Marlin Maniac II Takes Home the Win in Virginia Tournament

Anglers fishing the American Striper Association Tournament out of Little Creek, Virginia over the weekend of Dec. 9-10 took full advantage of the cold northwester that blew through the area a day earlier and brought more migratory stripers within range. David Nova of White Stone, Virginia won the tournament with a second day 46.25-pounder from his Mercury-powered, 34-foot Fountain, Marlin Maniac, this followed his first day fish of 27.5-pounds that provided the winning total of 73.75 pounds. His crew consisted of Mack Jones, Donnie Elbourn, Edie Jett, and Witt Blankenbaker.
Chuck Arnold opened day one with a 27.5-pound bass and almost caught up at the end of day two by adding a 42.75-pounder for the second place total of 70.25 pounds on his Contender Big Dog. That boat also earned the Lady Angler award for Mary Inman.

If there were a tough luck award, it would have gone to Bob Ackerman on Spare Parts. He got off to a strong start Saturday with a tournament-leading 39.35-pounder, and had a potential winning striper over 40 pounds aboard Sunday when an engine failure resulted in his being unable to return by the weigh-in deadline. Brian Bracey barely missed out on second place with his NC Sportsman. Though he had only a 24.5-pounder opening day, a second day 42.75-pound bass left him a mere 1/10th of a pound shy at 70.15 pounds. Jerry Harris took forth on The Handyman with almost perfectly-matched stripers of 32.6 and 32.5 pounds for a 65.1-pound total. Harry Burrows was fourth on Gad A Bout II with stripers of 36.25 and 26.65 pounds for a total of 62.9 pounds.

The Junior Angler Award was shared by Curtis Berindine and Ann Unsworth. They fished with Lance Rowe on his Rock Hound and weighed bass of 20.65 and 38.8 pounds for a sixth place 59.45 pounds.

The next ASA tournament will be help in Kitty Hawk, NC on December 27th-30th.