By Don Hampton
The Fisherman’s Guide News
“Lake Fork’s Lines To Get Hooked On!”
The 39th Annual Sealy Big Bass Splash held on September 19th, 20th, 21st, was not only great for the area and this great reservoir responded.
Over 2,400 anglers participated in this great event. Some came from as far as Wisconsin and California. The anglers could not have asked for better weather. With a 2025 Ram truck, two Phoenix Bass Boats, and $550,000 guaranteed they came to win.
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 31 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. Many of the anglers reported catching bass just short of the 24” line that they could not bring to the weigh-in. This shows Lake Fork is back and doing great.
On Friday, the first day of the tournament there were eight bass over the slot brought to the scales. It all began in the 7 to 8 o’clock hour. Austin Bray from Drexel, MO. earning him $2,500 when he weighed in a 8.49-pound bass for 1st Place for that hour. Coming in 2nd place for that hour was Robert Brooks from Ardmore, OK. with a bass weighing 7.09-pounds. In the 8 to 9 o’clock hour being the double bonus T-shirt hour, Tommy Washington from Milam, TX. earned $5,000 for 1st Place in the hour when he weighed in a 9.58-pound bass. In the 9 to 10 o’clock hour one bass over the slot came to the scales weighing 6.82-pounds caught by Christopher Sweaks from Allen, TX. In the 10 to 11 o’clock hour there were two overs weighed in. Monty Sewell from Tayor, AR. weighed in a bass weighing 9.72-lbs. winning him $2500 and in 2nd weighing in an 8.55-lb. bass was Eli Vaughan from Palestine, TX. In the 11 to 12 o’clock hour there was one over brought to the scale. Michael McKinney from Ninnekah, OK. weighed in a 6.54-pound bass winning him $2,.500 in the hour. In the 12 to 1 o’clock hour there were no overs brought in so Billy Pritchett from Big Sandy, TX. placed first in the bonus hour winning $5,000 with a 2.39-lb. bass. In the 1 to 2 o’clock hour there was only one over brought to the scales. It was caught by Blake Frasure from Grethel, KY. weighing 8.51-lbs.
On Saturday, the second day of the tournament ten bass over the slot were brought to the scales. In the 7 to 8 o’clock hour Carl Carpenter from Hot Springs, AR. weighed in a 7.74-lb. and Ray Mcgee from Seabrook, TX. weighed a 6.53-lb. bass. In the 8 to 9 o’clock hour Nathan Burrow from Conway, AR. weighed in an 8.46-lb. bass winning himself $5,000 in the bonus hour. In the 9 to 10 o’clock hour Tator Reynolds from Florien, LA. weighed an 9.40-lb. bass and Buddy Rawlinson from Rusk, TX. weighed an 8.60-lb. bass. In the 10 to 11 o’clock hour Jason Borofka from Lavon, TX. weighed an 8.19-lb. bass and Zachary Haney from Terrell, TX. weighed a 7.99-lb. bass. In the 11 to 12 o’clock hour Bradley Virgillito from Bossier City, LA. weighed a 5.61-pound bass. In the 12 to 1 o’clock hour Jacob Callahan from Yantis, TX. weighed in an 8.84 winning him $5,000 in the bonus hour. In the 1 to 2 o’clock hour Travis Simmons from Ragley, LA. weighed in a 7.79-lb. bass.
On Sunday, the last day of the tournament, there were thirteen bass over the slot brought to the scales. In the 7 -8 o’clock hour Austin McAdoo from Benton, AR. weighed in a 10.83-lb. bass. In the 8 to 9 o’clock hour Wesley Holt from Sieper, LA. weighed in an 8.75-pound bass and Essix Hawkins from Pine Bluff, AR. weighed in an 8.57-lb. bass. In the 9 to 10 o’clock hour there was no over brought to the scales and David Laymance from Lindale, TX. won $2,500 for his bass weighing 2.30-lbs. In the 10 to 11 o’clock hour Mitchell Meyer from Hughesville, MO. weighed in a 7.39-pound bass. During the 11 to 12 o’clock hour Colten Pusateri from McKinney, TX. weighed a 9.23-pound bass and Michael Crow from Broomfield, CO. weighed in a 6.02-lb. bass. In the 12 to 1 o’clock hour Christopher Bush from Huntington, TX. weighed in a 9.08-lb. bass and Carl Carpenter from Hot Springs, AR. weighed in an 8.66-lb. bass. During the 1 to 2 o’clock hour Gilbert Miller from Midlothian, TX. weighed in an 8.37-lb. bass. Dana Vinson from Henderson, TX. weighed an 8.18-lb. bass; Colton Pusateri from McKinney, TX, weighed a 7.75-lb. bass; Taylor Murphy from Camden, AR. weighed a 7.17-lb. bass; and Marcus Arrington from Monticello, AR. weighed a 6.25-lb. bass.
Heaviest bass under the slot winning that angler an extra $5,000 was James Russ from Lubbock, Texas on Friday with a 2.60-pound bass. On Saturday Charlie King from Coushatta, LA. with a bass weighing 2.75-lbs won $5,000 and on Sunday Michael Yarbrough from Longview, Texas weighed a 2.49-pound bass winning him $5,000.
No one weighed in the 2.50 Exact Weight or Exact Weight over the Slot any of the three days, so these were up for drawings. We gave 12 winners $2,500 each for a grand total of $30,000. The winners that were drawn were: William Hunter; Tuttle, OK, Selu Kelesoma; Hope, AR, Robert Washington; Stockbridge, GA, Jessica May; Grapeland, TX, Raymond Burns; Alba, TX, Jason Denam; Mansfield, TX, Kenneth McLemore; Antioch, IL, Joel Molina; Apoka, FL, William Matthews; Quitman, TX, Jerry Wheeler; Batesville, AR, Courtney Irving; McKinney, TX and Jeff Westfall; Nashville, AR. Congratulation to you all!
In the elimination drawing Rickie Washington from Shelbyville, Texas won a Phoenix 819 PRO powered by Mercury, and equipped with MinnKota and Humminbird.
Austin McAdoo from Benton, AR. won 1st place overall for heaviest bass caught in the tournament with his 10.83-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 9.72-lbs was Monty Sewell from Taylor, AR. and took home an extra $15,000. Winning 3rd place overall was Tommy Washington from Milam, TX. with a weight of 9.58-pounds. For his efforts he won an extra $10,000. Winning 4th place overall with a weight of 9.40-lbs. was Tator Reynolds from Florien, LA. He took home an extra $5,000. Coming in 5th place overall was Colton Pusateri from McKinney, TX. with a weight of 9.23-pounds. For his catch he took home an extra $2,500.
During the course of the tournament there were 31 bass weighed in over the slot. On Friday there was a total of 337 bass weighed for a total weight of 687.51-pounds. On Saturday there were 305 bass weighed for a total weight of 634.45-pounds. On Sunday there were 240 bass weighed for a total weight of 538.21-pounds. Total bass weighed in the tournament was 882 for a total weight of 1,860.17-pounds. The Lake Fork Sportsman’s Association did an excellent job with their Live Release Boat returning all the bass back into the lake in healthy condition to be caught another day.
It was disappointing that only one double-digit bass Lake Fork made the show, but the overall number of over the slots that did show and the great weights shows this lake is not one to be overlooked.
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.