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TEAM TOURNAMENT
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| Date: | | February 27, 2016 |
| Region: | | 2016 North Region |
| Tournament: | | Lake Fork |
| Tournament Trail: | | 2016 Bass Champs Tournament Trail |
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| Big Bass, Big Winnings for Romans & McMillan at Bass Champs on Lake Fork |
| By: Patty Lenderman |
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New records were set as Bass Champs North Region kicked off their 2016 season February 27, 2016 on beautiful Lake Fork. A phenomenal record setting field of 337 teams competed on a picture perfect day to win a portion of the pot worth over $97,000.
Temperatures started out chilly in the 40’s at take-off, but were tickling the 70 degree mark by the afternoon. Blue bird skies set the scene with winds gently out of the south, and the big fish were hungry!
Lake Fork is unique, having a slot limit on the bass. That means that any bass that measures between 16” and 24” cannot be retained, and must be released back into the lake immediately. That’s a lot of 6, 7 and 8 pounders that cannot be weighed in! Two lucky teams reeled in big ones over the slot, and enjoyed a big payday for it.
Trevor Romans of Plano, TX and Matt McMillan of Fort Worth caught the right five fish to reel in over $28,000 worth of winnings. “Our day started out great!” exclaimed Trevor. “I caught our first fish of the day in the first 10 minutes of fishing.” They started out on a secondary point that led to a spawning creek. “I was using a black & blue jig, in about 8’-10’ of water.” He felt the bite and set the hook. “I knew as soon as I set the hook it was a good fish!” The big fish wasn’t going to make it easy. “She wrapped up in a tree, and it was just a miracle that we got it!” Their first catch tipped the scales to 10.78 lbs. “After I stopped shaking, we continued fishing that area for a while but didn’t get any more bites so we left and tried some other areas, but ended up coming back. Matt caught the rest of our limit except one on a drop shot rig.” Adding their other four fish to the scales, their total weight was 13.27 pounds, winning 1st place and $20,000! Their big bass also caught a check for $1,000. Wait – we’re not done! Being the highest finishing team in a qualified Skeeter boat, they won another $5,000. This team has been fishing Bass Champs since 2001, and know how important it is to qualify for even more sponsor bonuses. Let’s keep adding up their winnings: They cashed in on the Sure Life bonus, Fun N Sun, Costa Del Mar, Under Armour, Power Pole and the Sportsmans Auto Network bonuses as well. Their day on the water yielded the team over $28,000 in winnings! “This is really great. We’ve cashed in a lot of checks with Bass Champs over the years, but this is our first 1st place win! It is so hard to win a Bass Champs tournament with this level of competition. This is a really awesome feeling. We’d like to thank Fun N Sun and Power Tackle Rods for their support. We caught our big one on a Power Tackle Rod!”
2nd place winners Wesley Davis of Mansfield, TX and Paul Mecca of Arlington anchored their win with another over the slot bass. “We started our day in the Little Caney area. There was some grass back there and feeding bass,” Wes explained. Using a lipless crank bait, Wes got his first bite within 15 minutes. “I didn’t realize it was a big fish, it wasn’t giving much of a fight. Paul saw it roll and immediately went for the net.” When Wes got the fish close to the boat, the big sow successfully dodged the net the first two attempts to secure her. “Paul is a great net man, and the third time he got her in!” Their first catch of the day weighed in at 9.28 pounds. “The rest of the day was a grind. We moved around trying to find some fish and caught some in the slot but had to let them go. We went back to our first spot and caught a few more to go with her using soft plastics.” They brought three fish to the scales for a total weight of 9.85 pounds winning 2nd place and a check for $7,500. “This is only our third or fourth tournament we’ve fished with Bass Champs, but we’ll be fishing more of them!” Wes would like to thank his partner Paul again for his great netting skills.
All total 46 teams cashed in on the winnings, with Lee Batson and Jason Greer catching the final check being the first out of the money with a $100 Fun N Sun Bonus. They weighed in four fish at 4.94 pounds.
Lowrance added winnings for Scott Dean and Richard Osborn with their Generation 3 Bonus Cash. Sportsmans Auto Network added another $1,000 in winnings to the father and son team Mike Biondi Sr and Mike Biondi Jr for being the second highest finisher in the money who has purchased a vehicle from a Sportsmans Auto Network dealer.
The next North Region event will be April 2nd on Ray Roberts. In the meantime, Bass Champs staff and crew are headed to Lake Belton for the Central Regions second tournament of the season.
The Mega Bass event is getting closer! The world’s richest one day hourly big bass event will be on Lake Fork March 20th. $20,000 will be paid out every hour of the tournament, and the angler who catches the biggest bass of the day will receive $15,000 cash AND a new Skeeter ZX200 bass boat! The top 15 fish every hour receive cash, and there are more chances to win for being the first to bring in an even weight bass of 2.50, 3.00, 7.00 or 8.00 pounds! What does it cost to enter for your chance to win this big? $160 per person. Check out all the details at www.BassChamps.com or call 817-439-3274.
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