8 teams fished, 7 teams weighed in and 2 places were paid.
It’s been a while since we’ve witnessed a double-digit come to the weigh-in at the Wednesday Nighter; in fact, the last time our scales hit that mark was April 14th, 2010. That’s a long time considering Lake Austin’s abundant population of trophy class fish. As many anglers know all too well, Austin can be an extremely finicky lake. But when the lake decides to reward you for all the time and money you’ve invested on the water, it does it in a BIG way!
The double-digit drought ended this week with nearly two fish in the 10 pound class. Jack Waldrop Jr. and Capital Bass Club President Phil Warren were the second team to weigh their fish; after Jr.’s big fish topped the scales at 9.90 pounds, we thought they had Big Bass pretty much locked up.
And with two more keepers for a total of 15.48 pounds, chances were good the team would also secure first place for the evening.
“We caught that big fish late in the tournament, around 8:30. All our fish were caught from under one tree on a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm fished on a shaky head; but that tree is special as it may be the only tree on Austin that sits over 20 feet of water at its deepest spot,” said Jack Jr.
But on Lake Austin you never know what may be coming to the scales, and on this night Jr. and Phil had to settle for second Big Bass and second place overall.
First place and Big Bass went to Lance Hale and Derrell Hickman, their 16.74 pound sack was anchored by a 10.74 pound giant!
We asked Lance about their night and how he caught his new personal best.
“I caught the girl on a Texas rigged GrandeBass 8″ MegaTail RattleSnake. I’m afraid we’ll have some company next week down south after two weeks of a solid limit. We are on some good fish, they seem to be sporatic but they are there and biting. I just about had a heart attack when Derrell got the big fish in the net, it’s my personal best and first double-digit…looking forward to next week!”
The MegaTail RattleSnake is one of Grande’s newer offerings and is built on the same platform as the extremely popular RattleSnake. The MegaTail has a unique “vented” ribbon tail that moves water, holds air and stands up. GrandeBass has revolutionized soft plastic worms, and with several new products ready to launch we can’t wait to see what they have in store!
Congrats again to Lance and Derrell for following up their second place finish last week with a very impressive win!
The Power Tackle Big Stringer and Big Bass awards are still up for grabs, and with fish like these on the chew they are still well within reach. This season’s largest stringer and biggest bass will each receive a Power Tackle rod (valued up to $384) of their choice! Big Stringer is currently 23.40 pounds and Big Bass is 11.67 pounds; for more details please see one of the tournament directors during registration at any Wednesday night tournament.
