The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

The members of the Triangle Tail Chasers kicked off their chase for Team of the year honors Saturday morning and the good news for the majority of the club is that the championship is decided by points rather than total weight!

After a week of howling winds, Mother Nature gave it a rest Saturday morning and the field took advantage of the user-friendly conditions. The water clarity was poor in some parts of the lake, but that apparently didn’t play much of a factor in the fish catching.

While there are side pots up for grabs, the winning weights for each event are based on the total weight of six fish. As simple as that may sound, the degree of difficulty is enhanced by the fact that the six eligible fish must consist of two trout, two redfish and two flounder…aka “a slam”.

No team did a better job of amassing a winning “slam” than Steven Havard and Kory Earp. As a matter of fact, no team in the history of the club has ever done a better job. Havard and Earp blew away the field with a whopping 30.68 pounds!

The second and third place teams both had 25 pound plus catches and had to feel very good about their chances prior to seeing the first place catch. Robby Trahan and his son, Justin, weighed in 25.42 pounds and Albert Bates and Mike Vietch were right on their heels with 25.38 pounds. In fact, it took almost 23 pounds just to make the top five.

I did not receive the weights on the largest individual fish, but the math would indicate that Havard and Earp must have blown it open with two very good flounder. For the most part you really have to switch gears to catch your two flounder and the teams do not allocate much of their fishing time in pursuit of the lighter of the three species.

Since there was no mention of even a seven pound trout and sixteen pounds for two redfish is big, the winning team’s two flounder must have been impressive fish. The bottom line is that they raised the bar for the remainder of the year. The side pot for the redfish with the most spots was won by Jeremiah and Jake Jordan with six spots.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, as impressive as the winning total weight was, Havard and Earp only lead the battle for “team of the year” by one point. Individual tournament wins certainly help with the fishing budget, but it is the competition that keeps the club growing.

The club added seven new members for this event. For more information on upcoming tournaments and monthly meetings you can look them up on the net or on facebook. The next tournament, as are all of their tournaments is scheduled for June 1 out of Ancelet’s Marina under the Rainbow Bridge. From live bait to tackle, snacks, ice and ample parking space…Ancelet’s is a great place to start your fishing day on Sabine!

I haven’t quite yet figured out how a McDonald’s Big Bass Splash can all but sneak in under the radar, but that was certainly the case this past weekend. I know the folks that fished it didn’t feel that way, but I was surprised at the number of people that didn’t even know it was taking place last weekend.

The final numbers certainly weren’t bad for the annual post spawn event. Over the course of the three day tourney 660 bass were brought to the scales that weighed a total of 2742 pounds. Alex Finch claimed first place honors with a 9.90 pound bass. His fish was worth a Dodge Ram truck, a loaded Mercury powered Triton Bass boat and $10,000 cash.

There were only three bass over nine pound weighed in, but we had an early spawn this year and most of the larger bass are still recuperating right now. Finch caught his winning fish on opening day which is not unusual in a tournament that traditionally puts so many boats on the water.

The next Big Bass Splash is set for Toledo Bend the weekend of May 17, 18, and 19. The weigh –ins will take place out of Cypress Bend Park out of Many,La.