38th Annual Sealy Outdoors Big Bass Splash On Lake Fork
By Don Hampton–The Fisherman’s Guide News–“Lake Fork’s Lines To Get Hooked On!”
Even though Bob Sealy is no longer with us, his spirit was and felt by many of the anglers participating in the 38th Annual Sealy Big Bass Splash held on Lake Fork, September 20th, 21st, and 22nd, 2024. The tournament was conducted with the same perfection and professionalism it will always be known for.
Over 2,200 anglers participated in this great event. Some came from as far as Missouri and Kentucky. Anglers and staff could not believe the moderate temperatures they were gifted with. Low night temperatures cooled the water even though daytime temps reached the lower 90’s.
As anglers are quite aware of the reason it is called fishing and not catching is that the bite isn’t always what they want or expect. There were a lot of 2-pound plus bass brought in and 20 bass over the 24” slot. With the slot on Lake Fork being between 16” to 24” no bass between those measurements could be brought in. Some anglers did learn the hard way to measure their bass properly. Many of the anglers reported catching bass in the slot or too small to bring to the weigh-in.
On Friday, the first day of the tournament there were ten bass over the slot brought to the scales. It all began in the 7 to 8 o’clock hour. Martin Thompson from Big Sandy, Texas earning him $2,500 when he weighed in a 9.06-pound bass for 1st Place for that hour. Coming in 2nd place for that hour was Randy Horton from Russellville, Arkansas with a bass weighing 8.32-pounds. Daniel Pritchard from Bryan, Texas won 3rd place in this hour with his weight of 7.45-pounds. In the 8 to 9 o’clock hour being the double bonus T-shirt hour, Abram Caton from Gladewater, Texas earned $5,000 for 1st Place in the hour when he weighed in a 9.06-pound bass. In 2nd Place for this hour was Bill Trembley from Russellville, Arkansas with a bass weighing 8.83-pounds. Coming in 3rd Place for the hour with a weight of 8.81-pounds was Chad Oneal from Amity, Arkansas. In the 9 to 10 o’clock hour only one bass over the slot came to the scales weighing 7.61-pounds caught by Taylor Murphy from Camden, Arkansas. In the 12 to 1 o’clock hour there were two overs brought to the scale. Wyatt Mize from Tuttle, Oklahoma weighed in an 8.66-pound bass winning him $5,000 in the bonus hour. The second of this hour was a 7.93-pound bass caught by Billy Gatwood from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In the 1 to 2 o’clock hour there was only one over brought to the scales, but it was the heaviest of the day weighing 9.85-pounds and caught by Tim Law from White Hall, Arkansas.
On Saturday, the second day of the tournament three bass over the slot were brought to the scales. In the 11 to 12 o’clock hour Billy Gatwood from Hattiesburg, Mississippi weighed a 7.76-pound bass; in the 1 to 2 o’clock hour Rachel Finch from Paradise, Texas weighed in an 8.70-pound bass, and Jacob Callahan from Yantis, Texas weighed in a 8.68-pound bass.
On Sunday, the last day of the tournament, there were seven bass over the slot brought to the scales. In the 8 to 9 o’clock hour Terry Newcomer from Midlothian, Texas weighed in an 8.48-pound bass. In the 9 to 10 o’clock Haydan Marshall from Quitman, Texas weighed in an 8.82-lb. bass. In the 10 to 11 o’clock hour Greg Seeger from Fyffe, Alabama weighed in a 9.51-pound bass. During the 11 to 12 o’clock hour Howard Zummer from McAlester, Oklahoma weighed an 8.17-pound bass and Robert French from Nashville, Arkansas weighed in an exact 7-pound bass winning the exact weight bass for an extra $5,000. In the 12 to 1 o’clock hour Joseph Todd from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma weighed in an 8.67-lb. bass and Thomas Welch from Terrell, Texas weighed in a 7.88-pound bass. During the 1 to 2 o’clock hour Jacob Callahan from Yantis, Texas weighed in a 5.15-pound bass.
Heaviest bass under the slot winning that angler an extra $5,000 was Wade Evans from Powderly, Texas on Friday with a 2.79-pound bass. On Saturday Vernon Croney from Alba, Texas with a bass weighing 2.57-pounds. On Sunday Jason Amperse from Leonard, Texas weighed a 2.75-pound bass.
Winning an additional $5,000 in the exact weights of 2.50-pounds was Ricky Barlow from Emory, Texas on Saturday. The 2.50 was not caught on Friday or Sunday, which left them to be open drawings amongst all the registered anglers. Benton Fincher from Hope, Arkansas was drawn for the first $5,000 and Billy Anderson Jr. from Streetman, Texas was drawn for the second $5,000.
The Exact Weight over the slot was not caught on Friday or Saturday, which left these two $5,000 drawings left open for Sunday during the awards ceremony. The two lucky winners of $5,000 each were Kelly Lindsey or Amity, Arkansas and Larry McNeese of Emory, TX. Congratulations Guys!
In the elimination drawing Verlon Croney from Alba, Texas, won a Phoenix 819 PRO XP powered by Mercury, and equipped with MinnKota and Humminbird. In the open drawing Howard Besett from Rogers, Arkansas won a Power Pole.
Tim Law from White Hall, Arkansas won 1st Place overall for heaviest bass caught in the tournament with his 9.85-pound bass. For his efforts he won $2,500 hourly pay, a Phoenix 721 ZXL powered by Mercury equipped with MinnKota, Humminbird, & Power Pole and a RAM Truck plus $5,000 cash. Winning 2nd Place overall with a weight of 9.51-lbs was Greg Seeger from Fyffe, Alabama and took home an extra $15,000. Winning 3rd Place overall was Martin Thompson from Big Sandy, Texas with a weight of 9.06-pounds. For his efforts he won an extra $10,000. Winning 4th place overall with a weight of 9.06-pounds was Abram Caton from Gladewater, Texas. He took home an extra $5,000. Coming in 5th Place overall was Bill Trembley from Russellville, Kentucky with a weight of 8.83-pounds. For his catch he took home an extra $2,500.
During the course of the tournament there were 20 bass weighed in over the slot. On Friday there was a total of 318 bass weighed for a total weight of 653.87-pounds. On Saturday there were 283 bass weighed for a total weight of 539.49-pounds. On Sunday there were 254 bass weighed for a total weight of 516.52. Total bass weighed in the tournament was 855 for a total weight of 1,709.88 pounds. The Lake Fork Sportsman’s Association did an excellent job with their Live Release Boat returning all the bass into the lake in healthy condition to be caught another day.
It was disappointing that the double-digit bass Lake Fork is known for did not show, but the weather was great, safety factors were taken, and the bite for all those winners was terrific.
For more information on Sealy Outdoors Big Bass Splash visit their website at www.sealyoutdoors.com.
God Bless America, Fish Friendly, and I hope to see you on the lake.