(Nov. 11, 2008 - Choke Canyon Lake, TX)... The 2008 Anglers Quest Tournament of Champions is now in the books, and all Series are complete for 2008. This event was made up from the Top 5 qualifiers from each of Anglers Quest 6 Series of events and The series Championship winners. The T-MATCH series also added the Winning & Runner-up teams to the mix to make up the 38 qualified teams that attended and participated in this years premier event. The event began on Friday evening after a 30 day off limits with the attending qualified 38 teams coming together for a meeting and Calcutta auction at the AWESOME host headquarters, Choke Canyon Lodge in Three Rivers, Texas. A/Q would like to Thank Happy, Ricky, Kenneth, Donna & Blake for their 1st class hospitality at the Lodge. The meeting began at 6:00 pm and Calcutta auction followed and sold teams from $105 to $1125 and raised $12,250.00 to add to the angler’s pot. The Calcutta Auction was started by Mike Hudson from Antex Roofing in Houston Texas posting a bid on the 38 qualified teams at $100 per team, starting the pot at a kool $3800.00. This Tournament of Champions event paid out a total of $37,525.00....WOW. Check-it Stik measuring boards were passed out to the teams that did not own a board, compliments from Keith Fields at Check-it Stik. Weather conditions on day 1 was great weather with a very slight breeze and high blue skies, But the fish catching was very slow for most. Most teams reported expectations of big and heavy limits of bass. But the bite was a lot tougher than expected and the anglers had to work hard to bring in a good limit of bass. On Saturday there were 28 limits brought to the scales, a total of 171 bass at 495.35 lbs making the average bass brought in weigh 2.89 lbs.
On day 1, The Triton/Evinrude bass rig of Jody & Frank Rhoden from Groveton, Tx ran 1 mile to catch 26.60 lbs with their Falcon rods tipped with Stanley jigs. Their first fish was a 7.62 lber, followed by another 7 lber about 10 minutes later. They were both caught in 8-9 ft water off the edge of a grass line. The team wanted to give some credit to Jasper Outboards for getting them to the lake to lead on the first day.
The Gullo Yamaha wrapped rig of Keith Caka from Magnolia, Tx and Charles Bebber from Willis, Tx ran their Ranger/Yamaha to the north end of the lake to bring back 21.15 lbs. They used their Power Pole to hold them on their spot and Power Tackle rods tipped with Dirty Tackle jigs to catch their limit to secure second on day 1.
The team of Jeremy Murray from Porter, Tx and Tony Hawk from Humble, Tx ran Jeremy’s BassCat/Mercury to the north end of Choke to catch their 19.12 lbs from 12-18 ft water using big cranks and c-rigged worms. They had a fine 7.77 lber to anchor their sack in third on day 1.
Ralph Logan from Magnolia, Tx and John Iles from Hemphill ran Ralph’s Ranger/Mercury bass rig to south lake areas to probe the ditches, drains & points with Power Tackle rods & Shimano reels spooled with 80 lb braid and tipped with pumpkin colored Falcon jigs to bring 19.02 lbs to the scales and hold the 4th spot on day 1. The team also wanted to thank Rejuvenade livewell additive for their support this year.
Bobby Behrend from Baytown, Tx & David Jensen from Dayton, Tx ran David’s ProCraft/Mercury bass rig way up the river to cull from 12 keepers down to their best five that tipped the scales at 17.88 lbs all caught on tx rigged Kicker Fish watermelon craws in 8 ft grass to hold down the 5th spot on day 1. Bobby wanted to also Thank his pre tournament guide Rick Cathey for putting them on the fish.
Jason Reyes & Waylon Hull from Humble, Tx were holding down the 6th spot with 17.42 lbs fishing from Jason’s Ranger/Yamaha. They caught their bass using a very new crank bait from Lake Fork Tackle called the Hyper Freak in 13-20 ft water. They had a 7.43 lber to anchor their bag on day 1.
Chris DiBerardino & Larry Cotten from Huffman, Tx were holding down the 7th spot with 17.29 lbs fishing from Chris’s American Rodsmiths wrapped BassCat/Mercury. They caught their bass using big crank baits in 13-16 ft water around ditches & drains with mesquite trees.
David Holst & John Rollins had 4 bass on day 1 with a 7.97 lber for an anchor and a total of 16.26 lbs to hold 8th spot.
The fishing quality improved on day 2 as the wind picked up with lots of cloud cover and made fish catching a lot better. The fish were cooperating early and the bite got better throughout the day. With these changing conditions it showcased just how skilled these anglers really are as this was the Anglers Quest A-Team.
On day 2 the American Rodsmiths wrapped BassCat/Mercury bass rig of Chris DiBerardino & Larry Cotten powered their way to the north lake area again to catch 4 real Hawgs and a 15 incher to fill their 10 bass limit. Chris would also like to Thank Brannon’s Bass Shop, Check-it Stik, American Rodsmiths rods. Larry would like to Thank his sponsor H&H rods for his rods. Larry had purchased another set of 4 tires from TIREMAX and collected the $300 bonus for his 3rd time this year. They had the heavy weight stringer of the event at 35.36 lbs and a $500.00 10.60 lb Big Bass of the event to give them the win with a two day 10 bass total of 52.65 lbs to collect $15,800.00 and the special TOC Goal Posts. Great Job Guys!!
Jason Reyes & Waylon Hull caught their 10 bass by crankin ditches & drains around grass in 13-20 feet of water with the new Hyper Freak bait from Lake Fork Tackle. Jason reported catching the 2nd Big Bass of the event, a fine 9.88 lber on the new bait. They finished with a total on day 2 of 33.77 lbs to give them a 10 bass total of 51.19 lbs to collect 2nd place and $2760.00. They failed to buy their team at the Calcutta auction on Friday evening but Terry Ponfick did for $850 and he collected $4285.00.
The Gullo Yamaha team of Charles Bebber & Keith Caka finished up with another nice limit of 23.69 lbs on Sunday to give them a 2-day total of 44.84 lbs and collected $1800.00 for the 3rd place finish. They also failed to buy themselves in the Calcutta but Mike Hudson did for $1125 and claimed the $3675.00 in Calcutta money.
The well deserving father & son team of Frank & Jody Rhoden fished within sight of the weigh in site both days to finish in 4th place with 10 bass that topped the scales at 44.36 lbs and collect $3765.00.
The 5th place finishing team of Ralph Logan & John Iles finished with 10 bass at 35.91 lbs. Ralph did purchase their team in the Calcutta and they collected $2990.00.
Another father & son team of Jim Moroski from Hemphill, Tx & Kurt Moroski from Frisco, Tx was the 6th place team with a total of 10 bass at 33.46 lbs to take home a check of $1000.00. Jim & Kurt reported they caught all their bass on crawfish colored rattle traps around grass. They wanted to thank Mr Blitz, and Eqi-Pro for the time off to fish tournaments and to go practice.
Bobby Behrend & David Jensen came to the scales on day 2 with another limit at 14.07 lbs to boost their total to 10 bass and 31.95 lbs. They received a check for $800 for their efforts.
Albert White from Houston, Tx claimed the 8th place check with a total of 10 bass at 31.64 lbs.
Choke Canyon water was in great shape at approximately 4.4 ft below normal pool. The 38 teams brought in 48 limits of bass, 293 bass that totaled 890.31 lbs with a 3.03 avg. A special Thank You to all the TOC anglers from A/Q for taking such good care of the bass to return all but 4 bass alive to Choke Canyon Reservoir.
Tournament director Mr Bill Long made the announcement at the Friday night meeting & Calcutta auction for all anglers to get ready and gear up to make the cut to come to the Anglers Quest “Tournament of Champions” in 2009 to be held on an East Texas lake to be announced by January.
For 2009 Anglers Quest will again be accepting credit cards online for all entries. Anglers Quest 2009 schedules are now available online at the Anglers Quest website. The 1st event for the 2009 season will be the Saturday Series Team event on Sam Rayburn, January 3, 2009 with entry at the Anglers Quest coach on the evening before the event at Mill Creek Park or anytime online or at Needmore Tackle. For any info contact Mr Bill at 281-852-8842. Anglers Quest wants to say Thanks to all the Anglers that participated in any A/Q events in 2008 and also Thanks to all the A/Q Staff & Sponsors. All A/Q events in 2009 will be conducted on Lakes Conroe, Houston, Livingston and Sam Rayburn.
Anglers Quest was sponsored in 2008 by: Alpine Marina, American Rodsmiths, Antex Roofing, Automated Mailing Solutions, Big State Fabrication, Custom Built Awards, Check-It Stik, City of Jasper, Tx-Tourism, El Dorado Jacks, Executive Security Integrators, ExtremeSounds4ATVs, fishing4insurance , FishingWorld , Gullo Yamaha, Hector’s Mexican Restaurant, Kickapoo Bait & Tackle, Lake Livingston Area Tourism Council, Lone Star Buffet, Mill Creek Grocery, MSD Building Corporation, Rayburn Country Resort, Re/Max Realtors, Royal Purple Oil, Stratos 2X Winning Bonus, StyleTile , Sign Designs Now, Superior Paint Works Inc., The Ponderosa Marina, The Stump Restaurant & Club, TIREMAX of North America, Vincent Turf Farms.
God Bless & Good Fishing to All....
Anglers Quest,
Mr Bill & Barbara Long
