3/7/05 -- First place by mere grams - now THAT's a close race. Choke Canyon is known for its trophy bass, and it didn't disappoint us today. The winning weights brought to the scales were the tightest in Bass Champs history. Plus, with 165 limits and more than 50 teams topping the 20lb mark, made this day a memorable one at Choke.
198 teams started their day from Calliham Park at first light, fishing in wet, rainy conditions all day. The wind gave them a break, staying calm with temperatures in the upper 60's.
Winning 1st place by a hair with 31.88 lbs was the team of Jimmy Steed and Richard Cremo. They won the first place package of a Skeeter SX190 / Yamaha 150 Vmax valued at $30,400. "We knew that the bass were spawning in the shallows. The conditions were just perfect for them, with water temperatures in the mid 60's. On this lake, the bank gets so pounded that we didn't even look for spawning bass, instead we just stayed with the deeper fish." Flipping green pumpkin tube baits with 1 oz weights, their fish came out of hard wood in 14'-18' in the mouth of a big creek. They boated 7 keepers throughout the day, losing four others that felt pretty nice. The biggest in their bag went 10.22 lbs, while their smallest was 2 lbs. Jimmy said "I told Richard that the 2 lb'r was going to kill us. It was a tough day, and frustrating losing some better fish. We got lucky, though and still had enough to win. " This is Jimmy's second Bass Champs partner, and his 3rd Skeeter Boat win. He and his partner Glenn Erskine and Ben Stogsdill decided to sign up for their very first Bass Champs tournament. "We wanted to see what kind of damage we could do. We went out to pre-fish a week before the tournament, and found just exactly what we were looking for down a single bank." When they went back to it today, they hit it with striking results. They had their initial limit in the boat by 10:00, but it was after that when it got really exciting. Throwing a chartreuse & red spinnerbait with gold blades and a red trailer hook, as well as pitching a weightless silver and black Bass Assasin, also with a red hook, they hit the trigger for big bass. They focused their efforts on main lake points, not fishing more than 10' deep around grass and trees. At 1pm Glenn put their 12.62 lb kicker fish in the boat, winning Big Bass honors and $1,000 for it. This was his biggest fish ever, and what a time to catch it! That wasn't their only big catch of the day, also bringing in another at around 9 lbs!
Fishing their first year together as a team, husband and wife Henry and Carry Fojtik put it together to win 3rd place with 29.38 lbs. Carry stated "we had gone out and practiced for the past 2-3 weeks but didn't do so well. I really wasn't sure about fishing today, but my husband said we should just go ahead and fish it." Driving their brand new Skeeter boat from Anchor Marine in San Antonio, they went back to the same main lake humps that they had hit in practice. This was their new boats' maiden voyage, so they had to keep the RPM's under 3000 making the trip to their spot slow. Finally arriving at 7:30am, they threw a carolina rigged Zoom kudzu lizard with a 1/4 oz weight and an 18" leader. Carrie explained "we had to throw it out there, let it sit, pull it real slow a little, let it sit. The bass would just barely hit it. When we set the hook, we just had to hang on, because they were all real good bass". They had their limit in the boat by 10:30, and didn't cull a single one.
This was the 2nd event for the Central division 2005 season. The next event will be March 26th on Lake Falcon. Don't miss another opportunity, sign up now and join the fun, win the money and the prizes at Bass Champs. For more information, call 817-439-3317, or visit www.basschamps.com.
Over the past two years, over $100,000 has been paid back in Skeeter bonuses. To win this bonus, all you have to do is be the highest finishing team owning and fishing from a qualified Skeeter boat. Skeeter then matches the bonus winner's earnings up to $5,000. There are several ways to win at Bass Champs. There are trivia questions, a flipping contest, smallest fish award, and several open drawings. The crowd is encouraged to participate with the trivia questions and the open drawing that you can qualify for by purchasing a ticket. At each event, a different organization brings workers and volunteers to help with the weigh in. Bass Champs and their sponsors provide the prizes to be drawn for. At this event, over $3400 worth of prizes were up for grabs benefiting The Boys and Girls Club of Three Rivers. Bass Champs matched the donations up to $500.
Tournament Summary
SOUTH TEAM #2
Choke Canyon
3/5/05- Caliham Park
Total Entries: 198 Teams
Total Collected: $51,480
Total Payback (C&P): $61,625
Payback %: 119.70%
Total Fish: 886
Total Weight: 3,084.54 lbs
Avg Weight: 3.48 lbs
# of Limits: 165
# of Zero's: 13Place Boat Angler 1 Angler 2 Fish BB Weight Earnings.
1 Jimmy Steed Richard Cremo 5.00 10.22 31.88 Skeeter SX 190/ Yamaha 150
2 Glen Erskine Ben Stogstill 5.00 12.62 31.86 $3,500.00
3 Skeeter Carrie Fojtik Henry Fojtik 5.00 8.16 29.38 $3,200.00 (Skeeter
Bonus)
4 Jason Buchanan Terry Kircus 5.00 28.94 $1300.00
5 Skeeter Tim Blanchette Tommie Collier 5.00 27.80 $1200.00
6 Mark Cory Chris Short 5.00 27.40 $1150.00
7 Colby Callaway Brent Holmes 5.00 26.68 $1100.00
8 Duane Lyssy Jimmy Davis 5.00 8.08 25.98 $1050.00
9 Dave Cole Larry Martin 5.00 24.12 $1025.00
10 Douglas Morrow Bruff Morrow 5.00 23.94 $1000.00
11 Kelly Mauldin Bill Flanary 5.00 23.52 $1000.00
12 Trent Huckaby Bubba Haralson 5.00 23.08 $1000.00
13 Skeeter JD Fontenot Trey Hallmark 5.00 22.34 $1000.00
14 Tom Haralson Micheal Bowers 5.00 22.28 $1000.00
15 John McInnis John Anderson 5.00 22.20 $1000.00
15 Skeeter Jeff Mergele Douglas Friesenhahn 5.00 22.20 $1000.00
17 Skeeter Barry Gooden Dennis Asher 5.00 22.12 $1000.00
18 Charlie Forster Bubba Quarles 5.00 22.10 $750.00
19 Frank Vaden Fred Washington 5.00 21.90 $550.00
19 Skeeter Chris Snyder Jeffrey Piel 5.00 21.90 $550.00
21 Chris Warner Guadalupe DelaFuente 5.00 21.80 $500.00
22 Web Fry David Stewart 5.00 21.76 $500.00
23 Rick Sober Larr Fisher 5.00 21.72 $500.00
23 Jimmy Johnson AR Johnson 5.00 21.72 $500.00
25 Skeeter Forrest Wilson Derick Kuyrkendall 5.00 21.70 $500.00
26 Skeeter Andres Flores Ricardo Guerrero Jr. 5.00 21.66 $500.00
27 Matt Rigby Armando Flores 5.00 21.62 $500.00
28 Jack Waldrop Jr Lee Ray Waits 5.00 21.60 $500.00
29 Skeeter Allen Shelton Heath Moody 5.00 21.54 $250 ( C.A.S.T. Bonus)
30 Armand Martinez Robert West 5.00 21.40
30 Calvin Hutzler Scott Hutzler 5.00 5.54 21.40
32 Charlie Ormond Curtis Ormond 5.00 21.38
32 Guy Adams 5.00 21.38
34 Ted Jones Roger Pritt 5.00 21.28
35 Skeeter John Mills Scott Burris 5.00 21.04
36 Bret Fisher Alan Fisher 5.00 21.00
37 Brian Fleming Mike Fleming 5.00 20.92
37 David Meyer Scott Smoot 5.00 20.92
39 David Day Dennis Lala 5.00 20.82
40 Skeeter Cheute Sanchez Charlie Haralson 5.00 20.76
41 Skeeter Paul Heffernan David Green 5.00 20.70
42 Jack Little Roger Slaughter 5.00 20.64
43 Skeeter Jim Edwards JD Wagner 5.00 20.58
44 Eddie Adams Lex Larkin 5.00 9.82 20.56
45 Tim Reneau Ralph Ramos 5.00 20.52
46 Skeeter Jason Gallas Rick Shock 5.00 20.46
47 Skeeter Ron Bridges Mike Bridges 5.00 20.44
48 Skeeter Sylvester Bedford Bill Wittie 5.00 20.38
48 Skeeter Dustin Friesenbalm Wade Brauchle 5.00 20.38
50 Skeeter Justin Bauer Jeremy Wiggins 5.00 20.22
51 Skeeter David Ebner Rich Webster 5.00 20.10
52 Elroy Krueger John Goin 5.00 20.08