Bass Champs again! Gill and Hanson win MBI for second time!

By Ken Johnston
Editor

“We are going to let the fish do the talking!”
That was what emcee Paul Morrison said when only one boat was left to come in on day 2 of the Morson Bass International tournament Sunday.
On day 1, it was Terry Gill and Chad Hanson, the 2006 champs and 2007 2nd place team that was on top with 16.57 lbs. Jon O’Connor and Joe Frohreigh were in third place after Day 1 with 15.99 lbs. and weighed another 14.69 lbs. on day 2 for a total of 30.68 lbs. They waited anxiously for Gill and Hanson to weigh in, all the while knowing that they are a formidable team.
Needing 14.12 lbs. to win, it was a nail-biter as emcee Morrison covered the screen on the scale not letting the two teams see the results. When it was unveiled they had weighed 15.42 lbs. making them the champs for the second time in three years.
That earned them $5,000 for first place overall $500 for being first on day 1 and $300 for having the second biggest basket day 2.
“It is pretty exciting to be back on top this year,” said Hanson. He complimented his partner saying, “He is the best dirty water fisherman in Morson.”
Both said that the first day of fishing was a breeze compared to the second. “Yesterday we caught fish all day. We just nailed them.” said Gill.
“Today (day 2) we struggled due to the wind changing but we found a couple of good spots near the end of the day,” said Hanson.
Gill noted that while other teams were fishing weed beds, they stuck to the reefs within a 15-20 mile range from Morson. They used tubes and jerk baits consistently and the proof of their efforts was in the pudding Sunday when they were crowned again.
O’Connor and Frohreigh came in second with 30.68 lbs.($2,500), Reuben Gibbins and Brian Paulson were third with 30.56 lbs ($1,500), John Gibbins and Mike Salvador were fourth with 29.08 lbs. ($1,100), Oliver and Jason Gibbins were fifth with 28.93 lbs. ($700) and the final cash payout spot of sixth went to last year’s champs Mark Pentney and Doug Vandersteen with 28.81 lbs. ($500).
The top three baskets on each day won $500, $300 and $200 respectively. They were:
Day 1
1st-Terry Gill/Chad Hanson-16.57 lbs.
2nd-Ron Mazur/Rich Zebleckis-16.32 lbs.
3rd-Jon O’Connor/Joe Frohreich-15.99 lbs.
Day 2
1st-John Gibbins/Mike Salvador-15.48 lbs.
2nd-Terry Gill/Chad Hanson-15.42 lbs.
3rd-Gerry Hanson/Barry Marmus-15.10 lbs.
Each day $250 was paid out for the largest small and large mouth bass caught. They were:
Day 1
Smallmouth-Oliver and Jason Gibbins-4.53 lbs.
Largemouth-Mike Hanson/Susie Stafford-3.10 lbs.
Day 2
Smallmouth-John Gibbins/Mike Salvador-4.28 lbs.
Largemouth-Jules and Pat Gibbins-3.41 lbs.
Winning the tournament early bird draw for a trolling motor was Bill and Bryce Godin.
Very few largemouth bass were caught on either day, unlike last year where the second day saw them make the difference in who won the tournament.
None of the 34 teams were skunked on either day. The lowest two day total went to Rollie Roy and Katie Leininger with 13.61 lbs. They received the “Sluggo Award.”