| Bass-N-Bucks Johnston & Iles win again wrapping up the Bass N Bucks season on Sam Rayburn |  |
| by Patty Lenderman |
| Page(s): 1 2 |
These hot summertime temperatures has us all scrambling for some place cooler. The bass are looking for the same thing and are hanging out in deep water. Finding the right bite was tough, but several solid bags were weighed in. The biggest bass of the tournament was over 10 pounds! Clarence Sanderson and Bobby Addison christened the scales with their weight of 17.27 lbs, which included a 5.52 lb kicker. It set the initial mark as the rest of the teams began filing in. Their weight held with a little cushion for a little while, until Stephen Johnston and Danny Iles brought their sack in weighing 19.61 and took the lead. Soon after, their big bass was bested by Billy Smith with a sow weighing 10.45 lbs! Johnston explained that he and his son Danny had covered a lot of ground for their catch. "We fished everything between the 147 bridge and the dam." Starting out with topwater lures, they put three in the boat pretty quick. "After that it was just one here and one there." Once the topwater action was over, they switched to a Texas rigged 6" Squirm Worm by Grande Bass. "We stayed in areas with good grass edges, up to about 11’ deep" Johnston continued. "It was tough. We only caught about 9 keepers today, and the last one at 12:30. Our best cull was exchanging a 1 1/2 pounder for a five pounder, giving us another 3+ pounds." There were a lot of teams yet to weigh in, but in the end their weight held for a 1st place finish. They qualified for the Ranger Cup bonus and the Tiremax bonus. Adding up their win, the team received $9,500 in total pay. "We’d like to thank our sponsors: Ranger Boats, Mercury motors, MotorGuide, Power Tackle, Costa Del Mar, Falcon Lures, Sebile, Pflueger and Grande Bass." Brian Brown and Scott McCarty finished 2nd with their 19.27 lb limit. Realizing how close their weight was to the winning sack, they just shook their heads over a few that had gotten away that may have bridged that gap. "The morning bite was ok, but it got better for us between 10:00 and 1:00" McCarty said. The team had managed a small limit by 10:00, probably around eight pounds total. They had traveled to the north end of the lake to use Penetrator Jigs with Gene Larew hawg craw trailers in grass beds 8’-10’ deep. As the day wore on, the bigger bass began to bite. Brian caught their big bass of the day weighing a little over 8 pounds, anchoring their 2nd place win. They continued to cull for the next few hours to their final weight. They would like to thank BassCat, Mercury, and Rockwall Marine. Mark and Gay Norton secured 3rd place with 18.69 lbs. "We had pre-fished for the tournament, but didn’t find what we were looking for," Gay stated. "I really believe that if you have a bad pre-fish you have a good tournament." Not putting any pressure on themselves, they went to a few areas they had previous success and confidence in. "We just went fishing." Looking for areas with thick grass, they pitched Oldham jigs with Gene Larew craw trailers, using both black / blue and camo color combo’s in 9’ of water. "Mark really put it on me in our first spot" Gay recalled. Between them they had a limit in the boat by 10:00, then started to cull. "I noticed that (the bass) were chasing the baits to the boat. After watching this, I pitched in right behind Mark and ended up catching our kicker." Observation was the key to their 3rd place finish. Their sponsors include Champion Boats, Mercury, MotorGuide, Gene Larew and R-1 Bass. The Big Bass of the tournament was a double digit chunk! Billy Smith, fishing by himself, landed this monster first thing in the morning. "It was a 20 minute run to my spot" he said. Throwing a heavy Texas rigged 11" red shad worm in 18’, it was his first catch of the day. "When she hit, I didn’t know it was a big bass. There are a lot of Kentucky’s in that hole, and the way it fought I thought it was a catfish." Good time to be wrong - the sow weighed in at 10.45 lbs to capture Big Bass honors and a check for $1,000. He also received an additional $1,000 for his 8th place overall finish. "I missed my partner (Bob Brown of American Rodsmiths) today. I think we could have won this one." Top Teams:
Ranger Boats is the official boat sponsor for Bass N Bucks. It pays to ride a Ranger! The top three qualified anglers receive additional bonus money from the Ranger Cup program. Ranger Cup Bonus Winners:
"Everyone has fished so hard and done well. We would like to congratulate all of our Anglers of the Year for their outstanding performance."
As part of the reward for earning this title, the entry fees for these teams will be waived for the series they earned the title in for 2010. Next is the 2009 Bass N Bucks Championship! Qualifying anglers will be divided into three brackets, determined by their points standings. Each team only competes with the other teams in that bracket. First place for each bracket will be a new Ranger boat powered by a Mercury motor! Over $100,000 will be paid out in cash and prizes. Please check the BassNBucks website for the list of championship qualifiers and the brackets they will be fishing in. While this wrapped up the regular team trail for the year, it seemed that there was just too much of a gap in-between tournaments. "We’re going to have a jackpot type tournament in October," Dave Concienne announced. It is a one-shot five fish tournament that will take place on Sam Rayburn. For more details call 409-727-8941. Thank you to all of Bass N Bucks 2009 sponsors: Ranger Boats, Mercury, American Rodsmiths, City of Jasper, Lowrance, Power Pro, Wulf Outdoor Sports, Snag Proof, Tiremax, ProRule, E2 Bait Company and Fishingworld.
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