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TEAM TOURNAMENT
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| Date: | | May 14, 2016 |
| Region: | | 2016 Central Region |
| Tournament: | | Lake LBJ #2 |
| Tournament Trail: | | 2016 Bass Champs Tournament Trail |
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| Shuster & Gerhart pull out a very close win on LBJ at Bass Champs |
| By: Patty Lenderman |
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Weights were stacked tight for top teams as Bass Champs’ Central Region anglers wrapped up their season on Lake LBJ May 14, 2016. Luck was in the air as the thunderstorms marching ever closer throughout the day held off until the afternoon, but then the bottom fell out and the rain came with a passion. One hundred seventy nine boats hit the lake for a portion of the $53,180 total purse being paid out in cash and prizes. Top teams were separated by mere ounces, with David Shuster and Charles Gerhart staying just ahead of the pack to win over $20,000!
It was the final event for the Central Region, and Bass Champs was paying back 102% to the top twenty four teams. The morning started out calm and cool, but the thunderstorms in the forecast were on their way. As luck would have it, the rain didn’t start until just before 3pm, but when it came it was a downpour!
1st place winners David Shuster of Georgetown, TX and Charles Gerhart of Salado, TX brought in the winning sack of 22.21 pounds. “Our day started out well,” Shuster recalled. “We drew boat #3, so we were able to get to our first spot ahead of everyone.” They had chosen an area with a grass break line and rock that eased out to 9’ deep. “We were using jigs and Carolina rigs, and had about twenty pounds in the boat by 9am. After that the bite slowed down there, so we moved to try different spots.” Keeping an eye on the fish in their livewell, they could see that a few of their bigger fish were starting to struggle. “Another competitor nearby let us know that we could bring our bigger ones on in to weigh then go back out fishing. One had already died, and two others were not doing well in the livewell, so we went ahead and weighed three of them so they could get the care they needed to be released.” After weighing those three, they went back out to try to cull their last two fish. “We got lucky and were able to cull up a couple of pounds.” Their total weight was 23.21 pounds, but had a one pound penalty for their dead fish. “We really thought that one was going to cost us the win. Several more good sacks came in, and it was close! We were sweating it until the weigh in was over.” When it was all said and done, their weight stayed just ahead of the pack to win the tournament. Bass Champs presented them the guaranteed 1st place $20,000 check then Sure-Life added another $200 to their winnings for using the product in their livewell. “We have been fishing with Bass Champs for ten years or so. We did manage Anglers of the Year around 2007, but this is our very first win. There are so many really good fishermen in this, it is really tough! We’d like to thank the team that let us know we could go ahead and weigh in part of our catch. Bass Champs and their whole staff and crew are wonderful and put on great tournaments. We enjoy fishing every one of them, that’s why we keep fishing with them! We would also like to thank God for blessing us today, and our wives for putting up with us so long.
Only two ounces behind were the 2nd place winners Darrell Wuensche of Thrall, TX and Donnie O’Neal of Pflugerville, TX with 22.08 lbs. “Our day started out really slow,” Darrell recalled. “We finally put our first keeper, a swimmer, in the boat around 9am. After that we lost one that would have been around three pounds.” They started moving to different spots, all with shallow grass looking for the fish they needed. “We caught our second keeper on a frog, and kept with that pattern the rest of the day. We were working it really fast. By around 10:30am we had a limit, then about 20 minutes later I caught our biggest fish, around 6-1/2 pounds. It was the only cull we made.” They continued catching fish, but didn’t catch anything else to cull with. “The rain was on the way, so we checked in a little early to try to beat it. We barely did, and it started coming down hard!” Donnie recalled coming to the scales with their sack of fish. Chad informed them they would need to beat 22.21 pounds to take the lead. “When we put our fish on the scales, it jumped to 24 pounds. My heart started beating really hard. When they finally locked in, our weight was so close, but under the leaders. It was so close!” They won $4,000 for their day and would like to thank EVS Metal for taking good care of them, along with Power Tackle Rods, JKB Construction Co., Humminbird, MinnKota, Grande Bass Trophy Hunter Baits, Hog Farmer Bait Co., Lew’s and Undercover Sportsman.
The weights continued to be extremely tight, as Jason Buchanan and Terry Kircus of Burnet, TX were merely just over an ounce behind 2nd place, taking 3rd with 21.97 lbs. They also caught the Big Bass of the day anchoring their win weighing 10.67 lbs! “Our day started out slow,” Terry reported. “When we got to our first spot, there were already four or five boats in the area. They were all fishing shallow. We almost left, but decided to stay there and just fish deeper.” They were fishing in 12’-15’, and it was an hour and a half before they got their first bite. “When they started biting, they were biting good!” It was 10am when Jason caught their third fish of the day. “He was using a Berkley 10” Power Worm, and he knew it was a ‘decent’ fish when he got the bite. There were still several boats around us at that point. When she came up, everyone saw it. He fought her for a while, but finally got her in.” That fish weighed in at 10.67 pounds! “We caught two more shortly after that, but then gave up our spot to go ahead and bring the big one in. When we went back out, we headed to another spot and were able to cull three times. We lost a few. We had the fish to win the tournament.” They won $3,000 for 3rd place, $500 for Big Bass, then being the highest finishing team in a qualified Skeeter boat, Skeeter doubled their winnings with another $3,500 check. Their winnings didn’t stop there! They also received the Under Armor, Costa Del Mar, Abu Garcia and Biobor bonuses! “We’d really like to thank our wives for letting us fish as much as we do. They give us a lot of support.”
4th place winners Chad Maxwell and Nick Boatright of Liberty Hill, TX took home $2,000 for their 21.83 lb sack and won the Lowrance GEN3 bonus too.
Congratulations to Charles Whited and Bill Polkinghorn for winning the Central Region Angler of the Year Race. They will be featured on the 2017 season of the Bass Champs Television Show.
Here are the final points totals for the Central Region.
732 pts Charles Whited & Bill Polkinghorn
727 pts Trey Groce & Joe Bill Hale
689 pts Matt Hill & Barry Mott
685 pts Steve Magnelia & Michael Tennant
675 pts Allen Shelton & Brad Drake
The remaining events open to anyone who would like to fish are:
May 21 (South) Amistad
June 4 (North) Tawakoni
Also mark your calendars and plan to fish these upcoming Bass Champs hosted events:
June 10 - Skeeter Owner’s Tournament, Lake Fork
June 26 – TX Shootout, Sam Rayburn
Oct 15-16 – 11th Annual Berkley Big Bass, Lake Fork
“The 2nd Annual TX Shootout is coming up next month on Sam Rayburn. With a guaranteed 1st place purse of $50,000 it is the world’s richest one day team event, and you don’t want to miss it!” Chad Potts announced. “I’d like to thank everyone for fishing with us – it’s been a great season. Hope to see you at our other events, and look forward to seeing the qualifiers at the championship. Good luck everyone!”
The 2016 Championship will be a two day event, October 8-9, 2016. Over $200,000 in cash and prizes is guaranteed to be awarded, including a Skeeter FX 20 powered by a Yamaha 250 SHO for the 1st place winners, and a Skeeter ZX 225 powered by a Yamaha 225 SHO for the 2nd place team. The top 40 teams will receive checks, and the location will be announced after all regular season events for all regions have completed.
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