January 23rd found ArmyBassAnglers Pros Jason Blackmon and Alfred Pemberton teaming up on Lake Sam Rayburn for their first Skeeter Bass Champs East Division bass fishing tournament.
"You could not have asked for better weather for a January tournament" said Al Pemberton. Weather conditions for the entire week were in the high 70's and come game day, the team would face overcast conditions, misting rain and a high temperature of 73 degrees.
Pemberton and Blackmon mapped out nine to ten spots around the Black Forest area and dropped the hammer on their Returning Heroes Home Theme Wrapped Skeeter ZX200. "After fishing on Rayburn last weekend in bad conditions, it was awesome to zip across the lake relatively smooth considering 245 boats blasted off in front of us", laughed Blackmon.
That would not be the only cruel event to play out on the team. After drawing an extremely high launch number, the team would get to their first spot called the Caney Creek Flats and the comedy and irony of the day would rare its face full speed. After graphing a drop on the edge of the flat, Blackmon and Pemberton found their fish holding in about 26 feet of water. Blackmon would immediately hook up with a solid keeper using a Castaway Skeleton 7'6" flipping stick and Carolina rigged 3.5 in Lake Fork Trophy Tackle Live Magic Shad. A few cast later Pemberton connected with a non keeper in the same area. Blackmon immediately opened the tackle compartment and reached for a new live magic shad and that is when "Murphy" reared his ugly head-Blackmon realized he had forgot to pack his swimbait box in the boat.
"I learned a valuable lesson today, even when you think the fish wouldn't hit a certain type of bait, they prove to you they will. I had a few 8 inch live magic shads and got 6 or 7 more bites, however, they were only hitting the very last half of the bait. I promise you one thing, I will never try to outguess this little green fish that drives us all crazy" stated a frustrated Blackmon, who just weeks prior had a solid 2nd place finish on Sam Rayburn in the Anglers Quest Individual Opens.
Pemberton and Blackmon would both like to thank all the Sponsors that make this all possible. Even though they only brought one fish to the scale that's all it took to make the stage as Al Pemberton & President of Bass Champs Chad Potts took a few minutes to share the ArmyBassAngler's Mission with an enthusiastic and supportive crowd.
For more information on ArmyBassAnglers and their Sponsors visit them at ArmyBassAnglers.com.