The 2005 Fifth Annual Tuff Man Championship was held Saturday, January 15th, in conjunction with the 26th Annual Central Texas Boat Show. The sun came up Saturday morning over a field of 47 teams at Lake Stillhouse Hollow near Stillhouse Hollow Marina. It was a perfect, clear day with a mild breeze. There were a record number of fish caught. New records were also set in total weight and heaviest stringer.
The weigh-in was held starting at 3:30 PM at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton, Texas, in the back arena of the boat show. The bleachers were packed and there was standing room only with excited fans waiting in anticipation for their favorite fishermen to come through the arena to weigh in their catch.
The final standings were as follows:
| PL | Team | #Fish | Weight | Payout | Bonus |
| 1st | Dean Alexander/Eric Crumley | 5 | 30.38 | $7,500 | $5,000 Legend Coupon |
| 2nd | Dennis Sullivan/Paul Stokes | 5 | 24.42 | $3,000 | $500* National Bank |
| 3rd | Danny Langley | 5 | 23.12 | $2,000 | $1,500 Ranger Cash |
| 4th | Brett Stafford/Ronnie Trower | 5 | 21.05 | $1,500 | |
| 5th | Jack Morse/Landon Heinen | 5 | 19.53 | $1,000 | |
| 6th | Scott Hamilton/Daryl LeBoeuf | 5 | 18.61 | Jackpot $ | |
| 7th | Jeff Giarrizzo/Robert Brown | 5 | 17.64 | Jackpot $ | |
| 8th | Jeff Pitrucha/Brad Williams | 5 | 17.39 | Jackpot $ | |
| 9th | Gilbert Miller/Benny Love | 5 | 16.08 | Jackpot $ | |
| 10th | Danny Coppin/Bill Blackwell | 5 | 15.04 | Jackpot $ | |
| 11th | Paul Lam/Bobby Thrasher | 5 | 14.67 | Jackpot $ | |
| 12th | Bruce Stokes | 5 | 12.72 | Jackpot $ | |
| 13th | Gerald Poboril/Ashby Melton | 5 | 12.20 | Jackpot $ | |
| 14th | Deren Sebek/Darrell Newman | 4 | 11.88 | Jackpot $ | |
| 15th | John Halley/Kenny Johnson | 5 | 11.64 | Jackpot $ | |
| 16th | Wally Watts/Wade Watts | 5 | 11.34 | Jackpot $ | |
| 17th | Sisto Salinas/Keith Combs | 5 | 11.20 | Jackpot $ | |
| 18th | Charles Regan/Stevie Joe Smith | 5 | 11.15 | Jackpot $ | |
| 19th | Dave Hogge/Landon Ware | 5 | 11.10 | Jackpot $ | |
| 20th | Noah Keeton/Nick Real | 5 | 11.06 | Jackpot $ | |
| 21st | Michael Jones/Tommy Durham | 5 | 11.01 | ||
| 22nd | Travis McCollough/Bobby Wilson | 5 | 10.96 | ||
| 23rd | Mike Hastings/Steve Magnelia | 5 | 10.87 | ||
| 24th | Mark Forbes/Richard Broxton | 4 | 10.81 | ||
| 25th | Joe Stone/Allen Barker | 5 | 10.70 | ||
| 26th | Lowell Bennet/Billy Brewer | 5 | 10.35 | ||
| 27th | Billy Dent/Rick Scott | 5 | 10.33 | ||
| 28th | Charles Gerhart/David Shuster | 5 | 10.19 | ||
| 29th | Donald Gregg/Donald Gregg III | 5 | 9.96 | ||
| 30th | Jason Barton/Ryan Warren | 5 | 9.10 | ||
| 31st | Bobby Babcock/Bob Babcock | 5 | 8.92 | ||
| 32nd | James Roberts/Matt McClendon | 5 | 8.16 | ||
| 33rd | Lance Roblia/Steve Tindell | 3 | 7.98 | ||
| 34th | Randy Behringer/Mike Graham | 5 | 7.97 | ||
| 35th | Tim Willingham/Terry Williams | 4 | 7.85 | ||
| 36th | Tully Williams/Randy Cole | 4 | 7.74 | ||
| 37th | John Guerra/Gerald Rabroker | 2 | 7.48 | ||
| 38th | Mike Montanez/Will Hammonds | 5 | 7.38 | ||
| 39th | Jerry Whitt/Jamie Ward | 4 | 5.48 | ||
| 40th | James McBride | 2 | 5.04 | ||
| 41st | Kevin Ordner/Keith Kinlaw | 3 | 4.45 |
Big bass, caught by the team of Dennis Sullivan and Paul Stokes, weighed in at 8.96 pounds and was worth $500. The National Bank of Gatesville, Texas, donated the Big Bass Bucks. Legend Boats donated a $5,000 transferable coupon toward the purchase of a new Legend boat, which was won by first place finishers Dean Alexander and Eric Crumley. The Ranger cup winners were Brett Stafford and Ronnie Trower, who won $1,500 additional cash in contingency money.
Eighty seven percent of the teams weighed in with a total of 190 fish and a total weight of 504.95 pounds. The average fish weight was 2.66 pounds. And best of all there was 100% restocking into Lake Stillhouse with no apparent fish lost. Congratulations to all the fishermen for taking such good care of our natural resources.
Steve Karlick, weigh master, said that this year was the best group of fishermen he had ever worked with at any tournament. He said that the fishermen were professional, knew the rules, had great attitudes and made his job as weigh master easy.
Sponsors for the Tuff Man Tournament Trail are Garys Marine of Gatesville, Central Texas Marine Of Waco, Texas Boat World of Harker Heights, National Bank of Gatesville, FishingWorld.com, Ranger Boats, Triton Boats, G3 Boats, Legend Boats, Bass Cat Boats, Xpress Boats, Yamaha Motors, Evinrude & Johnson Motors, Mercury Motors, Lowrance Electronics, Motorguide Trolling Motors, A&M Marine, American Rodsmiths, Summers Electric (Rexel Industries), Amos Electric, Stillhouse Heating & Air, Strike King Lures and Rick Smiths Marine Outlet of Temple.
Legend Boats of Arkansas donated trophies for the 2005 Tuff Man Championship. ProTeam Tournaments furnished the weigh-in trailer. The directors of the 2004-2005 Trail wish to thank everyone for their support of this tournament series.
Dates for the 2005-2006 Trail have not yet been finalized.
For further information you may e-mail
[email protected] or
[email protected]: Rick Smith
