29 teams fished, 6 teams weighed in and 3 places were paid.
City Park beach was lined with boats for this one, as 29 teams came out Wednesday to try their luck on Lake Austin. With the full moon phase in full force and the talk of some big fish back on beds, many anglers were anxious to get on the water. The chatter at registration was rampant with predictions that a 25 to 30 pound bag would be needed to take first place.
Might have been too, had it not been for a brutal wind that kept most anglers from seeing fish, and making the delicate presentations it takes to catch them nearly impossible. As a result, only 6 boats weighed in fish and the weights were far from what was expected.
But as is always the case, somebody figures them out and fishes the conditions given them. Jamie Slayden and Brandon Houston, who have been on a roll lately, came in with the only limit of the night. Taking home $435 with their 11.06 stringer, the team was pretty jacked. We had a chance to talk to Jamie.
“We knew as the winds increased it would be a tough night, but we didn’t think our bag would get it done. We thought maybe a check, but we were definitely surprised to get first.”
They continued to locate fish on outside grass lines, and caught the majority of their fish on flukes and shaky heads. The bite was fairly steady for them throughout the tournament and they were even able to cull once. As you can see, one of their keepers had been gorging on the prevalent baitfish most anglers reported seeing! Both anglers lost what sounds like good fish, as Brandon told us.
“I had a bite late that felt real good. I set the hook and it was solid and heavy. A few head shakes and it was gone. Jamie had a good fish pull on him for a bit and broke his 15 pound Big Game!”
Taking home second place and $260 were TTZ team members Robby Crabb and Terry Valentino. They focused on a string of boat docks uplake and caught their three keepers real shallow late in the evening. Robby gave us the scoop.
“We hit the spawning flats up north and ended up catching three dinks on Senkos, but the fish that were there before were gone. So we hit some docks on the way back and ended up catching all three keepers after 9 o’clock on that little row. I caught 2 on red bug Baby Brush Hogs and Terry caught his on a watermelon red Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog.”
Colin Saunders and Ray Berkley were the picture of efficiency. Bringing one fish to the scales, they were able to win Big Bass and third place with this 5.62 pound chunk. Their one fish earned the team $320! We talked to Ray about the catch.
“We caught it on a main lake point that came out in about 8 foot of water on a lizard, and we thought it was a good one when it took a while to come up. It’s pretty cool to get two checks for one fish!”
Finishing out the payout line was the team of Don Gordon and Jason Patureau. They caught their three keepers up shallow and caught fish pretty consistently through the event. Their better fish came on a Senko and a Mega Tail worm by GrandeBass. For their efforts, the team took home a very healthy tackle pack generously donated by Jacky Roberts of Fish Finders Marine and Pro’s Choice Lures and several hand tied JaROD Jigs.
TTZ would like to thank all that came out…and we expect an even bigger turnout next week! Remember, the Power Tackle giveaways will run to the end of the season; Big Bass (10.27 lbs) and big stringer (20.48 lbs) are still up for grabs. Check with us for details next Wednesday if you’re not already signed up. We’ll see you next week and stay tuned for our upcoming 2010 Travis Tuesday Night season opener!