Patience proved a virtue for John Travis Merritt in
his Boater Division win during the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend
Series, operated by American Bass Anglers, Southwest Regional
Championship tournament, held Oct. 15-16, 2010, on DeGray Lake.
Running out of the Spillway Recreational Area near Arkadelphia, Ark.,
the 36-year-old champion from Iowa, La., found a hot hole in the
13,400-acre reservoir in the Ouachita Mountains. In the two-day event,
Merritt caught five bass weighing 14.94 pounds with one 4.63-pounder.
Merritt held second on Day 1 with 11.04 pounds and added 3.90 pounds
the next day. For the victory, Merritt won a full-rigged Triton bass
boat powered by a Mercury Optimax and equipped with a MotorGuide
trolling motor.
“With the side-imaging sonar, I found some fish on long tapering
points with brushy areas,” Merritt explained. “I just decided to
camp on those fish and caught three really good bass the first day. On
the second day, I lost two good fish. I threw mostly Stanley bug-eye
football jigs and V&M red bug worms. I threw every color I had in
practice, but didn’t catch much until I put the red bug on. Then, I
immediately started catching fish. I typically fish really fast, but
the slower I fished, the larger the fish got. I was just dragging the
lure along, almost dead-sticking it. Light line was another crucial
factor. I started with 17-pound line and didn’t catch anything. I
went down to 12-pound test and started getting bites.”
Nick Kincaid, 23, of Tulsa, Okla., took second with six bass going
14.87 pounds included a 3.97-pound kicker. Holding the top spot on Day
1 with the largest single-day bag, Kincaid landed 12.70 pounds. He
added 2.17 pounds the next day. In all, he caught about 25 bass, but
only six keepers.
“I spent a lot of time running around the lake,” Kincaid said.
“I found some fish in practice way up the river where not a lot of
people were fishing. I threw a Lucky Craft square-billed crankbait in
splatterback and a War Eagle Screaming Eagle spinnerbait in mouse
color on fluorocarbon line around isolated cover. I had to hit them in
the head to get them to bite.”
In third for the 141 anglers in the Boater Division, Patrick Fuller,
30, of Tyler, Texas, landed six bass for 14.11 pounds with one
3.67-pounder. He caught 6.16 pounds the first day and 7.95 pounds the
second day.
“I fished some riprap near the marina,” Fuller said. “The bite
was really slow. I threw a watermelon purple glitter Zoom trick worm
on a 1/4-ounce weight, letting it slowly drift down the riprap. The
water was really clear, so I had to make long casts.”
Ryan Warren of Gatesville, Texas, caught seven bass for 12.50 pounds
to take fourth place. Holding third after Day 1 with 9.73 pounds, he
caught 2.77 pounds the final day.
Doug Henzlik of Overland Park, Kan., placed fifth with five bass
weighing 12.25 pounds with one 4.12-pounder. He caught 3.44 pounds the
first day and added 8.81 pounds, the largest bag on Day 2. Roy Sanford
of Brookeland, Texas, caught the tournament lunker, a 7.69 pounder.
In the Co-Angler Division, Patrick Weir, 45, of Broken Arrow, Okla.,
landed five bass for 14.99 pounds, the biggest two-day total of either
division. His biggest weighed 3.93 pounds. On Day 1, Weir came in with
4.47 pounds and followed that with 10.52 pounds, the second largest
single-day bag in the division.
“My boater put me in the timber, but I pitched outside of the
timber into a creek channel and caught a fish,” Weir said. “Then,
I caught another and my boater turned around, threw into the creek and
caught a fish. I had my weight in about five casts. We caught them
around a brush pile in the creek channel. I caught mine on a Zoom
cherry seed 11-inch Old Monster worm. I caught about 20 fish during
the tournament.”
In second for the non-boaters, Dan Self of Nacogdoches, Texas, caught
two three-bass division daily limits for 13.58 pounds with one
3.48-pound kicker. He landed 4.73 pounds the first day and 8.85 pounds
the second day.
After blanking the first day, Ron Check of Prairie Du Chien, Wis.,
caught three bass going 11.23 pounds, the largest single-day bag in
the division, to take third. He anchored his stringer with a 4.16
pounder.
Andy Vote of Kingwood, Texas, and Steven Sizemore of O’Fallon, Mo.,
tied for fourth with 8.49 pounds. Vote landed four bass including one
3.66-pound kicker. He caught weights of 5.37 and 3.12 pounds. Sizemore
caught five bass. He landed weights of 4.97 and 3.52 pounds.
Charner Williams of Bryan, Texas, finished in sixth place with two
bass going 7.67 pounds. He caught one bass weighing 5.50 pounds on Day
1 to take division lunker honors. On the second day, he caught one
bass weighing 2.17 pounds.
The tournament pitted the best anglers and co-anglers from the
Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas East, Texas Southeast and
Wisconsin/Minnesota divisions for the honor of fishing the Toyota
Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series championship tournament, presented by
American Bass Anglers. The championship tournament takes place Nov.
3-6 at Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Ala.
The Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series is sponsored by Triton
Boats, Mercury Marine, Royal Purple, ProBass Networks, BioEdge,
Rejuvenade and Carlisle Tire. For more information on this tournament,
call (888) 203-6222. On line, see http://www.americanbassanglers.com
.
Final Results http://www.abaproam.com/DegrayDay2.pdf
About American Bass Anglers: The Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend
Series provides weekend anglers a professionally operated competitive
tour with a path the world championship of bass fishing the Bassmaster
Classic. American Bass Anglers commitment is to provide low cost,
close to home tournaments for the weekend angler and at the same time
offer each competitor an upward path for individual angler
progression. For more information about American Bass Anglers and the
American Fishing Tour, The Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series,
The American 150 Series or the American Couples Series, visit
www.americanbassanglers.com.
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