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John Lanz and Nick Ratliff win on Barkley
33 teams blasted off from Barkley State Park Ramp on June 27th and 28th for the Next Generation Classic. The weights were close, but the team of John Lanz and Nick Ratliff took the top honors. The team has been fishing together for a few years in the USA BASSIN Next Generation events and this was by far their best finish according to the team.
The team is composed of John Lanz and family friend Nick Ratliff who just turned 18 and is planning on fishing at the college level. "He has been running the boat during our events for the past three years and he is an exceptional fisherman. The scholarship money will really help him go on to fish in college," said Lanz.
The tournament set up well for them and Day 1 went exactly as planned. "We only found fish in Kentucky Lake so we made a long run each day from Barkley. It was also really rough so many of the other teams got blown off of their best spots" added Lanz. The duo weighed 20.15lbs and were leading after the first day. The second day was more of a challenge as their school of fish had moved. They were still able to weigh 9.89lbs, for a total of 30.04lbs, and edged out the team of Travis and Dillon Richey who had a two day total of 29.52lbs. The winning pattern for Lenz and Ratliff was fishing jigs, spoons and swimbaits.
Lanz was pleased with how smoothly the event ran and how much fun they had, "the whole staff did an excellent job running this event and we want to thank them for putting it together."
Congratulations to all of the top finishers and thank you to our sponsors for making this event possible.
