Major bass-fishing events coming to Texas in April
Four Texas bass lakes will reel in national attention over the coming weeks as a trio of big league bass circuits are bringing their road shows to the Lone Start State.
The Bassmaster Elite Series makes its annual swing through Texas next month with a pair of stops. The first is the Lone Star Shootout at Lake Falcon on April 3-6 with a second stop set for April 10-13 at another Texas border lake, Lake Amistad.
Located along the Texas-Mexico border on the outskirts of Zapata, Lake Falcon has built up its reputation as a big bass haven recently. In January, Louisiana's Jeremy Guidry won the FLW Outdoors Stren Series Texas Division event on Falcon with 20 bass that weighed 110 pounds, 2 ounces. Three others pros cracked 100 pounds during the four-day event with Laredo's Charlie Haralson among them.
Haralson, a full-time fishing guide on Lake Falcon, said he expects the Bassmaster Elite Series standings to mirror those recorded at the Stren Series tournament.
"It could be even better," he said. "It is all going to boil down to the weather and the wind. If the wind will let those guys fish, it could easily take 115 pounds or more to win it. If I were betting, I would say it will be won flipping around shallow brush, 2-6 feet deep. The spawn is over, but there are lots of big ones roaming around in skinny water harassing the tilapia right now."
When the pros finish at Lake Falcon, they will head 225 miles northwest to Lake Amistad, a 67,000-acre reservoir near Del Rio.
If history repeats itself, it will take 100 pounds or more to win the $100,000 first-place prize money at Amistad. California's Ishama Monroe won the 2006 Battle on the Border at Amistad with 104 pounds, 8 ounces, while Alabama's Derek Remitz won last year's event with 111-8.
Texas is hosting two other big events in April.
On April 10-12 at Lake Lewisville, the Women's Bassmaster Trail will hold its season opener, where female anglers will begin their race to become the first woman to compete in the Bassmaster Classic. The WBT Angler of the Year will get an automatic berth into the 2009 Classic.
Then April 18-20, some of the nation's top bass pros from the BASS and FLW Outdoors series will compete in the Second Annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic (TTBC) at Lake Forth.
The three-day TTBC will use a unique format with 26 four-man teams competing in the no-entry fee tournament for $750,000 total prize money. Two team members will fish a morning session with the other two fishing in the afternoon, and the top five teams based on accumulative weight after two days will compete head-to-head on the final day. The winning team will split $250,000.
The TTBC also will feature tackle exhibits from industry leaders, a family fun zone and live entertainment by Trace Adkins and Texans Kacey Musgraves, Roger Creager and Robert Earl Keen.
Advance three-day tickets are on sale at Brookshire Brothers and Bass Pro Shops for $20. One-day tickets are $10.
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