In early January of 2007, with North Texas lakes at near record low levels, we were seriously considering postponing this year’s event to a later date. But with the substantial rains of January and February, the 24th Annual KCKL Tournament took it’s regular place at the end of March. With a change to the starting date of daylight savings time, anglers headed out in the twilight to search for big bass and the chance for a share of the numerous Prizes for Big Bass weighed in each Hour and in the Final Standings. The recent rainfalls had brought plenty of murky water flowing into the major creeks and water temps in the lower 60s which had the fish moving into 3-6′ of water. A number of anlgers reported good catches in this new water with white spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits. A warming sunny day continued the water warming trend several anglers reporting seeing fish moving onto beds in shallow pockets and bays. These bass were interested in lightly weighted lizards, Senkos, and other soft plastics.
Anglers young and old weighed in their big catch of the day. With our $10 Youth Division, more and more kids are fishing the Tournament with their parents and grandparents. Some are even winning money in the Overall Final Standings.
The weigh-in crew saw over 241 bass weighed in and released back into the lake on Day 1 with the Tournament leader being the big 9.23 lb. bass weighed by Ricky Phillips of Malakoff. As a local angler fishing quite a few Cedar Creek tournaments, Ricky was tight lipped about his technique and location of success.
Upon completion of Saturday’s final hourly weigh-in, contestestants enjoyed a BBQ dinner and over 40 door prizes such as Kistler Custom Graphite Rods, Stike King Lure Paks, Sufix Line, prizes from other fine sponsors including Sewin Sam’s special Tournament Logo embroidered worm bags & coolers, and over $2500 worth of outdoors gear from Academy Sporting Goods of Plano.
Lots and lots of Door Prizes for contestants (must be present to win)
In addition to the numerous cash and merchandise prizes for anglers, every entry gets a Special Edition KCKL Bass Tournament hat. Here are some examples of the past 24 years:
Day 2 dawned clear and nice with gentle breezes allowing anglers their choice of locations. The bite was on and large numbers of big bass came to the scales.
While the weigh-in crew tallied the final Tournament results, another 40 door prizes were awarded to contestants by random drawing. At the end of the day, Ricky Phillip’s 9.23 lb. bass held on to 1st Place in the Overall Final Standings and Ricky’s winnings amounted to $6,700 for the weekend’s competition. In 2nd Place, Rodney Stuart’s 8.23 lb. bass brought him $1,750 for a very nice fish. In the Ladies Division, Lisa Wiggins of Haslet took 1st Place with a fine 5.88 lber. which also won her money in the Hourly Competition and 18th Place in the Final Standings. In the Youth Division, Joseph Strother weighed in with a 6.57 lber. which also won him Hourly money and 12th Place money in the Overall Final Standings.
Overall, this year’s event paid 80 Hourly Prizes, 40 Places in the Overall Final Standings, 5 Ladies Places, 10 Places in the Youth Division, and there were four “even 3.00 lb.” bass which took home $100 each. Many thanks to the participating sponsors of this year’s event which included: KCKL 95.9 FM, Triton Boats, Mercury Outboards, North Texas Marine, Strike King Lures, Kistler Custom Graphite Rods, Sufix Fishing Line, Sewin Sam’s Embroidered Graphics, Academy Sporting Goods, and numerous Lake area merchants.
Make plans now to attend next year’s “25th Anniversary” KCKL 95.9 FM BIG BASS TOURNAMENT. It will be held the last weekend of March and promises to be the best event ever.By: Mike McBurney
