State College, PA – American anglers took full advantage of the friendly home waters of Cookeville, Tennessee, to win multiple categories at the inaugural Pan American Black Bass Kayak Championship. Team USA nearly swept the gold, silver and bronze medal stand in nearly all individual and team categories with the overall nation gold medal winner going to Team USA, silver to Canada and bronze to Costa Rica. Eight nations, including the United States, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Honduras and Dominican Republic, participated in the first-time event with Mexico slated to host the kayak bass championship in 2020.
USA Team Captain Eric Jackson led the way by figuring out a tricky lunker smallmouth bass bite, sharing the techniques with his fellow teammates, and helping send many members of Team USA on to the medal stand after two exciting days of fishing. Here are the final results:
INDIVIDUAL ALL AROUND MEDALS
Gold: Eric Jackson, USA
Silver: Drew Gregory, USA
Bronze: Emily Jackson, USA
INDIVIDUAL LADIES MEDALS
Gold: Emily Jackson, USA
Silver: Bridgett Howard, USA
Bronze: Shannon Williams, USA
TEAMS LADIES MEDALS
Gold: USA Women’s 2, Shannon Williams, Bridgett Howard, Jenn Nolan
Silver: USA Women’s 1, Emily Jackson, Priscilla Johnson, Jean Wilson
Bronze: Canada Women’s 1, Karen Poole, Jamie Stevenson, Cassandra Charity
TEAMS MENS MEDALS
Gold: USA Men’s 1, Eric Jackson, Drew Gregory, Matt Ball
Silver: USA Men’s 3, Cody Milton, Ron Champion, Craig Dye
Bronze: Canada Men’s 1, Chris Visser, Paul Winkel, John Dean
NATIONS MEDALS
Gold: USA
Silver: Canada
Bronze: Costa Rica
“We’d like to especially thank the community of Cookeville and the Cookeville-Putnam County Visitors Bureau for hosting the Pan American Black Bass Kayak Championship,” said USA Bass Team Manager. “And the generous support of our sponsors: Nissan of Cookeville, Werner Paddles, Dakota Lithium Outdoors, Raymarine, Power–Pole, Kokakat, FishUSA and Jackson Kayaks for supplying the gear that made this event possible.”
Check out https://usabass.org/2019-panam-kayak-usa for more USA Bass Kayak information
For updates on USA Bass Kayak please visit: www.facebook.com/usabass.org