MARTINO:Melton goes big-time in Bass Tournament Series

October 21, 2006 05:29 pm

— As a young man, Kokomo’s Shane Melton held tight to two boyhood dreams. The first was to someday become a police officer. That goal was achieved in 1999 when, after attending the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, he was hired by the Kokomo Police Department, where he currently serves as a detective.
His second dream was to become a professional bass fisherman. When not at work, putting clues together to solve crimes, Melton uses his investigative skills at putting together patterns to catch winning limits of large and smallmouth bass.
Melton grew up fishing local waters, like the Kokomo Reservoir. His quest to hone his angling expertise quickly evolved into a passion, one he could not let go. He soon found himself taking part in local home town tournaments, testing his knowledge against some of our area’s best fishermen.
After his skills as a competitive bass angler grew, so did his self confidence. Melton then began competing in larger state and national tournament trails.
This summer, Melton participated in the Indiana Bass Federation Tournament Series. In this type of competition anglers are awarded points for the amount of fish they carry to the scales in each qualifying event. The top 40 anglers then earn the opportunity to take part in the end of the season Classic, which was held several weeks back. This was the grand-daddy of Indiana tournaments, where the winner takes home a brand new fully equipped Ranger 519 bass boat, valued at nearly $40,000.
After this summer’s qualifying events were concluded, Melton learned he finished 32nd in points, good enough to earn him a berth in the grand finale. He would be joined by several other notable Howard County anglers who also earned the right to fish the Classic — people like Marvin Parton, Phil Reel and Curt Reed.
Day 1
The Classic was a scheduled two day affair. The first day was held on Geist Reservoir, nestled on the north-east side of Indiana’s bustling capital city. The second day would take place on Morse Lake, located between Cicero and Noblesville. The contestant weighing in the heaviest combined total for both days would be crowned the winner.
On the first morning, as Melton touched the ignition switch igniting the 200 ponies powering his Nitro boat, his optimism ran exceptionally high.
“These were basically my home waters and I thought I may have a good chance to win,” he said, even though he knew he was going head-to-head with some of our states most successful anglers. But, Melton had spent considerable time practicing for the big event. “I had been catching good fish in the grass flipping soft plastics and that’s what I started out with.”
As happens too frequently, established patterns mysteriously change come tournament day.
“I could only catch short fish in the grass so I started targeting rock humps. I still couldn’t get them working,” he added, referring to his lack of catching keeper fish.
After locating another rock hump the Kokomo police officer did succeed in catching one keeper largemouth that tipped the scales at 4.46 pounds. Even though his one fish was good, it was way off the mark in taking first place as the top angler for that day carried a five fish limit to the scales weighing just over 12 pounds.
Was the chance at catching the leader insurmountable? Maybe not. Would it take something short of a miracle? Definitely. Feeling a bit dejected, Melton did learn his one fish was good enough to earn him an eighth place finish following the first day of competition.
Day 2
“The second day didn’t start out very promising either,” Melton explained. “Before I even left the launch site my boat got hit twice by other boaters as they maneuvered to their starting positions.”
The Kokomo police officer described how this time he was going to fish a stretch of bank where he had caught fish in the past.
“It was a rocky section about 150 yards long up in the creek,” he added. “I knew at this point I probably didn’t have a chance at winning, but I was still hoping to finish somewhere in the top five.”
After reaching his pre-determined location, Melton experienced good luck. Using jigs, he hooked five keeper fish in the first two hours. Then, like a switch had been thrown, he never had another bite.
“I was about half way down that bank when I saw the leader from day one fishing that same section from the opposite direction,” he explained. “Since I already had my limit, I assumed he did too.”
As contestants and spectators gathered for the final weigh-in, Melton watched nervously as fish after fish was carried to the scales.
“Even my dad came to watch,” he said, referring to his father, retired Kokomo police officer Hank Melton. “Then when I saw the current leader carrying only one fish, I started to get excited.”
Melton’s limit gave him a two day total of just under 16 pounds. He had won one of Indiana’s most largest and prestigious events and of course the sparkling new Ranger boat.
“Within seconds after learning I had just won the Classic, I could not forget something you told me,” he said during our recent conversation. “I even turned to my dad and told him about it.
“Do you remember it?” he asked.
“Sure I do”, I answered.
He was alluding to a comment I made to him at last summer’s Kids Fishing Clinic Graduation Tournament, where he took time from his busy schedule to unselfishly volunteer as a boat captain.
Knowing of Melton’s aspirations in becoming a full-time professional fisherman, I had remarked that “good things are going to happen with your fishing career this summer, all because you made time to help these children.
“What goes around comes around, and this summer will be your turn,” I added.
Melton humbly acknowledges he owes his success to several people and organizations.
“Aaron Hochstedler helped me acquire needed sponsorships,” he said appreciatively. “Fishing tournaments can get expensive and unless you are blessed with an abundance of money, these sponsorships are important.”
Our prominent local angler says he also owes a debt of gratitude to Falcon Rods, Okuma Reels, Tru-Tungsten, Lil’ Hustler and Nitro Boats, which have provided essential fishing equipment, helping defray at least some of the expense.
“I owe the biggest thanks to my wife, Holly, and the rest of my family for its support,” he concluded. “I definitely couldn’t do it without them.”
Melton hopes his success will continue, ultimately resulting in a trip to the “Big Show,” the Bass Master’s Classic, the most prestigious bass fishing tournament in the world.
“Count on me being a boat captain for the kids again next year,” he added with a laugh. “I’ll take all the help I can get.”
Hunting results
Here is the list of area bowhunters who have seen success over the past week and visited one of our local deer check-in stations. This information, which includes county of harvest and field-dressed weights, is provided by Burlington Locker, Bryant’s Outdoor Store, Full Draw Archery, Jack’s Tackle Center and Frank Simpson’s Deer Processing.
Carroll County: Matt Burns — 165-pound, eight-point buck; Josh Shepherd — 150-pound, nine-point buck; Fred Claar — 135-pound, 10-point buck; Ken Ritchey — 70-pound doe.
Cass County: Don Hochstedler — 125-pound, six-point buck; Mike Bass — 105-pound doe; Chris Freouf — 115-pound doe; Ernest Young — 135-pound, 11-point buck; Roy Ennis — 90-pound doe.
Clinton County: Matt Temme — 180-pound, eight-point buck.
Fulton County: Claude Edwards — 225-pound, nine-point buck; Greg Hampton — 125-pound doe; Steve Nunnally — 75-pound doe.
Howard County: James Slaughter — 202-pound, 10-point buck; Adam Rice — 100-pound doe; Lawrence Hudson — 165-pound, eight-point buck; Dan Hinkle — 95-pound doe.
Miami County: Joe Conyers — 236-pound, 16-point buck; Tony Burnette — 115-pound doe; Jeff Fields — 60-pound doe; Richard Rhine — 100-pound doe.
Tipton County: Skip Servies — 200-pound, 12-point buck; Daniel Musgrave — 93-pound doe.
Pulaski County: Brian Miller — 166-pound, eight-point buck; Mike Cody — 70-pound doe.
John Martino is the Tribune’s outdoors columnist. He may be contacted through the sports department.

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