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TEAM TOURNAMENT
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| Date: | | June 16, 2012 |
| Region: | | 2012 East Region |
| Tournament: | | Lake Sam Rayburn #5 |
| Tournament Trail: | | 2012 Bass Champs Tournament Trail |
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| Littleton & Chambers bring in over 27 lbs to win Bass Champs season finale on Rayburn |
| By: Patty Lenderman |
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On the eve of summer and embarking on hurricane season, Bass Champs East Region wrapped up their regular season on Sam Rayburn June 16, 2012 at the Umphrey Family Pavilion. Many big bass were brought to the scales and several good stringers were seen, but Daniel Chambers and Todd Littleton was way ahead of the 181 contending teams bringing in a 27.11 lb sack to win over $20,000. Final points were tallied of all five tournaments, determining the winners of the Angler of the Year race.
The morning started out cool and calm, but gulf weather patterns were trying to move in causing isolated showers in the afternoon and increased wind. Rayburn anglers have been on a dry spell for good catches, so maybe the big drop in the barometer helped with their catches.
As the first teams began making their way to the scales, Danny Cherry and Buddy Bumstead established a good mark on the leaderboard with their 23.97 lb sack and their kicker lead in the Big Bass race weighing 8.46 lbs. Right behind them their Big Bass was challenged when Ed Pulda put his biggest on the scales that tallied 8.32 lbs. No other teams had sacks weighing over 20 pounds until Daniel Chambers and Todd Littleton brought their catch in.
They were first spied coming up to the holding tanks, each holding a side of this obviously heavy sack. When the water and fish were poured out at the check in sinks, they knew they didn’t have a fish that would take over Big Bass. All five chunks were weighed and the scales locked in at 27.11 lbs, far ahead of the pack for a dominating win.
“We didn’t get to do any pre-fishing. All the time we have spent on the lake has been taking our families out and having fun.” They headed to main lake points using crank baits and Carolina rigs. “We caught a lot of two pounders right off, then we lucked up and caught a six pounder.” From then on it just kept getting better. “By 8:45 we had a limit in the boat. When one spot would slow down, we’d head to another one.” They kept with their same pattern all day and hit five selected points. “We caught about three or four fish from each spot and had several quality bites. We did lose one other that felt pretty nice.” As it turned out they didn’t need the fish that got away, winning the tournament by nearly four pounds. Bass Champs presented them with the guaranteed $20,000 1st place check, and they added to their winnings using the Sure Life product in their livewell for an additional $200. “We’d like to thank H & W Marine, Tracker boats, Mercury and Kistler rods.”
Danny Cherry and Daniel Chambers won 2nd place with their 23.87 lb limit. Starting out using topwater lures, they boated one keeper then quickly switched gears heading to deeper water. “We hit brush piles about 25’ deep with Texas and Carolina rigs at a spot we found last weekend.” Not catching many keepers, one by one they worked on putting a limit together. With four in their livewell, Danny got their big bite. “We knew it was a good fish, and it fought coming in.” They had a marker buoy thrown out and the fish wrapped around it and got hung. “Thankfully we got her in. It made our limit.” Cherry and Chambers only caught six keepers all day, but they were good quality fish. They won $3,000 for their 2nd place finish and would like to thank Jordan Marine, Bass Cat boats and Castaway rods.
3rd place was won by Nick LeBrun and Chris Lee with 18.77 lbs. “We started out in shallow water, but were only catching little fish. Around 10am we went deeper, 10’-15’ around offshore structure. We weren’t catching a lot of fish – one here, one there – but they were good keeper fish.” Nick gestured toward Chris and added: “I have the privilege of fishing with a ‘Ninja’. He has a really neat hookset!” They enjoyed a $2,000 payday.
Several bass in the eight pound class were brought in and the Big Bass race was tight. Bret Stafford caught the biggest of the tournament weighing 8.53 lbs, anchoring a 4th place overall win for he and his partner Phil Marks. “It was our first fish of the day. She was in about 8’ of water, and I caught her on a Series 5 Strike King crank bait. We were fishing a secondary point just outside of some baby willow trees.” They won $1,000 for that single catch plus another $1,200 for their 4th place finish. They also cashed in on the Costa Del Mar and Line-X bonuses for another $450.
Top Teams:
1st $20,000+ 27.11 lbs Todd Littleton & Daniel Chambers
2nd $ 3,000 23.87 lbs Danny Cherry & Buddy Bumstead
3rd $ 2,000 18.77 lbs Nick LeBrun & Chris Lee
4th $ 1,200+ 18.68 lbs Bret Stafford & Phil Marks
5th $ 1,100 18.10 lbs David Harvey, Jr & Bryan Lohr
6th $ 1,050+ 17.95 lbs Bill Cook & John Hale
7th $ 1,040 16.91 lbs Robert Glende & Clint Fountain
8th $ 1,030 16.77 lbs Clayton & Roger Boulware
9th $ 1,020 16.12 lbs Larry Weppler & Dennis Fikes
10th $ 1,010 16.06 lbs Rusty Clark & Cory Rambo
….and last in the money….
24th $ 500 11.59 lbs William Perego & Wes Moody
Big Bass $1,000 8.53 lbs Bret Stafford & Phil Marks
Sponsor Bonus Winners:
Skeeter Double Money ($1,050) Bill Cook & John Hale
Costa Del Mar ($200) Bret Stafford & Phil Marks
Line-X ($250) Bret Stafford & Phil Marks
Sure Life ($200) Todd Littleton & Daniel Chambers
It has been a good run for Anglers of the Year as each team accumulated points in each of the five tournaments in the East Region. Cory Rambo and Rusty Clark has been staying strong and steady, consistently widening the gap and surging farther and farther ahead in points after each event. As the 2012 Bass Champs East Region Anglers of the Year, their entries will be waived for the 2013 season. Congratulations to them!
Final Top 5 Anglers of the Year:
985 pts Rusty Clark & Cory Rambo
915 pts Jerry Silmon & Brett Hortman
889 pts Alan Moore & Robert Davis
884 pts Danny Cherry & Buddy Bumstead
879 pts Chris McCall & Mike Freck
Participating teams enjoyed a 102% payback in twenty four places paid. There is only one Bass Champs regular tournament left in the 2012 season. The North Region will wrap up June 23 on Ray Roberts. As with all Bass Champs regular season tournaments, it is open for anyone who would like to enter.
Anyone who has entered all five events in any region qualifies to fish all four championships! 1st place winner at each championship will receive a Skeeter ZX20 bass boat powered by a Yamaha 225 SHO, equipped with Minn Kota and Humminbird – a $55,000 retail value!
Full championship schedule:
East Region – September 8-9, 2012 on Toledo Bend
North Region – September 15-16 at Lake Lewisville
Central Region – September 29-30 on Lake LBJ
South Region – October 27-28 on Lake Falcon
Good luck all championship qualifiers!
On another note, each year Chad Potts and Jeff Welch hold a “President’s Challenge” tournament between each other. This challenge is now in its 10th year. While Chad has a few wins behind him, Jeff has held the trophy for most of the challenges. The golden icon sits in the winners’ office as a reminder of Champion status from one challenge to the next. For the past four years running it has been in Jeff’s office. This year Chad regained the trophy to be displayed in his office. Rumor has it that several pictures were made of Chad with his trophy and put in many places around the Bass Champs complex. “Oh, it’s on now!” Jeff declared. “I’ll have that trophy back in its rightful office next year!”
Bass Champs television shows air on the WFN Network. Don’t miss a single one! Also stay tuned to www.BassChamps.com for the 2013 season schedules. Also join Bass Champs as they host the 7th Annual Berkley Big Bass event on Lake Fork October 20-21.
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