(Oct. 26, 2009 - Lake Belton, TX)... Last week I promised to start a series of articles regarding the proper winter storage of your boat, motor and trailer. With so many bass tournaments taking place this past weekend, I’m postponing the winterization series until we can get caught up on all the latest fishing and boating news.Saturday, the Central Texas Marine Association held their second qualifying TuffMan bass tournament on Lake Belton, headquartered at Cedar Ridge Park. Early morning temperatures hovered around 42 degrees as a fog bank settled in the Cedar Ridge Cove causing low visibility. Only the twinkle of the navigation lights could be seen through the fog. As twilight began to appear, the anglers cut off their engines, and a prayer was offered blessing the fleet, the fishermen and our military servicemen and women. With the fishing teams standing in their boats, hats held over their hearts, the strains of the National Anthem resounded throughout the countryside.....then a roar of excitement came from the boaters as the Anthem ended. The air was electrified with pride as the 218 fishermen prepared themselves for the tournament countdown. 109 engines fired up almost simultaneously. The teams’ starting numbers were announced and the anglers maneuvered their way out of the cove toward the main artery of the Leon River. Caution was necessary because of the fog bank and debris that was on the water’s surface from the recent heavy rainfall.
The afternoon weigh-in started at 3:00pm and continued until 4:15pm. Sixty-four of the 109 teams were able to make it to the scales with fish. First place was won by the Killeen fishing team of Clayton Carver and Joshua Brown with five fish weighing in at a total of 15.86 pounds. They won $2,500 for their day of fishing. Keith Honeycutt of Temple, who had recently won $50,000 at the Bass Champs Championship on Cedar Creek Lake, took second place ($1,500) fishing with Sam Jones. Sam shared that they fished shallow all day throwing white crank and spinner baits, catching most of their fish in the very back pockets. The top 12 teams to qualify for the January 9th championship are as follows:
| 1. Clayton Carver / Joshua Brown | 15.86lbs. | $2,500 |
| 2. Keith Honeycutt / Sam Jones | 13.06lbs. | $1,500 |
| 3. Sophal Korng / Rodney Gaskill | 12.37lbs. | $1,200 |
| 4. Ronny Maynard / Eddy Maynard | 11.79lbs. | $1,000 |
| 5. Darrell Newman / Billy Ficke | 11.58lbs. | $ 850 |
| 6. Dan Wills / Billy Conway | 11.58lbs. | $ 850 |
| 7. Billy Rowe / Bubba Petrich | 11.51lbs. | $ 600 |
| 8. Travis McCollough / Kenneth McCollough | 11.28lbs. | $ 500 |
| 9. Ronnie Trower / Bret Stafford | 11.26lbs | $ 400 |
| 10. Jerry Richard / Jeremy Richard | 11.01lbs. | $ 300 |
| 11. Jeff Pitrucha / Jason Dewald | 10.94lbs. | $ 300 |
| 12. Markus Morace / Leland Smith | 10.45lbs. | $ 0 |
Big bass paid two places with the team of Markus Morace of Moody and Leland Smith of Copperas Cove winning $763 for the largest bass weighing in at 7.31 pounds. Second place went to the team of Mark Beckman and Tommy McKay of Bryan. They won $327 for a fish weighing in at 5.45 pounds.Don’t miss the next TuffMan bass tournament on Lake Stillhouse Hollow out of Dana Peak Park on the 21st of November. TuffMan is an open team trail. Interested?
