ESPN Women's Tour

•  Day Three standings

THEODOSIA, Mo. — Tammy Richardson of Amity, Ark., capped off the 2006 Mercury Marine Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats season in much the same way she opened it: By winning it.

The mother of one, who won an ESPY in the Best Angler category in July, took the tournament on Bull Shoals Lake with a total of 21 pounds, 9 ounces, or just 6 ounces more than second-place angler Mickie Wolfinbarger of Halfway, Mo.

"I really didn't think I had it," said Richardson of the win. "I had three good fish, but I heard that Mickie had four."

Richardson and Wolfinbarger were neck-in-neck all week. Richardson led by 5 ounces on Day 1, then Wolfinbarger pulled ahead by 10 ounces on Day 2.

On Day 3, Richardson's three fish weighed 1 pound more than Wolfinbarger's four bass, giving Richardson the win with a total of 21-9 to Wolfinbarger's 21-3.

Richardson, who also won the season-opener of the WBT, took home another Triton boat rig and Mercury outboard valued at $50,000. The event paid a total of about $85,000 to the top 25 finishers in the pro division.

Competing on an unfamiliar lake and learning to drop-shot were two challenges Richardson overcame to win.

"I'd never fished Bull Shoals before," said the 34-year-old pro. "This was my first time on clear, deep water — I'm not used to that. My spinning rod usually stays in the shed, but it got a workout this week."

She said that several weeks ago while practicing for the event, she realized she needed to drop-shot if she was going to hook Bull Shoals' deep-holding spotted bass. "A local man showed me how to tie a drop-shot rig. That's how I learned."

She said she used a 4-inch finesse worm made by Right Bite, an Arkansas lure manufacturer. Her go-to colors were watermelon seed, cotton candy and purple.

Wolfinbarger, meanwhile, said she had a good-size fish on Saturday that could have made the difference for her, but she failed to boat it.

Her pattern on the final day remained the same: Drop-shotting to bass chasing shad in water as deep as 80 feet.

"The fish were shallower today, about 30 to 40 feet deep," she said Saturday. She said her top bait was a shad-colored Kinami Cut Tail worm.

Finishing third was Emily Shaffer of Mount Juliet, Tenn., with 14-2. Fourth was Angie Douthit of Clewiston, Fla., with 12-6. Dianna Clark of Bumpus Mills, Tenn., finished fifth with 10-5. In sixth was Tammie Muse of North Little Rock, Ark., with 8-12.

Although Richardson had been in contention for the first Toyota Angler of the Year title, she ended three points short of the mark. Clark, meanwhile, made angling history Saturday as the first WBT Toyota Angler of the Year when her season-long points total climbed to 1,393.

Clark's fifth-place finish at Bull Shoals kept her ahead in the points race, where she's been since her second win of the season, a wire-to-wire victory at Arkansas' Lake Dardanelle in August. Clark's first win — also wire-to-wire — came in May on Lake Lewisville in Texas.

Richardson said missing the Angler of the Year title made her Saturday victory "bittersweet." Clark said she had not even done the math to see if she would win until making the trip from Bull Shoals Lake to Table Rock Lake, site of the weigh-in for the top-six WBT contenders.

"I knew I had a lot of people under me (in the points standings) who could come up through this tournament," said Clark. "I thought I could get it, though."

The conclusion of the points race also determined which 12 pros qualified for berths in the inaugural WBT championship, Feb. 22-25, 2007, on Lake Mitchell in Alabama.

In the co-angler division, Angie Everitt of Livingston, Texas, won the first-place Triton/Mercury package valued at $24,000, plus $1,000 cash. Everitt was the only co-angler who caught a keeper on Saturday and her three-day total was 5-13.

De Lynn Montez of Squires, Mo., and Bonnie Ward of Snohomish, Wash., tied for second with 5-3. In fourth was Vicki Hester of Rainbow City, Ala., with 4-3. Kathy Riley of Terry, Miss. was fifth with 3-7, and sixth was Colleen McKay of Worchester, Mass., with 3-5.

Ward, the winner in the co-angler division at the first WBT event on Neely Henry Lake, came out on top in the 2006 co-angler points standings. Also, the top 12 co-anglers in the final points standings qualified to fish in the Women's Bassmaster Tour's inaugural championship.

Day 3 Big Bass
Angler: Tammy Richardson, Amity, Ark., 2-6
Co-Angler: Angie Everitt, Livingston, Texas, 1-13

Sponsors of the Women's Bassmaster Tour include Mercury Marine, Triton Boats, Lowrance Electronics, MotorGuide, Advance Auto Parts and Plano.

Local sponsors include the Theodosia Marina Resort.

Click here to JOIN BASS!