DON GORDON & DON JACKSON GET THE WIN AND GET BIG BASS ON LBJ

The third event of the 2012 season is in the books after 92 boats came out Easter weekend to fish on LBJ. And the weekend started off in true TTZ fashion on Friday night with a crawfish boil that many came out to enjoy. We like things pretty hot around here and crawfish are no exception; so it was no surprise when we noticed a lot of the “grown folks” wiping their noses and tearing up, but the young guns and future of TTZ seemed to do just fine with ‘em! As far as fishing, the weather cooperated but the bass didn’t for many. With the lake churned up from the dam to the Llanorado and most of the fish on the backside of the spawn, bites were few and far between. As they say though, somebody always gets ‘em. But in the case of our winners this time, it was done in buzzer beater fashion. First place went to TTZ team member Don Gordon and long-time partner Jon Jackson; their bag of 20.82 pounds earned them $4,510! We got to speak with Don about their day after the checks were dispersed, and some deep breaths were taken. "Jon and I drew boat 8, which is the best number we've had this year. We had some shallow rocky flats adjacent to deep water to hit first, looking for post spawn fish in a feeding mood. It gave us nada. So we had a plan to manage our time and we moved to our second spot at Beaver Island. It’s a unique area that has brought both feast and famine. That man-made dyke is all rough granite blocks that fish like to get around...sometimes! Jon and I made two passes and only caught two unders. And by now it’s 10:30 and we had not keeper one! Worry was creepin’ in on us, and that tends to speed me and my trolling motor up." But the team managed to maintain composure and settle into a pattern. "I had pitched into the rocks and broke off my drop shot rig, not helping my mood in the least. And while I’m working on that the wind blew the boat very close to the rocks and Jon pitched to a near impossible place to get a fish out of way up shallow. Sure enough he caught our first keeper right at 14". So a light bulb came on and Jon said 'Maybe we found something'. But I gotta admit I was still skeptical." Good thing Don stuck with Jon’s feeler, because things got interesting after that. "A few minutes later Jon hooked the 8 pounder! So a second bulb came on and we started working the very shallow rocks. We get twenty feet down the bank I set the hook on a freight train. I have caught a lot of fish in my life, but this was the best fight I have ever had. After several long runs and drag pulls, Jon got her in the net. Needless to say we were just a little pumped! Ten feet further I catch a 16 incher, which made 4 keepers for us in a short time." Don’s big fish ended up weighing 9.90 pounds, and won the team Big Bass and a nice little check for $910! And wait till you hear what Don and Jon were using in those rocks! Talk about counter culture, but anybody that knows Don and Jon know that’s just how they like it. But back to the action... "Oh, and by the way, we were using GrandeBass Indigo Worms on a drop shot with a 1/0 hook and 8 and 10 pound line on spinning rods around those craggy rocks! But it was getting bit so we continued working this pattern until 1:30. But with no more keepers we decided to move and went to crank the motor and the battery was dead!" Never fear though, as Jon is a mechanic by trade and Don is an electrician; they made Nascar pit crews look slow as they got the boat batteries swapped out. The team hit four more spots and found no more keepers. That sinking feeling started coming back; they knew they needed a limit to have a chance. With an hour left they decided to crank the rip rap at the dam with no luck; but with literally 15 minutes left to weigh-in Don got bit by a 14 and a quarter incher to fill out their limit. Don and John were in the first flight and got to watch every bag march up to the scale. It was definitely excruciating knowing the level of talented anglers fishing this trail. But as Don says, it eventually ended and on came the relief. "Our luck held, and the biggest sigh you ever heard came out of my mouth when Booker said 'The scales are closed'! This is the best victory we have ever had, and there is no sport that has the highs and lows of competitive bass fishing. But that’s why we keep coming back...thanks TTZ!" Congratulations Don and Jon, well deserved! Second place went to the team of Kent Harris and Roland Loera. Their limit went 18.26 pounds and was good for $1,800! Kent talked to us about their day. "I had fished the week prior to the tournament and found a few fish still on beds in the creeks we visited, so we decided that the post spawn fish were the ones to target. Generally docks that are located at or near the mouths of creeks, with at least 6 feet or more of water in front of them are the key for this time." But like Don and Jon, the team got off to a slow start. "We didn’t end up boating our first keeper until 10:45; Roland caught it, and what a keeper it was! She ended up going 9.09 pounds so that took care of our kicker. Now all we needed to do was to find four others to go with it." Along the same stretch of mid-lake docks came more keepers within the next few hours including a 3.5 pounder. Kent shared more about the pattern with us. "Most all our fish were caught using Texas rigged Brush Hogs with 1/16 ounce slip sinkers fished very slowly. We ended the day going to another line of docks toward the lower end of the lake and were able to cull one up on a Texas rigged Trick Worm with a 1/16 ounce weight. All in all it was not fast by any means, but it was productive. Thanks again for a very well-run circuit, we have enjoyed fishing!" And thanks for being with us Kent and Roland, we appreciate you fishing with us and congrats again on a successful day! Our third place team has been making waves this year, and Saturday was no different. Lance Hale and Barry Mott remained consistent and came in third for a check worth $1,200! Better yet, the duo is currently sitting in a relatively comfortable lead for AOY for 2012. And when we say consistent, we mean it. Hale and Mott took 2nd on Lake Austin in March and 13th on Lake Travis in February! And as for LBJ, Saturday’s limit weighed 17.54 pounds and had an 8.31 pound toad mixed in. Lance spent some time with us after the weigh-in. "First off I'd like to congratulate Don Gordon and Jon Jackson for a great win! Thanks also go to the TTZ crew for the best run tournament trail out there, and I gotta thank Barry's wonderful wife for letting him fish on the day of his daughter’s birthday! Barry and I were really hoping for a solid finish and needed all the points we could get. We knew Barry would have to run back home at noon so we were under the gun to find fish early. Lucky for us the day started off with Barry catching our biggest fish of the day!" After that it was all about getting fish in the boat. And they had their limit by 10:45, but knew they needed to cull at least one small keeper. "When I dropped Barry off around noon we decided to weigh the big one in early so we could get her back in the lake. After dropping Barry off at the ramp, I was able to cull the smallest fish we had with a Guad that was a chunk! He was the difference in finishing 3rd instead of 4th, so it worked out pretty good. We caught all our fish throwing wacky worms on ledges and drop offs, only had around 4 spots to work all day. It was a great day and we look forward to the next tournament!" Great job Lance and Barry, and good luck staying in the top seat for AOY honors. Just one to go! Here are the remaining teams in the money: 4th place - Ty Chism and Michael Roberts 5th place - Clayton French and Kelly Hudson 6th place - Flint Fisher and Steve Magnelia 7th place - Jason Buchanan and Terry Kircus 8th place - Randy Grounds and Alan Gass 9th place - Hub Bechtol and Garrett Nies 10th place - Edward Cruz and Bill Guzman 11th place - John Weatherly and Bruce Davis 12th place - Kelly Clark and Bill McAnn 13th place - Gus Duncan 14th place - Brian Mater and Chris Woehl 15th place - Lee Beuershausen and Charles Whited