The 2012 Lucas Oil Summer Classic on gin clear Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nev. was a huge hit with West Coast anglers. Names like Bill McDonald, Gary Dobyns, Derek Yamamoto, Tim Klinger, Joe Uribe and Justin Kerr, well-known in bass fishing circles out west, participated in a three-day tournament presented by Ranger Boats and ran by California based American Bass.
Boulder City, Nev.-angler John Mackey took top honors in the pro-co draw shared weight format with a three day total of 42.30 pounds. He won $40,000 along with the title. Mackey fished mainly topwaters during the tournament but had to adjust on the final day to secure the win.
“This win is huge for me, and I am speechless,” Mackey said. “I ran around and threw topwater baits for most of the tournament. I had some great partners, and I have a great wife who lets me fish. With four kids at home and a construction business to run, it takes someone special; she let me pre-fish the last week and that really helped. Lake Mead changes a lot daily, with up and down water levels, heat and wind, and to win here, you have to be on the water a lot. I worked hard for this win. I can’t thank Lucas Oil enough for putting on a quality event like this one for us out here.”
Up and coming pro Klayton Belden had three soild days and took second with 15 bass weighing 37.31 pounds. He won $10,000.
Local favorite Tim Klinger took third with 15 bass weighing 37.11 pounds pocketing $9,500 followed by fulltime pro Justin Kerr with 36.98 pounds who took home $7,000 dollars.
Aaron Leon, also of Boulder City, and high school friend of Mackey, took the Co-Angler side with 15 bass weighing 41.42 anchored with a 4.86 pound largemouth that also took big bass of the event. The big bass win featured a Ranger Z118 powered by a Mercury 150 outboard and $6,000.00.
“I am between boats right now and will be using this new Ranger for all of my fishing,” said Leon. “I caught the big one on a buzzbait and was on the edge of my seat until the last angler weighed in.”
Temperatures of up to 108 degrees made this an endurance test for the 126 anglers and the bass, but the American Bass Tourament staff and release boat support staff lost less than 3 percentof the catch for the event with well over 800 bass brought to the scales.
We will have photo’s from the tournament and John Mackey will detail his win on Weighing In Radio with Terry Brown on Wired2Fish very soon.
