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Results
TEAM TOURNAMENT
Date: June 2, 2012
Region: 2012 Central Region
Tournament: Lake Belton #2
Tournament Trail: 2012 Bass Champs Tournament Trail
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Weatherly & Wheeler win Bass Champs Central Region finale on Belton
By: Patty Lenderman

Skeeter Bass Champs Central Region wrap up sent the final field of competitors to Lake Belton June 2. Limits were hard to come by for many, and every team worked hard for their catch. $38,750 was awarded in cash and prizes so every cast counted. John Weatherly and Rex Wheeler had a dominating win with 15.51 lbs to take home the 1st place $20,000 check.

The Central Region anglers have visited several lakes during the 2012 season, including LBJ, Travis and Belton. The season wrap up on Belton was challenging for all contenders as keeper bass were elusive for most. Skinny limits were a dominating factor at the scales, and a new record for low weights that caught checks were set. The winners for the Anglers of the Year were determined as the final points were tallied.

For Rex Wheeler and John Weatherly, their day started out rough. “We had engine problems right off the bat. It kept overheating, and we couldn’t make it to where we wanted to start out at.” Having to shift gears and ‘punt’, they were forced to try another area. “We caught a few small fish, and when the engine cooled off enough we went a little farther toward our target spot.” The boat wasn’t the only thing giving them problems. The day was getting away from them and at noon they still didn’t have a single keeper in the boat. “At 12:30 we finally got a keeper – a good one, around 5 ½ pounds.” Soon after, John caught another keeper, right at 14”. Twenty minutes later, Rex landed another 5 ½ pounder, making three keepers in the livewell. “At that point we started to think we might have a chance to do something. We just needed two more keepers.” They didn’t have a lot of time left to accomplish this, as they had to leave early enough to nurse their boat back to the weigh in. “We started heading back around 2:30, and had to stop four different times on the way to let the engine cool.” They made it back with only 10 minutes to spare, and had also managed to catch their last two keepers for a limit. “We were thinking that we might be in the money, but had no thoughts at all that we would win.” Their five fish weighed 15.51 pounds, more than two pounds ahead of their nearest competitor. “We’ve been fishing Bass Champs for three years now, and this has been our best season yet. Thankfully we have managed to weigh in a limit every tournament and have been in the money a few times. We’re just glad that we were able to put it all together and make it work.” Bass Champs presented them with the coveted 1st place check for $20,000. “We’d like to thank Texas Boat World for the boats and the service they do for us, and Bass Champs for putting on these great tournaments. Mostly though we would like to thank our families for all of the support and encouragement they give us.”

Eric Crumley and Dean Alexander won 2nd place with their limit weighing 13.25 pounds. “We drew a decent take-off number and went straight to the hole we planned on starting out in.” They got there and fished – but it didn’t pan out for them like they planned. “We ended up leaving that spot and went to a main lake point we had found in practice. There was some schoolie action, and we caught several ‘keepers’ on topwater baits.” When the top water bite ended, they switched to a Carolina rig and caught their kicker weighing 4.88 lbs. “We culled one time at 1:00 and that was it for us. We really had to work for them.” The team was presented $2,500 for their 2nd place finish. “This finish landed us in 4th place in the points standings, which will give us a good take-off number at the championship. We’ll be ready!”

Adam and Rick Clark won 3rd place overall with their limit weighing in at 13.21 lbs, and also had the biggest bass of the tournament at 6.21 lbs. Those prize winnings were $1,500 and $500 respectively, but they got even more with the sponsor bonuses! They won the Revo Reel bonus, $200 from BioBor, plus the Line-X bonus!

Seventeen teams won checks in this tournament, the final one was awarded to Dale and Danny Hues with 7.61 pounds. They also won the Allen Samuels Dodge Ram Bonus giving them a free entry into any Bass Champs tournament in the next 12 months.

While the leader board in the overall points standings took a few shifts, Ryan Warren and Ryan Crawford stayed on top of the pack to win Bass Champs Central Region Anglers of the Year. Dale Read and Ronny Maynard came up in the points standings to win runners up. The winners will receive free entries into the 2013 Central Region tournaments. Congratulations to them and good luck to all Championship qualifiers!

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!

With only two regular season tournaments left in the 2012 schedule, you don’t want to miss your chance to fish any of them!
June 16 (East #5) Sam Rayburn
June 23 (North #5) Ray Roberts

Bass Champs will be hosting the 19th Annual Skeeter Owner’s Tournament on Lake Fork June 9 & 10 as well as the 7th Annual Berkley Big Bass tournament, also on Lake Fork October 20-21.

For more information on any Bass Champs events, click to www.BassChamps.com or call 817.439.3274


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