For the past month Lake Amistad has been on fire, setting several bass fishing tournament records and getting national attention. Amistad sure didn't let us down this weekend as the massive stringers continued coming in for this tournament. The water temperatures are steadily on the rise, the full moon has come and gone, and the South Texas Division of Bass Champs anglers were after the biggest and the best that this lake has to offer. Phenomenal bags of bass were caught and weighed in, and the winning sack topped in at over 30 pounds! Amistad has already produced two Texas Sharelunkers over 13 pounds this season, and nearly did it again today.
The field of 197 teams headed out on an overcast, windy day to compete in the third of five events in this division. It took over 21 pounds to grab part of more than $60,000 paid out in twenty eight places paid. Forty one teams weighed in over 20 pounds! Mere ounces and increments separated each place in the standings, and an incredible 157 teams brought in limits. The father & son team of Roger and John Slaughter brought in the winning weight of 30.96 lbs to the scales. John was ecstatic with the excitement of their day and their win. "We started out in San Pedro, and just threw white spinnerbaits all day. We were fishing a tree line near creek channels in about 4'-6' of water. We put our fifth fish in the boat around noon, and had a limit weighing about 22 lbs." They weren't quite done with their day yet, catching another limit of fish to cull from. One of them was a nice 7.90 kicker. "This is the first year dad & I have teamed up to fish together. This is the best stringer we've ever caught so far!" It will be a hard one to beat. They drove home with the 1st place package of a Skeeter SX 190 powered by a Yamaha 150 hpdi motor.
Burt Sutton & Alex Martinez took 2nd place with 29.22 lbs, including their 7.22 lb kicker. They collected a check for $2,500 In 3rd place with 27.70 lbs was the team of Mike Rupard and George West. Mike reported "We started out fishing in about 20-25' throwing Carolina rigged watermelon lizards and 10" power worms. By 9:00 we had a limit in the boat that would weigh about 20 pounds. We caught almost all of the fish we weighed in from that depth. As the day warmed up, we started working our way to shallower water, looking for spawning bass. We started throwing DD-22's, and latched on to one that would weigh between 8-10 pounds, but it broke off at the boat. Ten minutes later, we caught our 8.10 lb kicker in about 10'. That really helped to lift our spirits. This is a spot we go to a lot, and we stayed in that cove all day." Mike & George were also the highest finishing Skeeter Boat owner team, and doubled their 3rd place $1,600 win to a $3,200 finish.
Danny Moy caught the monster bass, winning the Big Bass honors for the event weighing 12.62 lbs. "I was fishing a windy main lake point, trying to hold my position with my trolling motor on 5. We were bouncing up and down and rocking a lot - it's a good thing I'm not seasick. I was throwing a 1/4 oz Texas rigged watermelon red brush hog. I figured with this lighter weight, it would swim pretty slow, and if the fish were suspended, it would stay in the strike zone longer. She was sitting about 15' deep, and I didn't feel anything when she picked it up. My line just took off. I set the hook and the fight was on! Normally I use braided line, but had to go to a lighter line for the conditions. I was fishing with 17 # test and had my drag tightened down all the way. That can be pretty risky, especially with big fish, but there were a lot of underwater bushes and I didn't want to give the fish the chance to get to them. I was using a 6' 8" heavy action rod. I never saw a rod bend to a U-shape like this one did today." Danny received $1,000 for his Big Bass, and he with his partner Ira Lynn took 5th place overall with 26.62 lbs for an additional $1,200 check.
The points standing is racking up tight for Angler of the Year with the top 5 teams in a heated race:
528 pts Rick Shock & Jared Poole
522 pts Albert Hudson & Bill Kingsberry
511 pts Charlie Forster & Jeff Williams
501 pts David Day & Dustin Day
498 pts Carrie Fojtik & Henry Fojtik