The unbelievable payouts just keep rolling in at Bass Champs tournaments! The Central Region teams converged on Lake Travis for their fourth tournament of the season, where $41,450 was paid back in cash and prizes – a 112% payback percentage! Between guaranteed paybacks and sponsor bonuses, winners Dale Boren and Jody Holubek cashed in on over $22,000 worth of winnings.
Anglers were dealing with high winds out of the South as they scrambled to find the best three fish limit. 136 teams vied for one of the 18 places paid.
1st place winners Dale Boren and Jody Holubek started their day heading to the north end of the lake fishing in familiar areas. “When we got out there, Dale caught our first keeper, I caught our second. They moved around to different areas, and continued to catch small fish throughout the day. “We decided to go back to our starting spot, and it was a very windy bank against the strong south wind.” They were using jigs and shaky heads in very shallow water, and Jody said there were several factors that were the key to their success. First, they searched for off colored water along windy banks. “The muddier, dirty, dingiest areas were the best. Second it had to be along the wind blown banks. Lastly, there had to be some kind of wood in the water. “We would swim the jig until it hit the trees and other wood under the water, then just stop and shake the bait.” They had two decent bass in their livewell and a small swimmer. “We went several hours without catching anything. We sat down and ate, drank, then it picked back up again.” Suddenly they caught four keepers in a row in back to back casts. Jodie caught their kicker weighing in at 6.64 lbs, and they culled their smallest fish a few times as well. “When we first got there, the shad were spawning everywhere. Then the wind picked up and blew the shad into the trees. The bass stayed there, and we caught them! It was a power fishing kind of day, and we had a lot of fun.” Their three fish limit weighed in at 13.03 lbs, winning 1st place and a check for $15,000. They also had a qualified Dodge Ram pickup truck and won the Dodge Ram bonus giving them free entries into any Bass Champs tournaments for the next 12 months – a $7,500 value! They were also using Sure Life in their livewells and was awarded that $200 sponsor bonus. “We just missed the Skeeter bonus. I just sold my Skeeter boat to order the new 2014 model!” They would like to thank Allen Samuels Dodge Alliance in North Fort Worth, Fun N Sun Boating Center, as well as Bass Champs for putting on these great tournaments. “We’ve been fishing Bass Champs for four or five years now. We’ve had a 2nd place finish, 5th place – but this is our very first 1st place win!”
James Milsap fished by himself and won 2nd place with his 12.15 lb limit. “It started out slow, and took until about 9am to finish a limit.” Jody hit mid lake points with shaky heads and Carolina rigged flukes in 5′-10′ depths. “I didn’t get a chance to practice, so I just used the same pattern that works this time every year on Travis.” He stayed on points in the heaviest wind that he could take with the trolling motor. At noon he boated his biggest fish of the day weighing 5.81 lbs and upgraded his total weight by nearly two pounds with that cull. “Travis is fun. You catch a lot of fish, albeit small ones.” Bass Champs awarded him $5,000. He would like to thank his wife for her encouragement and support, as well as Cliff Brown and all the guys and girls at Texas Boat World.
3rd place was won by Chuck Guthrie and Rodney Thompson with 11.94 lbs. “We caught a couple of Guadalupe’s in our first spot, then decided to head south to the dam.” As they were nearing that area, Chuck recognized a point that they had caught fish off of before. “We stopped there, and used a green pumpkin Strike King Fat Baby on a shaky head.” Rodney used the same rig, but in a hard candy. They caught their first five pounder, and another smaller fish. They found a nice drop off, and sat in 28′ of water throwing to 7′ depths. “The fish were sitting on the drop 13′-17′ deep.” They also did not get a chance to practice for the tournament, so worked off of previous experience with the lake. “We caught our second five pounder, and never got to cull.” One fish got away. “I set the hook on it, and the fish got wrapped up on something. The Rod broke, and the upper portion of the rod hit my back leaving a nice stripe and five welts where the eyes of the rod were!” Chuck and Rodney won $3,000 for their 3rd place finish. Chuck has been fishing with Bass Champs since he returned from his Army tour in Afghanistan in 2001. They would like to thank Skeeter boats, Biobor, Strike King, Dobyns Rods, Evercast Reels and the Army Bass Anglers.
The biggest bass of the tournament was brought in by Mike Hastings and Steve Magnolia, weighing 7.59 lbs. They garnered a $1,000 check for that single catch to add to their 10th place $650 winnings. Since they used Revo reels, they also won the Abu Garcia Revo Bonus for two more Revo reels.
Allen Shelton and Brad Drake doubled their winnings being the highest finishers in a qualified Skeeter boat!
There were three ties in the last six places. It took 8.90 lbs to cash a check in this tournament. The last $500 was won by Cody Greaney and David Cosner who tied for 18th place.
The Central Region contenders only have one tournament to go before the determination of Anglers of the Year is made. The winners of this prestigious title will be able to fish all of the 2014 events in the region they earned the title in with all entry fees waived. Top five teams with one event to go:
629 pts Dustin Grice & Johnny Grice
619 pts Wes Michael & Prentice Cox
580 pts Derick Kuyrkendall & Mike Kernan
572 pts Brandon Gay & Reece McIver
566 pts Chans Martin & Sterlin Martin
Bass Champs has already paid out MILLIONS of dollars this season, and they’re not done yet.
Remaining 2013 events:
May 28 (Central) Travis
June 1 (South) Falcon
June 7-9 Skeeter Owners on Fork
June 14 (East) Sam Rayburn
June 22 (North) Ray Roberts
June 29 (Central) Belton
Bass Champs will be hosting the 20th Annual Skeeter Owner’s Tournament on Lake Fork June 8-9. There will be $250,000 up for grabs in this commemorative event, including an all new Skeeter FX20 with a Yamaha SHO250 for the biggest fish caught over the slot, and a Skeeter ZX200 powered by Yamaha will be awarded to the angler catching the biggest fish under the slot! With family activities, several divisions to compete in, more prizes being given away, all hosted by the renowned Fish Fishburn – it is a tournament you don’t want to miss!
Also make plans to participate in the 8th Annual Berkley Big Bass tournament on Lake Fork October 19-20. Ten places will be paid each hour, plus exact weight bonuses! Two Skeeter boats will be won, each powered by Yamaha, to the biggest fish over and the biggest fish under the slot.
So many opportunities to win! For information on any Bass Champs tournament, click to the BassChamps website or call 817-439-3274
By: Patty Lenderman
