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TEAM TOURNAMENT
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| Date: | | January 19, 2013 |
| Region: | | 2013 East Region |
| Tournament: | | Lake Sam Rayburn #1 |
| Tournament Trail: | | 2013 Bass Champs Tournament Trail |
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| Garrie & Triana take home top honors at Bass Champs on Sam Rayburn with a huge three fish limit |
| By: Patty Lenderman |
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Bass Champs kicked off the 2013 East Region on Sam Rayburn January 19th at the Umphrey Family Pavilion. Their new format guarantees more money for fewer fish – each team is allowed only three, but the weights brought in looked like five fish sacks! Jonathan Garrie and Wayne Triana won the inaugural event weighing in over 20 pounds, which included a 10 pound kicker – but that wasn’t the biggest bass weighed in!
East Texas has been having a bout of wintry weather, freezing temperatures and plenty of rain recently, but Mother Nature smiled on the 220 teams who came to compete giving them a mostly sunny day in the 60’s with hardly a hint of a breeze. Thirty teams would go home with a check in the $63,400 paid – a 104% payback!
The stage was set and ready to weigh everyone’s catch, and as in all Bass Champs tournaments, the grill was fired up roasting hot dogs for everyone in attendance to enjoy. Rusty Clark and Cory Rambo christened the scales with their 15.04 sack, a five pound average per fish, for an initial lead in the tournament. Before it was over, seven teams would best their weight for an exciting weigh in.
Nacogdoches anglers Jonathan Garrie and Wayne Triana exceeded the 20 pound mark with their three fish limit to win the tournament. First, their biggest was put on the scales and hit the double digit mark at 10.01 lbs taking the lead for Big Bass. As their other two fish were added, their total weight locked in at 20.23 pounds. “We headed to a deep ledge that dropped from 12’ to 50’ by the main river channel,” Jonathan explained. They were using a new prototype crank bait from 6th Sense Lures. “The morning bite was great – we had our biggest three fish by 8am.” This included their 10 lb kicker. “When she took the bait, she nearly yanked the rod right out of my hand.” She didn’t want to come in easily. “As I was working on getting her in, she jumped, tail danced, tried to throw the bait – she really gave us quite a show!” Jonathan held onto her, and it anchored a 1st place win for the team. Bass Champs presented them with a $15,000 check for 1st place, then they also received an additional $200 from Sure Life for using the product in their livewell. “We’d like to thank Bass Champs for putting on these tournaments, and also 6th Sense Lures and Custom Angle Rods.”
Less than a pound behind them were the 2nd place winners Dicky Newberry and Ken Smith. Their three fish limit weighed 19.34 lbs, consisting of all ‘chunks’. “We started out in deep water,” Ken described. “There were a lot of Kentucky’s in this particular spot last week.” On tournament day, the Kentucky’s weren’t to be found. “Largemouth bass had moved in!” Dicky broke the ice catching a four pounder on a jig, then Ken caught two at the same time on an umbrella rig. “We hit a lot of spots, and before the day was done we had run 71 miles.” Their three best fish were caught in three different locations. One of those locations was a drain, and their biggest fish was caught there on a rattle trap. Another one of their keepers came off of a 10XD Strike King crank bait. “We probably hit a dozen spots, just hitting some of our ‘old holes’. The bass are trying to move up, staging for the spawn. They should be there for the next 2 -3 weeks.” Bass Champs awarded them $5,000 for their 2nd place win and they would like to thank Fun N Sun, Lucas Oil, V&M, Needmore Tackle, Ranger and Mercury.
18.53 lbs won 3rd place, caught by Louisiana anglers Nick LeBrun and Chris Lee. “We started in shallow water using a rattle trap. We were catching fish, but they were all little, just barely keepers. About 10am we moved off shore to deeper water using a football head jig.” It was a good move, as they put two solid bass in their livewell pretty quickly. “We would move to a spot, get a few bites, then hit another spot.” At one point, when they were making another decision on which spot to go to next, they discussed an area that Chris had caught a six pounder in. “Want to go there?” Nick asked. “May as well,” Chris said. On the second cast in that area is when Nick latched on to their big one. She weighed in at 10.42 lbs, the biggest bass of the tournament. They raked in on the winnings with a $3,000 check for 3rd place, another $1,000 for Big Bass plus a $200 bonus for wearing Under Armour as they crossed the stage. They would like to thank Deep South Machine, Elite Tungsten, H&W Marine “and our beautiful wives”.
All total thirty teams received checks, the last $1,000 check went to Charles Bebber and Taylor Robbins weighing in 11.07 lbs.
The Skeeter bonus went to Mike Kernan and Scott Dean finishing in 15th place overall. They doubled their winnings for a $2,000 payday.
James Harrison and Brian Bright won 9th place in this tournament, but won the Dodge Ram Bonus giving free entry into every Bass Champs tournament for the next 12 months – an estimated $7,500 value!
There are 18 more opportunities to fish Bass Champs 2013 in four regions across the state of Texas.
Mark your calendars and plan to fish the 5th Annual Dodge Ram Mega Bass tournament on Lake Fork April 7th. It is the richest one-day big bass tournament in the world, giving away SEVEN Dodge trucks to hourly winners.
For a full schedule of all Bass Champs tournaments, visit the website at www.Bass Champs.com or call 817-439-3274
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