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TEAM TOURNAMENT
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| Date: | | June 6, 2009 |
| Region: | | 2009 Central Region |
| Tournament: | | Lake Travis #2 |
| Tournament Trail: | | 2009 Bass Champs Tournament Trail |
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| Team Fisher claims top spot on Travis at Bass Champs |
| By: Patty Lenderman |
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Bass Champs Central Region started out their 2009 season on Lake Travis and that’s where it wrapped up June 6. Anglers vied for $51,800 in cash and prizes, a 105% payback! Father & son team of Flint & Danny Fisher won 1st place and over $20,000 topping a field of 189 teams.
The summertime traffic on the lake was pretty thick, and finding areas that were not overrun with other boats was difficult for many. Adding to that was dealing with the wake factor creating substantial waves making traveling difficult for some.
Flint & Danny Fisher brought in the winning 19.12 sack, taking home more than $20,000. “We were really fortunate. We had picked out one main spot on a river ledge after spot checking it for the last few weeks to make sure the fish were still holding there. About once a week we’d go, catch one then leave it alone.” Spending 90% of their day in that one area that dropped from 15’ to 20’, they used 10” Power worms and DD-22’s. “We only got seven keeper bites, and four were really good ones. We caught our last keeper at 11:00. It was our 6.02 lb kicker. When we were trying to get her in, it got hung up in the buoy line for a while. We were worried she was going to get off, but thankfully we managed to get her in.” There were other boats in the area, but no one came up on them and they were glad to have the area to themselves. They also won the Sure-Life sponsor incentive bonus of $200. “We’d like to thank Power Tackle rods for their support.”
Charles Whited and Bill Polkinghorn took 2nd place with 18.50 lbs. “We started out fishing some deeper docks along the main lake,” Charles explained. Using green pumpkin 10” Berkley Power worms, they caught two keepers at the first dock. “As the docks got hotter, we switched to topwater lures and swim baits to finish out our limit. We probably hit twenty docks and five marina’s and caught seven keepers.” When they were fishing the marina slips, a Black Dog Shell Cracker bait in perch color tied to a 7’6” Power Tackle Flipping stick with 80 lb Power Pro Braid was their combo of choice. “We had to make sure not to break off fishing those slips in case we got caught on anything in there. We caught two of our bigger fish after 1:30 on top water lures, everything else was real early for us.” The team would like to thank their sponsors: Power Tackle Rods, Texas Bass Tackle, Choke Canyon Lodge, South Austin Marine, G & P Electric and Barefoot Fishing Tours. “We’d also like to thank Bass Champs for having a working man’s circuit. It’s a great tournament trail that is reasonable to enter and have a chance to win some really good money. We really enjoy fishing with Bass Champs.” The team won $3,000 for their 2nd place finish, then Skeeter Boats doubled their win for being the highest finishing qualified team in a Skeeter Boat.
Another father & son team, Chans and Sterling Martin, won 3rd place with 18.36 lbs. “We found seven spots in practice that we had marked with a GPS. They took a 40 minute ride to get to their first area. It was a series of vertical cliffs and they pitched homemade jigs to. Right away they hooked then lost a seven pounder. Staying with it, they hit all of their targeted spots to catch 12 keepers to cull from during the course of the day. “It was a great day,” Chans stated. “We caught a bunch of fish. They were all there, just like in practice. Before the tournament we were looking at our plaques we have gotten from Bass Champs. It has been five years since we’ve finished in top 3. This is great.” Chans fishes the Central region with his 19 year old son Sterling, then fishes the South region with his 17 year old daughter Lindsey. This time, the father & son took home $2,000 for their finish. “I’d like to thank Dr. John B. Bondrack and his wife Barbara at Orthodontix LPD for their support.”
The Big Bass of the tournament was caught by Duane Ritchie, fishing with partner Robert Hardy. “We had run pretty far up the lake,” Duane explained. “We were yo-yoing a crank bait, taking it easy coming around a point. Never having been that far up the lake, we really didn’t know the contours of the area we were fishing.” It was a sand bar that stretched out from a point. “I didn’t know she was hooked at first. Then I saw her come up and I was just smiling. It was a good one.” It was also the only bite they had between 8:00-1:00. “When we came in, I was going to just release her but decided to check to see what was holding for Big Bass first. Chad said a 5.50 was in the lead, so we weighed her in.” She weighed in at 6.76 lbs! That single catch earned a Big Bass check for $1,000. They also won the All Star rod bonus.
Twenty six places were paid, with Rick Hamilton and Tony Maldonado receiving the last $500 check for their 11.74 lb limit.
Congratulations to the Central Region Anglers of the Year Trevor Romans and Leslie Kennedy. Their consistency throughout this season paid off with a decisive win in the points race to earn this prestigious title. Among the benefits they have earned, their entry fees for the Central Region 2010 season will be waived.
All teams that have entered all five events automatically qualify to fish the Championship presented by Yamaha with a guaranteed 1st place purse of $50,000. There is no entry fee to participate, and it will take place on Cedar Creek Lake October 10th & 11th. There will be an optional side pot teams can enter with a 100% payback. The top 10 teams in AOY standings will receive free side pot entries.
Bass Champs staff and crew will head to Sam Rayburn for the final event for the East Region June 13. All regular season tournaments are open for anyone to enter. There is still a lot of money to be won from Bass Champs!
For more information contact Bass Champs at 817-439-3274 or click to www.BassChamps.com
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