It’s hard to believe the winning lure at the no entry fee Toyota Trucks Bonus Bucks Owners event was so obscure not even legendary pros Gerald Swindle and Mike Iaconelli had heard of it, but that’s exactly what happened Sunday afternoon on Table Rock Lake when KC Choosakul and Steven Jacobs dredged up 15 pounds 7 ounces on a liquid-filled Core Strike S.O.B. crankbait to haul the $5,000 first place prize back to North Carolina.
The somewhat secret series of lures are manufactured in Mississippi, and are filled with a liquid that not only helps them sink to the lake floor, but also stand on their diving bill to maintain constant bottom contact, and help prevent the treble hooks from snagging.
The winning team caught most of their fish in 16 feet of water along a creek channel, and tied the little known lures to 15-pound fluorocarbon line. Their winning weight topped second place finishers Brett and Beau Govreau of Missouri by two pounds. The Govreau brothers caught their respectable weight using a hard head swivel head jig trimmed with a Strike King Menace grub.
Of the 210 teams that registered, all went home with a custom made Bass Pro Shops weigh-in bag full of Carhartt garments, Toyota hats, flashlights, rod socks, and even custom made lures from Terry “Big Show” Scroggins, and the top 30 teams in the final standings all got a paycheck for at least $150.
Three lucky anglers who finished outside of the Top 30 went home with $500 cash from a random drawing at weigh-in courtesy of Toyota. The 15th place finisher, Derek Felton won a $1,000 Bass Pro Shops Gift Certificate, and 31st place finisher Cay Fields of Arkansas won $750 cash from LEER Truck Caps and Tonneau Covers.
And everybody, including Swindle and Iaconelli, took away knowledge of a previously unfamiliar ‘sinking’ crankbait from the fun and fellowship rich event.
Amid a fishing trip on the bass-starved Ohio River in the summer of 1987, Alan McGuckin’s Dad told a then 16-year-old “Guck” — “I don’t care what you do for a living, just promise me you’ll do something you love.”
Originally from Pittsburgh, McGuckin considers himself a blue-collar kid, who has been richly blessed to live-out the best piece of advice his dad ever gave him for many years now in the Tulsa area.
After earning a degree in ecology at Juniata College in Pennsylvania, where he placed radio transmitters in largemouth bass to track their habitat preferences, he moved his life to Oklahoma in 1992, where he earned a Masters in Zoology and Fisheries under the direction of Gene Gilliland at the University of Oklahoma, before then embarking on what’s now a nearly three decade long career as a marketing and media veteran in the fishing industry.
His career spans 28 years of wisdom-rich marketing experience working to strengthen brands and increase sales for Lowrance, Terminator Lures, Toyota, Yamaha Outboards, Boat U.S., Carhartt, Costa, Quantum, Vexus Boats, and Zebco.
- Member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame voting committee, as well as a Board of Directors member for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful
- Co-piloted the Terminator brand of premium lures from its birth to more than 10 Million pieces sold between 1997-2006.
- Has authored and published more than 800 stories on Bassmaster.com, along with several other popular bass fishing websites.
- He has generated $3 Million dollars’ worth of branded digital media since 2020, as a content creator.
- Serves as emcee for hundreds of guests at the annual Toyota Bonus Bucks Owners event.
- Avid angler, who fishes nearly every weekend when not on the road working.
- 13,000 followers on Instagram @GuckFishing.
“Guck” lives just north of Tulsa, OK at Lake Skiatook with wife Sherrie, an elementary school principal who also loves her job, and has a genuine passion for slinging a Rapala Brat crankbait on shallow points and habitat-laden flats.
