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TEAM TOURNAMENT
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| Date: | | February 2, 2008 |
| Region: | | 2008 Central Region |
| Tournament: | | Lake Travis |
| Tournament Trail: | | 2008 Bass Champs Tournament Trail |
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| The Central Region of Bass Champs Blasts off 2008 with a record Field! |
| By: Patty Lenderman |
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Lake Travis marked the starting point for the Bass Champs Central Region 2008 season. The word has gotten out, and a record setting field gathered February 2nd to fish hard for some big money. More than $60,000 was at stake for the top teams, a payback of 99%. Matt Cannon and John Perry brought in the top sack of bass winning $20,000.
The day was gorgeous. Anglers did not have to deal with wind, rain, or extreme temperatures. All they had to do was concentrate on fishing. Out of a field of 234 teams, seventy three of them brought in five fish limits.
While many teams stayed on the move to find their fish, Matt Cannon and John Perry fished only one spot all day. “We found a flat off the side of a creek channel” reported Matt. Sitting the boat in water 20-25' deep, they threw Carolina rigged watermelon baby brush hogs to shallower water, about 10-12'. “On my third cast I caught a 5.90 pounder.” This was their biggest bass of the day, but they kept on catching. “By 8:25 we had a small limit put together, I’d say 12 pounds or so. We had some other spots picked out to go to, but the fish just kept cooperating, so we stayed in that one spot.” They estimate catching 12-15 keepers, culling three times to their final weight. “We caught some of our fish on a Carolina rigged watermelon Zoom 6" lizard, and some on a large crank bait, just fishing real slow. God is good!” Their five best fish weighed 18.62 lbs, the best of the field earning a check for $20,000! “First, we’d like to thank God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Also I’d like to thank my dad, he taught me to fish and we have fished together forever. He’s my hero.” Matt added thanks to his sponsors, Falcon rods, Hunter Concrete Pumping, and Nestle Waters. John said “In addition to everyone he already mentioned, I’d also like to thank my family for their support and the Lord for giving us this opportunity.”
Scott Gover and Richard Broxton brought in the 2nd place limit weighing 17.50 lbs. “It was an exceptional day!” Scott stated. “We went to our first spot and caught one fish. We stayed there about an hour and fished it pretty good, but didn’t catch any more there. After that we moved to another spot and had a limit in 15 minutes. We stayed there the rest of the day catching fish.” They started with a 15 pound limit, and culled by mere ounces to gain more weight. “Our biggest fish weighed 3.14 pounds, and our smallest weighed 3.02. We were praying for a big bite, just never got it.” Their luck was with a Carolina rigged Zoom lizard in 30' or deeper water at ledge flats. “I’d like to thank Jimmy Burns with Waterloo Rods for making an exceptional rod. It made all the difference.” They won $5,000 for 2nd place, but being the highest finishing qualified Skeeter Boat team, doubled their winnings to a $10,000 payday. “If we’re going to be beat, I’m glad it was by a hometown boy. Matt & John are great guys and did a good job today.”
3rd place went to Randy Cole and Tully Williams with 15 pounds even. “We got to do a little pre-fishing” Tully explained, “but didn’t really do well. There were three spots we had picked out, and decided to live or die by them. We were just hoping for a decent limit.” They focused their efforts in deep water, near main lake points at the mouths of creeks. “We were looking for staging fish, hoping they would be better quality.” As they hit their spots, they caught a keeper on the first cast at each one. Then they went for three hours without a single bite. The clock was ticking, then all of a sudden the fish turned back on. “At 2:00 we finally finished our limit. After that, we caught five more before we headed in. We were able to cull with four of them.” They did not have any kickers in their bag, just five solid fish. Their 3rd place finished earned them a check for $3,000. “We’d like to thank our families for their support!”
Mike R. Bass, aka “MR Bass” landed the biggest bass of the day, weighing 8.38 pounds. “It was an exceptional day on (Lake) Travis” Mike said. “We were fishing a flat off of a ledge, about 14' deep.” Mike, fishing with his wife Lila, used a Texas rigged blue flake power worm. “ She bit at 10:00, just picked it up. It wasn’t a hard hit, she just sucked it in. When I set the hook, I knew it was a big fish!” He managed to land the big bass, and it was the only bite there was for several hours. “That’s ok - it was a $1,000 fish - I’ll take it!” The team would like to acknowledge their sponsors: Hummingbird electronics, Minnkota, Navionics, Kicker Fish, McCoy Line, Castaway rods, Sur-Life, Smith Optics, Skeeter Boats & Yamaha Outboards.
A total of 31 places were paid, and David Hogge fishing with Richard Keagle caught the last $600 check with their 10.92 lb limit.
Robert Abbate and Stan Kaminski weighed in the first even weight of the tournament with 11 pounds. This qualified them to win the Skeeter Dealer Bonus of $250 if they had the business card from a Skeeter Dealer on them. They were prepared, and won the bonus!
Besides the lucrative guaranteed payouts at every event, Bass Champs sponsors are ready to pay even more!
Skeeter Bonus – Double your money bonus up to $5,000 for the highest finisher in a qualified Skeeter Boat at every tournament
Abu Garcia REVO - If your team wins Big Bass and you have an Abu Garcia REVO in your boat, you will win two new REVO’s
Sure-Life Please Release Me – If your team wins a Bass Champs Team Event with 5 live fish and you have either – Catch and Release or Please Release Me in your live well – you will receive an additional $200
Several teams enjoy fishing more than one region with Bass Champs. The money is out there each and every tournament in every single region, and you are encouraged to fish as many of them as you can. Four regions, five tournaments each, all guaranteed $20,000 for 1st place - how much money can you win fishing Bass Champs this year? Let’s find out!
The next Central Region tournament will be March 1st on Belton Lake. If you’re ready to fish before then, join us on Sam Rayburn February 16th for the second East Region event. If you’d like more information, call 817-439-3274 or click to www.basschamps.com.
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