Big Bass Splash 10.90 lb McBass Wins $250,000 By Ed Snyder/Outdoors April 19, 2009- Lake Sam Rayburn TX, 25th Annual McDonalds Big Bass Splash. After two days of monsoonal downpours the final day eased into a rather nice, rainless, sunny day for the 25th Annual McBass, delighting the anglers who arrived from 42 states and 5 countries to fish this big bass event. And with ONE MILLION in cash and prizes to be awarded to those anglers who weighed-in the hourly, exact weight, and overall big bass leader board bass the competition factor for the first place award valued at $250,000 was extreme, energetic, and continuous. The 10.90 lb big bass weighed in by Larry McNeese on Saturday held to the relief of Larry and his family though after Bob Sealy drove the 1st place award, a brand new Grand Star motor home tailoring a brand new fully rigged Triton/Mercury 21HP 225 bass boat, into the weigh-in area. Larry also received a new Dodge 4door pickup truck and a new Stealth 4wheeler. His first place prize package was valued at slightly over $250,000. McNeese, from College Station, was fishing Indian Creek Saturday when he hooked his prize bass from a willowy buck-brush area on a TX rigged 10” black power worm. A 10.55 lb big bass was weighed-in during the 9- to 10am hour on Sunday by Joel Villali of Pollock LA. Claimed the 2nd place $100,000 award package. A very nervous Joel explained that he was fishing a TX rigged watermelon/seed lizard within a 16-17ft hydrilla clump up in the 5 Fingers area when he set the hook on his 8:15am big bite. Top 5 Big Bass Anglers; 1-(10.90)- Larry McNeese- College Station TX- $250,000- cash & prizes 2-(10.55) - Joel Villali- Pollock LA- $100,000- cash & prizes 3-(10.09) - Herbert Rusk SR- Boyce LA- $75,000- cash & prizes 4-(9.76) - Gary Vanya- Kirbyville TX- $50,000- cash & prizes 5-(9.80) - Kalvin Russell- Lake Fork TX- $24,000- cash & prizes This 25th Annual event paid $384,400 in hourly payouts with $2500 on top and $500 on the bottom of 12 places per-hour, per-day. Plus two bonus T-shirt hours that doubled the $2500 pay out to $5,000 for those who bought the bonus T-shirts for the 6-7am hour and the 1-2pm hour of each day. All exact weight boats that weren’t claimed were “luck-o-the-draw” boats on the final day. This event paid out slightly over $ONE MILLION in cash and prizes. As a special note; one of the McBass anglers out on the lake was none other than baseball hall of famer Roger Clemens who was fishing with motion picture actor, Mathew McConahay’s son as his fishing partner. No reports of how Roger done however. “Dedicated to Dad, Bob Sealy announced to the thousands of spectators and anglers who were watching the final moments of the 25th Annual. For he was my hero and taught me to be successful in life. He passed away 3 months ago at the age of 91 and I’ll miss him greatly.” Bob then greeted Ronald McDonald and handed him a check for $37,755 to be added to the already millions of dollars the McBass anglers had donated over the past 25 years from fishing his tournament. We made history here today, Bob continued, with 7,551 entries for this event beating our old record set back in 1993 of 6,636 anglers. We drew anglers from 42 states and 5 countries’ Bob reviewed, and we were the ONLY tournament to be featured on a recent National Geographic program. We’ve made history in many ways over these past 25 years, Bob stated, and I promise you all that you haven’t seen nothing yet!!! “Mark your calendars for April 16-17-18 of 2010 for the 26th Annual McDonalds Big Bass Splash, Bob announced, and as the sounds of Nashville recording artist Blake Shelton began to reverberate across the Umphrey Pavilion tournament site, the 25th Annual McDonalds Big Bass Splash eased into big bass history. Sunday Results- A 9.24 lb big bass weighed-in by Steve Ray of Deridder LA, managed to take T-shirt bonus of $5,000. Steve caught his big bite at 6:30am when it hit a Carolina rigged 14” black/blue BM Bayou worm. The Black Forest was the area and a15ft clay ridge provided the bass for Steve’s bonus check. Harry Andrews of Bridge City TX, caught the exact weight 4.0 bass that would put the keys to a fully rigged $25,000 Triton bass boat in his tackle pack. This was to be the 2nd win for the lucky angler who landed an exact weight bass boat in the 1985 big bass splash event. Keith Kellum of Valley Mills TX, landed a 9.42 lb big bass while fishing 5ft grass-patch in the Needmore Point area with a 1oz tiger orange Trap. Keith would also take home the T-shirt bonus of $5,000 for his lucky catch. Mike Shaw of Hemphill TX, took the exact weight 3.0 to win a fully rigged $25,000 Triton bass boat. Skip Netherland of Overton TX, took a $25,000 Triton Bass boat after weighing a 5.0. “I just guessed the bass weighed 5lbs, Skip told the press, so I brought it in to see if it was an exact weight 5.0 bass. McDonalds – D3 stats Courtesy of Patty Lenderman/Lakecaster 6:00-7:00 1st 7.24 lbs Gilbert Miller Killeen, TX 2nd 6.39 lbs Justin Brewer Gainesville, TX 3rd 6.30 lbs Lee Stanley Crockett, TX 4th 5.68 lbs Jimmy Holt Ore City, TX 5th 5.66 lbs Kenny Wolf Mansfield, LA 6th 5.35 lbs Trampis Williamson Ville Platte, LA 7th 5.21 lbs Steve Harrington Conway, AR 8th 4.83 lbs Bobby Lee Huntsville, AL 9th 4.79 lbs Nathan Schimark Giddings, TX 10th 4.61 lbs Bobby Whitman Hillister, TX 11th 4.29 lbs Scott Teer Keithville, LA 12th 3.91 lbs Justin Sowell Kountz, TX 7:00-8:00 1st 10.46 lbs Jimmy Buxton Livonia, LA 2nd 7.89 lbs Jimmy Ritter Ore City, TX 3rd 6.61 lbs Layne LaCaze Robeline, LA 4th 6.57 lbs Bobby Hamilton Leesville, LA 5th 6.52 lbs Clint Wade Kirbyvile, TX 6th 6.48 lbs John Spencer Etoile, TX 7th 6.10 lbs Paul Migas Austin, TX 8th 5.91 lbs Robert Machie Merryville, LA 9th 5.84 lbs Robert Welborn Lumberton, TX 10th 5.81 lbs James Sirmons Silsbee, TX 11th 5.63 lbs Scottie Marse Dayton, TX 12th 5.52 lbs Jerry Burnett Houghton, LA 8:00-9:00 4.00 exact Harry Andrews Bridge City, TX 1st 9.42 lbs Joe Kellum Valley Mills, TX 2nd 9.24 lbs Steve Rhea DeRidder, LA 3rd 7.98 lbs Mick Hutchison Groves, TX 4th 7.88 lbs Roy Hill Bossier City, LA 5th 7.08 lbs James Shaw Youngsville, LA 6th 6.63 lbs Charles Appling Baton Rouge, LA 7th 6.29 lbs Ralph Laskoskie Montgomery, TX 8th 5.72 lbs Jim Ireland Flint, TX 9th 5.47 lbs Darren Wilson Orange, TX 10th 5.41 lbs Jacob Permenter Nacogdoches, TX 11th 5.39 lbs Gary Metreyeon Nederland, TX 12th 5.24 lbs Roger Ross Foreman, AR 9:00-10:00 3.00 exact Mike Shaw Hemphill, TX 1st 10.55 lbs Joel Villali Pollock, LA 2nd 8.60 lbs Ted O’Dell Buna, TX 3rd 7.56 lbs Jeff Smith Nederland, TX 4th 7.42 lbs Clint Lininger Valliant, OK 5th 6.91 lbs Heath Hammond Spanish Fort, AL 6th 6.23 lbs Scott Howard El Campo, TX 7th 6.00 lbs Cory Johnson Lufkin, TX 8th 5.72 lbs Larry Stamps Newton, TX 9th 5.71 lbs Jason McLaughlin Dry Prong, LA 10th 5.54 lbs Rob Engster Ft. Smith, AR 11th 5.51 lbs Stephen Moore Shreveport, LA 12th 5.48 lbs Chad Lucas Jasper, TX 10:00-11:00 1st 8.41 lbs Vick Cooper Shelbyville, TX 2nd 8.25 lbs Rusty Eddins Broaddus, TX 3rd 8.04 lbs Coby Bounds Lufkin, TX 4th 7.76 lbs William Chandley Boaz, AL 5th 7.24 lbs Marlon Baxley Cypress, TX 6th 7.06 lbs Paul Batman Kountze, TX 7th 6.93 lbs Randy Smith Brookeland, TX 8th 6.54 lbs Mike Baker Natchitoches, LA 9th 6.10 lbs Shane Mayo Slidell, LA 10th 6.05 lbs Kelvin Russell Quitman, TX 11th 5.94 lbs Marty Luedke Cedar Creek, TX 12th 5.94 lbs Ty “Hunter” Moorhead Jasper, TX 11:00-12:00 5.00 exact Skip Netherland Overton, TX 1st 8.19 lbs Eddie Harrison Huffman, TX 2nd 6.77 lbs Shawn Tamez New Braunfels, TX 3rd 6.68 lbs Brandon Hamilton Vicksburg, MS 4th 6.52 lbs Bart Schield Pearland, TX 5th 6.28 lbs Cherie Flournoy Pineland, TX 6th 6.27 lbs Bryan Mills Kinder, LA 7th 6.21 lbs Al Taylor Pearland, TX 8th 5.69 lbs Robert More Natchitoches, LA 9th 5.68 lbs Abert Collins Nacogdoches, LA 10th 5.68 lbs Whalen Plauche St. Amant, LA 11th 5.59 lbs Tim Flye Steens, MS 12th 5.47 lbs David Johnson DeRidder, LA 12:00-1:00 1st 8.66 lbs Royce White Plainview, TX 2nd 6.56 lbs Alvin Torrey Summertown, TN 3rd 6.26 lbs Bert Thompson Benton, LA 4th 5.99 lbs Larry Cloninger Columbus, TX 5th 5.75 lbs Darrel Duhon Orange, TX 6th 5.75 lbs Floyd Page Dayton, TX 7th 5.70 lbs James Peveto Bull Shoals, AR 8th 5.30 lbs Donnie Dickerson Vidor, TX 9th 4.97 lbs Doel Parker McCloud, OK 10th 4.95 lbs Woody Armsworth Conroe, TX 11th 4.88 lbs Jason Jackson Nacogdoches, TX 12th 4.86 lbs Kevin Burks Kountze, TX 1:00-2:00 1st 8.39 lbs Donnie Luke Cleveland, TX 2nd 8.10 lbs Will Floyd Shelbyville, TX 3rd 7.35 lbs Tim Davis Quitman, AR 4th 6.18 lbs Bill Reece Marshall, TX 5th 5.89 lbs Doug Spradley Carthage, TX 6th 5.68 lbs Mark Elledge Houston, TX 7th 5.29 lbs Jeff Wagner Lake Kiowa, TX 8th 5.27 lbs Brant Loechel Woodville, TX 9th 4.95 lbs Don Dryden Lumberton, TX 10th 4.93 lbs Ky Martin Grandview, TX 11th 4.83 lbs Jeff Marsh Houston, TX 12th 4.82 lbs Larry Avery Longview, TX