DENNIS STIDHAM WINS 2002 TOC -- LAKE ALAN HENRY, October 2002 With more than $2000 of bonus prizes added by local sponsors to the 2002 Tournament of Champions held on October 12 at Lake Alan Henry, DENNIS STIDHAM took top honors when an approaching cold front caused him to move from main lake into a protected creek.

"I went to my favorite spot on the main lake but hadn't had a bite since sunrise. At 10:00 o'clock, I looked to the north and saw a wall of low black clouds rapidly coming towards me. Not wanting to take a chance on bad winds in the open waters, I moved to a protected spot in Little Grape Creek and waited for the cold front blow through. It was the best move I have made all year." said Stidham as he collected $1,300 cash, $400 in free entries for the 2003 Fun Fishing Tournaments, a fishing mount from Sportsman Taxidermy, a custom made graphite rod from Dick's Pro-Style lures of Kansas, $100 gift certificate from Lubbock Boating Center, and his 2002 TOC trophy

"While the winds never did begin to blow as bad as I had feared, I found a small set of cattails at the end of the steep bank that was loaded with bass" confided Stidham when pressed for the secret of how he caught seven bass and was the only angler to bring a three-bass limit at 12.76 lbs. As fate would have it, he also caught the biggest bass (6.72 lbs.) of the day.

"I would have to say it luck. Lucky for me that I moved, lucky for me that I changed to a white spinnerbait, and really lucky that a three pounder exploded on my spinnerbait as it made a bulge on surface when I made a bad cast and was racing the lure back to boat. I was getting ready to make a better cast so I could slow roll my bait in the cattails. When the fishing gets really tough, it is normally best to slow down but today the bass wanted a fast moving lure that was almost breaking the surface."

Good job Dennis, and congratulations for wining the 2002 Tournament of Champions. Every angler on the lake would have loved to have caught seven bass, but most of them had to struggle just to get a single bite.

Second place and second biggest bass of the tournament went to Borger's RODNEY SWEET with a nice 4.94 lbs. largemouth. "What a tough day on a really great lake" said Sweet as he pocketed his $520 cash, a $50 certificate from Lubbock Boating Center, and a Jay Yelas "Classic" tackle pack from Berkley. "Usually, the fishing right before a cold front arrives is excellent, but today the bass had lockjaw and I am happy just to get a pay check when competing against so many great anglers" said the eight time winner of Fun Tournaments and a veteran bass angler who cut his teeth fishing on Lake Meredith with his dad, Zane.

Third place was worth $260 and a guided Striper fishing trip with Curgus Lowe at Lake Texoma to Amarillo's BRIAN HUFHINES with two bass that totaled 4.76 lbs. "Caught my first fish on a mojo rigged zipper worm in 30 feet of water, and my second one on a double bladed, black buzzbait--if that gives you any idea of how hard it was to figure out where the bass were today" said Hufhines at the weigh-in ceremonies.

Fourth place was worth $130 cash plus a custom SideWinder rod to Amarillo's JOSH NEESE. "I fished for six hours and finally at 1 p.m. I caught this 4.22 lb. bass on a jerkbait at the dam." reported a wind blown Neese who spend the day with his father-in-law and veteran bass angler Johnny Littlejohn. Canyon's BRUCE BUTLER used a Bandit crankbait in the Rock Creek area to catch a 4.19 lb black bass and won $65 plus an Ambush Tackle pack from Grandy's Dairy

Other anglers in the top ten included Lubbock's PAUL SMITH with 4.17 lbs., CHESTER HALES of Claude with 4.06 lbs., JIMMY GATLIN of Pampa with 3.33 lbs., J.T. HODGES of Amarillo with 3.25 lbs., and BUTCH WILLIAMS of Amarillo with 2.88 lbs. For his lucky tenth place finish, Williams won a guided striper trip with Curgus Lowe at Lake Texoma.

For idea of how tough the fishing was during the TOC, only 16 anglers in the field of 65 brought in a keeper bass over the new minimum length limit of 14 inches. ONLY one bass over the old limit of 18 inches was caught. Considering the numbers outstanding anglers who had fished all year long in the Fun Fishing Tournaments and earned their invitation to the TOC, Lake Alan Henry again reminded us all----it is called fishing, NOT catching.

Special thanks to the local sponsors who haven't already been mentioned goes to GEBO's--our local Bass Pro dealer, Ouggie Baits, Penzoil Marine Oil, Panhandle Poorboys Hunting Outfitters, and Grand Street Batteries.

During the Luck of the Draw at this the final Fun Tournament of 2002, over $1000 in cash and prizes were given to the anglers.