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TEAM TOURNAMENT
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| Date: | | March 17, 2012 |
| Region: | | 2012 Central Region |
| Tournament: | | Lake LBJ #2 |
| Tournament Trail: | | 2012 Bass Champs Tournament Trail |
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| Over $20,000 payday for Warren & Crawford at Bass Champs on LBJ |
| By: Patty Lenderman |
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Skeeter Bass Champs Central Region #3 is now in the books. 162 teams hit Lake LBJ March 17, 2012 vying for a portion of the 106% payback totaling $44,700 in 22 places paid. Ryan Warren & Ryan Crawford brought in over 23 pounds to win the guaranteed 1st place check of $20,000 plus $200 for using Sure-Life's "Catch & Release" product in their livewells.
Spring is in the air and bass are on the beds. Site fishing for these big sows is a common denominator for tournament anglers this time of year, but catching them can be challenging. Patience, persistence and diligence paid off for the top teams.
Ryan Warren and Ryan Crawford had narrowed their target areas to just a few spots. “We drew boat #12, and headed to a dead end canal by the dam. It is a small area, only the size of a really little pond. We had caught a few good ones in practice there, and we were hoping they would move in.” They were site fishing for bedding bass, and started their day hooking up to some very nice chunks. “I hooked one over seven pounds, and got it halfway to the boat when it got off.” Soon after, they hooked another over seven and it got off too. “We left them alone to let them settle down, and fished the rest of that area. We caught a lot of fish, and other boats kept coming by wanting to get in that spot.” Two hours later, they went back for the big ones they had lost. “We got lucky. When we went back for them, they bit again – but this time we got them in!” The bite was too good to leave that area, so they never got to their other spots. With two twin kickers over seven pounds in the boat plus their other three, they ended up with 23.31 pounds by days end, topping the rest of the field to win the guaranteed 1st place $20,000 check. “We would like to thank Tournament Saver Products, and Mr. Wendeborn, one of the owners of it. That system has saved us many times when we run our cranking battery down!”
Father and son Sammy and Cole Jones took a 2nd place win with their 21.06 lb limit. “We hoped we would get to our targeted hole first, but we drew boat #18, and the winners got there first.” They went on the move searching for bedding bass. “It was tough. At 1:30, we only had two fish in the boat.” Using speed craws and Gitzit baits, they targeted grassy flats in their search for big bass. “We pulled up in this one pocket, and caught a 7, a 5 and a 4 pounder all within 20 yards of each other.” Sammy caught their kicker at 7.70 lbs. By 2:40 they had five fish in the boat. “We were able to cull one time after that.” Bass Champs presented them with a $3,000 check for their 2nd place finish. “I’d like to thank Bass Champs for letting Junior Anglers fish for free. It allows me and my son to be able to fish these tournaments together. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do this. We enjoy doing this together and really appreciate Bass Champs for affording us the opportunity.”
3rd place was won by James Millsap and Jody Berger. “We had a great day! Better than we expected.” They had done well in this one area in practice, and went straight to it to start their day. “We were catching them on swim jigs in practice, so that’s what we started out doing. We could see the males on the beds, so we figured the females were coming in and out.” Their efforts with the swim jigs was not working for them. “We knew the fish were there.” Determined, they switched to flukes and went back through the area. “We had to dead stick the bait. They didn’t seem to want it moving. It was just one of them days. By 10:00 we had a limit in the boat.” They kept at it, and continued to increase their weight culling several times. “We left that spot for another, but after an hour we came back.” At 2:10, James got a big bite. After a good fight, he put their kicker in the boat that weighed 8.62 pounds, anchoring their 20.84 lb limit also winning Big Bass honors. “We just had a real good day, and didn’t loose any fish.” Bass Champs presented the team with a $2,000 check for winning 3rd place, another $1,000 check for Big Bass. Since they were using an Abu Garcia reel they also won two new Abu Garcia Revo reels, the LineX bonus, Costa Del Mar bonus and $300 from Biobor.
Rounding out the top five were 4th place winners Trevor Rogge & Britt Higby with 19.31 lbs and 5th place Dale Read & Ronny Maynard with 18.88 lbs. Read & Maynard doubled their 5th place winnings being the highest qualified team in a Skeeter boat.
It took 14.18 lbs to grab a check in this tournament. Chris Clements and Chris Woehl won the last $500 check with their 22nd place finish.
With only two tournaments to go for Bass Champs Central Region, the top five leaders in the Anglers of the Year points race are:
442 pts Lance Dillard & Lee Beuershausen
441 pts Ryan Warren & Ryan Crawford
421 pts Dale Read & Ronny Maynard
419 pts Chris Clements & Chris Woehl
414 pts Garrett Hennig & Jeffrey Smith
There are still several opportunities to fish in any of the remaining Bass Champs tournaments. The remaining open season events are:
March 24 (East #3) Sam Rayburn
April 14 (North #3) Lake Fork
April 21 (South #4) Lake Amistad
April 28 (East #4) Sam Rayburn
May 5 (Central #4) Lake Travis
May 12 (North #4) Lake Tawakoni
May 19 (South #5) Choke Canyon
June 2 (Central #5) Lake Belton
June 16 (East #5) Sam Rayburn
June 23 (North #5) Ray Roberts
Don’t forget to sign up for the Dodge Ram Megabass tournament on Lake Fork April 1st! Ten cash places paid every single hour, plus a Dodge truck for every top hourly winner. The lucky angler that catches the biggest bass of the tournament will be driving home a Dodge truck PLUS a new Skeeter boat!
For more information click to www.BassChamps.com or call 817.439.3274
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