OKLAHOMA BASS FEDERATION
The Oklahoma Bass Federation had scheduled their final two National Semi-Finals qualifying tournaments on Grand Lake, however, since Grand was at the 751 ft elevation early in the week still rising, the fifth and sixth tournaments were moved to Lake Eufaula. We had fished Eufaula two weeks earlier when it was 2 ft. above normal and it was predicted to be 6 ft. above during the weekend. Although we were able to use all the ramps, the water was so high that you could not walk out to the courtesy docks at most ramps since the walkways were under water. The weatherman was predicting rain and, also, it did not arrive until Saturday in a fashion that limited most of anglers only a partial day of fishing due to lightning and heavy rain. Even with all the obstacles, the anglers took to the water at 6:00 am each day and met the challenges of the lake.
DAY ONE
The Saturday tournament started at 6:00 am with moderate winds and overcast skies. For many anglers the event ended around noon due to extreme weather conditions. Most anglers put safety ahead of competing for a better daily finish. Only a few of the teams solved the difficult problem of water and weather conditions to capture excellent catches. Johnny Babb and Chris Tarron (Ada) brought the largest stringer of the weekend to the scales weighing 17.75#. The limit included the big bass for the day at 3.5#. The father/son team of Jody and Don Linder (Ponca City) took second place with a limit weighing 12.69#. Third place went to the only other limit over 10 pounds in which Kyle Tudor and Nate Davidson (NEO) with a catch weighing 11.81#.
Marc and Julie Downs took fourth place with an 8.75# stringer nosing out the other father son team of Stewart and Wyatt Ryan (Ada) by only 0.5# who weighed in an 8.25# limit to take fifth. Three teams had 7# stringers with Donnie Combrink (PC Hooker) and Brandon Beck (Ada) having the largest with 7.88# taking sixth nosing out Bobby Walker and Ray Spears (Ponca City) by on 0.19# who had 7.69# to register a seventh-place finish. The other seven pounds stringer was Jack Garrett and Charles Mayberry (Ada) getting eight with 7.25#. Dean Matts and Scott Callaway (Central) took ninth with a limit weighing 5.32#. Tenth and eleventh was a tie with both teams having 4.75#. Brandon West and Chris Angier (Bedlam) had the tie breaker having 4 fish to take tenth while Shawn Lewis and Curtiss Plunkett (Ponca City) had only 3 fish for eleventh. The other 4# stringer was the last of the limits weighing 4.05# caught by Ben Burk and Mike McGregor (Bedlam) to get twelfth place. Rounding out the top 15 places were Ron Boyd and Steve Carlon (Bedlam) at thirteenth while Brett Taylor (Bedlam) took fourteenth. The team of Denton Long and Casey Vaughn (NEO) took the fifteenth slot.
DAY TWO
The second day greeted the anglers with partly cloudy skies and not enough wind to effect fishing. During the day the skies cleared and caused the fishing pattern to change completely. Many of the anglers adjusted and the result was 8 stringers over 9 pounds. Jackie Husmann and Sandy Hooker (PC Hookers) took top honors with a 15.13# limit that included the big bass, and only 4 pounder during the weekend, with a lunker weighing 4.19#. Dean Matts and Scott Callaway moved up from their ninth-place finish on Saturday to take second with 14.56# with a big bass weighing 3.81# to anchor their limit. Shawn Lewis and Curtiss Plunkett made their first entry into the top three spots during our series of tournaments taking third with a limit of 12.94# with a lunker weighing 3.81#. Jody and Don Linder, the only team to place in one of the top slots both days, took fourth with a 10.13# limit. Gene Vogt and Dan Hart (PC Hookers) moved into fifth with 9.75# to nose out by Ron Boyd and Steve Caron who weighed in a limit at 9.25# t take sixth place. Keltyn Hendrix and Bradly Sullivan (Ada) was seventh with 9.19# while Bobby Walker and Ray Spears were only 0.13# behind with 9.06# setting at eighth. Johnny Babb and Chris Tarron finished ninth with four fish weighing 8.32# while Kyle Tudor and Nate Davidson took the tenth spot with a limit weighing 7.23#. Stewart and Wyatt Ryan led the eleventh to fifteenth places. Stewart and Wyatt had 7.19# to take eleventh while Donnie Combrink and Brandon Beck, only 0.19# behind at 7.00#, took twelfth. Brandon West and Chris Angier garnered thirteenth with 6.82# while Jack Garrett and Charles Mayberry was fourteenth with 6.00#. The fifteenth place was taken by Marc and Julie Downs with a limit weighing 5.56#.
SUMMARY
Generally, total catch the second day of tournament fishing is less than the first. This year the reverse proved to contradict the norm. Saturday there were 67 fish caught while Sunday there were 95 fish weighed in, that would be a 42% increase. The total number of fish was 162 while we released 95% of fish caught. The average weight of the fish caught was 1.69# on day one to 1.66# on day two. The average weight per team on day one was 3.90# while the second day the average was 5.44#. The difference in this weekend was that only one team placed in the top 5 both days, therefore we had a wider distribution of pay-back. The team of Johnny Babb and Chris Tarron along with Jackie Husmann and Sandy Hooker team each earned $625 with the $525 for first place finishes and an additional $100 for Ranger Cup. Jody and Don Linder had a second and fourth place finish with a $500 purse. Kyle Tudor and Nate Davidson along with Shawn Lewis and Curtiss Plunkett each had third place finishes to collect $250 each. Marc and Julie rounded out the payout group placing fourth on day one to collect $200. The blind draw for the $100 bonus was taken by Ron Boyd and Carlon on day one and Stewart and Wyatt on day two.
The top 10% of our anglers, based on the total number of those participating in our six qualifying tournaments. There will be 21 boaters and 21 co-anglers qualified from our tournaments along with 3 boaters and 3 co-anglers from our participating clubs. The anglers advancing will fish in the District 6 TBF National Semi-Finals tournament on Millwood Lake in Southwestern Arkansas on June 15 and 16. The leading boater and leading co-angler from Oklahoma will advance to the 2020 TBF National Championship with a chance to move on to the 2020 BFL All-American and a shot at the FLW Cup.
District 6 is composed of the top anglers from Arkansas and Oklahoma. The 2020 National Semi-Finals will be hosted by the Oklahoma Bass Federation on Lake Eufaula in June 2020. For information on our tournament schedule of other information send questions to Don Linder on linderde@sbcglobal.net.
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