TEAM USA BRINGS HOME THE TROPHY AGAIN!

Team USA 2007

for more pictures from Mexico click here

Team Captain Bubba Haralson holds the 3rd annual International Cup Trophy High for the 2nd year in a row!

Team USA makes it two in a row on Sugar Lake, Mexico. 

The 3^rd annual USA vs Mexico Tournament is now officially in the books.  The event was held the past weekend August 11^th & 12^th on Mexico’s Sugar Lake.  Once again the 24 Bass Champs anglers brought the International Cup Trophy back to Texas.  This year the team featured, a few return teams, four Angler of the Year Teams, the highest finishing “Road Runner” team, Team Captains, and a few winning teams from the 2007 Bass Champs Season. 

The weekend started off with everyone meeting in Rio Grande City at 4:00 PM on Wednesday.  The caravan crossed the border at approximately 5:00 PM.   After meeting the Governor of Tamaulipas, Mexico and interviews with local Television News stations from Texas and Mexico the team was off to Sugar Lake.  The team arrived at the lodge around 6:00 PM.  After everyone unloaded all their gear into their room it was time for dinner and a team meeting.  This year Beacon Lodge from Falcon Lake cooked meals for the weekend.  A special thanks to Speedy Collett and Jessica Walker for working hard and making sure everyone had plenty to eat during the trip.  The team meeting started off with Chad Potts, President of Bass Champs, introducing everyone on the team, and saying a few words about the itinerary for the weekend.  

Mr. Potts, stated,  “Although the USA team won this event in 2006 with over 70 lbs to spare,  the Mexico team is especially hungry this year and are going to work extremely hard keep the cup in Mexico this year.  It will be important for our team to work together and help us retain the cup for another year.” Potts continued, “The lake is nearly 7 feet higher this year so we’re expecting to see some changes in the way fish were caught last year. Many of the areas we fished last year will look completely different and adjustments will need to be made.  Last year we only had one day of practice to figure it out, but we have two full days this year.”  The team agreed to meet at 12 noon the first day of practice to grab some lunch and discuss techniques, depths, baits, etc that were working.   

In 2006 most of the fish were caught either using deep diving crank baits or flipping the flooded bushes in 12 to 15 feet of water.  After the first morning of practice this year it was apparent that the Crank Bait Bite was still on, however, the flipping bite had changed dramatically.   Almost all of the teams were catching their fish on ledges ranging from 14 to 40 feet and slow rolling crankbaits along the edges or Carolina Rigging Berkley 10 inch Power Worms and the new Berkley Power Hogs on the same type ledges.  

Thursday night the team got together and discussed further the specific techniques that seemed to be producing the bigger fish.  Although it was pretty easy to catch 3-4 pound bass, we knew it was going to take bigger bags to retain the cup.    Friday’s practice seemed to be more of a time to pin point locations since we had all come to the conclusion of what technique was going to the most productive.   

Friday night the teams got together for the introductions, dinner, gift exchange and the pennant exchange.  The USA team provided several gifts for each member of the Mexico team.  Each team member received a Fenwick Rod provided by Berkley,  Bass Champs hats, Costa Del Mar t-shirts, Bass Champs DVD’s, and a culling system provided by Terry Oldham.    The Mexico team returned the gift exchange with Mexico’s finest tequila for each member of team USA.   The team from Mexico provided dinner and drinks for the USA team on Friday night and Team USA returned the favor on Saturday night by cooking grilled chicken, rice and beans for the Mexico team on Saturday night. 

The tournament began Saturday morning at 7:00 AM with the playing of both teams National Anthems. After the National Anthems the teams began leaving the take off area in numerical order, the first team from the USA then the first team from Mexico and continued that way until the last boat was called.   Weigh-in was at 4:00 PM on Saturday.  As teams brought their fish to the scales it was becoming clear that this was going to be a tight race between the two teams.  By the end of day one, the weights were almost exactly even with the USA team holding a slim 2 pound lead over team Mexico.   The following is a list of the top ten teams after day one: 

 Going into day two with only a few pounds to spare both teams were anxious to get going and do the best they could do for their country.  Day two was a “short” day. Take-off began at 7:00 AM but the scales closed at 1:00 PM.   As one could imagine August in Mexico is extremely hot.  The temperatures both competition days exceeded 110 degrees and the wind was almost non-existent.  One angler described the heat as being closed up inside your car in the middle of a hot summer day.  It was almost unbearable. But, each team member knew what was on the line and continued to fish as hard as they possibly could, and concentrated on every cast.   

As with any tournament each team had its misfortunes.  One of the teams from the USA became sick the first day of the event and even had to skip one day of practice, but managed to tough it out and provide valuable weight for the USA team. Another team from the USA, (Shonn Blassingame and Shane Elmore) lost their lower unit during the first day of practice, and was forced to fish the entire tournament without using their big motor. However, it didn’t seem to slow them down much as they finished 4^th overall with just under 60 pounds for the weekend.   

By the time the scales closed on Sunday, everyone was anxious to see what the final outcome was.  Everyone was asking each other what they had for the day and if they noticed any of the Mexico teams weighing in.  Just by what was seen being weighed in, it looked like Mexico was going to make it a real close finish. However, after all of the results were totaled and posted.  The Team from the USA had done it again, and won the event by over 65 pounds.   

Jeff Welch, Vice President of Bass Champs stated, “This event is great for our sport and our countries.  It shows that regardless of what the news says about border issues, or what we read in the papers, there is a still a way to find some commonalities between our countries.   The anglers from Mexico are some of the most gracious and appreciative anglers anywhere, and we respect them for everything that they represent.  This event truly brings two countries and a lot of anglers together for one cause.”   

Pedro Sors of the Cana y Carete Mexico Tournament Trail, announced that both organizations are already in discussions about the 2008 International cup event, and the details will be announced soon.    

"We'll be going back again next year.  Win or lose everyone has had a great time in this Texas-Mexico International challenge every year.  It was an honor to be able to compete against the team from Mexico; they are class act, all of them.  I am confident they will come next year ready to compete. We were represented well with the skilled anglers that went with us.  Congratulations to Team USA" - Chad Potts, President/Bass Champs