Burnet anglers Jason Buchanan and Terry Kircus have had a pretty good run on Lake LBJ this spring.
The pair won their second Bass Champs Central Region tournament of the season Saturday, topping more than 180 teams to win over $20,000 and the Anglers of the Year title with 24.5 pounds.
ยThis doesn’ยt bother me one bit,ย Buchanan said laughing, when called for an interview after he and Kircusย win. ยI don’ยt mind giving interviews after a win. LBJ has been very good to us.ย
The pair started out with a later draw around number 100, but quickly found the fish on their favorite grasslines.
ยWe mainly just fished grass, ย main lake mostly ย and a few brush piles,ย Buchanan said. ยThe fish bit for us all day long. We had a limit in about the first 15 minutes and went from there. We caught about 30 keepers throughout the day, all on 7-inch soft plastic jerk baits and 10-inch worms ย all big stuff. We fished mostly between 7 and 14 feet deep.ย
The pair figured they needed 18 or 19 pounds to win Anglers of the Year, so that was their first goal on the day. Catching more than 24 pounds to claim the winning share of the $54,200 and 104-percent payback was just icing on the cake.
ยWe were pretty excited about our weight,ย Buchanan added.
The pair won the season-opening Central Region tournament on LBJ with 23.35 pounds, and followed that up with a third place finish on Lake Belton and a ninth-place finish on LBJ in April.
In second place, the team of Dean Alexander, Georgetown, and Thomas Martens, Jonestown, caught 23.37 pounds to cash a $3,750 check.
ยWe had heavy cloud cover and limited sunlight today,ย Alexander said. ยWe targeted scattered grass throughout the midlake and lower end using swimbaits, Senkos and Carolina rigs. We drew number 80, and got into an area we wanted to fish, but we had to share the water. We stayed in that one area most of the time. They were slow bites, but we worked hard in that one big area and just grinded it out.ย
The pair kept hitting the same spots, and it eventually paid off with a few big bites.
ยWe only caught eight or nine keepers,ย Alexander said. ยWe culled twice, but we fished clean and didn’ยt lose any fish.ย
A late run to a new area produced one late cull, pushing the team another 2 pounds up the leaderboard.
ยThis lake has a lot of quality fish,ย Alexander added. ยIf weย’d caught a 9-pounder, I think we’ยd have been tough to beat, but we didn’ยt get that real big fish. I’ยd like to thank our families for allowing us to come out and fish and Bass Champs for putting on such a well-run tournament.ย
Martens said he wished to thank Texas Boat World.
In third place, the team of Brian Mater, Austin, and Phil Warren, Manchanca, caught a 9.92-pound kicker to finish in third place and win $2,750, plus an additional $5000 from Coast and Under Armour for Big Bass of the tournament.
ยBrian had prefished the lake and we had three or four places we wanted to go,ย Warren said. ยWe have both fished LBJ for a long time. We got to the first place, ย no bites. Got to the second place, ย no bites. We were beginning to leave and I said, ยLets move just a little farther down and keep trying this area. Brian stuck the 9.92-pounder on a chatterbait right after that. It jumped three or four times coming to the boat. As I was getting the net ready, I set the hook on another nice one. We had a limit by about 8:30. An hour later, we caught a 5-pounder on a Senko.ยThe anglers noticed the big bass was laying on her side around 11 a.m., so they ran into the dock for an early weigh-in and got the bass revived and released healthy.
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By: Conor Harrison, Bass Champs
