WON Bass Nevada Team Region
Evans and Landerman Hold Off Competition to Win Anglers of the Year in Nevada Region
BY
Larry Duncan
Tournament Director
Callville Bay Marina, NV - On the final tournament day for the WON Bass Nevada Region at Lake Mead it was down to two teams fighting for the Anglers of the Year bragging rights. The up and down team of Dee Jay Evans and his partner Chris Landerman squared off against the most consistent team of the year Danny Branscum and Troy Duncan. At the end of the day the Nevada Region would crown a new team as Anglers of the Year.
Evans fished last season with his then partner Paul Nichols and managed to finish the season in 17th place fishing only four tournaments. Their effort in the last tournament of the year qualified the as the last team for the TOC. Dee Jay decided this year to team of with fellow bass club angler Chris Landerman. Last year Chris fished with his brother Justin. Only fishing the first tournament of the season the Landerman team placed 38th. The prior year Chris and Justin qualified for the TOC. Chris was looking for a new partner this year when Justin went Reno to attend college. Evans and Landerman’s achievement was based on the differences in their fishing style. With Dee Jay, the hard charger and Chris, the finesse angler gave them a combination that boded well for their success. When one was having a bad day the other managed to keep them in the race. This was evident by them leading Branscum and Duncan by four points going in to the last tournament so the pressure was on them to have a good day.
Branscum and Duncan arguably the most consistent on the circuit for the past nine years were in position to take the crown away from Evans and Landerman should they stumble. Danny and Troy had brought in limits in every tournament for seven and a half years but failed last year at Mohave eventually costing them the AOY. After that mistake Danny and Troy went back to the consistent fishing, finishing off last year with limits and continuing the trend this year by having a limit in all six prior tournaments. Going in to the finale they were the only team to limit in all tournaments this season. So they were primed to get their eighth AYO award in the past nine years. Like Dee Jay and Chris, Danny and Troy complement each others style.
Well it was down to the old pros verses the up and comers. It wasn’t a matter of if they would limit rather who would have the biggest bag at the end of the day.
All during the day both teams fished close to one another and at times talked with each other about how they were doing. Both teams were fishing as hard as they could. They were constantly culling out small fish because they knew it might come down to ounces deciding the top finisher.
When weigh in time came the top two teams jockeyed to see who was going to weigh in first. As both team looked on, they saw the team of Roundtree and Elliott weigh a 12 pound plus bag to put them in the lead and eventually win the tournament. Finally Danny Branscum brought their bag to the scales. Evans and Landerman stood by nervously waiting for the weight. Jesse Milicevic called out the weight of 8.55 lbs. Evans and Landerman took a long breath and tried to relax, pretty sure they had a bigger bag. Evans handed his bag the weigh master, Mike Helm. Mike called out “five fish, five alive”. He then handed me the bag and I placed them on the scale. As the digital readout bounced back and forth it stopped at 10.22 lbs. Evans and Landerman had pulled off a mini upset and capped off a brilliant year.
Congratulations to Dee Jay and Chris for a great year of fishing. We look forward to them participating in the TOC as Anglers of the Year from the Nevada Region. We know they will do our region proud.
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