Bass Champs East Texas Region held their April 29th bass fishing tournament at Toledo Bend for the first time this 2006 season. It was quite a day, with torrential rains, thunderstorms, lightening, and a lot of wind. Due to the extreme weather conditions, after checking in with tournament directors at Cypress Bend, the 203 teams were allowed to trailer, launching nearer to their fishing spots. Many teams elected to stay on dry ground and wait until there was a break in the nasty weather. Some, like Randy Qualls and Mike Metcalf headed out in the rain and fished right through everything that Mother Nature lashed out. They brought in the 1st place sack, weighing 26.24 lbs, winning with over a 6 pound margin.
By noon the weather was much better. The rains passed and the wind died down. All teams had to quit fishing by 3:00 and head in to the weigh in. As the 3:00 hour approached, tournament workers were assigned their duties, the grill was fired up to cook hotdogs for everyone there and the music was cranked up. It didn't take long for the weigh in line to crank up as well.
Jason Wells and Vic Cooper, winners of last months tournament on Sam Rayburn, brought in the first heavy sack at 18.44 lbs. Soon after Michael Laird established the lead in Big Bass with his 9.46 lb kicker. This was just the beginning of the weigh in, and their weights did not hold.
Mike Cortelloni and Lorin Lively took the lead after that, weighing 19.52 lbs with four fish. This included their 10.70 lb kicker that ultimately won Big Bass honors. "We had eight bites but only put four fish in the boat" Cortelloni shrugged. We were throwing Stanley spinnerbaits and Senko's, and caught three from the spinnerbaits. The Big Bass was on a watermelon candy senko and I caught her around 1:30. We fished north of here, shallow, at about 4' in the lilly pads." Their four fish won 2nd place overall, worth $4,000. Since they were fishing out of their brand new Skeeter I-Class series boat and the highest finishing qualified Skeeter boat owner team, they doubled their 2nd place winnings to $8,000. Add another $1,000 to that for Big Bass honors, and Cortelloni and Lively walks away with a $9,000 winning day.
Mike Metcalf and Randy Qualls weighed in just after them, tipping the scales to 26.24 lbs winning 1st place and a brand new $34,000 Skeeter SX200 bass boat powered by a Yamaha 200hpdi motor. They had fished right through the storms, throwing a Carolina rigged Yamamoto craw worm in the stumps, no less than 4' deep. Some of their fish also came off of deep running crank baits.
Jeffrey Tall and Dennis Tietje secured 3rd place with their 18.82 lb sack. "We stayed in the truck until 10:00" Jeffrey explained. "We fished the south end, in the grass at about 11'-12'. Mostly we were using Carolina rigged watermelon lizards, but we also threw some trick worms. Later we caught some on War Eagle spinnerbaits. Out of the 12 fish we caught, 7 were keepers." One of those keepers weighed 8.86 lbs. "Our Nitro 929 took us where we needed to go in that bad weather!" They were awarded $3,000 for their 3rd place finish.
When the scales closed, the flipping contest began. There are five small buckets, worth 5 - 25 points scattered along the pitching arena. The farthest target is about the size of an oil filter, and it is worth 50 points. At the meeting the night before the tournament, the anglers pitch and flip to qualify for this contest. Ky Martin won the contest and was awarded a Maui Jim Sunglasses certificate and an Academy gift card.
At each tournament, a non-profit organization comes with workers to help with the weigh in. The Evadale Central Baptist Church sent workers, and Bass Champs and their sponsors provided prizes to an open drawing that anyone present can purchase a raffle ticket for. There were over $1,600 worth, ranging from rods, reels, Keel Shield, Maui Jim's, X Tools, gift certificates and more. Bass Champs then matched the funds raised up to $500 for the church group.
There is only one event left for the East Texas Region - May 20 on Sam Rayburn. The Region Championship will follow on May 21st. For more information, click to www.basschamps.com or call 817-439-3274.