Fred Roumbanis of Auburn, Calif., won the $250,000 first prize at the Bassmaster American fishing tournament May 17-20 on High Rock Lake and Lake Townsend.
Roumbanis, who barely survived two days of qualifying on High Rock – he finished 11th among the 12 qualifiers – but he blew away the field at Townsend, a 1,500-acre municipal reservoir in Greensboro, winning by almost 12 pounds with a 2-day total of 21-14.
Brian Snowden of Reeds Springs, Mo., the top qualifier from High Rock, caught two 5-fish limits at Townsend to take second place and $38,000 with 17-3. Ish Monroe of Hughson, Calif., was third with 11-6, winning $27,500. John Murray of Phoenix, Ariz., and Mark Tucker of St. Louis, Mo., rounded out the top five at 9-1 and 6-9, respectively, winning $22,000 and $20,000.
A 6-pound bass he caught the first of two days at Lake Townsend pushed Roumbanis into the lead, and he had little trouble holding on. With a lead of more than five pounds, he caught a 3-pound bass within 20 minutes of blasting off the second day and had enough weight to win without catching the three other keepers that rounded out his second-day total of 7-4.
“I knew if I could get through (High Rock), I would do well on that course format,” said Roumbanis, 28. “I grew up fishing small lakes. You don’t find them stacked up – they’re more spread out, and the bite is more sporadic. That’s more my style of fishing – junk fishing.”
Roumbanis caught six of the seven fish he weighed in at Townsend on a 4-inch Robo worm threaded onto a “Screw Up” jighead – a “shaky head” jig.
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