Faith Angler Network delivers with a 2 day Championship and awards a 2011 Bass Cat Saber powered with a Mercury 150.

The accumulation of Faith Angler Network’s inaugural season closed with a two day championship tournament held on 2 different lake October 22nd and 23rd, 2010. The event began at the Immanuel Baptist Church in Temple TX. Thursday evening October 21st. Sponsors, anglers and their friends and families of the 25 teams that qualified nestled into the fellowship hall to enjoy some Rudy’s Bar-B Q, and the wonderful brownies and ice cream provided by the kind staff of IBC

This intimate group would be blessed as Professional BASS Elite Angler and 2008 Bass Master Classic Champion Alton Jones was our honor speaker. This would not be the first time Alton has come out to the Texas Hill Country to visit and talk to our members; however, it would be the first time we got to meet Grace, his adorable retriever. Alton always has a unique way to bring together our walk with God and our days on the water, or preparing for a tournament. This was no exception and Alton and Grace offered a great demonstration of obedience and why we must remain obedient at all times.

Friday morning 25 teams gathered at Lake Belton’s Temple Lake Park where a slight breeze and air temperatures in the low 60s’ would greet them as they prepared their minds and gear for the day-one test. Lake Belton did not give up its best fish this day, and with it being any team’s chance to win, finding a limit of good size bass would be the key. Six limits made it to the scales on day one; however the heaviest limit weighing in at 12.36 pounds went to the Father Son team of Dale and Jake Reed of Leander, TX. Dale and Jake qualified as the highest finishing youth/adult team and came in third place in the overall points. This was Jakes first time competing in a tournament trail, and he has won some serious cash, a great experience, and memories for him and Dad.

Dale recalls their day on Lake Belton”Jake and I headed up Cow House several miles and started throwing crank baits. I hooked a keeper right off the bat but when I went to swing him in he came unbuttoned and bounced off the side of the boat and went into the drink. Nothing was feeling right so we left Cow House and headed up the Leon. Starting past the island throwing Disco Violet Flukes from Fish Finders Marine, I lost two more what would be keepers, just could not get a hook in them and keep them there. Jake is throwing a top water Sammy and catches a couple of close but short fish, but we still have no keepers in the boat. We keep going up and stop on a point and I land our first and largest fish of the day on a fluke. We catch a couple of 13 inchsmallmouth’s but no more keepers at that location. Up past Cedar Ridge our luck starts changing, we go into a pocket and started whacking on the fish throwingsenkos and flukes. We catch 3 keepers and several short fish out of 1 ? foot of water on a windblown bank. We leave that area and head back down to the dam where we had been catching good numbers of fish with a few quality ones mixed in. We land our 5th fish on the dam and all the pressure for a limit of fish is lifted off our shoulders. Jake and I both put onSenkos and we just start beating the banks. We get to a rock in about 3 foot of water and Jake catches 3 more keepers and I catch 3 short fish from the same rock. We keep going and pick up another keeper and several short Belton bullets until time to weigh in”.

Taking second place with a 4 fish limit and the big bass of the day and overall championship was the team of Tim Dixon and Keith Cummins. The 4 fish weigh in at 11.36 and the big bass was triple nickel at 5.55 pounds.

The third place team also managed a limit of fish that totaled 11.27. The team of RonnieTrower and JeffPitrucha from the Killeen/Harker Height area knew the tournament would be tough and after day one did not think they had a chance to move ahead.

“We began Friday in the Cow House arm of the lake, but as Alton Jones said Friday night “Fish have fins” and we started working our way up the Leon arm by 9 o’clock. We caught several fish during the remainder of the day on spinner baits and jigs. When we found ourselves in third place after the weigh in we were pretty sure from our practice days we were not going to win. From the beginning we had thought 15lbs. on Belton and 8 lbs. on StillHouse.”

Finishing in the top 10 day one

Day two and the final day to make something happen to win the Bass Cat Saber/Mercury package valued over $30,000 would take FAN and the 25 teams toStillhouse Hollow Reservoir.Stillhouse is known for its big bass; however, as luck would have it this Central Texas jewel has not been shining too well this year. Most anglers know one good fish could change anything on days two with the weights that were brought in on day one. Most folks had their money on Dale and Jake with a respectful margin on the other team, but again it only take one solid bite to make up that margin.

The team regrouped Saturday morning atStillHouse Park at theStillhouse Hollow Marina with the breeze kicking up a little more and the potential threat of a thunderstorms lurking on the early morning horizon. This is where we hear Dale Read praying for the lightning storm to roll in and possibly call the event.

Fortunately, the weather moves off to the north east and Dale and Jake prepare along with the rest of the chaser to make this day a big one.

As the boats are released, the sky’s clear up somewhat, however, the wind did not. Wind gusts up to 30 plus miles an hour wreak havoc on the anglers trying to control their fishing spots or head to calmer waters in coves and breaks on the lake.

Even the FAN staffs have to make some adjustments as a few rain storms crash down on the weigh-in site.

The rain lets up and the time for the teams to check in is approaching as the excitement builds to see who “got r done”.

As the teams approached the scales, the stories of a tough day repeat themselves with only 4 limits. Tim Dixon and Keith Cummins holding on to second place and come in with 2 fish at 2.90 taking them out of the race, and Team Reed, and Ronnie and Jeff still have not weighed in. As more teams weigh in, it looks like a shootout between Team Read and Ronnie and Jeff. With the final weights tallied, Ronnie and Jeff bring in a 12.60 limit with a 4.75 kicker largemouth bass over Dale and Jakes 9.47 pound limit giving Ronnie and Jeff a 2.04 pound victory and they take home the 2011 Bass Cat Saber/ Mercury Package..

Ronnie reveals day 2 on the lake

“Saturday we started on a C-rig spot looking for a catch-up fish that did not happen. We then went to shallow grass for a couple of barely keepers, but the bites were not as they were in practice. Plan A and B did not work so on to plan C. Jeff began throwing a shallow running crank bait and catching fish. We ended the day with Jeff catching 2 fish at the same time with both of them culling fish we already had. One of the fish was the big bass for day two.”

They would like to thank their wives, Texas Boat World, Triton Boats, Keel X, Tournament saver Pro, Strike King, Berkley, Fenwick, and Abu Garcia for their

Dale details day 2 onStillhouse Hollow

Jake and I head straight to the shallow road bed behind the island and start throwing blades and cranks, nothing biting. We had caught several small keepers there in practice but could not buy a bite. We work our way out the road and start catching small fish on T-rigSenkos and power worms. We catch 8 to 10 small fish before I catch our first keeper on a Crank bait. The camera boats comes buy and Jake and I both catch small fish for the crew. They leave and we catch another 14″ fish but nothing good is going on. We leave and head back to the Dam. Jake and I keep catching short fish with nothing to put in the box, I ask Jake if the is up for fighting the wind and do what we did on Friday throwing Flukes on wind-blown banks and he agrees. We head to a North bank and start catching keeper fish on the flukes in the wind, our first pass we fill our limit. Then we started culling our second pass down the bank. Jake catches a nice 2 1/2 to 3 lb. small mouth and I catch several more small mouths. We are having a blast catching fish at this point and stay with this pattern for the next 3 to 4 hours. Think we were going to be in good contention for a win with a 9-10 pound sack of fish. All we could do is wait and see what the other anglers could do

Day 2 and Final top 10

We would like to thank our sponsors whom make our efforts possible and ask that you visit their websites, and support them as your needs arise.Texas Boat World, Bass Cat Boats, Mercury Marine, Motor Guide,Kistler Rods,Sebile Lures, Fish Finders Marine, Academy Outdoors, Gary Yamamoto Baits,Kinami Baits, Georgetown Shirt Company, American Rodsmith, Animal Custom Sublimated Jerseys,SmartShield Sun Protection, O’Reilly’s Auto Parts, Sure Life, Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q, Hill Country Bible Church NW, Foundation Auto Repair, Pay Dirt Jigs, Sure Strike Boat Detailing, Pig Logistics

Faith Angler Network is a 501? 3 Non- Profit organization based in the Austin area, promoting youth fishing events, supporting Solder fishing events, and the community.

For information Contact: [email protected]
Phone: 512-413-4178By: Jeff Cook