Snell / Byrd win Shimano Tournament

On behalf of the Shimano Corporation and your local tackle dealers, I want to thank all of the teams that supported the 2nd annual Shimano Free Team Tournament.

Participation was up 18% this year and 12 teams entered the Adult / Youth category.

Saturday was definitely the day for Smallmouth Bass because the top three teams brought 5 fish limits of the brown beauties to the weigh-in scales.

The Father/ Son team of Sam Loveless and Cody Loveless took home the first place prize of $250 in the adult / youth category with the winning weight of 5.30 lbs. Great job, Sam & Cody!

Congratulations go to the team of Barry Snell and Jeff Byrd. They topped the field with a 5 fish limit of smallmouths that weighed 18.14 lbs. For their efforts they received $1,500 from Shimano, but wait, I’m not done….they also had a reel spooled with Power Pro braided line in the new Red color, so Power Pro kicked in an extra $500 bucks, and there’s more….they also had big Smallmouth, so Shimano tossed in a new (only been in stores for two weeks) Shimano “Cumulas” rod which sells for $350!!! Not a bad day on the lake…they walked away with a grand total of $2,350.00

I’m sorry folks, but I can’t help myself, I have to shamelessly tout this new product. If you haven’t seen the new Shimano “Cumulas” rod….. Run, don’t walk to your nearest Shimano dealer and checkout this amazing piece of equipment. This rod only weighs 78 grams, that’s right, I said 78 grams! Close your eyes and imagine fishing with a feather, that’s what it feels like. Oh, and did I mention sensitive? Well, if you look up the word sensitive in the dictionary, you will see a picture of this rod next to it!

Okay, so let’s get on with the program. The top ten teams are listed below:

Boater Partner # Fish Weight
Barry Snell Jeff Byrd 5 18.14
Doyle Epperson Jeff Epperson 5 16.45
Warren Palmer Russ Palmer 5 15.41
Ray Turner Brandon Hensley 5 14.79
Kyle Sears Jason Akemon 5 14.44
Gordon Phillips Talmadge Marcum 5 13.48
Shawn Branscum Brian Smith 5 13.43
Jerry L Wells Patrick Wells 5 11.61
Mark Morgan L.J. Turner 5 11.02
Ted Grigsby Jim Tipton 5 10.93

Total amount of cash and merchandise awarded at this year’s tournament exceeded $13,000 dollars!! Again, thanks to all anglers that participated in this year’s tournament. We really appreciate your business and wish you the best of luck on your next fishing trip!

Take a kid fishing,

Steve Riley
Tournament Director

i would have fished the adult/youth part but didnt know anything about it until last night when i clicked on the tourny board to find results.
i just bought 2 new convergence rods and have 2 clarus and about 4 shimano reels but they are old.
if i knew i could have bought a volteaus and fished with my 8 year old it would have been nice

Sorry you didn't find out sooner but watch for another Shimano tournament in the future. We appreciate your support and look forward to you fishing in our next event.

Please send me your email address so I can include you in our mailing list.

Steve Riley
[email][email protected][/email]

Steve ,want to thank you and Shimano for the opportunity to fish such an event. You and all the sponsors did a GREAT job in running the tournament and the prizes where unheard of for a FREE tournament.. Yes you had to buy a shimano product but they are the best rods and reels in the fishing industry. (not just saying that because we won , Shimano reels are all I own or will ever own) And as for the new cumalus rod we got for big small mouth. Guys it is UNREAL.... NEVER felt anything like it you can close your eyes and let someone breath on it and I swear you can feel it. You die hard loomis fans will switch in a heart beat . Try to find a dealer and just feel of one. Man they are sweet
But once again thanks Steve and thank the Shimano rep (sorry can't think of his name) for me.

Jeff Byrd

Hey Steve , I know we can't see the future but are you going to try to have this event the same weekend every year ? Then everyone will know exactly when it is going to be and can schedule around it....

I would like to have it the same time every year but I can't really guarantee that Shimano will put this event in their budget every year. However, I feel reasonably sure that we will hold an event next year.

Just curious, what would you think of having the tournament on KY / Barkley Lake or some other lake in Kentucky?

Steve Riley

Well personally I like it right here of course I live here. If you move it to Ky lake try it in the fall Mid Oct that is when it is anybody's ballgame because the fishing is so tough.....