conditions were less than favorable with high muddy water throughout the week putting a doubt in may anglers minds.

Top 5 anglers of the tournament from left to right- Brent Cripe, Bruce Mathews, Dave Gipson, Jim Fisher and Bob Parker.

Winner of the tournament Brent Cripe with Stepson Reed holding his beautiful 4.17 pound smallmouth.	Bruce Mathews with Big bass of the tournament.

      "I caught the first keeper about 10:00am and the second about 1:00pm on Red Shad Berkley Power Craws fishing in a creek up river above Cincinnati", said winner of the tournament Brent Cripe. "I want to thank my partner and an excellent partner and boater he was, Gary Edwards", said Brent. I would also like to give a special thanks to Solar-Bat for my entry". Brent won the free entry in the Solar-Bat contest for free tournament entries next year. He also won a rod from Jacks or Better in Kokomo, Indiana for second biggest bass of the tournament with a beautiful 4.17-pound smallmouth. Brent and Gary were catching smallmouth and spotted bass nearly all day in the area they were in.

      Taking second place and big bass of the tournament was Bruce Mathews with his one keeper weighing 4.56 pound and netting him an extra $652. for big bass. Bruce caught his big bass on a new bait on the market. A Snoozers 3 ½ inch roadkill tube. Bruce laughed as he told me his bait shop Lilly Pad in Jeffersonville was the only store in the area carrying the baits. "I was fishing in Grants Creek in a foot of water next to the channel when I caught my bass", said Bruce. Bruce is a veteran angler in the world of tournaments, but is in the run for rookie of the year in the invitational this being his first year in invitational competition. Bruce is currently leading the race of Rookie of the Year with 143 points with Barry Grider holding a firm second place with 135 points.

      In third was the familiar face of Dave Gipson of Anderson, Indiana. Dave weighed in 2 keeper bass totaling 4.15 pounds after a long ride to the Big Kentucky River to the south. "The water was so high in the Kentucky River we ran over the dam going up and coming back", said Dave. Dave caught his bass on a Bass Pro Brand Green tube hitting on wood in the Kentucky River. "We only got to fish for 3 hours after the long trip and nearly never made it back in time with a 40 minute delay getting through the locks on the Ohio", said Dave. To complicate things even more we hit a log that was submerged under the water which nearly took the motor off". "The motor was still running fine so we fired it up and came on back", said Dave. "When we got to the check in boat we only had 30 seconds to spare", said Dave.

      "I want to thank all that stuck it out and fished the tournament under these conditions", said Dan Simmons. "I spent most of the week on the telephone checking conditions and hoping it would improve before tournament time", said Dan. Throughout the week conditions seem to improve more with each day after high water on the main river and considerable trash had put a doubt in their minds of whether to hold the tournament or not.

      "No one hit the progressive big bass pot this tournament which was 5.5 pounds which will let it carry over to the Monroe tournament where it's highly possible someone could take home a healthy check for one big bass", said Dan. As of this tournament the pot was at $2,468. and with the additional carryover from this tournament could give a healthy check at Monroe for big bass. "I want to give a special thank you to Ed Stafford and the folks at ESC Anchor Supply who sponsored this tournament". "They handed out crying towels at registration on Saturday and I'm sure many of them were used on Sunday", said Dan.

      In the Angler of the Year race Jim Hawkins is holding a good lead with 178 points over second place contender Mark Dove with 159 points. In 3rd is Bruce Mathews with 143 points, 4th Dave Gipson 141 points and 5th Brent Cripe with 137 points. Who will be wearing this years Angler of the Year gold ring is yet to be seen. At this time the race for Angler of the Year is still up for grabs and too close to call. The same runs in the race to make the top 40 classic in the IBF circuit. Making each tournament now can make the difference between being there or not. For the full results check the IBF Website at: www.ibf.com for the latest up to date results and standings.

      Unfortunately not all tournaments are held on fair weather days, but tournaments such as this bring out the true meaning of competition. The low weights are no indication of this excellent fishery on the Ohio, but rather is an indication that under the conditions this is a thriving area of water that supplies good fishing for the tri-state area. Tanners Creek is located in the southeast corner of Indiana on the Ohio bordering Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

Top Anglers in the Tournament

Name	Weight	Money
Brent Cripe	5.32	$2,150
Bruce Mathews	4.56	$1,212
Dave Gipson	4.15	$842
Jim Fisher	4.11	$534
Bob Parker	3.51	$370
Gary Edwards-Tie	3.42	$233
Barry Grider-Tie	3.42	$233
Jeff Poteet	3.38	$185
James Micheal Quinlin	3.09	$171
Jim Hawkins	2.36	$157
Lee Roy McGregor	2.26	$144
Ronny New	2.09	$137
Mike Brewington	2.02	$130
Clem Schmidt	1.95	$123
Joe Saunders	1.88	$116
Dale Fess	1.79	$110

Stats for tournament:

• Partly cloudy, 85 degrees
• Water-Muddy with trash
• 82 Boats
• 163 anglers
• 43 anglers weighing in fish
• 55 fish weighed in
• Total weight 81.13 pounds
• Average weight per fish 1.48