On March 27th, Bass Champs hosted the bass fishing world’s richest one day event on Lake Fork and the Army BassAnglers were there hoping to cash in. With a Dodge truck being given away to the heaviest bass each hour and one more given for the heaviest overall bass, several Army BassAnglers Pro Staff teams and Coalition teams tried to determine the best Course of Action for the chance to at the hourly winnings.
For the team of Cody Roberson, President and Founder of ArmyBassAnglers, and AirForceBassAngler Mike Carrol, the plan was to look for spawning fish in shallow water. Of course, the weather always gets a vote and was less than cooperative on this day. The temperature dropped forty degrees in the 24 hours leading up to launch and stayed cold all day, making the usually great spawn bite very difficult on Lake Fork. However, Mike caught his first fish on a lizard and Cody followed closely with one caught on a square billed crankbait. They caught these fish early and decided to hold out for a limit of good fish before heading to any of the weigh-ins. With over 1300 anglers fishing this event, they were afraid to give up a productive spot to other competitors. They continued to catch fish, including several “in the slot.” Any fish between 16 and 24 inches on Lake Fork had to be immediately thrown back. “Always hard to throw those guys back…that hurts,” Cody admits. As it turns out, Cody and Mike had a $400 fish in their livewell had they weighed in earlier in the day. But, events like this are based on taking chances and being able to guess better than others the right time to head to the scales.
Another success story for ArmyBassAnglers Coalition Pro Staff Dale Hughes has to be written. Following a lucrative day on Lake Conroe in the Oakley Big Bass event a few weeks earlier, Dale chose to fish with his Father, Danny Hughes. The two spent their day punching grass with a 4" craw in redbug and throwing vibrating jigs. They caught several good fish, to include a couple of six pounders, but they too were in the slot. They decided to take their two legal keepers to the noon weigh-in. They split their two fish between two hourly weigh-ins. While the second weigh-in only yielded a gift card for the team thanks to a random drawing, they tied for fourth with their first fish. With this event being so highly supported, they still received a nice check. Dale’s sentiments after the day were all positive. “It was a great event, we had a blast working with the Pro Staff and Coalition and raising awareness for the nonprofit organizations. Thanks to LFT, Dobyns Rods, Ardent, Skeeter and all the other sponsors.”
Overall the organization had a great turnout from ArmyBassAngler Pros and Coalition Pros across the board. They ran a fundraising event for the nonprofit charities they support on March 26th, during the event’s registration. A ton of money and awareness was raised. In total there were 7 Ram Trucks awarded, plus over 70 hourly checks for a total payback of more than $175,000 in cash and prizes! There were 1,371 anglers from 14 different states.