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With A Little Help from Her Friends, Angie Douthit Makes it to This Week’s Historic WBT Championship in Arkansas

Category: press release

 Oct 22nd, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Oct 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Angie Douthit, a Women’s Bassmaster Tour pro from Clewiston, Fla., likely would not be one of the 20 pros in this week’s Women’s Bassmaster Tour Championship presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors in Hot Springs, Ark., if not for an unusual sponsor.

	WBT Pro Angie Douthit (Photo BASS Communications)

“Actually, it’s a person I’ve never met,” Douthit said of her good Samaritan. “His name is Doug Chapman, and he’s from Odessa, Texas. He’s a friend of Debra Hengst, who fishes the WBT trail too. She made a phone call to Doug to see if he’d help me out (with expenses) before the Old Hickory event in June. He did, and then he helped me at Clarks Hill and with the Championship.

“He did it because he has a very good job, but can’t get off to fish much, and he wanted to support me because I’m so enthusiastic about bass fishing. He’s just glad to help out.”

Two friends have opened their homes to Douthit, who earned her first Championship berth by finishing in seventh place in the Toyota Tundra WBT Angler of the Year points race.

Fellow WBT pro Sharon Rushton invited Douthit to her Missouri home so Douthit wouldn’t have to travel back to Florida between the Oct. 12 cutoff, after which competition waters are off-limits, and the start of the championship. Then Bobby and Sylvia Murray invited Douthit and her husband, Chet, to stay at their Hot Springs home during the event. Bobby Murray holds the title to the first Bassmaster Classic, in 1971, and will attend the WBT Championship.

Douthit likes her chances to win the Oct. 23-25 championship on Lake Hamilton. She said during practice she found a largemouth bite, a key to a bigger limit on Lake Hamilton, known for its spotted bass.

“I caught some nice fish in practice,” she said. “They were good-sized keepers. I practiced up until the cutoff, as most of us did, but now temperatures are getting colder in the evenings, and that’s going to change the pattern that worked before the cutoff. I practiced for both patterns.

“I feel really good about my chances.”

Along with determing the 2008 WBT season champion, the Arkansas tournament will result in the naming of the first woman in history to qualify for a Bassmaster Classic. The pro who is named the Toyota Tundra WBT Angler of the Year will also score the Classic berth.

The Toyota Tundra WBT Angler of the Year title is given to the pro who accumulates the most points through the five-event season. Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala., is the points leader going into the championship.