A WEEK AT THE STRATOS/JAVELIN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 

by Tim Paes   

Wednesday, May 23,2000 - Paris, TN .... The 1st annual Stratos/Javelin World Championship Tournament took place on May 5 & 6, 2000 on Kentucky Lake in Tennessee. I had the pleasure of attending this event to offer my support to Stratos Boats, Boats Unlimited and the anglers that qualified through Nor-Cal Bass. This would be my first visit to this part of the country and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  

I arrived with my wife, Mary, on Monday, May 1st and had my first view of Kentucky Lake. Kentucky Lake is a 160,000-acre impoundment that is 184 miles long with 2,380 miles of shoreline. If that isn't large enough for the tournament anglers, they can take the channel into Barkley Lake, which is a 58,000-acre impoundment 134 miles long with 1,004 miles of shoreline. Large is not the word to describe this massive body of water. Besides Largemouth, Smallmouth and Spotted Bass, you can catch several different varieties of fish from Bluegill to Sauger and Gar.  

On Tuesday we met with Stratos Boats Prostaffer, Norval Pimentel, of Modesto, CA, his wife Dee and Diana Wilson, Secretary/Treasurer of Nor-Cal Bass. We spent the day at Paris Landing, the launch area for the tournament. Stratos Boats had their tech trailer setup on site where they were offering support for the tournament anglers. If you were to have a problem with your boat, this was the place to have it. The Stratos Technical Staff was on hand to make any necessary repairs to the tournament boats, no questions asked. The tech trailer was loaded with enough parts to meet any demand and a staff of qualified personnel to put those parts to good use. The support team could have a powerhead changed and the anglers back on the water within a couple of hours.  

Norval, who is on the Stratos Boats and Evinrude Outboards National Team, was in Tennessee to assist Stratos/Javelin with the weigh-in. In order to keep the event a grassroots amateur event, National Team members are not allowed to fish. However, many of them were on hand to offer their support. In addition to Norval, Mark Menendez was the tournament M.C. and Larry Nixon was Weighmaster. Others included Jeff Snyder, who conducted the press conference each afternoon, Mickey Bruce, Steve Daniel, Dan Morehead, Tim Poe, Craig Powers, Scott Rook, Emily Shaffer and Clark Wendlandt.  

Wednesday, the five of us headed to Murfreesboro, TN to visit the Stratos/Javelin factory. Hank Baker, Sales Manager for Stratos/Javelin, was on hand to give us the gold tour. We viewed the manufacturing process from the construction of the trailers to placing the completed boats on those trailers. Twenty-two boats are completed and leave the factory each day. I was very impressed with the attention to detail by the employees at the facility. I saw blemishes marked for detailing by the employees that were nearly impossible to see or feel. Hank told us that he was very proud of the employees and the fact that they wouldn’t knowingly send a boat out the door that wasn't perfect. Hank went on to say that the motto of the plant was, "we will not build a boat that we wouldn't buy".  

The last pre-fish day and the official start of the 2000 Stratos/Javelin World Championship Tournament took place on Thursday the 4th. The tournament check-in took place from 3 to 5 p.m. and as the nearly 400 anglers began filling the Paris Landing State Park Auditorium, it became apparent how awesome this event was going to be. The check-in ran smoothly due to the support of Compac Computers. Trey White, Tournament Coordinator, told me that Compac had donated $100,000 of computer equipment and support to make the tournament check-in and weigh-in run smoothly and efficiently. Compac, along with all the event sponsors: Transamerica, Teleflex, North American Fishermen, Evinrude, Johnson, OMC Genuine Parts, Guest Battery Chargers and Cabela’s were on hand to show their product to the anglers.  

The morning the anglers had waited for finally arrived. It was an awesome site to see the cove at Paris Landing filled with Stratos, Javelin and Hydrasport Boats. As the numbers were called, boat after boat blasted off from the 5 mph buoys until all 190 boats had made their way through the check station and onto Kentucky Lake.  

As the anglers spent the day solving the puzzle that Kentucky Lake had to offer, the tournament staff was busy setting the stage for a professionally run weigh-in. The staff spent the hours before weigh-in to prepare the weigh-in stage and surrounding area. Day 1 would have the anglers transfer from their boat into a brand new 2000 model Stratos or Javelin Bass boat pulled by a 2000 General Motors Z71. The anglers would also be given a bag of tackle from Cabela’s, an official tournament sponsor. Jack White, Vice President, Special Events Marketing, of Stratos/Javelin told me, "We want the anglers to know what it‚s like to be in a professional event, because they deserve it”. The angler’s couldn’t help but feel that way with the way everything ran right down to the media coverage from North American Fishermen Magazine and ESPN Television!  

Day 1 found the father and son team of Greg and Carl Carpenter of Royal, AR in 1st place with a 24.57 lb. 5 fish limit. Second place belonged to Wannie Brookerd and Roger Beaver, of Albany, GA with a 7 fish limit of 21.38 lbs. White Bluff, TN anglers, Thomas and Tommy Ladd held 3rd place with 19.92 lbs. Many of our Western anglers were still trying to put the puzzle together at the end of the day. Nor-Cal anglers that posted weights on day 1 were; In 32nd Tom Gaylor and Bob Bellin, of Ceres, CA, with 12.80 lbs. Dale Carney and Vince Costanza, of Millbrae, CA, were in 42nd with 11.58 lbs. Don Mutchler and Darrell McDaniel, of Modesto, CA, were in 84th with 7.24 lbs. Allen Posella and Bill Hartung, of Sanger, CA were in 99th with 6.40 lbs. Paul Goodman and Mark Seaters, of Dos Palos, CA were in 107th with 5.79 lbs. Jeff Hartung and Anthony Pimentel, of Riverbank, CA were in 134th with 3.94 lbs. In 158th was Robert Sims and Robbie Topie, of Ceres, CA with 1.98 lbs. Gary and Peggy Thomas, of Tracy, CA were 166th with 1.70 lbs.  

As the anglers made their assault on Kentucky Lake for day 2 of the tournament, the tournament staff was busy preparing for the Kids World Championship Tournament. More then 150 local kids signed up for the event that would award trophies to the top angling kids. It was a neat site to see the kids line the banks of Kentucky Lake as they fished for anything that would bite. The kids would have their catch measured, recorded and then released back into the lake. I was on one of the measuring teams and I measured everything from Crappie to snapping turtles. None of the kids went home empty handed thanks to Cabela’s who put together bags of fishing tackle for all the kids.  

The moment everybody had waited for had finally arrived. Who would be the champions of the First Annual Stratos/Javelin World Championship? Once the weights were tallied, the father and son team of Greg and Roger Hackney, of Oak Ridge. LA, moved from 26th place into 1st with a 2-day total of 39.91 lbs. The Hackney's fished within 20 miles of the launch site mainly in 2 coves. They flipped most of their fish off of beds with tube baits. Their hard fought battle was rewarded with a check for $100,000 and an invitation to the next World Championship to defend their title.  

Second place went to Jeff Stevens and Jon Logue, of Terrehaute, IN. Stevens and Logue had a 2-day total of 36.72 lbs. The team also keyed on shallow bed fish as they reported that they knew that the bed fish would be the better fish and would be the fish that would win the tournament. The team took home a check for $25,000.  

Several Nor-Cal teams made their move up the ladder and into position to take home a good check. The top finishing Nor-Cal team was Dale Carney and Vince Costanza with a 2-day total of 25.06 lbs. The team finished in 20th place and took home a check for $4,000. Other top finishers were, Paul Goodman and Mark Seaters, finishing 30th with 23.19 lbs. Thirty-ninth went to Tom Gaylor and Bob Bellin with 20.88 lbs. I would like to congratulate the anglers that qualified through Nor-Cal Bass and all the western anglers. The anglers from the West traveled the farthest and fished on a strange body of water and had several very respectable finishes.  

The week was capped off Saturday night with a banquet for all the anglers. After the dinner, the anglers were awarded checks for their finish. Every team received a check from $500 all the way up to the $100,000 grand prize check. Champions Greg and Roger Hackney received a standing ovation from everybody in the house for their great finish.  

My week in Tennessee was very enjoyable and the tournament was simply awesome. The Stratos/Javelin staff did a great job with this event. The Stratos/Javelin Tournament circuit is going to get bigger and better each year. Tennessee is a very beautiful state and the hospitality of the people was something else. To give you an example of what I mean, one of the area lodge's, called the Fishtale, welcomed the anglers by giving them a BBQ, serving them breakfast and having their housekeeping staff wipe down and vacuum the anglers‚ boats at the end of the day. Diana Wilson was also staying at the lodge and was relying on Norval and myself for transportation. When the owners saw this, they gave Diana the use of their Expedition for the week. Being from California, this was amazing, it's not something you see in my neck of the woods. I would recommend highly the Fishtale Lodge at Paris Landing if you ever go to Kentucky Lake.  

On behalf of Nor-Cal Bass I would like to thank Stratos for the opportunity to be involved with the Stratos/Javelin World Championship, and I am looking forward to qualifying several more anglers to the 2001 Western Regional at Clear Lake in the spring of 2001. Don't miss your opportunity to qualify for this prestigious event; you'll be glad you did.