Capra Wins Champions Tour Championship

Dean Capra Catches 80 lb 10 oz of Le Homme Dieu Chain Bass to Win 2018 Champions Tour Championship (Full Results Below)

Classic Bass (ClassicBass.com), a leader in providing relevant and timely information for tournament bass anglers held its 2018 Championship on Friday, August 31st on the Le Homme Dieu Chain in Alexandria, Minnesota.

In the heart of central Minnesota is the popular fishing and vacation destination of Alexandria, Minnesota where Visit Alexandria and the host site, Arrowwood Resort rolled out the red carpet for our thirty Champions Tour anglers.

Champions Tour angler, and Minnesota fishing icon, Dean Capra caught a total of 47 bass that weighed 80 lb 10 oz to win the tournament.  Dean fished the Le Homme Dieu Chain with a combination of finesse and power fishing presentations, including a drop shot, flip shot, jig worm, jig and vibrating jig.  Dean looked for isolated patches of coontail in key transition areas of the lake.

Anyone who knows Dean knows how passionate of an angler he is and how his normal speed is 100 miles per hour!  But today Dean was in a Zen like state, where he dialed the speed back and focused on each and every cast.

Dean dedicated the win to his father, Ted, who passed away last year and credited a move to the top of a weedy flat where they won a tournament years ago. This move yielded the final ten pounds of bass in Dean’s catch, which ultimately gave him the win.  For his win Dean walked away with a brand new Skeeter Boats ZX190/Yamaha Outboard for topping the field of thirty premier bass anglers.

The thirty Champions Tour Anglers headed out on to Le Homme Dieu Chain with Minnesota High School anglers serving as the boat officials.

To learn more about the winning baits and strategy, you can view this video recap.

Local favorite, Matt Gilbertson took 2nd followed by Matt Peters in 3rd and Tim Schroeder in 4th. Full results are below. With his high finish, Matt Peters took the Angler of the Year title which garnered him a fishing trip to southern Florida with Scott Bonnema.

Arnold Helgerson who finished 9th overall in the event, walked away with two additional awards.  Arnold caught a 5 lb largemouth during the first hour of the tournament to win the Big Bass Award presented by YETI, along with increasing his catch by 27 lb 14 oz from the end of the first half to second half to win the Wenzels Farm Comeback Award, for the third time this season!

The Classic Bass Champions Tour will again be streaming live results, posting fish catches and fishing techniques throughout the day as competitors aim to catch as many legal bass as possible.  Each angler is paired with a boat official who will weigh and record every catch into the new Classic Bass Champions Tour scoring system.  At no time will any bass be placed in the boat’s livewells and brought to a weigh-in.

1.Dean Capra with 80-10

2.Matt Gilbertson with 73-9

3.Matt Peters with 73-4

4.Tim Schroeder with 70-13

5.Andy Walls with 70-1

6.Corey Brant with 67-4

7.Nathan Whiting with 66-13

8.Bob Perkins with 62-14

9.Arnold Helgerson with 58-10

10.Jeff Bosshardt with 53-1

11.Shane Raveling with 50-5

12.Jim Lindner with 50-3

13.Noah Schultz with 47-2

14.Brad Leuthner with 46

15.Brian Wood with 45-5

16.John Figi with 44-10

17.Brad Leifermann with 44-4

18.Michael Walters with 43

19.Dustin Byfuglien with 39-10

20.Jim Moynagh with 39-10

21.Dave Larson with 39-9

22.Will Pappa with 37-7

23.Andy Nitchals with 34-15

24.Tadd Johnson with 33-12

25.Matt Pasma with 32-13

26.Jay Przekurat with 29-15

27.Jeff Allen with 28

28.Levi Christianson with 27-5

29.Jay Carslon with 19-5

30.Jason Stangel with 14-12