Cedar Creek Basschamps Championship 10/11-12, 2009

The 2009 BassChamps Championship finally arrived this past weekend and after a 2 day battle with a few hundred other boats, my partner and I ended up in 5th place overall.

During the 2 day official practice, we basically just went around and marked several spots that looked the best. These places would have rocks on the edge with deep water real close to the bank which is something actually hard to find on this lake. Some times you'd pull up and start fishing crankbaits and spinnerbaits and get slammed by hybrids. These 7-8lb hybrids were fun but you had to be patient and go through a few before they would leave the area for the largemouth to come in and feed. Patience paid off when you sat on these areas for long stretches of time.

One area we were fishing, I was catching fish on crankbaits and Mr. Blitz spinnerbaits and my partner was pitching a fluke on a Mr. Blitz Toad Toter hook into the edge of the roughest water and pulled out bass. These fish were right on the edge in 1-2 foot of water. Crazy.

What really helped our 2nd day stringer though was in practice I found this little corner that had a few rocks and caught a 5lber in nothing water in the far corner on a topwater. We actually started there on Saturday hoping it was there again but I only caught a small keeper just out from it on a crankbait. Sunday though we went back after getting a few solid keepers from across the lake at our top spot and I started out using the topwater again. After several throws to the very corner with no takers, I worked the bait out a little further and the big girl rolled on it again. One more twitch and I saw her make a circle and come back and slam it. It sure felt good to have her in the boat. ;-) Justin then made another cast in there with the fluke and had another on about 3-4lbs but it came off just before getting in the net. Bummer.

After a few more casts, we headed across the creek to work a few areas and headed back to our hot spot hoping it replenished. Plan worked and we filled out the limit with another 3-4lber and some keepers on the fluke. I actually had another on about 3-4lbs but it threw my crankbait and then Justin had on what seemed to be a giant but broke off the Mr. Blitz spinnerbait he was using under a dock.

After searching for one more big fish, it wasn't meant to be so we headed in. After weighing in 14.28 with 10.42 from day one, to our surprise, we were actually leading the tournament for 30 minutes. After all said and done, our 24.70 was good enough for 5th place, just .1 lbs out of 4th and 5.16lbs out of the win. Turned out to be a great tournament. ;-)

I'd definitely like to thank my sponsors for the key parts to this 5th place finish. Mr. Blitz for his awesome products including the Toad Toter hooks which are great for flukes and his spinnerbaits and Crawclicker jigs, Coastal Bend Rods for his awesome custom work on some outstanding rod blanks, Berkeley for their superior fluorocarbon line, Cobra by Anaconda Boats for their smooth riding and great bass fishing boats and El Grande Lures for their awesome baits for big bass.

Special thanks go out to Mr. Don Kline of Gun Barrel City for putting us up for this tournament. Kudos to you Don!

For the final standings, you can point your browsers to: BassChamps. Be on the watch for the championship on TV.