TTZ TRAIL – TRAVIS – Jan. 26th, 2013
TEAMS: 127
ANGLERS: 252
FISH: 432
TOTAL FISH WEIGHT: 898
AVG FISH WEIGHT: 2.08 LBS
TOTAL COLLECTED: $19,470 ($150 x 120 teams + $100 x 7 teams + $10 x 127 teams – $500 polygraph)
TOTAL CASH PAID OUT: $17,595 (90.4%)
PL ANGLER 1 ANGLER 2 FISH BIG BASS WT PRIZE
1 TOM LORDEN ANDY ZAVALA 5 4.96 17.58 $4,000
2 RHETT PIERCE RICKY PIERCE 5 5.86 17.07 $1,600
3 WILLIAM BROWN ZACH BROWN 5 7.04 16.54 $1,350
4 KELLY HUDSON CLAYTON FRENCH 5 16.27 $1,200
5 JODY HOLUBEK MIKE MURRAY 5 15.11 $1,000
6 WAYNE ORENDER III WAYNE ORENDER JR 5 14.76 $900
7 LAKE KISSELBURG JAYSON KISSELBURG 5 5.35 14.08 $800
8 KENNETH WOODRUM JEREMIAH WOODRUM 5 4.42 13.76 $700
9 JAMES SCOGIN MATTHEW SCOGIN 5 5.53 13.62 $650
10 JOE BILL HALE KENNY PRATER 5 13.37 $600
11 BARRY MOTT LANCE HALE 5 13.29 $550
12 GREG STEVENS MATT WARREN 5 7.51 13.03 $500
13 MANDI GLASS LANDON GLASS 5 13.00 $475
14 MIKE LUNA MARK WILLOUGHBY 5 12.96 $450
15 STEVEN NARDECCHIA TIM SPENCER 5 12.72 $425
16 LEE BEUERSHAUSEN RANDY GROUNDS 5 12.51 $400
17 SHANE LOGAN TONY FERDINANDO 5 12.35 $375
18 BRANDON GARRETT CLINTON HOLSTINE 5 12.02 $350
19 DON GORDON JON JACKSON 5 11.91
20 MICHAEL ROBERTS KEITH HEINRICH 5 11.81
21 JAMES ROBERTS BRIAN BURNS 5 11.49
22 PHIL WARREN KENNETH FAIRLY 5 11.37
23 DANNY RAY FISHER FLINT FISHER 5 11.15
24 THOMAS WHITED JAMES WHITED 5 11.12
25 ANDY WHITEHEAD MICKEY SANDERS 5 11.02
26 ANDREW ANDEL LEE BENTON 5 10.88
27 TRAVIS DEWALD JEFF PITRUCHA 4 10.78
28 GARY FERGUSON BRENT SMITH 5 10.68
29 THOMAS LANDON BRIAN TATE 5 10.58
30 DAVID SCHWERTNER RONNIE TROWER 5 10.57
31 MICHAEL ABERNATHY JUSTIN PARRISH 5 10.55
32 DENNIS WHITED LYNN PIERCE 5 10.36
33 GREG MEHAFFEY LEE EVANS 5 10.18
34 DALE READ JAKE READ 5 9.85
35 JACKY ROBERTS KEN WILKINS 5 9.83
36 RUBEN RIBERA LINO GUTIERREZ 4 9.56
37 RYAN WARREN FRANK ELLIS 5 9.53
38 CHRIS CONNER JARED SMITH 5 9.43
39 KEN EVERETT DARREN EVERETT 5 9.38
40 TK BOURESSA BILL GUZMAN 5 9.22
41 JUSTIN POLLEI GARRETT NELSON 5 9.16
42 ALLISON BELANGER MIKE JAMES 5 9.12
43 CHRIS WOEHL BRIAN MATER 5 8.82
44 JOSH SAMOLSKY JOHN GUILLORY 4 8.79
45 DUSTIN BARRON CRAIG CORDOVA 3 8.78
46 WAYLON PAPST BILL MCANN 5 8.73
47 JARRID HOHENSEE CHRISTOPHER WASHINGTON 5 8.71
48 JAMES ABOUD ALAN TAYLOR 5 8.53
49 DAN SHARPHORN WYATT SHARPHORN 5 8.43
50 JESSE FRY JOSH WALLACE 5 8.41
51 ROBBY CRABB MIKE HARMAN 3 4.91 8.40
52 BILL WITTIE DANIEL GIBSON 3 8.26
53 BRIAN HUGHES SPENCER SCHNEIDER 5 8.24
54 JEREMY CREWS MIKE SCHEEN 5 8.19
55 LANCE WENMOHS MIKE CLARK 4 8.14
56 TOM MARTENS JACOB LONG 5 8.07
57 WILL ATTERBERRY CHRIS FIEDLER 2 6.61 8.04
58 ERNIE KUEHNER TERRY MCBEE 5 8.00
59 TIM WILLIFORD TERRY WILLIAMS 4 7.96
60 DEAN ALEXANDER RONNY MAYNARD 5 7.87
61 TOMMY TOMLIN BRANDON FELTNER 5 7.84
62 DAVID BUECHE TIM MCNEAL 5 7.83
63 CHAD MCNIEL SHAWN TAMEZ 3 7.64
64 JASON JONES JACOB CMEREK 5 7.63
65 CHAD MAXWELL NICK BOATRIGHT 5 7.62
66 BRAD CASEBIER STEPHEN CHEVALIER 4 7.55
67 JORDAN SHIPLEY COREY JOHNSON 5 7.49
68 BRYAN COTTER RANDAL FRISBIE 5 7.41
69 KYLE JUD TREY EPICH 5 7.39
70 RUSTY HEAD GERALD MEULLER 5 7.30
71 DAN CLAWSON LIZ HAVENS 5 7.24
72 GARLAND ABERNATHY GARY BROWNELL 4 7.20
73 MATT RUSS STEVE VAN MEETEREN 3 4.73 7.16
74 COLIN PACK STEVE PACK 4 6.90
75 REX SCHNEIDER DANNY HUGHES 3 6.45
76 MIGUEL REYES CLIPPER CAMARILLO 3 6.23
77 TRAVIS HUNDL PATRICK ANDERSON 4 6.19
78 NORM WILSON JR NORM WILSON SR 4 6.17
79 LARRY STOKES JOSEPH VERSE 3 3.82 6.14
80 SHAWN HAMRICK DANNY GATTIS 2 6.08
81 RICK ZAMORA MIKE BUCK 3 6.02
82 BRIAN CRAWFORD BILLY MOSS 3 6.01
83 HERMAN MARTIN WADE MEHAFFEY 4 5.88
84 TYSON DEVER TY CHISM 3 5.86
85 CODY HOGUE GEORGE ESCAMILLA 4 5.74
86 TOM PURSELL MATTHEW PURYEAR 4 5.28
87 KEVIN ROCK TYLER PACK 3 4.93
88 MIKE RICHARDSON ADRIAN SANCHEZ 3 4.92
89 JARED PARKER PHILLIP DOUBEK 3 4.89
90 ROGER FRY TERRY WHITE 3 4.76
91 DAVID WENCIL MIKE MCARDLE 3 4.68
92 DAN TAYLOR TYLER CHEATHAM 2 4.55
93 CHARLES WHITED STEVE MAGNELIA 3 4.44
94 BRAD NICHOLS DARREN SIMMONS 3 4.36
95 KENT HARRIS JASON DUNBAR 3 3.84
96 RANDY HOWARD DALE HUGHES 3 3.77
97 GARY WEIMER DUKE KINLEY 2 3.65
98 DARRELL WUENSCHE DONNIE O’NEAL 2 3.24
99 RICK HAMILTON ROLAND LOERA 2 2.80
100 ANTHONY RIBERA NICK RIBERA 2 2.64
101 BRANDON ACKERMAN GENE WHITE 1 2.07
102 BRYAN FENNELL DOMINIC VERA 1 1.90
103 RICK LOWE BRONWYN LOWE 1 1.74
104 MIKE ROGERS RANCE ROGERS 1 1.73
105 CHASE PARKS JEFF NIEMANN 1 1.59
106 JIM GUTHRIE DON PEARSON 1 1.55
107 MIKE APPLEBY TIM PATEREAU
107 MIKE GRIMES X TRAVIS OWEN
107 MATT CANNON MALCOLM KITCHEN
107 JAMIE WARD JERRY WHITT
107 RICO YBARRA COREY CAHILL
107 LARRY HAYES
107 MICHAEL WALDROP JACK WALDROP JR
107 MIKE GRIMES TERRY ADAIR
107 CLIFTON WATTERS DAVID SAPPINGTON
107 CHAD PREECE JOHN WARD
107 MIKE HASTINGS JOEY WILSON
107 CODY SMITH CHUCK SMITH
107 JEREMIAH COOK RICHARD EDWARDS
107 COLT DIETZ
107 TIM DIXON KENNETH CUMMINS
107 RANDALL CHRISTIAN RANDY HIBLER
107 CHAD KALINA MATTHEW MILENTZ
107 COLTON MITCHELL COLETON CALLAN
107 JAMES CANTWELL DONNA CANTWELL
107 BRIAN BRAND ROBERT BRAND
107 KATHY CRABLE GUY CRABLE
After averaging 85 teams in the inaugural 2012 season, Texas Tournament Zone launched the second year of the TTZ Trail on Lake Travis January 26, 2013. Despite the extremely low lake levels and lack of public ramps in the water, 127 teams showed up to compete for over $6,000 in guaranteed prize money and a total pool of nearly $18,000!
Carrying on the tradition of "Fish Hard, Play Harder!" anglers were treated to a Friday night registration party out at Pace Bend Park complete with live music and plenty of ice cold Lone Star and Lone Star Light. Local anglers Matt Warren and Chad Preece warmed up the crowd before Chris Manning and his fiddle player cranked up the evening with an eclectic mix of rock and Texas Country.
Overcast skies and a light drizzle greeted Lake Travis Saturday morning as a sea of headlights made their way into the park; after all boats were successfully launched off the bank everyone was anxious to see if the recent warming trend, which sent temperatures soaring into the low 80s on Friday, would improve the sluggish fishing.
And improve it did as it took over 17 pounds to win, 15.11 pounds to finish in the top five and a 7.51 pound fish to claim Big Bass! Tom Lorden and Andy Zavala were among the first to the scales and brought in a limit weighing 17.58 pounds, their lead endured over 100 teams but finally held up to earn them $4,000.
Tom and Andy found two productive areas during practice that were on opposite ends of the lake, but when they drew boat 29 they decided to head up the lake and take their chances with the crowd. We caught up with TTZ Fishing Team member Tom Lorden and received some insight on their winning pattern.
"We started around the split throwing cranks into schooling fish but were only able to catch a few white bass. All morning boat after boat kept showing up so our plan was to fish the few areas we could squeeze into very thoroughly."
It didn't take them long to start putting the right kind of keepers into the boat on a variety of soft plastics, but they fished one bait for most of the day and it paid off.
"Andy and I were catching a good number of fish on Texas rigged Trophy Hunter GrandeBass RattleSnakes; we were sitting in deeper water, casting extremely shallow and slowly working the bait all the way out to 20 foot. We had a limit by 10 am but the bite died off quickly after that."
Knowing they needed to make an adjustment, they ran further up the Colorado and made a few minor changes.
"It was crowded in the river but we were concentrating on a little something different than everyone else. Andy found fish during practice along a row of shallow docks and we pulled up to the area to find nobody around it! I downsized to a Baby RattleSnake and fished it on a shaky head alongside the docks while Andy started pitching the GrandeBass Mega Claw into them. We started culling immediately and ended the day with 13 total keepers fishing shallow docks."
Congrats to Tom and Andy on a well deserved victory! They would both like to thank TTZ for everything they do for their anglers and GrandeBass for putting the winning five fish in their live well! When we asked Tom what he was going to do with his winnings he answered in true TTZ fashion,
"I plan to spend it all on women and booze!"
And judging by the looks of this beautiful young lady we think you made the right choice Tom!
Finishing second and taking home a check for $1,600 was the team of Ricky and Rhett Pierce. Their bag was anchored by a 5.86 pounder and four solid keepers to go with it. That put them over the 17 pound mark, and just a half pound below our winners with a total weight of 17.07 pounds.
Ricky told us how they did it.
"We were pretty happy with our weight. To be honest, we had pre-fished last weekend, and didn't draw bite one from the area up lake we ended up fishing today. But we felt good about the area and this warming weather, so we gave it a shot."
Good thing they did.
"Expected it to be slow going, but we had 4 of our final keepers by 10 am. We caught the 5th keeper of our bag by 11. Caught 14 to 15 keepers all day, and we were fortunate not to lose any."
Ricky elaborated about their pattern, or lack thereof really.
"We caught fish from 6-30 foot all day. No real rhyme or reason to the depth, but the one consistency was the technique. Everything came on a Texas rigged worm."
Well done gentlemen; an awesome bag of Travis chunks!
Rounding out the top three was the father/son team of William and Zach Brown. With a total weight of 16.54 pounds, their efforts were good for $1,350. Their bag was anchored by the second biggest fish of the day, a 7.04 pound toad! We caught up with Zach after the weigh-in to find out more about their success.
“We just wung it really, with no pre-fish at all to speak of. In fact, the last time we were on the lake was the TTZ/ABF open and fish fry in December. But we felt like the weather turn played into our hands a bit this weekend. It also didn't hurt that our first fish right off the bat, about 10 casts into the day, was that big fish! We caught it on a shad pattern Strike King 6XD. Just pulled up to a ledge at the right time, and she was there; probably about 15 feet deep when she bit.”
Then things got a little less exciting for the team for a while, as Zach explains.
“Had a lull and didn't catch any more until about 10:15, and started wondering a bit about what we were doing. But then we caught them in a flurry and hit another school and caught three fish in about 15 minutes! We caught all those on a Terry Oldham football head jig. The top of ledge was in about 20-25 foot and dropped off pretty deep from there. We caught our last fish right at noon on another ledge just like it. But no keeper bites the rest of the day for us. We felt like one more quality bite would win it for us, which ended up being the case. We just couldn’t get that bite. But we were happy with the way things turned out overall.”
Zach would like to thank Jacky at Fish Finders, Terry Oldham for making a great jig and the people at Strike King for the 6XD. Zach would like our anglers to know that he now works for Wide Open Spaces, an online hunting, fishing, and outdoors store. Check ‘em out at wideopenspaces.com. Congrats William and Zach!
Big Bass of 7.51 pounds and $1,270 went to the team of Greg Stevens and Matt Warren. Seems picking a guitar is not the only thing Matt can do well!
Their story is an interesting one and Matt tells it best.
"I didn't decide to fish the trail until the last minute, the personal pressure I put on myself of possibly missing this event was too much to handle! I didn't pre-fish but I liked the idea of being at the upper end of the lake. I really haven't fished the upper end at all and was excited about seeing some new water."
When they got to their starting water it was loaded with shad, and drawing boat 135, Greg and Matt were glad to see no one on the spot.
"There were white bass schooled up at the mouth of the creek with largemouths mixed in and I caught four big whites and one keeper black on a Norman Deep Little N within just a few minutes of arriving. We left and came back to the spot to find a couple of fish there again. By 10 am or so we had a lost a couple of good keeper fish which was a kick in the gut, and only had one keeper in the well."
They tried some areas further down the lake but still up river from the takeoff when the big bite finally came.
"I was flipping a 1/4 oz Oldham's Tilapia jig with an Eg'r Craw trailer on the main lake side of a point when I felt a couple taps, set the hook, felt some weight and asked for a net. The fish came straight up at me and jumped out of the water, my partner did a great job of sticking the net underneath her while she was in the air! I didn't weigh or handle the fish...just stuck her straight in the live well knowing it was a toad! That changed everything for us and we spent the remainder of the tournament running all over the lake burning points to finish off our limit; our last keeper came about 30 minutes before our 4:00 weigh-in time. It's hard to describe how much fun this event was from start to finish. Big thanks to TTZ for the food, fun, friends and fishing!"
Here are the remaining teams in the money:
4th place - Clayton French and Kelly Hudson 
5th place - Jody Holubek and Mike Murray 
6th place - Wayne Orender and Wayne Orender Jr. 
7th place - Jayson Kisselburg and Lake Kisselburg 
8th place - Kenneth Woodrum and Jeremiah Woodrum 
9th place - Matthew Scogin and James Scogin 
10th place - Joe Bill Hale and Kenny Prater 
11th place - Lance Hale and Barry Mott 
12th place - Greg Stevens and Matt Warren 
13th place - Landon Glass and Mandi Glass 
14th place - Mark Willoughby and Maike Luna 
15th place - Tim Spencer and Steven Nardecchia 
16th place - Lee Beurshausen and Randy Grounds 
17th place - Anthony Ferdinando and Shane Logan 
18th place - Brandon Garrett and Clinton Holstine 
We'd like to thank everyone for coming out to Lake Travis and making the 2013 TTZ season opener a huge success. Special thanks to our partners as well for providing us with the tools and funding that help make the TTZ Trail possible; please show them your support and help us put more money in your pockets and fun in your weekends!
TEAMS: 127
ANGLERS: 252
FISH: 432
TOTAL FISH WEIGHT: 898
AVG FISH WEIGHT: 2.08 LBS
TOTAL COLLECTED: $19,470 ($150 x 120 teams + $100 x 7 teams + $10 x 127 teams – $500 polygraph)
TOTAL CASH PAID OUT: $17,595 (90.4%)
| PL | ANGLER 1 | ANGLER 2 | FISH | BIG BASS | WT | PRIZE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TOM LORDEN | ANDY ZAVALA | 5 | 4.96 | 17.58 | $4,000 |
| 2 | RHETT PIERCE | RICKY PIERCE | 5 | 5.86 | 17.07 | $1,600 |
| 3 | WILLIAM BROWN | ZACH BROWN | 5 | 7.04 | 16.54 | $1,350 |
| 4 | KELLY HUDSON | CLAYTON FRENCH | 5 | 16.27 | $1,200 | |
| 5 | JODY HOLUBEK | MIKE MURRAY | 5 | 15.11 | $1,000 | |
| 6 | WAYNE ORENDER III | WAYNE ORENDER JR | 5 | 14.76 | $900 | |
| 7 | LAKE KISSELBURG | JAYSON KISSELBURG | 5 | 5.35 | 14.08 | $800 |
| 8 | KENNETH WOODRUM | JEREMIAH WOODRUM | 5 | 4.42 | 13.76 | $700 |
| 9 | JAMES SCOGIN | MATTHEW SCOGIN | 5 | 5.53 | 13.62 | $650 |
| 10 | JOE BILL HALE | KENNY PRATER | 5 | 13.37 | $600 | |
| 11 | BARRY MOTT | LANCE HALE | 5 | 13.29 | $550 | |
| 12 | GREG STEVENS | MATT WARREN | 5 | 7.51 | 13.03 | $500 |
| 13 | MANDI GLASS | LANDON GLASS | 5 | 13.00 | $475 | |
| 14 | MIKE LUNA | MARK WILLOUGHBY | 5 | 12.96 | $450 | |
| 15 | STEVEN NARDECCHIA | TIM SPENCER | 5 | 12.72 | $425 | |
| 16 | LEE BEUERSHAUSEN | RANDY GROUNDS | 5 | 12.51 | $400 | |
| 17 | SHANE LOGAN | TONY FERDINANDO | 5 | 12.35 | $375 | |
| 18 | BRANDON GARRETT | CLINTON HOLSTINE | 5 | 12.02 | $350 | |
| 19 | DON GORDON | JON JACKSON | 5 | 11.91 | ||
| 20 | MICHAEL ROBERTS | KEITH HEINRICH | 5 | 11.81 | ||
| 21 | JAMES ROBERTS | BRIAN BURNS | 5 | 11.49 | ||
| 22 | PHIL WARREN | KENNETH FAIRLY | 5 | 11.37 | ||
| 23 | DANNY RAY FISHER | FLINT FISHER | 5 | 11.15 | ||
| 24 | THOMAS WHITED | JAMES WHITED | 5 | 11.12 | ||
| 25 | ANDY WHITEHEAD | MICKEY SANDERS | 5 | 11.02 | ||
| 26 | ANDREW ANDEL | LEE BENTON | 5 | 10.88 | ||
| 27 | TRAVIS DEWALD | JEFF PITRUCHA | 4 | 10.78 | ||
| 28 | GARY FERGUSON | BRENT SMITH | 5 | 10.68 | ||
| 29 | THOMAS LANDON | BRIAN TATE | 5 | 10.58 | ||
| 30 | DAVID SCHWERTNER | RONNIE TROWER | 5 | 10.57 | ||
| 31 | MICHAEL ABERNATHY | JUSTIN PARRISH | 5 | 10.55 | ||
| 32 | DENNIS WHITED | LYNN PIERCE | 5 | 10.36 | ||
| 33 | GREG MEHAFFEY | LEE EVANS | 5 | 10.18 | ||
| 34 | DALE READ | JAKE READ | 5 | 9.85 | ||
| 35 | JACKY ROBERTS | KEN WILKINS | 5 | 9.83 | ||
| 36 | RUBEN RIBERA | LINO GUTIERREZ | 4 | 9.56 | ||
| 37 | RYAN WARREN | FRANK ELLIS | 5 | 9.53 | ||
| 38 | CHRIS CONNER | JARED SMITH | 5 | 9.43 | ||
| 39 | KEN EVERETT | DARREN EVERETT | 5 | 9.38 | ||
| 40 | TK BOURESSA | BILL GUZMAN | 5 | 9.22 | ||
| 41 | JUSTIN POLLEI | GARRETT NELSON | 5 | 9.16 | ||
| 42 | ALLISON BELANGER | MIKE JAMES | 5 | 9.12 | ||
| 43 | CHRIS WOEHL | BRIAN MATER | 5 | 8.82 | ||
| 44 | JOSH SAMOLSKY | JOHN GUILLORY | 4 | 8.79 | ||
| 45 | DUSTIN BARRON | CRAIG CORDOVA | 3 | 8.78 | ||
| 46 | WAYLON PAPST | BILL MCANN | 5 | 8.73 | ||
| 47 | JARRID HOHENSEE | CHRISTOPHER WASHINGTON | 5 | 8.71 | ||
| 48 | JAMES ABOUD | ALAN TAYLOR | 5 | 8.53 | ||
| 49 | DAN SHARPHORN | WYATT SHARPHORN | 5 | 8.43 | ||
| 50 | JESSE FRY | JOSH WALLACE | 5 | 8.41 | ||
| 51 | ROBBY CRABB | MIKE HARMAN | 3 | 4.91 | 8.40 | |
| 52 | BILL WITTIE | DANIEL GIBSON | 3 | 8.26 | ||
| 53 | BRIAN HUGHES | SPENCER SCHNEIDER | 5 | 8.24 | ||
| 54 | JEREMY CREWS | MIKE SCHEEN | 5 | 8.19 | ||
| 55 | LANCE WENMOHS | MIKE CLARK | 4 | 8.14 | ||
| 56 | TOM MARTENS | JACOB LONG | 5 | 8.07 | ||
| 57 | WILL ATTERBERRY | CHRIS FIEDLER | 2 | 6.61 | 8.04 | |
| 58 | ERNIE KUEHNER | TERRY MCBEE | 5 | 8.00 | ||
| 59 | TIM WILLIFORD | TERRY WILLIAMS | 4 | 7.96 | ||
| 60 | DEAN ALEXANDER | RONNY MAYNARD | 5 | 7.87 | ||
| 61 | TOMMY TOMLIN | BRANDON FELTNER | 5 | 7.84 | ||
| 62 | DAVID BUECHE | TIM MCNEAL | 5 | 7.83 | ||
| 63 | CHAD MCNIEL | SHAWN TAMEZ | 3 | 7.64 | ||
| 64 | JASON JONES | JACOB CMEREK | 5 | 7.63 | ||
| 65 | CHAD MAXWELL | NICK BOATRIGHT | 5 | 7.62 | ||
| 66 | BRAD CASEBIER | STEPHEN CHEVALIER | 4 | 7.55 | ||
| 67 | JORDAN SHIPLEY | COREY JOHNSON | 5 | 7.49 | ||
| 68 | BRYAN COTTER | RANDAL FRISBIE | 5 | 7.41 | ||
| 69 | KYLE JUD | TREY EPICH | 5 | 7.39 | ||
| 70 | RUSTY HEAD | GERALD MEULLER | 5 | 7.30 | ||
| 71 | DAN CLAWSON | LIZ HAVENS | 5 | 7.24 | ||
| 72 | GARLAND ABERNATHY | GARY BROWNELL | 4 | 7.20 | ||
| 73 | MATT RUSS | STEVE VAN MEETEREN | 3 | 4.73 | 7.16 | |
| 74 | COLIN PACK | STEVE PACK | 4 | 6.90 | ||
| 75 | REX SCHNEIDER | DANNY HUGHES | 3 | 6.45 | ||
| 76 | MIGUEL REYES | CLIPPER CAMARILLO | 3 | 6.23 | ||
| 77 | TRAVIS HUNDL | PATRICK ANDERSON | 4 | 6.19 | ||
| 78 | NORM WILSON JR | NORM WILSON SR | 4 | 6.17 | ||
| 79 | LARRY STOKES | JOSEPH VERSE | 3 | 3.82 | 6.14 | |
| 80 | SHAWN HAMRICK | DANNY GATTIS | 2 | 6.08 | ||
| 81 | RICK ZAMORA | MIKE BUCK | 3 | 6.02 | ||
| 82 | BRIAN CRAWFORD | BILLY MOSS | 3 | 6.01 | ||
| 83 | HERMAN MARTIN | WADE MEHAFFEY | 4 | 5.88 | ||
| 84 | TYSON DEVER | TY CHISM | 3 | 5.86 | ||
| 85 | CODY HOGUE | GEORGE ESCAMILLA | 4 | 5.74 | ||
| 86 | TOM PURSELL | MATTHEW PURYEAR | 4 | 5.28 | ||
| 87 | KEVIN ROCK | TYLER PACK | 3 | 4.93 | ||
| 88 | MIKE RICHARDSON | ADRIAN SANCHEZ | 3 | 4.92 | ||
| 89 | JARED PARKER | PHILLIP DOUBEK | 3 | 4.89 | ||
| 90 | ROGER FRY | TERRY WHITE | 3 | 4.76 | ||
| 91 | DAVID WENCIL | MIKE MCARDLE | 3 | 4.68 | ||
| 92 | DAN TAYLOR | TYLER CHEATHAM | 2 | 4.55 | ||
| 93 | CHARLES WHITED | STEVE MAGNELIA | 3 | 4.44 | ||
| 94 | BRAD NICHOLS | DARREN SIMMONS | 3 | 4.36 | ||
| 95 | KENT HARRIS | JASON DUNBAR | 3 | 3.84 | ||
| 96 | RANDY HOWARD | DALE HUGHES | 3 | 3.77 | ||
| 97 | GARY WEIMER | DUKE KINLEY | 2 | 3.65 | ||
| 98 | DARRELL WUENSCHE | DONNIE O’NEAL | 2 | 3.24 | ||
| 99 | RICK HAMILTON | ROLAND LOERA | 2 | 2.80 | ||
| 100 | ANTHONY RIBERA | NICK RIBERA | 2 | 2.64 | ||
| 101 | BRANDON ACKERMAN | GENE WHITE | 1 | 2.07 | ||
| 102 | BRYAN FENNELL | DOMINIC VERA | 1 | 1.90 | ||
| 103 | RICK LOWE | BRONWYN LOWE | 1 | 1.74 | ||
| 104 | MIKE ROGERS | RANCE ROGERS | 1 | 1.73 | ||
| 105 | CHASE PARKS | JEFF NIEMANN | 1 | 1.59 | ||
| 106 | JIM GUTHRIE | DON PEARSON | 1 | 1.55 | ||
| 107 | MIKE APPLEBY | TIM PATEREAU | ||||
| 107 | MIKE GRIMES X | TRAVIS OWEN | ||||
| 107 | MATT CANNON | MALCOLM KITCHEN | ||||
| 107 | JAMIE WARD | JERRY WHITT | ||||
| 107 | RICO YBARRA | COREY CAHILL | ||||
| 107 | LARRY HAYES | |||||
| 107 | MICHAEL WALDROP | JACK WALDROP JR | ||||
| 107 | MIKE GRIMES | TERRY ADAIR | ||||
| 107 | CLIFTON WATTERS | DAVID SAPPINGTON | ||||
| 107 | CHAD PREECE | JOHN WARD | ||||
| 107 | MIKE HASTINGS | JOEY WILSON | ||||
| 107 | CODY SMITH | CHUCK SMITH | ||||
| 107 | JEREMIAH COOK | RICHARD EDWARDS | ||||
| 107 | COLT DIETZ | |||||
| 107 | TIM DIXON | KENNETH CUMMINS | ||||
| 107 | RANDALL CHRISTIAN | RANDY HIBLER | ||||
| 107 | CHAD KALINA | MATTHEW MILENTZ | ||||
| 107 | COLTON MITCHELL | COLETON CALLAN | ||||
| 107 | JAMES CANTWELL | DONNA CANTWELL | ||||
| 107 | BRIAN BRAND | ROBERT BRAND | ||||
| 107 | KATHY CRABLE | GUY CRABLE |
After averaging 85 teams in the inaugural 2012 season, Texas Tournament Zone launched the second year of the TTZ Trail on Lake Travis January 26, 2013. Despite the extremely low lake levels and lack of public ramps in the water, 127 teams showed up to compete for over $6,000 in guaranteed prize money and a total pool of nearly $18,000!
Carrying on the tradition of "Fish Hard, Play Harder!" anglers were treated to a Friday night registration party out at Pace Bend Park complete with live music and plenty of ice cold Lone Star and Lone Star Light. Local anglers Matt Warren and Chad Preece warmed up the crowd before Chris Manning and his fiddle player cranked up the evening with an eclectic mix of rock and Texas Country.
Overcast skies and a light drizzle greeted Lake Travis Saturday morning as a sea of headlights made their way into the park; after all boats were successfully launched off the bank everyone was anxious to see if the recent warming trend, which sent temperatures soaring into the low 80s on Friday, would improve the sluggish fishing.
And improve it did as it took over 17 pounds to win, 15.11 pounds to finish in the top five and a 7.51 pound fish to claim Big Bass! Tom Lorden and Andy Zavala were among the first to the scales and brought in a limit weighing 17.58 pounds, their lead endured over 100 teams but finally held up to earn them $4,000.
Tom and Andy found two productive areas during practice that were on opposite ends of the lake, but when they drew boat 29 they decided to head up the lake and take their chances with the crowd. We caught up with TTZ Fishing Team member Tom Lorden and received some insight on their winning pattern.
"We started around the split throwing cranks into schooling fish but were only able to catch a few white bass. All morning boat after boat kept showing up so our plan was to fish the few areas we could squeeze into very thoroughly."
It didn't take them long to start putting the right kind of keepers into the boat on a variety of soft plastics, but they fished one bait for most of the day and it paid off.
"Andy and I were catching a good number of fish on Texas rigged Trophy Hunter GrandeBass RattleSnakes; we were sitting in deeper water, casting extremely shallow and slowly working the bait all the way out to 20 foot. We had a limit by 10 am but the bite died off quickly after that."
Knowing they needed to make an adjustment, they ran further up the Colorado and made a few minor changes.
"It was crowded in the river but we were concentrating on a little something different than everyone else. Andy found fish during practice along a row of shallow docks and we pulled up to the area to find nobody around it! I downsized to a Baby RattleSnake and fished it on a shaky head alongside the docks while Andy started pitching the GrandeBass Mega Claw into them. We started culling immediately and ended the day with 13 total keepers fishing shallow docks."
Congrats to Tom and Andy on a well deserved victory! They would both like to thank TTZ for everything they do for their anglers and GrandeBass for putting the winning five fish in their live well! When we asked Tom what he was going to do with his winnings he answered in true TTZ fashion,
"I plan to spend it all on women and booze!"
And judging by the looks of this beautiful young lady we think you made the right choice Tom!
Finishing second and taking home a check for $1,600 was the team of Ricky and Rhett Pierce. Their bag was anchored by a 5.86 pounder and four solid keepers to go with it. That put them over the 17 pound mark, and just a half pound below our winners with a total weight of 17.07 pounds.
Ricky told us how they did it.
"We were pretty happy with our weight. To be honest, we had pre-fished last weekend, and didn't draw bite one from the area up lake we ended up fishing today. But we felt good about the area and this warming weather, so we gave it a shot."
Good thing they did.
"Expected it to be slow going, but we had 4 of our final keepers by 10 am. We caught the 5th keeper of our bag by 11. Caught 14 to 15 keepers all day, and we were fortunate not to lose any."
Ricky elaborated about their pattern, or lack thereof really.
"We caught fish from 6-30 foot all day. No real rhyme or reason to the depth, but the one consistency was the technique. Everything came on a Texas rigged worm."
Well done gentlemen; an awesome bag of Travis chunks!
Rounding out the top three was the father/son team of William and Zach Brown. With a total weight of 16.54 pounds, their efforts were good for $1,350. Their bag was anchored by the second biggest fish of the day, a 7.04 pound toad! We caught up with Zach after the weigh-in to find out more about their success.
“We just wung it really, with no pre-fish at all to speak of. In fact, the last time we were on the lake was the TTZ/ABF open and fish fry in December. But we felt like the weather turn played into our hands a bit this weekend. It also didn't hurt that our first fish right off the bat, about 10 casts into the day, was that big fish! We caught it on a shad pattern Strike King 6XD. Just pulled up to a ledge at the right time, and she was there; probably about 15 feet deep when she bit.”
Then things got a little less exciting for the team for a while, as Zach explains.
“Had a lull and didn't catch any more until about 10:15, and started wondering a bit about what we were doing. But then we caught them in a flurry and hit another school and caught three fish in about 15 minutes! We caught all those on a Terry Oldham football head jig. The top of ledge was in about 20-25 foot and dropped off pretty deep from there. We caught our last fish right at noon on another ledge just like it. But no keeper bites the rest of the day for us. We felt like one more quality bite would win it for us, which ended up being the case. We just couldn’t get that bite. But we were happy with the way things turned out overall.”
Zach would like to thank Jacky at Fish Finders, Terry Oldham for making a great jig and the people at Strike King for the 6XD. Zach would like our anglers to know that he now works for Wide Open Spaces, an online hunting, fishing, and outdoors store. Check ‘em out at wideopenspaces.com. Congrats William and Zach!
Big Bass of 7.51 pounds and $1,270 went to the team of Greg Stevens and Matt Warren. Seems picking a guitar is not the only thing Matt can do well!
Their story is an interesting one and Matt tells it best.
"I didn't decide to fish the trail until the last minute, the personal pressure I put on myself of possibly missing this event was too much to handle! I didn't pre-fish but I liked the idea of being at the upper end of the lake. I really haven't fished the upper end at all and was excited about seeing some new water."
When they got to their starting water it was loaded with shad, and drawing boat 135, Greg and Matt were glad to see no one on the spot.
"There were white bass schooled up at the mouth of the creek with largemouths mixed in and I caught four big whites and one keeper black on a Norman Deep Little N within just a few minutes of arriving. We left and came back to the spot to find a couple of fish there again. By 10 am or so we had a lost a couple of good keeper fish which was a kick in the gut, and only had one keeper in the well."
They tried some areas further down the lake but still up river from the takeoff when the big bite finally came.
"I was flipping a 1/4 oz Oldham's Tilapia jig with an Eg'r Craw trailer on the main lake side of a point when I felt a couple taps, set the hook, felt some weight and asked for a net. The fish came straight up at me and jumped out of the water, my partner did a great job of sticking the net underneath her while she was in the air! I didn't weigh or handle the fish...just stuck her straight in the live well knowing it was a toad! That changed everything for us and we spent the remainder of the tournament running all over the lake burning points to finish off our limit; our last keeper came about 30 minutes before our 4:00 weigh-in time. It's hard to describe how much fun this event was from start to finish. Big thanks to TTZ for the food, fun, friends and fishing!"
Here are the remaining teams in the money:
4th place - Clayton French and Kelly Hudson
5th place - Jody Holubek and Mike Murray
6th place - Wayne Orender and Wayne Orender Jr.
7th place - Jayson Kisselburg and Lake Kisselburg
8th place - Kenneth Woodrum and Jeremiah Woodrum
9th place - Matthew Scogin and James Scogin
10th place - Joe Bill Hale and Kenny Prater
11th place - Lance Hale and Barry Mott
12th place - Greg Stevens and Matt Warren
13th place - Landon Glass and Mandi Glass
14th place - Mark Willoughby and Maike Luna
15th place - Tim Spencer and Steven Nardecchia
16th place - Lee Beurshausen and Randy Grounds
17th place - Anthony Ferdinando and Shane Logan
18th place - Brandon Garrett and Clinton Holstine
We'd like to thank everyone for coming out to Lake Travis and making the 2013 TTZ season opener a huge success. Special thanks to our partners as well for providing us with the tools and funding that help make the TTZ Trail possible; please show them your support and help us put more money in your pockets and fun in your weekends!
Overcast skies and a light drizzle greeted Lake Travis Saturday morning as a sea of headlights made their way into the park; after all boats were successfully launched off the bank everyone was anxious to see if the recent warming trend, which sent temperatures soaring into the low 80s on Friday, would improve the sluggish fishing.
And improve it did as it took over 17 pounds to win, 15.11 pounds to finish in the top five and a 7.51 pound fish to claim Big Bass! Tom Lorden and Andy Zavala were among the first to the scales and brought in a limit weighing 17.58 pounds, their lead endured over 100 teams but finally held up to earn them $4,000.
Tom and Andy found two productive areas during practice that were on opposite ends of the lake, but when they drew boat 29 they decided to head up the lake and take their chances with the crowd. We caught up with TTZ Fishing Team member Tom Lorden and received some insight on their winning pattern.
"We started around the split throwing cranks into schooling fish but were only able to catch a few white bass. All morning boat after boat kept showing up so our plan was to fish the few areas we could squeeze into very thoroughly."
It didn't take them long to start putting the right kind of keepers into the boat on a variety of soft plastics, but they fished one bait for most of the day and it paid off.
"Andy and I were catching a good number of fish on Texas rigged Trophy Hunter GrandeBass RattleSnakes; we were sitting in deeper water, casting extremely shallow and slowly working the bait all the way out to 20 foot. We had a limit by 10 am but the bite died off quickly after that."
Knowing they needed to make an adjustment, they ran further up the Colorado and made a few minor changes.
"It was crowded in the river but we were concentrating on a little something different than everyone else. Andy found fish during practice along a row of shallow docks and we pulled up to the area to find nobody around it! I downsized to a Baby RattleSnake and fished it on a shaky head alongside the docks while Andy started pitching the GrandeBass Mega Claw into them. We started culling immediately and ended the day with 13 total keepers fishing shallow docks."
Congrats to Tom and Andy on a well deserved victory! They would both like to thank TTZ for everything they do for their anglers and GrandeBass for putting the winning five fish in their live well! When we asked Tom what he was going to do with his winnings he answered in true TTZ fashion,
"I plan to spend it all on women and booze!"
And judging by the looks of this beautiful young lady we think you made the right choice Tom!
Finishing second and taking home a check for $1,600 was the team of Ricky and Rhett Pierce. Their bag was anchored by a 5.86 pounder and four solid keepers to go with it. That put them over the 17 pound mark, and just a half pound below our winners with a total weight of 17.07 pounds.
Ricky told us how they did it.
"We were pretty happy with our weight. To be honest, we had pre-fished last weekend, and didn't draw bite one from the area up lake we ended up fishing today. But we felt good about the area and this warming weather, so we gave it a shot."
Good thing they did.
"Expected it to be slow going, but we had 4 of our final keepers by 10 am. We caught the 5th keeper of our bag by 11. Caught 14 to 15 keepers all day, and we were fortunate not to lose any."
Ricky elaborated about their pattern, or lack thereof really.
"We caught fish from 6-30 foot all day. No real rhyme or reason to the depth, but the one consistency was the technique. Everything came on a Texas rigged worm."
Well done gentlemen; an awesome bag of Travis chunks!
Rounding out the top three was the father/son team of William and Zach Brown. With a total weight of 16.54 pounds, their efforts were good for $1,350. Their bag was anchored by the second biggest fish of the day, a 7.04 pound toad! We caught up with Zach after the weigh-in to find out more about their success.
“We just wung it really, with no pre-fish at all to speak of. In fact, the last time we were on the lake was the TTZ/ABF open and fish fry in December. But we felt like the weather turn played into our hands a bit this weekend. It also didn't hurt that our first fish right off the bat, about 10 casts into the day, was that big fish! We caught it on a shad pattern Strike King 6XD. Just pulled up to a ledge at the right time, and she was there; probably about 15 feet deep when she bit.”
Then things got a little less exciting for the team for a while, as Zach explains.
“Had a lull and didn't catch any more until about 10:15, and started wondering a bit about what we were doing. But then we caught them in a flurry and hit another school and caught three fish in about 15 minutes! We caught all those on a Terry Oldham football head jig. The top of ledge was in about 20-25 foot and dropped off pretty deep from there. We caught our last fish right at noon on another ledge just like it. But no keeper bites the rest of the day for us. We felt like one more quality bite would win it for us, which ended up being the case. We just couldn’t get that bite. But we were happy with the way things turned out overall.”
Zach would like to thank Jacky at Fish Finders, Terry Oldham for making a great jig and the people at Strike King for the 6XD. Zach would like our anglers to know that he now works for Wide Open Spaces, an online hunting, fishing, and outdoors store. Check ‘em out at wideopenspaces.com. Congrats William and Zach!
Big Bass of 7.51 pounds and $1,270 went to the team of Greg Stevens and Matt Warren. Seems picking a guitar is not the only thing Matt can do well!
Their story is an interesting one and Matt tells it best.
"I didn't decide to fish the trail until the last minute, the personal pressure I put on myself of possibly missing this event was too much to handle! I didn't pre-fish but I liked the idea of being at the upper end of the lake. I really haven't fished the upper end at all and was excited about seeing some new water."
When they got to their starting water it was loaded with shad, and drawing boat 135, Greg and Matt were glad to see no one on the spot.
"There were white bass schooled up at the mouth of the creek with largemouths mixed in and I caught four big whites and one keeper black on a Norman Deep Little N within just a few minutes of arriving. We left and came back to the spot to find a couple of fish there again. By 10 am or so we had a lost a couple of good keeper fish which was a kick in the gut, and only had one keeper in the well."
They tried some areas further down the lake but still up river from the takeoff when the big bite finally came.
"I was flipping a 1/4 oz Oldham's Tilapia jig with an Eg'r Craw trailer on the main lake side of a point when I felt a couple taps, set the hook, felt some weight and asked for a net. The fish came straight up at me and jumped out of the water, my partner did a great job of sticking the net underneath her while she was in the air! I didn't weigh or handle the fish...just stuck her straight in the live well knowing it was a toad! That changed everything for us and we spent the remainder of the tournament running all over the lake burning points to finish off our limit; our last keeper came about 30 minutes before our 4:00 weigh-in time. It's hard to describe how much fun this event was from start to finish. Big thanks to TTZ for the food, fun, friends and fishing!"
Here are the remaining teams in the money:
We'd like to thank everyone for coming out to Lake Travis and making the 2013 TTZ season opener a huge success. Special thanks to our partners as well for providing us with the tools and funding that help make the TTZ Trail possible; please show them your support and help us put more money in your pockets and fun in your weekends!