Fool-a-Fish





Saturday, December 30, 2006

Final Tournament of the Year 12-09-2006

The TCBC Angler of the Year race came down to the final tournament of the year on Lake Travis with Mike Amescua leading the race. John Hackney and Bryan Cotter were within striking distance going into the final tournament. The day started out cool but the rain predicted earlier in the week never moved in leaving us with a near perfect December day. Due to low lake levels this was the first event held on Lake Travis this year so everyone was wondering how the fish would treat us and the results were mixed. 2 teams managed limits with the remaining teams pulling in 2 to 4 fish. Most teams caught a good amount of fish throughout the day but they just didn’t have the size. Some teams fished up lake while others like Bill Gibson and his guest found active fish near the ramp.The moment of truth arrived at 3:00 with the final weigh in of the year. Could Mike Amescua hold on to his slim lead or would John Hackney retake the lead for the last time? Would Bryan Cotter bring in the bag to put him over the top? Once all the weights were recorded the 2006 AoY race was decided and Bryan Cotter secured it by 1 point with a winning stringer for the event including the Big Bass of the event with a nice 5.89’er. Mike and John both finished the year 1 point behind Bryan in the closest AoY race ever!

Congrats to Bryan for a great year and the AoY title. Also congrats to Mike and John for their hard fought efforts throughout the season.(story by Jody Woodruff)

The top 3 teams weighed in the following: Bryan Cotter and his guest came in with 9.93lbs and the big bass of 5.89lbs. They caught their fish with shallow crankbaits and trick worms. The big girl came on a shallow crank. Bill Gibson and his guest brought 9.45 lbs to the scales. They worked a finesse technique using a small ring worm with a paddle tail to catch their fish.Dan Taylor and his guest came in third with 8 lbs even. They caught their fish on jigs.For complete results, go to the Results page

My day on the Lake:

I fished with a guest for the tournament. We caught 17 bass over the day, but only 3 of them were keepers. I caught most of my fish on a Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in Shad. I missed a huge bass that only took a swip at it right in front of the boat. Unfortunately the bass spooked the moment before it would have swallowed the lure.