It was a can’t go wrong kind of a day for the father & son team of George & Marty Kelley, who won this 3rd Sealy Outdoor Open Team event by a close margin. 211 teams came to fish the event, which was declared a trailering tournament at the last minute due to weather forecasts of 30 mph winds. The wind and the rain obviously didnt bother the bass any, as 135 teams brought limits to the scales.
Bringing in their limit early in the weigh in, the Kelley’s quickly took the lead. At the scales, trying to pick their big bass out was a challenge, as they had triplets in the 7 lb range. Their biggest bass weighed in at 7.11 lbs, and their total weight for five fish was 27.63 lbs. “It was an incredible day Marty said with a grin. It was as though nothing could go wrong. We found an area about the size of a football field that averaged 4′-5′ depths with grass at 3′. We caught a lot of fish, about 35 or so and they seemed to bite on just about anything we threw. The best ones came off of a 1/2oz white spinnerbait with double chrome willow blades. The trick was, when retrieving it, if it nicked some grass we let the bait just drop down right there. Thats when theyd hit. We culled all day, starting at 7:00. By 10:00 we had our three 7 lb’rs. With the wind blowing so hard, 15-20 mph most of the day with gusts to 30 mph it was pretty rough out there. We would motor to one end of this area and then just drift through it and pick up fish every time we went through it. The big one’s didnt hook up very well. Dad had one and reeled it to the boat. I had the net ready, and right before he got it to me he pulled the bait right out of the bass mouth. I was sick, thinking it got away.& Dad yelled pull up the net! – it had swam right into it and we got it in the boat. Our last cast of the day we caught one about 4 lbs, and was able to cull a smaller one with it. If it werent for that last fish, we wouldnt have won. The Kelleys are sponsored by Bill Heard Chevrolet, Legend Boats, Mercury Motors and American Lining.
Legendary partners James Ausmus and Harry Thomas took a close 2nd place with 27.44 lbs. We looked for them on the bank, but couldnt pick up any there. We backed out to about 7′ on the top of a ridge and caught them on a dark green and yellow tube bait. Theirs was an early bite, just getting 5 keepers to the boat throughout the day.
Coming in 3rd place overall, less than a pound from 1st was the team of Larry Nassar and Jeff Musgrove. Their 8.81 lb kicker fish won 1st place Big Bass. It was a close call for them to get her in the boat. Throwing a 1/2 oz chartreuse / white Terminator spinnerbait with gold & silver tandem willow blades, they caught all of their bigger bass after 1:00. On this particular fish, when they got it to the boat, as they dipped the net to capture the bass, the bait got caught in the net, removing it from the bass mouth. With very quick reactions to this, they reached over the side of the boat and nabbed her. They were fishing near a main lake ridge in 3′-5′ depths over hydrilla and coon tail vegetation. They also had their first limit by 7:00 and culled all day catching 20-25 fish total.
This marks the 3rd of four events for the 2004 Sealy Outdoors Open Team events. The next event is still open to anyone who would like to enter to fish for part of the $62,000 in guaranteed prize money. There is a little twist. The 4th and final open event will be Saturday, April 24th on Lake Sam Rayburn, there will be no off limits.At the conclusion of this fourth and final tournament, the top twenty-five teams determined by total points will be eligible to go to the Championship, provided they have entered all four qualifying events. Ten random Wildcard teams will be drawn from all teams who have entered all qualifying events and did not otherwise qualify for the Championship .
The Championship will consist of a possible 40 teams. The top qualifying anglers from a field who have fished all four events will continue to the next day to fish the championship. This Super Combo Event combines the final qualifying event and the Season Championship on the same weekend. Saturday will be the final qualifying event with the weights carrying over to Sundays Championship for qualifying teams. Championship Qualifiers will be announced following Saturdays weigh in. A Championship dinner will be held that evening for qualifiers.By: Patty Lenderman / Lakecaster
