Chris and Rusty Harvey stole the show with a 1st place win weighing 28.68 lbs February 27, 2010. Bass Champs East Region had their second event of five in the season at the Umphrey Family Pavilion seeing 269 teamed contenders. Weather elements are still jockeying, not all coming together at the same time for a highly anticipated season of catching big bass. Thirty eight teams shared in a 93% payback purse of over $65,000 in cash and prizes.
There has been a high anticipation in the air for weeks as anglers have been on the hunt for big sacks of bass. Water temperature and moon phase are two key elements that will kick off an explosion of big sows that have successfully eluded hooksets for months. On February 27th, the moon was coming up on full but continuous cold fronts is keeping the water temperatures of Big Sam in the lower 50's. Watch out - just a few more degrees and they'll be moving on up! The contenders enjoyed a calm, bright day on Sam Rayburn Saturday, following heavy rains on Friday. There was no hurry for teams to come in to weigh, spending every last moment they could trying to catch a winning sack.
It took teamwork to haul the winning stringer up the hill to the tanks. Chris and Rusty Harvey had a monster sack of bass that blew the rest of the field out of the water! Their 28.68 lb limit stood unchallenged to win 1st place and $20,000. The team had narrowed their target points to two places, and stuck with their game plan. "We had a decent practice, and knew there were big fish in these areas." They had some company from other boaters throughout the day, but held to their guns and stuck it out. "We were throwing rattle traps in 6'-8' of water. These spots were close to deep creek channel swings with grass." They managed four nice sized bass fairly quickly, but still had a three pounder near the end of the day. At 3:00 they made their last cull to their final weight. They would like to thank Ranger, Evinrude, Costa, Terry's Marine, Falcon Rods and Big Bite Baits for their support.
The 2nd place team has been consistent in Bass Champs early spring events. "This is the third year in a row we've missed 1st for 2nd here in February or March!" Chris Clemmens & Dallas Cole had the second highest weight at 21.16 lbs. "We were planning on fishing deep outside grass," the team began. "Initially we ended up finding them shallow." Using crank baits and rattle traps, the team had a small 15 pound limit by 10am. "We moved back out to deep water at main lake points and culled four times. We only went to three places today." They were awarded $5,000 for their 2nd place finish.
Keith Caka and Charles Bebber secured 3rd place with 21.08 lbs. They brought in the first sack of the day over 20 pounds and had held lead position until the last flights came in. Going for the shallow bite, they used rattle traps and flipped Big Bite Baits Kriet Creatures in the bushes. "It was a spawning flat, about 3'-4' deep," they explained. Estimating catching 15 fish to cull from, their last culls were around 2:30, getting rid of their last two 2 lb fish for a 3 and a 5 pounder respectively. The team won $3,000 for their 3rd place finish then doubled their money with the Skeeter Bonus program to a $6,000 day. They would like to thank Skeeter Boats, Just for Fun Watercraft Rental in Conroe, TX, Big Bite Baits, Costa, Power Pole, Dirty Jigs Tackle, Gullo Yamaha and Power Tackle Rods for their support.
There were four Big Bass over 9 pounds weighed in! Timothy and James Griffin had the biggest at 9.94 lbs to win $1,000. Mike Taylor and John Hunter brought in the second biggest at 9.32, followed by Clayton and Roger Boulware with 9.10. The last of the 9 pounders was weighed in by Kevin Burks and Jason Gates with 9.02.
The third East Region tournament will be on Sam Rayburn March 27. Bass Champs staff and crew will be loading up and heading to Lake Travis for Central Region #2 on March 6. For more information please call 817-439-3274 or click to www.BassChamps.com
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