Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Lee Yowell And Brian Schott Win Bass Champs Championship

Bass Champs North & South Regions held their Championship on neutral waters at Toledo Bend October 9 & 10, 2010. For most of the field, weights were stacked tight with amazing recoveries on day two, but Lee Yowell & Brian Schott were untouchable, taking the $35,000 win with a one-two punch.

Fin & Feather Resort & Marina set the scene for this 187% payback event. Due to the low lake levels, teams were allowed to trailer closer to their chosen spots for both days of the tournament. 172 boats hit the lake hard for a part of the $83,800 paid back in 28 places.

Lee Yowell & Brian Schott weighed in hours early on day 1, bringing with them 30.20 pounds. "The first 30 minutes were dynamite! We were fishing shallow, about 2'-5' with frogs. It was a magic spot, the fish were feeding." They put four in their livewell right away, one being but a swimmer. "In just a little bit we caught a couple more good ones, culled the little one and started messing around looking at other stuff." They noticed that two of their fish appeared to be in distress, so they decided to go in. "The smallest fish we had at that point was a 4 ½ pounder. It would be hard to cull up, and if any died that's a pound penalty for each." Their kicker weighed 7.70 lbs, and they sat watching the weigh in the remainder of the afternoon to see how the rest of the field did.

Kenneth Fuller & Hunter Jordan weighed in the big bass of the day at 9.27 pounds, anchoring their 2nd place position with a 19.67 sack going into day 2. Dee Tramell & Butch Huie had 19.24 lbs for 3rd, while Mike & Rob Burns came in with 18.41 and Charlie Yowell & Don Heine wrapped up the top 5 line up with 17.24 lbs.

WFN Network camera crews were catching a lot of the action for the Bass Champs TV show and filmed the leaders on day 2. Already having more than a 10 pound lead ahead of the rest of the pack, some of the pressure was lifted. "We stuck with the milfoil pattern Lee had figured out." Going back to the same spot they started in the day before, by 7:45 they had a limit caught on film. "We caught four on top using spooks, then it slicked out." The water they were targeting was only 3-4' deep. "Several chunks in the 4-5 pound range just missed the baits." Backing out to areas 20'-30' off the matt, they culled up to a 20.24 lb limit. "Our cranking battery went down, so we decided to go ahead and head on in and take our chances."

The remainder of the rankings shuffled dramatically. Shane Elmore and Shonn Blassingame brought in a 23.65 lb sack bringing them from 19th place on day 1 to finish 2nd place overall with a 38.45 two day total. "Our best bait this weekend was a DD-22," Shane stated. "We caught some on a 10" Berkley power worm and tried a little bit of everything really. I have to give Shawn all of the credit. He found a spot a lot further north than I have ever fished that was loaded. It just really worked out for us." Their creel included the Big Bass of the tournament weighing 9.57 lbs. Bass Champs presented them with $15,000 for their 2nd place finish, plus $1,000 for Big Bass. In addition they also won the Costa bonus of $200 as well as the WFN bonus of $50.

Strider Browning and Jeremy Zmolik also greatly improved their finish, coming up from 17th place on day 1 to a 3rd place finish with 35.46 pounds. "We primarily focused on matted grass, using topwater baits early then flipping later in the day." They discovered that the bass had changed position between practice and tournament day. "The bass had suspended just about a foot under the matt. Some of our best areas this weekend were barely matted, places that a lot of people would overlook. At our last stop on Saturday, we found a spot with gizzard shad running. After catching a few, we left it alone then started there Sunday. We caught all 5 there today." The team won $5,000 for their 3rd place finish.

The most dramatic comeback was by the 4th place team of Gerald Boboril & Jack Powe. They were sitting in 88th place on day 1 with only 9.48 lbs. The second day they brought in 24.71 for a two day total of 34.19 lbs to win $3,500.

Once all of the teams were weighed, Lee Yowell and Brian Schott were declared Championship winners. With all of the sponsor bonus incentives available, they had a chance at $50,000. Chad Potts, President of Bass Champs, interviewed them to find out which ones they qualified for. They were the top team in a qualified Skeeter boat, adding $5,000 to their $30,000 win! In addition, Lee won the Dodge Ram Bonus for being the highest finisher with a qualified Dodge Ram Truck. Lee will receive free entry fee's to any Bass Champs event for the next 12 months.

"This has been an awesome season!" Declared Potts. "I'd like to thank everyone for fishing with us this year, and invite you to fish the Berkley Big Bass tournament with us on Lake Fork October 23-24. After that, we will take a short break and start again in January. Keep checking our website (www.BassChamps.com) as a lot of great things are still evolving for next year!"

For more information, complete standings and 2011 schedules visit the website or call 817-439-3274.

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