BAINBRIDGE, Ga. – Robert Tindell of Leesburg, Ga., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 25 pounds, 12 ounces Saturday to win the EverStart Series Southeast Division on Lake Seminole with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 73 pounds, 10 ounces. For his victory, Tindell earned $33,412.
“It was a great experience,” said Tindell. “Every fisherman dreams of winning something like this and I was fortunate enough to have it happen to me. Seminole is my home lake and I have been fishing it for over 30 years. This is the biggest tournament I’ve ever won.
ATHENS, Ala. – Steve Dyer found a hidden gem and mined it to win the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series, operated by American Bass Anglers, North Carolina Division 5 tournament, held April 6, 2013, on High Rock Lake. Running out of Tamarac Marina in Salisbury, N.C., to fish the 15,180-acre lake, the Mount Pleasant, N.C., angler caught five bass weighing 19.57 pounds with a 6.14-pound kicker to seal his Boater Division victory. Catching only five keepers, his bass averaged 3.91 pounds.
“I only caught one 12-inch fish in three days of practice,” Dyer said. “In the tournament, I went to the back of a creek I know. With the water high, I knew it would be tough to get under the bridge. I knew I’d have the place to myself so I could fish it slowly and pick it apart. I was targeting deeper rock banks on the way to some spawning flats with a jig and a creature bait. We were sitting in 14 feet of water. I threw it up toward the bank and worked it out slowly to about 10 feet of water. I caught a total of six fish, but only five keepers.”
Last year's emergency rule that allowed 5 hooks on umbrella rigs, also known as Alabama rigs, has expired. Umbrella rigs remain legal to use in Indiana but may not contain more than 2 hooked lures which is consistent with the long-standing limit on number of hooks allowed per pole. Umbrella rigs contain several jigs and simulate a school of bait fish. They come in various designs and sizes with various numbers of hooked baits.
BAINBRIDGE, Ga. - The EverStart Series is headed to Lake Seminole April 4-6 when as many as 300 pros and co-anglers take to the water for the third of four stops in the Southeast Division. "Down here in the Southeast, winter won't let go," said Straight Talk pro JT Kenney of Palm Bay, Fla., who finished third in EverStart competition on Lake Seminole in 2012. "I'm in south Florida right now and it was 41 degrees this morning. It's really cold. We are supposed to get a warming trend by the time the tournament starts, but I really don't know what to expect. I heard that a lot of rain fell in the Lake Seminole area this spring and the lake has been high and really muddy so far. It should definitely be an interesting tournament.
ZAPATA, Texas - Third-year Elite Series pro Keith Combs of Huntington, Texas, locked out 11 other finalists Monday in the Rigid Industries Falcon Slam, including his biggest threat after three rounds, four-time Bassmaster Classic champ and Zen master of bass fishing, Rick Clunn. After weighing 28 pounds, 2 ounces on the final day, Combs hit and surpassed the 100-pound mark with 111 pounds, 5 ounces over four days of competition on Falcon Lake out of Zapata, Texas. In his home state on a lake he's guided on for years, Combs took his first Bassmaster Elite Series title in wire-to-wire fashion and by a margin of nearly 6 pounds over Clunn. Besides the Bassmaster Century Club entry, Combs walked away with $100,000, an automatic berth in the 2014 Bassmaster Classic and 100 points in the 2013 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year race to collect $100,000 at the end of the eight-event regular season. "I'm going to cherish this. Wins like this don't come around often. I've been trying for a long time to get a tour-level win. With the Classic berth, it's also a relief," Combs said. "This is a huge career move for me."
JASPER, Texas (March 25, 2013) - Todd Castledine of Nacogdoches, Texas, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 20 pounds, 1 ounce Saturday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League Cowboy Division event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. For his victory, Castledine earned $5,127. "I was doing a combination of two things," said Castledine. "I started off sight-fishing for a few bedding fish that I had located earlier. After I caught those fish, I would cast around in those same areas for fish that were not on beds. This is my third weekend in a row where I have won a tournament down here, and I have been doing pretty much the same thing every time.
BIRDSEYE, Ind.- Gary Wagner of Martinsville, Ind., weighed in four bass totaling 15 pounds, 5 ounces Saturday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League Hoosier Division event on Lake Patoka. For his victory, Wagner earned $4,575. "On my first day of practice I never got a single bite," said Wagner. "It was very discouraging to me, but I knew the fish had to be somewhere. I went out on the second day and changed my game plan up quite a bit. It wasn't until later that day when I finally found a pattern that worked.
HIXSON, Tenn. - Rogne Brown of Hixson, Tenn., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 40 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League Volunteer Division event on Lake Chickamauga. For his victory, Brown earned $4,271. "It was absolutely incredible," said Brown. "I can't even explain it. It's been incredible here for the past five weeks or so. I found a really good staging area where they are getting ready to move up and spawn as soon as the conditions get right. The spot has scattered out stumps on it and quick access to deep water. It is also near a shallow flat where they can roam and feed.
Ponca City, Okla. - The Bass Federation announced today the Grand Lake Association and the city of Grove, Okla., will host the 2013 TBF Federation National Championship. The event will be held April 8-13, 2013 on Grand Lake and launch out of the new Wolf Creek Park in Grove. It's the culmination of more than two years of work for most of these anglers, competing against the nearly 25,000 members in TBF clubs across the United States and Canada to earn their invitation. Only the best anglers from each US state federation, the Association of Collegiate Anglers National Champions and the Canadian Champions earn a slot at the national contest. There they'll test their skills against the Grand Lake fish and each other, in the nearly quarter of a million dollar event.
WHAT: The 2013 Walmart BFL season continues with three tournaments on Saturday, March 23. The Cowboy division holds its third tournament of the season on Sam Rayburn Reservoir, the Hoosier division opens on Lake Patoka and the Volunteer division kicks off on Lake Chickamauga. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing in each event for top awards up to $8,000 and $3,000 respectively. WHEN: Saturday, March 23
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