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TEAM TOURNAMENT
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| Date: | | June 21, 2014 |
| Region: | | 2014 East Region |
| Tournament: | | Lake Sam Rayburn #5 |
| Tournament Trail: | | 2014 Bass Champs Tournament Trail |
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| Dean brothers win Bass Champs season wrap-up |
| By: Patty Lenderman |
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Shook & Iles climb to the top of the points race to win Anglers of the Year
It was a dramatic fight to the finish at the Bass Champs season wrap up on Sam Rayburn June 21, 2014. Top weights continued to climb, and the battle for Big Bass was fierce. Bass Champs paid back 142% in this climactic event, a total of $48,675 in cash and prizes.
Not only were the 129 teams vying for a portion of the payback, it was the last chance to garner points toward the Angler of the Year race. Coming into this event, the reigning Anglers of the Year Cory Rambo and Rusty Clark, were twenty points ahead in the standings with Danny Iles and Brian Shook hot on their heels.
As the teams began trickling to the scales, anglers brought their three fish limits in and several nice kickers were seen. Brothers Jason and Jared Dean quickly took lead position with their 17.39 lb sack, and for just a short while led Big Bass with their 7.23 lb kicker. The Big Bass race was on, with Donald Gregg inching ahead with his big catch at 7.32 lbs, only to be beat again with Doug and Mason McCain’s largest fish at 7.55 lbs.
In the mean time, AOY leaders Rambo & Clark weighed in their 9.16 lb sack, knowing that Shook & Iles were yet to weigh. The final points tally would be close. When Iles & Shook brought in their creel, first they tallied their largest, temporarily taking over Big Bass lead with their 7.83 lb sow. Adding their other two, they had a 15.53 lb total ultimately winning 2nd place overall. Their sack gave them enough points to also win Anglers of the Year for the East Region 2014 season!
Continuing on with the weigh in, the Army Bass Anglers team of Rob Richards and Bryan Wootton hoisted their big sow to the scales, locking in at 9.33 lbs to win Big Bass of the tournament, and anchoring their 11th place overall finish.
Winners Jason and Jared Dean said “We started catching fish at the first place we pulled up to.” They targeted deep water, 16’-20’ with jigs. “We caught a lot of good fish. You know it’s a good day when you cull (2) four pounders!” Bass Champs awarded them the guaranteed 1st place purse of a Ford F-150 pick-up truck, plus they won another $200 from Sure-Life for using the product in their livewell.
2nd place winners Brian Shook and Danny Iles had struggled for their catch. “We went to our first spot, and there were boats all over it,” Danny explained. “We ran to find some open areas – our game plan went out the window!” They had initially planned on using crank baits for their catch. “We had seven or eight crank baits tied on. That just wasn’t working for us, so we tried a little bit of everything and finally switched to Texas rigs, and hit main lake points with grass in about 12’ of water.” They put their limit together, and at 12:45 Danny caught their big one, switching a two pounder for a 7.83 kicker. While they only boated six keepers all day, they had the right combination of three to win 2nd place overall with 15.53 lbs and a check for $3,500. Their total weight also garnered them the points they needed to win Anglers of the Year. “This is so unexpected. Cory Rambo & Rusty Clark are such strong anglers. It is a real honor to achieve this!” As part of the reward for achieving this status, all of their entry fees for the 2015 season in the East Region will be waived. Congratulations Anglers of the Year!
Father & son Doug and Mason McCain held onto 3rd place with their 14.93 lb total. “We caught most of our fish flipping the grass with craw worms, Doug explained. “In practice we were catching them on Stanley football jigs, but we didn’t catch many on it today, so we switched to grass jigs and craws.” They only got a total of six bites all day, and at 9am Doug put their 7.55 lb kicker in the boat. “We caught our last fish to cull with at 2:00.” That cull helped put them in their 3rd place position by only five ounces! They were awarded a check for $2,000 and would like to thank Lake Charles Toyota, Anesthesia Associates of Lake Charles, Steve Garmans Taxidermy Art, Stanly Jigs “and God for giving us such a beautiful day to fish.”
While the fight for Big Bass was hot and heavy for a while, Army Bass Angler Rob Richards blew them out of the water with his 9.33 lb catch. “We had caught a bunch of 12”-16” fish, and had a five or six pound limit in the livewell,” Richards recalled. “We decided to go deep, in water up to 25’ with a Strike King Tour Grade Football Jig.” He used a green pumpkin jig with a Strike King Rage Menace grub trailer. “She bit at 1:00, in water 18’-20’ deep. We culled a one-pounder with it, then later Brian (Wootton) lost one almost as big!” They won $500 for that single catch, plus another $750 for their 11th place overall finish. They were also the highest finishing team in a qualified Ford truck, so they won the Ford bonus giving them free entries into any Bass Champs tournaments for the next 12 months! Using BioBor in their gas tank, they also received that $500 bonus.
The 4th place team of Bryan Landers and Benjamin Craven doubled their winnings with the Skeeter and Talon bonuses. They went home with a total of $3,150.
It took 11.19 lbs to win a check in seventeen places paid. Denise Sustaita and Danielle McRae won the last $500 check awarded.
The Championship will be a two day event, October 11-12 with the 1st place team winning a Skeeter FX20 powered by a Yamaha 250 SHO. 2nd place will receive a Skeeter ZX20 also powered by a Yamaha 250 SHO. The location of the Championship will be announced once all Bass Champs regions have completed their regular season.
For more information, click to www.BassChamps.com or call 817-439-3274
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