FLW EverStart Series Northern Division Lake Champlain: Kenny Wins!

Up and down week delivers EverStart Northern victory for Florida pro.

21.Jul.2012 by David A. Brown

      (FLW Press Release)

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – His week was the clichéd "emotional roller coaster," but Straight Talk pro J.T. Kenney considers that a price well paid, as his ride ended with not only an EverStart Series Northern Division victory on Lake Champlain, but a significant career milestone.

JT wins at what he love doing; fishing grass.
(Photos: FLW) 

The Champlain win – Kenney's third top finish in FLW competition – pushed him past the prestigious mark of $1 million in career earnings – $1,060,828, to be exact. Making his home in Palm Bay, Fla. Kenney shared a reflective moment while holding his trophy and contemplating the enormity of his achievement. 

"When I first started fishing, I never would have believed I would win a million dollars with a fishing rod in my hand," he said. "I was just a kid from Maryland who loved to go fishing when somebody said there's a tournament and we out to go fish it. Fifteen years later, here I am."

Now, for the roller coaster explanation, Kenney was the only pro to break 20 pounds more than once, but he had a toe-stubber in the middle. On day one, he weighed the event's second-heaviest catch (21-8), but stumbled a little on day two with a 14-pound, 14-ounce bag that dropped him to ninth. In the final round, he stormed back up the leaderboard and took back the lead with a bag that weighed 20-6 and finished with a tournament total of 56-12 and a 3-ounce margin of victory.

"Ninth to first – I would have never thought," Kenny chuckled once his win was official. "I thought maybe ninth to third or fourth, but not this."

FLW EverStart Lake Champlain Day 3: Avena Champs Champlain!

By Luigi De Rose
Weighing in a glorious bag of 20-03 pound sealed the deal for Adrian Avena. Leading all three days, Avena uses a mix of lures from buzzbaits, flipping a jig but his killer bait was a silver /black back Storm Wiggle Wart. Cranking has won many tournaments on Champlain, a weedy and rocky natural lake, but this might be a first for the old school Wart. Regardless, Adrian worked one key area for all it was worth; to the tune of $29,153 in total winnings and a sexy trophy.

Place  Name Day 3 weight  Total weight
1 ADRIAN AVENA 20-03 58-00
2 AARON WESSELS 20-14 54-04
3 GLENN BABINEAU 17-04 53-14
4 JOE LUCARELLI 16-12 50-09
5 THOMAS LAVICTOIRE JR 16-10 50-14
6 MICHAEL WOLFENDEN 15-10 50-00
7 ADAM SINGER 13-15 47-12
8 CRAIG TOWNSEND 9-13 45-11
9 JAMES SCHNEIDER 10-15 44-10
10 CHRIS ADAMS  11-03 44-10

FLW EverStart Lake Champlain Day 2: Avena Leads for a Second Day!

by David A. Brown
FLW PRESS RELEASE


Avena taking commnad of Lake Champlain.
(Photo: David A. Brown FLW)


PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Lake Champlain didn’t make things easy for Adrian Avena, but the New Jersey pro stuck to his plan and held onto the top spot at the EverStart Northern Division tournament on Lake Champlain.

After grabbing the day-one lead with 21 pounds, 3 ounces, Avena added a day-two limit of 16-10 and held off all challengers with his 37-13 total. Confident that he could get back on the fish he worked yesterday, Avena ran south to Ticonderoga and. The day’s rainy conditions weren’t a big deal, but a southeast wind whipped the lake into a washing machine, so the trip was grueling to say the least.

“Today, I got down there a little faster than I thought I would and I left myself about two hours to get back and I cut it close,” he said. “But I had a decent day down there. I just couldn’t get those kicker bites.”

Avena said the rough ride left him with some housekeeping chores before he could start fishing. This brief delay probably cost him some weight.

“It was pretty rough the first 15 or so miles and when I got there my rod locker was destroyed and all my rods were tangled,” Avena said. “My co-angler just tossed out there and caught a 5-5. He caught another one about 4 ½ and those were two bites I really needed.”