Sharing the wealth

Published 6:36 pm Monday, July 13, 2009

There were lots of winners at the 20th annual Birmingham Bassmasters Club’s fishing tournament to benefit Camp Smile-A-Mile.

The actual winners were Rick Duke and Tommy Pegues of Montgomery, who took home $1,000 by weighing in 17.24 pounds worth of bass.

Keith Phillips and Michael Hatten of Lapine finished second with 17.09 pounds, and Bo Hunter and John Canada of Pelham finished third with 15.53 pounds.

Phillips and Hatten caught the big fish, which weighed 5.86 pounds.

Then there were the door prizes, which club president Scott Jones estimates more than 60 percent of participants took home. Every angler received a grab bag.

But the biggest winners of all might have been Camp Smile-A-Mile, a non-profit state organization for children who have or have had cancer. With 82 booats registrered, Jones estimated the tournament raised more than $3,000 for the charity.