25 teams fished, 15 teams weighed in and 3 places were paid.
When you pull up to City Park and the nose of your boat slides right up against the bank it usually means three things…LCRA is flowing water, the shallow bite is on and it will take 20+ pounds to win. Tonight was no exception as we had two sacks over 20 pounds and three Lake Austin toads brought to the scales!
With the fish back on beds, 25 teams raced off from the City Park beach looking to break the 2008 Big Bass record of 11.34 pounds and take home the Certified Arbor Care $300.00 bonus. As 10:00 pm rolled around Clint Foster and Jordan Shipley came back all smiles and amazed the crowd when they hoisted two giant fish from their bag. The team’s big fish cleared the double digit mark at 10.13 pounds and was the second 10 pounder weighed in this season. After adding another brute of over 8 pounds to their sack, they finished their limit with three other fish for a total weight of 22.80 pounds.
A 22.80 pound sack is a pretty tough act to follow. Since Clint and Jordan were the first team to weigh in nearly everyone thought they had sealed the win, that is until Jason and Kenneth stepped up to the scales. How do you weigh in one over ten and another over 8 pounds and still not win? By having another team come in behind you with 23.94 pounds! Jason and Kenneth did just that with a 9.24 pound kicker and four other quality fish all caught on Chatter Baits. The winners took home $375.00 for their efforts while Clint and Jordan finished second with Big Bass for a total of $350.00. Clint mentioned using Academy’s H2O lipless crankbaits and a Big Bite Trick Stick to catch their fish.
Coming in third this evening were Lee and Andrew. The team spotted two really nice fish, between 6-8 pounds, on beds before the tournament started; unfortunately, the females had spooked off upon their return and they only managed to pull a 3 pounder off one of the beds. Changing gears and ditching their site fishing plans, they proceeded to catch four other fish using crankbaits and Yamamoto Senkos for a very respectable 14.61 pounds.
One fish short of a limit and less than half a pound away from the cash were Jay and Jonathan with 14.23 pounds, they took home the Yamamoto and Kinami tackle pack for their fourth place finish.
We had a good turnout and even better evening of fishing tonight on Austin, there were several four to five pound fish scattered throughout the field including a 7.86 pounder caught by Chris. This was his first time fishing a Wed Nighter and he was promptly rewarded with a new personal best, congrats again Chris!
As crazy as it may sound the bite on Austin is just now warming up, once May rolls around the fish will start to settle in their usual haunts and we expect to see many more 20 pound sacks brought in. We met a lot of new faces tonight and hope to see y’all out again soon. Congrats to all the teams in the money and thanks for helping us prove Austin is one of best lakes in Texas…Go Big or Go Home!
