Postell Hooks His First Title Appling Resident Comes From Behind to Win Mr. Clark Hill

Applying the process of elimination helped 40-year-old Tony Postell of Appling capture his first Mr. Clark Hill title Sunday on Thurmond Lake.

He caught five-fish limits on both days of the tourney, weighing in 15.67 pounds on the first day to trail first-round leader and fellow Columbia County River Rats Bass Club member Greg Grant by about a pound. Postell weighed in 10.34 pounds on Sunday for a 26.02-pound winning catch.

The prestigious two-day bass-fishing tournament was held for the 34th time out of Wildwood Park. Because of the drought, the park ramps are presently unusable. The 205 contestants were allowed to launch their boats on other ramps along the 70,000-acre impoundment but had to trailer their catches inside their boats’ live wells back to the park.

“I had two spots where I had been catching fish not far from the park,” Postell said during a return trip to the lake Monday morning. “I bent down the hooks on the lures I was using so as not to stick the fish and last Friday morning checked out those areas. I had only one bass blow up on the bait, so I decided to eliminate those areas from my game plan.”

So the Winfield Hills resident went fishing in his own back yard, launching his boat from Columbia County boat ramp No. 2 (No. 1 is out of the water) in the Rousseau Creek arm of the lake not far from his home.

“I also fished in the Raysville area and burned about three gallons of gas in all over the two days,” he said. “I stood on the bow of my boat, my foot on the trolling motor switch, and kept working shallow points and pockets from safe light until I had to leave for the weigh-in.

“That was the key – to cover as much water as possible.”

Postell is the kind of fisherman who believes he needs an edge over other competitors to stand a chance of winning and, this time, he had a three-part advantage. The first was a buzz bait custom- made for him by longtime lure designer Lionel Hollingsworth of Grovetown. Second was a soft plastic, fish-shaped lure called the YNOT (Tony spelled backward) that he designed back in 1995, and No. 3 was his longtime fishing partner, Sammy Landrum Jr.

“All I’ve had to do is tell Lionel what I wanted and he’d come up with it,” Postell said. “I use my YNOT on the twin-bladed buzz bait’s hook. Not only does it weigh down the tail end of the lure, allowing it to run over the tops of submerged weeds without hanging up, but it presents a bait fish silhouette to any bass that are hanging around that cover. Before the tournament, Sammy told me about a pocket along the bank where a 4-pound bass was staying. Catching that fish during the tournament greatly improved my chances.”

Postell and Landrum have been red hot on the local bass tournament trails this year. A good part of that success Postell credits to his wife, Donna, and his boss, attorney David Hugenin, for whom he’s worked as a paralegal for more than 20 years.

“Donna knows that tournament bass fishing is one of my passions, so she stays at home with our sons, Justin, 12; Bailey, 10, and Cale, 8, to allow me to fish. My boss also lets me have some free time off from the job.”

Postell also credits his father and mother, Alvin and “Momma Dot” Postell, for his love of fishing.

“Dad loves fishing as much as I do – he just does it differently. He’s a ‘perch-jerker’ who loves to fish for bream in Bettys Branch off the Savannah River.”

The buzz bait makes a surface sputter during the retrieve and may represent a swimming mouse, or baby duck, or large insect, all of which largemouth bass have been known to eat. Postell has his own ideas of the lure’s attraction.

“Bass think a buzz bait is a baby bass boat and they want to stop it before it grows up!”

Originally published by Bill Baab Fishing Editor.

(c) 2007 Augusta Chronicle, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.