Anglers Quest 2004 Saturday Team Series Championship is now in the books, and the Saturday Series is complete for 2004. The event began on Friday evening with the presentation of the special Trophies to 2 time Anglers of the Year, Danny StAndrie & Chris Diberardino, they will receive free entries for the 2nd year in a row to all A/Q Saturday Series Events in 2005. The Top 10 Angler Teams of the year were awarded Top 10 Plaques with the statistics of all 20-2004 Saturday Series events engraved. The big bass pot auction of All-Star Rods and Check-It Stiks, plus the $25 per man raised $1765.00. The Calcutta Auction followed and sold teams from $50 to $700 and raised $5920.00 to add to the anglers pot.
The Lake Livingston Area Tourism Council, and chief cooks Gene & Kay Swann & Sammy Long treated all 25 team championship anglers and their families to a very good old fashion “Sausage Rollups” and all the trimmings at the final day weigh-in at Kickapoo Bait & Tackle on Sunday.
The weather was cloudy and low 50’s at daybreak to low 50’s during the day with a slight north breeze for the day 1 Lake Houston part of the event. Sunday at Lake Livingston it started out to be a drizzly day at 52 degrees and just a slight north breeze, but as the day wore on the winds pushed the rain clouds away and the temp remained in the low 50’s all day.
As Day 1 got underway with the 25 qualified teams taking off into the dim morning light at 6:15 am going for the $17000.00 purse which was the 97% payback promised by A/Q at all Championships. The water at Lake Houston was in really good shape going into the event at approx. 2″ above normal pool, the 25 teams brought in 6 limits of bass, 77 fish that totaled 168.00 lbs with a 2.18 avg. Day 2 on Lake Livingston produced 17 limits 95 fish-243.88 lbs and a 2.56 avg weight. After both days were complete their were 172 total bass caught with 23 limits-411.88 lbs and a 2.39 overall average weight.
Jeff Jackowski & Steve Cross brought in the heaviest 5 bass limit on day 1 at 11.98 lbs, followed very closely by Dean Coleman & Jim Guzman with 11.75 lbs and Chris DiBerardino with 11.45 lbs and the eventual overall winners Eddie Ellisor & Todd Castledine with only 3 Lake Houston bass at 11.11 lbs that were all caught on buzz baits in the Luces Bayou area. The largest of their 3 bass was the Big Bass going to day 2 at 4.48 lbs. The bass on Lake Houston reportedly fell prey to many different baits and techniques.
Day 2 weigh-in was very exciting as over half the teams from day 1 still had a shot at winning the event. Ricky Guy & Larry Cotten brought 5 bass to the scales on day 2 to boost their 2-day total to 23.40 lbs and claim the 5th place plaques and $465.00. 4th place was claimed by Jeff Jackowski & Steve Cross weighing a 2 day total of 10 bass at 24.47 lbs to claim the A/Q plaques and $925.00. The Anglers of the Year Team of Danny StAndrie & Chris DiBerardino brought in 10 bass during the 2 days to boost their total to 25.02 lbs and claim 3rd place A/Q plaques and $2585.00. Archie Smith & Jody Rhoden brought the largest 5 bass limit to the scales, at 18.24 lbs to give them a 2 day total of 9 bass at 25.39 lbs to finish in 2nd place. They also caught the overall Big Bass of the event, a fine 6.87 lber and collected $1235.00 for that 1 bite on a blk/blu jig. They ended their day with the 2nd place A/Q plaques and a total of $5335.00. The 2nd Big Bass of the event, a 4.65 lber was brought to the scales on day 2 by David Wheaton & Tansley Bynog Sr, that one bite netted them $530.00.
For the 2nd year in a row, Eddie Ellisor & Todd Castledine put together a very impressive 8 bass limit for 2 days that tipped the scales at 27.85 lbs to win this event. Eddie & Todd caught their bass on day 2 in a creek on the south end of Lake Livingston on spinner baits and soft plastics. For their win Eddie, Todd and their owner Lee Robichaux pocketed $7160.00.
Anglers Quest 2005 Schedules are now available online at Anglers-Quest.com. The 1st event for the 2005 season will be the Saturday Series Team event on Lake Livingston, January 8, 2005 going out of North Shore Resort with registration and sign up at Kickapoo Bait & Tackle. All Saturday Series events in 2005 will have a GUARANTEED $1000 to winner, no matter how many entries. For any info contact Mr Bill at 281-852-8842. Anglers Quest wants to Thank all the Anglers that participated in any A/Q events in 2004 and also Thanks to all the A/Q Staff & Sponsors. Anglers Quest new 2005 color flyer will be available very soon. All A/Q events in 2005 will be conducted on Lakes Conroe, Houston and Livingston.
Anglers Quest was sponsored in 2004 by: All Star Rods, Anchorage Marina, Antex Roofing, Carla DiBerardino/Realtor, Check-It Stik, Classic Awards & Trophies, DeMontrond Auto Country, Easy Boat/RV Storage, Fishingworld.com, George Cox/Arrow Surveying, Johnny B Daltons, Kickapoo Bait & Tackle, Kicker Fish Bait Co., Lake Houston Marina, Lake Livingston Area Tourism Council, MSD Building Corporation, Quality Mop & Broom, TEXAS TIRES, Union Planters Banks, Vinyl Signs by Vicky
God Bless & Good Fishing to All….
Anglers Quest, Mr Bill & Barbara LongBy: Bill & Barbara Long / Anglers Quest
