The 2009 Anglers Quest Tournament of Champions is now in the books, and all Series are complete for 2009. This event was made up from the Top 5 qualifiers from each of Anglers Quest 6 Series of events and The Series Championship winners. The T-MATCH series also added the Winning & ranner-up teams to the mix to make up the 38 qualified teams that attended and participated in this years premier event. The event began on Friday evening with the attending qualified 38 teams coming together for a meeting and Calcutta auction at the host headquarters, The Hampton Inn in Mount Pleasant, Texas. A/Q would like to Thank Michelle, Kaylie and all the staff at The Hampton Inn for their 1st class hospitality at the Inn. A/Q also wants to thank the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce for welcoming all the anglers to their city. The meeting began at 6:00 pm and Calcutta auction followed and sold teams from $50 to $610 and raised $9800.00 to add to the angler’s pot. This Tournament of Champions event paid out a total of $30,075.00 to the anglers.
Check-it Stik measuring boards were passed out to all the anglers to provide them with a new board, compliments from Keith Fields at Check-it Stik. Also, each angler entering the meeting received a free raffle ticket that was drawn during the evening for various prize packs made up from sponsor products such as Bill Lewis rattle traps, ZZ Custom Lures, Santone Lures, Power Pole brochures and Gullo Yamaha discount cards. There was also an American Rodsmiths $400 Titanium Rod which was won by Keith Caka.
The weather conditions on day 1 were great with a very slight breeze, partly cloudy skies and about 54 degrees at take-off, temps rose into the mid 70’s by weigh-in time. On day 2 the weather turned very cloudy and threatened rain all day, but never did. The fish catching was really good for most, but keepers were hard to come by. Most teams reported expectations of big and heavy limits of bass. But the bite was a lot tougher than expected after the lake got hammered in practice all week long and the anglers had to work hard to bring in a good limit of bass. On Saturday there were 24 limits brought to the scales, a total of 156 bass at 333.69 lbs making the average bass brought in weigh 2.13 lbs. On Sunday there were 20 limits, 131 bass at 271.47 lbs making the average bass brought in weigh 2.13 lbs.
The Team of Bill Rogers from Jasper, Tx & Brian Branum from Brookeland, Tx ran Brian’s Ranger/Mercury to mid lake and brought in a limit at 19.24 lbs to lead the troops on day 1. On day 2 they re-traced their trail and had another limit at 12.93 lbs to give them the 1st place win with 32.17 lbs. They used their American Rodsmiths 7’2″ Newberry special rods tipped with Tour Tackle jigs & Gambler flap daddy trailers while fishing 20-27 ft water on bald humps & ridges with standing timber. Their anchor fish and Big Bass of the event was a 7.63 lber caught on a 1 oz c-rig tipped with a brush hog in 3 ft of water on a big stump. The team collected the $10,000.00 1st place prize, the 1st place Calcutta of $3430.00 and the 1st Big Bass prize of $450.00 making them a great weekend payday of $13,880.00 and the special TOC Goal Posts. Great Job Guys!! The team wanted to give some thanks to Advertising Visuals & Tour Tackle for their support.
Scott David from Goodrich, Tx and Harold Moore from College Station, Tx ran Harold’s Ranger/Yamaha bass rig to south side lake coves to probe the ditches, drains & points with rods & reels spooled with 80 lb braid and tipped with crawfish colored rattletraps to bring 14.71 lbs to the scales on day 1. On day 2 they brought in another limit at 15.43 ls to give them 10 bass at 30.14 lbs and 2nd place. The team also had a 6.61 lber and a 6.68 lber to anchor their great sacks. The team collected $3560.00 including the $250 Power Pole gift certificate. Chris Wilkerson bought the Big Dogs team at the Calcutta auction and took home $2450.00 for his $475.00 purchase.
The Strike Pro team of Todd Castledine from Nacogdoches, Tx and Justin Buchholz from Beaumont, Tx ran Todd’s Skeeter/Yamaha to the east end of the lake to bring back 15.50 lbs on day 1 and 13.03 lbs on day 2 to give them 28.53 lbs to secure 3rd place and collect $2000.00. They used their Castaway rods tipped with Strike Pro tackle to catch their limits. Chris Wilkerson also bought this team at the Calcutta for $500 and collected $1960.00 for their finish.
Team Tiremax, Ricky Guy from Humble, Tx and his son Josh Guy from Texarkana, Tx had 5 bass on day 1 for a total of 12.71 lbs and on day 2 they had another limit at 13.85 lbs for a 10 bass total of 26.56 lbs for a 4th place finish to collect $1000.00. Ricky reported catching their bass with their American Rodsmiths rods tipped with chrome/blu rattle traps in a south side cove near the dam. Ricky competed in this event in a loaner Phoenix/Mercury boat from NiceBoats.com in Blanchard, Tx. Jimmy Cole purchased Ricky & Josh at the Calcutta for $500 and turned that into a check for himself of $1175.
The team of Tommy Hill & Mike Griffin ran Tommy’s Al’s Performance Marine tuned Bullett/Mercury bass rig to numerous lake areas to fish shallow water around grass with their American Rodsmiths rods tipped with ribbit baits and a yellow magic to bring 5 bass in on day 1 at 9.34 lbs and then on day 2 they brought in another very impressive 5 bass limit at 16.46 lbs to give them a 10 bass total of 25.80 lbs. Tommy & Mike did buy themselves in the Calcutta for a measly $205.00. For their efforts the team took home $900 for 5th place and another $785.00 for their % of the Calcutta pot making the team a total of $1685.00.
The Gullo Yamaha team of Charles Bebber from Willis, Tx & Keith Caka from Magnolia, Tx came to the scales on day 1 with 13.44 lbs and another limit of 10.58 lbs on day 2 to give the team a total of 10 bass at 24.02 lbs. They caught their bass using rattletraps in 3-6 ft water around ditches & drains with grass. They took home $800.00 for their efforts.
The team of Chris DiBerardino & Larry Cotten ran Larry’s Skeeter/Rude to the west lake area to catch their two day 10 bass total of 23.80 lbs using American Rodsmiths & H&H rods tipped with chatter baits & rattletraps to collect 7th place and $700.00.
Morgan Burton from Livingston, Tx & Randy McAdams from Cleveland, Tx ran their bass rig up the west end to catch 5 keepers that tipped the scales at 14.69 lbs on day 1 and on day 2 another 5 at 8.99 lbs for a 2 day total of 23.68 lbs all caught on tx rigged Kicker Fish watermelon craws in 8 ft grass to claim the 8th and last money spot of $600.
A special Thank You to all the TOC anglers from A/Q for taking such good care of the bass to return all but 1 bass alive to Lake Bob Sandlin.
Tournament director Mr Bill Long made the announcement at the Friday night meeting & Calcutta auction for all anglers to get ready and gear up to make the cut to come to the biggest and best ever Anglers Quest “Tournament of Champions” in 2010 to be held on Lake Palestine in Frankston, Tx where A/Q will pay a Guaranteed 1st place $20,000-2nd place $10,000-3rd place $5,000.
The NEW 2010 A/Q website is now activated. For 2010 Anglers Quest will again be accepting credit cards for all entries. Anglers Quest 2010 schedules are now available online at the anglers-quest website. The 1st event for the 2010 season will be the Saturday Series Team event on Sam Rayburn, January 2, 2010 and the Sam Rayburn Individual event on January 3, 2010 with entry at the Anglers Quest coach on the evening before the event or the morning of at Mill Creek Park or anytime online or at Needmore Tackle or Mill Creek Grocery. For any info contact Mr Bill or Barbara at 281-852-8842. Anglers Quest wants to say Thanks to all the Anglers that participated in any A/Q events in 2009 and also Thanks to all the A/Q Staff & Sponsors. All A/Q events in 2010 will be conducted on Lakes Conroe, Houston, Livingston and Sam Rayburn.
Anglers Quest was sponsored in 2009 and suggest the use of products & services from these sponsors: American Rodsmiths, Antex Roofing, Automated Mailing Solutions, Bill Lewis Rattle Traps, Big State Fabrication, Bowden Marine Sales & Service, Custom Built Awards, Check-It Stik, City of Jasper, Tx-Chamber of Commerce, City of Mount Pleasant/Titus County Chamber of Commerce, Double ZZ Custom Lures, El Dorado Jacks, Executive Security Integrators, Extreme Sounds 4 ATVs, FishingWorld, Gullo Yamaha Motorsports, Kickapoo Bait & Tackle, Lake Livingston Area Tourism Council, Lone Star Buffet, Mill Creek Grocery, MSD Building Corporation, Power Pole, Rayburn Country Resort, Royal Purple Synthetic Oil, Santone Lures, Sign Designs Now, Stratos 2X Bonus, StyleTile , Superior Paint Works Inc., T/A Lure Retrievers, Team Marine USA, The Stump Restaurant & Club, TIREMAX of North America, Vincent Turf Farms
God Bless & Good Fishing to All…. Anglers Quest, Mr Bill & Barbara LongBy: Bill & Barbara Long / Anglers Quest
