By Andrew Canulette
BASSMASTER PRESS RELEASE
William
Samples and Charles Purcell weren’t supposed to compete in the Bassmaster Team
Championship held today on the Harris Chain of Lakes in central Florida.
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| Duo win team portion under terrible cold fronts. (Photo: BASS) |
But officials
with the Anglers Choice Team Trail asked them a week ago if they could step in
as alternates after another duo that did qualify couldn’t attend. Samples and
Purcell made the most of the opportunity and won the Team Championship with a
two-day total of 10 bass that weighed 42 pounds, 10 ounces.
Samples and
Purcell outlasted a field of 197 teams from 35 states and three foreign
countries to earn the win. That number included 14 fishing teams that finished
ahead of Samples and Purcell in the Anglers Choice yearly standings.
Samples lives
in South Boston, Va., and Purcell hails from just across the border in
Townsville, N.C. They won a Nitro Z20 and Mercury 225 Pro XS boat/motor combo
valued at $42,000 with their improbable victory.
“Everything
just went wrong for us at the beginning of the year, until we pulled it
together,” Samples said about their season on the Anglers Choice circuit. “I
fell in the water in the first tournament of the year at Smith Mountain Lake.
It was 46 degree water. It cost us $5,000. We had a monkey on our back until
late spawn, and then we buttoned it up. We won a tournament a couple of weeks
ago, and now here we are — winning the Bassmaster Team Championship.”
Samples and
Purcell were in second place after Day 1 of the tournament with a five-bass
limit that weighed 21-9. They were almost as good today, with a 21-1 limit of
five bass.
“We found a spot in practice that I told (Purcell) was going to be a 30-pound
hole,” Samples said. “Every fish we weighed came from (within 75 yards) of that
hole. The bite started about 10 o’clock and ended about 11:30 a.m. In that hour
and a half, there was a flurry.”
“We worked hard
for this all year,” Purcell said. “Everything that could go wrong did, until we
pulled it together. This is an incredible feeling.”
