The bite might have been luck, but leading a huge
bass out of the flooded trees at Lake Alan Henry requires
skill and knowing when put the pressure on the bass. Way to
go Dave, and welcome to the 10 pound Club.
Former Canyon resident and now a student at Texas Tech
STEVE MARTIN, Jr. nailed down second place with two bass
that tipped the scales at 9.70 lbs. "My trusty black and
blue jig tipped with a watermelon colored Madman Craw was my
lure, and I was also fishing some flooded trees on the edge
of a creek channel at 17 feet. I don't know where DAVID was
fishing, but it sounds like both of us found where the bass
are staging for the spring spawn" confided a happy Martin as
he counted his $365.
Third place was worth $146 to Lubbock's JOE SHEEHAN who
caught two bass that weighed 7.20 lbs. Fourth place and $73
in prize money went to Lubbock's ERIC BEST, the only angler
who caught a three-bass limit, but his bass only totaled
6.96 lbs. Best used a deep diving crankbait and caught five
keepers on a pattern that had been producing some much
bigger bass.
Other anglers who finished in the money at Lake Henry
included JEFF ERPELDING of Plainview with 5.91 lbs., BEN
KIRKPATRICK of Lubbock with 5.25 lbs., RYAN HIGGINS of
Canyon with 4.52 lbs., JOHNNY LITTLEJOHN of Amarillo with
4.16 lbs., NATHAN MASLIN of Odessa with 4.07 lbs., and
KENNETH HAIGOOD of Lubbock with 4.03 lbs.
Twenty-one anglers in the field of seventy-three brought
a bass to the scales. The Luck of the Draw saw PATRICK
"Fuzz" HERRIDGE of Lubbock win the Stay-N-Charge battery
charging system, ERIC BEST win a $50 gift certificate from
Parker Boats, and TRAVIS CONLEY pocket $50 cash.
Spring fishing conditions in our region are always
subject to major changes and last week's tournament was a
prime example. The tree filled waters of Lake Henry fell
from 53 degrees down to 49 degrees right before this
tournament. Angers prefishing the weekend before this event
were catching some nice bass on deep diving crankbaits THRU
THE FLOODED TOPS, but that bite evaporated as the cold
weather chilled the bass that are trying to go on their
annual spring feeding spree. Give Lake Henry a week or two
of warm weather with water temperatures climbing into the
mid-50's and more big bass are going to try and pull
unsuspecting anglers out of their bass boats.