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Results
TEAM TOURNAMENT
Date: March 23, 2013
Region: 2013 Central Region
Tournament: Lake LBJ
Tournament Trail: 2013 Bass Champs Tournament Trail
StatsResultsBig BassStoryPhotosPoints
Father/Son Team of Justin & Johnny Grice top 188 teams at Bass Champs on Lake LBJ
By: Patty Lenderman

“There’s nothing better than fishing with your dad”, according to Dustin Grice. Nothing, perhaps, except winning a Bass Champs tournament with him!

Bass Champs Central Region had their third tournament of the 2013 season on Lake LBJ March 23, with 188 teams contending for the $52,050 total purse in cash and prizes.

“It was pretty magical,” Dustin described. He and his dad Johnny Grice had intended to target bed fish, and had done some scouting two weeks before the tournament. Watching every factor prior to the tournament including the weather and water temperatures, “When the water temperature was registering at 66 degrees, we knew it was on!” Using a home made finesse jig with a Hags trailer, they ran to the north side of the lake to a canal. “I caught a five pounder and a couple of keepers in our first area, then we just put the trolling motor on high and kept moving.” The cloud cover made it very difficult to spot the bedding bass they were going after. “The bass were very spooky. When we came up on a bedding fish, it was hard to get them to bite. We spent as much as an hour and a half on some of them.” The found that the size of the bait made a big difference. “We started out with a bigger bait, but they would just pick it up and move it. When we switched to a finesse jig, we started catching them!” They continued to catch and cull throughout the day until they ended up with three in the five pound range. “We knew we had a good sack, but didn’t figure we had enough to win.” Their weight totaled 15.52 lbs, staying mere ounces ahead of the rest of the pack to win the guaranteed 1st place $15,000 check. Sure Life added another $200 to their winning purse for using the product in their livewell. “We’d like to thank Hags Tornado Baits for helping us out. We’d also like to thank Chad and everyone at Bass Champs for putting on these great tournaments for us. They really do a fantastic job. Thanks to Miss Patty too for writing the stories for us. The very best thing about this tournament though is that I got to fish it with my dad!”

The weights were stacked tight in the top spots, and 2nd place was won by Matt Cannon & Chris May with their three fish limit of 15.37 lbs. “It started out foggy, but we were site fishing, targeting bedding bass.” The fog and cloud cover made site fishing very difficult. “I caught a 7 pounder pretty early, then we continued fishing around the corner from where we were and we caught another good one and a few more,” Matt continued. They were using a combination of wacky worms and Senko’s for their catch. “We moved a lot over the course of the day, but most of our fish came out of one small area. The fish we weighed today were the first three keepers we caught!” Their 2nd place finish yielded a $5,000 payday for the team. “We’d like to thank the Good Lord for providing us such a great day. I’d also like to thank my dad for taking me fishing and teaching me everything I know.” They would also like to thank Falcon Rods and Nestle Waters for their support, “and my wife Megan and my family. They give me a lot of encouragement and I really appreciate them a lot.” Chris would also like to thank his wife Marissa for all of her love and encouragement.

“We had a pretty simple, clean day” according to Derick Kuyrkendall and Mike Kernan who won 3rd place with their 15.30 lb limit. “All of our fish were caught off of beds along creeks and at points.” They were using Texas rigged flukes and fished a two mile stretch of the lake. “It was a fast morning, and we caught the good ones right off the bat. We had all the fish we weighed in by 9am.” Bass Champs presented them with a $3,000 check for their 3rd place win. “We would like to thank Skeeter Boats and Boerne Marine. Also the entire Bass Champs crew. They really do a great job at these tournaments.”

There were a few nine pound bass registered at the scales, but BJ Carothers caught the biggest bass of the day weighing in at 9.23 pounds. Fishing with his son Canyon, BJ reported losing a six pounder on a buzz bait. “Twenty five minutes later is when I caught this one on a Texas rigged Senko.” They were fishing a cove about 8’ deep that had a rocky bank. “She was sitting on a bed when I landed her at around 8:30. It was cloudy and pretty hard to see her.” They continued hunting for more big ones throughout the day. “That six pounder probably cost us a 1st place win.” They won the $1,000 Big Bass check for that catch, plus another $200 from Costa Del Mar for wearing their sunglasses on stage as they weighed their big catch in. They won 17th place overall with 12.32 lbs for another $1,000 check for a total winning day of $2,200. “I’m really glad I got to fish this with my boy. We had lots of fun!”

Skeeter Boats doubled the winnings for James and Donna Cantwell who landed in 8th place overall with 13.33 lbs for being the highest finisher in a qualified Skeeter boat.

Harold Moore and Scott David won the Dodge Ram bonus giving them free entries into any Bass Champs tournaments for the next 12 months – a $7,500 value to add to their 9th place $1,000 winnings.

It took 10.63 lbs to win a check in this tournament, and the last $600 was awarded to 26th place Robert Hutchins and Robert Turner. All total $52,050 was paid out in the tournament, representing a 102% payback for the participants.

Who will be the 2013 Bass Champs Central Region Anglers of the Year? With two tournaments yet to go in the Central Region, it is still anyone’s game. The top five teams in the AOY points race are:
348 pts Dustin Grice & Johnny Grice
341 pts Chris Clements & Chris Woehl
335 pts Roy Seagroves & James Lynn
331 pts Wendel Ramsey & Wendel Ramsey Jr
329 pts Derick Kuyrkendall & Mike Kernan

The countdown is on for the final Bass Champs tournaments in the 2013 season. Don’t miss a single chance to win some big money this year! The remaining team event schedule is:
4/13/13 East Sam Rayburn
4/20/13 North Ray Roberts
4/27/13 Central Belton
5/04/13 South Amistad
5/11/13 North Tawakoni
5/18/13 Central Travis
6/01/13 South Falcon
6/15/13 East Sam Rayburn
6/22/13 North Ray Roberts
6/29/13 Central Belton
7/13/13 North Cedar Creek

Don’t forget to sign up now for the worlds largest one day Big Bass tournament on Lake Fork! Bass Champs is hosting the 5th Annual Dodge Mega Bass tournament April 7. Fifteen places will be awarded each hour, and the 1st place angler of EVERY HOUR will win a Dodge Ram Truck! The angler who catches the biggest bass of the tournament will additionally receive a Skeeter ZX 190 bass boat. This is one you can’t afford to miss.

For more information on any Bass Champs tournaments, click to www.BassChamps.com or call 817-439-3274.
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