(Tuesday, May 09,2000 - Toledo Bend Lake, TX)... The 45th Annual Texas State Bass Tournament was held on May 6 & 7 at Toledo Bend Reservoir. The event, often described as the "World’s Oldest Bass Tournament", was first conducted in 1955 when a young Waco Tribune-Herald outdoors writer, Earl Golding, invited seventy-five teams from across the state to Lake Whitney to settle the debate on "who is the best bass fisherman in Texas?". The event was repeated in 1956 as an open tournament, and it became an annual tradition that has grown and flourished ever since. As he has done from the very beginning, Earl still provides guidance and a watchful eye to preserve the pride and integrity of this great competition. A total of 336 anglers participated in this year’s event. Rising waters and high winds on both Saturday and Sunday made fishing difficult. Nevertheless, a few anglers found the winning touch and established their bragging rights as the State Bass Fishing Champions for 2000. The Division Champions and other top finishers are provided at the end of this article. The sponsors who made the tournament possible are Strike King Lure Company, Stren, Skeeter Boats, and Yamaha Outboard Motors. Frontier Park hosted the event.
During the post-tournament Awards Ceremony, six new members were inducted into the Texas State Bass Tournament Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame was established in 1998 to recognize people who have been out-standing competitors and true sportsmen throughout the long history of the tournament. Those named this year are Tom Butler (Ft. Worth), Cecil Dressendorfer (Huntsville), Martha Golding (Waco), Mike McBurney (Tyler), William B. Shelton, M.D. (Lufkin), and J. D. Sims (Grand Prairie).
Texas State Bass Tournament
May 6-7, 2000
Toledo Bend Reservoir Division Winners
| PL | TEAM DIVISION | Fish | Wgt |
| 1 | Bobby Murray (Fort Worth) & Bobby Clark (Azle) | 16 | 41.43 |
| 2 | Mike Murski (Dallas) & John Barns (Dallas) | 14 | 38.25 |
| 3 | Charles Wright (Arlington) & Tom McCroskey (Watauga) | 12 | 31.13 |
| 4 | Billy Keener (Winnsboro) & Darren Keener (Mansfield) | 18 | 29.75 |
| 5 | Barry Stegall (Broken Bow) & Roy Grammer (Longview) | 15 | 29.51 |
| 6 | Larry J. Lovell (Emory) & Charlie Lovell (Emory) | 11 | 25.59 |
| 7 | Leonard Watson (Fort Worth) & Wendell Bond (Burleson) | 10 | 20.79 |
| 8 | Jerry Nichols (Colleyville) & Jimmy Avett (Ft. Worth) | 10 | 17.20 |
| 9 | M. C. Sims (Grapevine) & Danny Reaves (Shelbyville) | 9 | 16.70 |
| 10 | Taeger Sutphin (Mansfield) & John Robertson (Euless) | 10 | 15.64 |
| 11 | John Froehlich (Houston) & Ronnie Holder (Houston) | 7 | 13.53 |
| 12 | James Harris (Boyd) & Joey Harris (Fort Worth) | 7 | 13.26 |
| 13 | Gary Baldwin (Longview) & Jerral Baldwin (Dallas) | 6 | 12.79 |
| 14 | Bob Hood (Ft. Worth) & Freddie Voyles (Fort Worth) | 6 | 12.57 |
| 15 | Johnny Maler (West) & David Maler (West) | 7 | 12.48 |
| 16 | Gary Russell, Sr. (Midlothian) & Dan Davis (Winnsboro) | 7 | 11.52 |
| 17 | Richard Dale Rabe (Arlington) & Charlie McFarland (Burleson) | 6 | 11.09 |
| 18 | Brian Seagraves (Ennis) & Eddie Coffey (Palmer) | 4 | 10.19 |
| 19 | Mike McBurney (Tyler) & Kati McBurney (Tyler) | 5 | 9.06 |
| 20 | Gene Burns (Arlington) & Allen Richard (Grand Prairie) | 4 | 8.91 |
| PL | COUPLES DIVISION | Fish | Wgt |
| 1 | Bill Eberlan & Esther Eberlan (San Augustine) | 15 | 32.48 |
| 2 | Gary Barcroft & Jacki Barcroft (Emory) | 12 | 25.33 |
| 3 | Ronnie Poe & Donna Poe (Ft. Worth) | 8 | 24.66 |
| 4 | Don Hatton & Patsy Hatton (Athens) | 9 | 19.10 |
| 5 | Noel Yates & Mary Yates (Zavalla) | 8 | 16.63 |
| 6 | Kenneth Green & Barbara Green (Tomball) | 7 | 13.81 |
| 7 | Ronny Fuller & Vicci Fuller (Hemphill) | 7 | 13.57 |
| 8 | Glenn Arnold & Edith Arnold (Lufkin) | 9 | 13.02 |
| 9 | Richard Dewberry & Linda Dewberry (Streetman) | 8 | 12.68 |
| 10 | Jim Murray & Donna Murray (Falcon Heights) | 6 | 12.28 |
| 11 | Rick Carter & Daphne Carter (Alba) | 7 | 12.27 |
| 12 | Lyndel Pearson & Pam Pearson (Longview) | 6 | 12.03 |
| 13 | Dan Wilson & Terri Anderson (Aubrey) | 5 | 11.63 |
| 14 | Bobby Smith & Shirley Smith (Lufkin) | 6 | 11.34 |
| 15 | Chad Moroski & Krystal Moroski (Hemphill) | 5 | 9.44 |
| PL | INDIVIDUAL DIVISION | Fish | Wgt |
| 1 | Mark Cheney (Lufkin) | 6 | 13.05 |
| 2 | Ricky Blake (Lufkin) | 5 | 9.86 |
| 3 | John Stump (Montgomery) | 4 | 8.76 |
| 4 | Lonnie Fuller (Hemphill) | 5 | 7.91 |
| 5 | Michael Massey (Zavalla) | 4 | 7.84 |
| 6 | Mike Oelrich (Emory) | 4 | 7.75 |
| 7 | Cecil B. Dressendorfer (Huntsville) | 3 | 6.25 |
| 8 | Alvis Jordan (Waskom) | 3 | 6.22 |
| 9 | David C. Parnell (Lufkin) | 3 | 5.76 |
| 10 | Dick Murray (Aledo) | 2 | 5.65 |
| PL | SENIOR TEAM DIVISION | Fish | Wgt |
| 1 | Jim Saxton (Houston) & Joe Harris (Huntington) | 7 | 17.04 |
| 2 | John R. Powers (Lufkin) & George W. Moore (Diboll) | 8 | 16.64 |
| 3 | Al Pliler (Longview) & Roger Daniel (Denison) | 6 | 13.09 |
| PL | ADULT/BOY DIVISION | Fish | Wgt |
| 1 | Stephen Rhodes & Daniel Rhodes (Lufkin) | 13 | 21.39 |
| 2 | Danny Montgomery & Allen Montgomery (N. Richland Hills) | 10 | 19.73 |
| 3 | Bryan Hays & Dustin Hays (Ft. Worth) | 10 | 16.97 |
| 4 | Greg Malone & Ryan Malone (Jasper) | 7 | 16.82 |
| 5 | Mike G. Davis & Jeffrey Swift (Katy) | 9 | 14.99 |
| 6 | Roy James Hutyra & Michael Hutyra (Grandbury) | 7 | 12.28 |
| 7 | Rick Collins & Hunter Collins (Ft. Worth) | 6 | 9.87 |
| 8 | Jody Cook & Page Cook (Lufkin) | 5 | 8.41 |
| 9 | Danny Montgomery & Weston Montgomery (Ennis) | 4 | 7.98 |
| 10 | Eddie Rogers & Ross Rogers (Weatherford) | 4 | 7.55 |
| PL | ADULT/GIRL DIVISION | Fish | Wgt |
| 1 | Mark Jenkins & Julie Jenkins (Lufkin) | 8 | 13.35 |
| 2 | Joe Anderson & Crystal Anderson (Waco) | 3 | 10.46 |
| 3 | Earl Zickefoose & Britteny Zickefoose (Harkin) | 5 | 7.32 |
| 4 | Mark Eberlan & Katelyn Eberlan (Lufkin) | 4 | 6.03 |
| 5 | Sheldon Reynolds & Chelsea Reynolds (Lewisville) | 3 | 5.61 |
| BIG BASS CHAMPIONS | Wgt |
| Overall - Joe Anderson (Waco) | 6.70 |
| Boy - Allen Montgomery (N. Richland Hills) | 3.86 |
| Girl - Britteny Zickefoose (Harkin) | 1.84 |
