Hefty winds, high waves and biting bass were ready and waiting for 205 teams fishing the 2nd Central Texas Skeeter Bass Champs event on Lake Travis. The winds wailed as much as 25 miles per hour, challenging the site fishermen to be able to see the coveted bedding bass.
Randy Hibler and Randall Christian won 1st place with 15.68 lbs. "We caught the majority of our fish on a white 3/8 oz tandem spinnerbait, white flukes and chrome-blue jerk baits. It took us until 9:30 to get a limit in the boat. After that, we sight fished and tried to upgrade" Randy explained. Most of their fish were caught in bends of creeks, throwing in 0-8' of water. They also won Big Bass honors with their 7.58 lb kicker fish. "We caught our big bass late in the day, that's what put us over the edge. At 3 p.m. we ran across her, in about 9' of water. She was really hard to see. We caught the male first, he weighed about 2 lbs and we culled a smaller fish with it. After that we put the bigger one in the boat. If it wasn't for that fish, we would have only had about 8 or 9 pounds." They caught both of their bigger bass on an 8" pumpkinseed / chartreuse lizard, stating that "there's no reason to get fancy". They won the 1st place package of a Skeeter SX 190 powered by a Yamaha.
Coming in 2nd place with their highest finish so far in a Bass Champs event was the team of Paul Carmen and Dale Read who took home a $2,500 check. They put their initial limit in the boat in just 30 minutes. It was a small limit, only weighing about 8 pounds. Throwing weightless green pumpkin Senko's all day, they continued to catch and cull more fish, working their total up to the 10 pound mark. Finally, it was getting close to time to weigh in, and Dale suggested to Paul to fish some docks with deep water, up to 40 feet. There they caught some better fish after 2:00, putting their final weight to 15.14 lbs. Paul said "This is on of the best tournament trails I've ever fished. The whole staff is a real nice bunch of people. We always have fun whether we win or not."
This is the first year for Daniel Barnes and his brother Adrian to fish Bass Champs. They pre-fished a week before the tournament, and found where some good bass were holding. They began their day today throwing weightless baby bass colored Senko's in the brush. It only took 15 minutes to put a limit in the boat! After catching a limit, they started sight fishing for bedding bass. This wasn't easy, with the high wind and waves it was hard to see. The bite slowed down quite a bit, but stayed steady throughout the day and they were able to cull three times for a final weight of 14.22 lbs, winning a check for $1,600.
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 winners 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 $1,300 worth of prizes were up for grabs benefiting the Lago Vista Lions Club and as always Bass Champs matched the funds up to $500.
This is the 2nd Central Texas 2005 event, the next one will be April 2nd on lake LBJ out of Tropical Hideaway. 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
CENTRAL TEAM #2
Lake Travis
3/12/05- Pace Bend Park
Total Entries: 205 Teams
Total Collected: $53,300
Total Payback (C&P): $61,575
Payback %: 115.50%
Total Fish: 679
Total Weight: 1,196.39 lbs
Avg Weight: 1.76 lbs
# of Limits: 90
# of Zero's: 32Top 50:
Place Boat Angler 1 Angler 2 Fish BB Weight Earnings
1 Randy Hibler Randall Christian 5.00 7.56 15.68 Skeeter SX 190 / Yamaha
150 + $1000
2 Skeeter Dale Read Paul Carman 5.00 15.14 $2500.00
3 Adrian Barnes Daniel Barnes 5.00 5.62 14.22 $1600.00
4 Skeeter Bobby Joe Carothers Tim Veach 5.00 13.82 $1300.00
5 Skeeter Adam Clark Michael Wagner 5.00 12.70 $1200.00
6 Don Blumrich Rich Witthouse 5.00 6.14 12.62 $1150.00
7 Tully Williams Randy Cole 5.00 6.5 12.22 $1100.00
8 Skeeter Terry Valentino Travis Thomas 5.00 12.04 $1050.00
9 James Goode Trey Webb 5.00 11.56 $1025.00
10 Kenneth Cummins Brian Mater 5.00 11.44 $1000.00 + $1000 Skeeter
Bonus Cash
11 Kelly Mauldin Thomas Cantwell 5.00 11.16 $1000.00
12 Skeeter Charles Whited Bill Polkinghorn 5.00 10.96 $1000.00
13 Danny Ray Fisher Lance Fisher 5.00 10.88 $1000.00
14 Mark Milward Roy Taylor 5.00 10.78 $1000.00
15 Michael Braley Carl Weiss 5.00 10.68 $1000.00
16 Matt Hill Phillip Walker 5.00 10.60 $1000.00
17 Skeeter Jim Behnken Ricky Rasberry 4.00 6 10.56 $1000.00
18 Rick Hamilton Tony Maldonado Jr 5.00 10.06 $750.00
19 Skeeter Jack Waldrop Michael Waldrop 5.00 10.02 $600.00
20 Malcolm Middlebrook Jeffery Markert 5.00 9.98 $500.00
21 Damon Ross Scott Ross 5.00 9.80 $500.00
22 Skeeter Kendall Lovett Troy Kinder 5.00 9.76 $500.00
23 Skeeter Barry Anderson Sr Ronald White 5.00 9.60 $500.00
23 Skeeter Ronny Maynard Jason Carter 5.00 9.60 $500.00
25 Trey Groce Gary Groce 5.00 9.36 $500.00
26 Skeeter Brian Holmes Jody Daugherty 5.00 9.34 $500.00
27 Richard Cone Bob Murphy 5.00 9.28 $500.00
28 Skeeter Dean Alexander Eric Crumley 5.00 9.26 $500.00
29 Chuck Aleksines Chris Brasher 5.00 9.22 $500.00
30 Bobby Thrasher Paul Lam 5.00 9.18
31 Floyd Hill Tal Sprinkles 5.00 9.12
32 Skeeter Patrick Anderson Jerry Johnson 5.00 9.04
33 Torrey Aiken Brandon King 5.00 8.98
34 Landon Ware Keith Combs 3.00 5.78 8.90
34 Skeeter Rob Borja Ken McKee 3.00 8.90
36 Jeff Pitrucha Scott Dyer 5.00 8.88
37 Chris Nors Shaun Shows 5.00 8.86
38 Skeeter Jeff Jenkins Randy Jenkins 5.00 8.82
39 Andy Whitehead Cannon Elkins 5.00 8.76
40 Skeeter James Scogin Roland Loera 5.00 8.74
41 Andrew Labay Michael Tennant 5.00 8.70
42 Don King Robert "Doc" Bowen 5.00 8.66
43 Webb Fry David Landry 5.00 8.50
44 Charles Montgomery Bryan Montgomery 5.00 8.48
44 Ricky Sanders Clarence Gillespie 5.00 8.48
46 Mike Hastings Steve Magnelia 5.00 8.44
46 William Henderson Chris Mattice 5.00 8.44
46 Skeeter Harold Warren Travis Warren 5.00 8.44
49 Skeeter Derek Cone Tom Wilkinson 5.00 8.40
50 Skeeter Steve Wilson Bradley Schulz 5.00 8.38