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Scott Morris and Tony Keltch take top honors.
The PAP'S Chickamauga Open was sponsored by Pap's Beef Jerky and featured a guaranteed $3,000 for first place. The event was held on July 1st out of the Dayton Boat Dock Ramp and had a unique three fish limit per team. The lake is known for big bass and it did not disappoint, with the top three teams all having very nice bags. The weights were tight, but the team of Scott Morris and Tony Keltch took the top prize with 18.01lbs.
Morris, who does a weekly radio segment for Bassmaster Radio, says the story of the tournament was his partner Tony Keltch. "My regular partner for tournaments had to cancel at the last minute and I got hooked up with Tony. We met for the first time the night before the tournament," he says. Morris was very impressed with Keltch's fishing skills, knowledge of the lake and the fact that he doesn't let his disability get in his way. "He has Cerebral Palsy and it doesn't affect his fishing. He ran the trolling motor, lined us up perfectly on the spots and caught tons of fish."
They started off on one of Keltch's spots and ended up spending close to five hours on the shallow bar. "Tony caught a 5.5lb fish right away on a Picasso Fantasy Football Jig and he was smoking me until I switched to the jig," Morris recalls.
The duo caught multiple fish in that location before changing spots. Keltch lined up on the area and Morris was able to catch an 8.41lb bass to push them over 18lbs for their three fish. "Another boat had been fishing that spot all morning, but Tony has us set up perfectly," added Morris.
This was a big win for the team according to Keltch. "This was my biggest win. I fish the lake often and with the big fish here, I was worried we didn't have enough," he shared.
Congrats Scott and Tony!
Top 5 Results:
- Morris / Keltch 3/18.01 8.41 big fish
- Correll / Kokoszka 3/17.93 7.74 big fish
- Minton / Wampler 3/17.79
- Forsgren / None 3/11.97
- Iles / Gunter 3/11.07
Full results
USA BASSIN would like to thank all the teams that participated in this event and special thanks goes out to Pap's Beef Jerky and the City of Dayton, TN for all their support!
