East Texas Division of Skeeter Bass Champs Tournament Series first event of 2008 was welcomed in by a pre-dawn snow storm. While it did send a few teams back home, most stayed and fished as 277 teams competed in the event. Snow storm or not, Rayburn's bass woke up hungry as twenty teams weighed in with five fish limits over 20 pounds. My tournament partner, Tom Barrett of Sulphur, and I had a decent limit of 18.22 pounds which is usually enough to get you in the top ten. Not this week. We did finish in 29th place which did qualify us for some cash winnings as the payout extended to 37th place.
It was amazing to see the stringers of fish and it took 29 pounds to win the event and $25,000. The winnings included $20,000 cash plus another $5,000 of incentives from Skeeter/Yamaha. However, everyone did not catch fish as 82 teams did not weigh in a fish. Anglers who had fish located on the open part of the lake were out of luck as we had wind gusts of 25 (plus) mph. Rayburn continues to be over five feet low at 158.96 feet with full pool usually agreed to be 164.4 feet.
According to U,S. Army Corp of Engineers info, there is currently no release of water at the dam. I spent a good bit of time on Rayburn the past three weeks and caution is the word when it comes to running the lake. Rayburn is famous for long points which run out into the main lake. With current low water, it is common to be running several hundred yards off shore and look at your electronics and be in 4-6 feet of water. Numerous anglers have run aground. It does help to be familiar with the lake as well as cautious.
Top tournament finishers last weekend reported catching their fish on lipless crankbaits, mid-diving crankbaits and Carolina rigs. Top colors of lipless crankbaits were orange, crawfish, Rayburn red as well as blue/silver. The biggest bass of the Bass Champs event, weighing 10.34 pounds, came from 12 to 14 feet on a Carolina rigged green pumpkin lizard. The next Bass Champs event is on Rayburn February 16th.
For more big bass photos check out www.joejoslinoutdoors.com. Click on Trophy Room.