The team of Jerry Silmon and Brett Hortman battled through torrential rain and continuously rising water levels to win a $20,000 first-place check at a Bass Champs tournament on Lake Sam Rayburn.
Six teams brought in sacks breaching the twenty-pound mark, but Silmon and Hortman were untouchable with their limit of 29.61 pounds.
The weather was the real story. In less than 24 hours, Sam Rayburn rose nearly six inches, constantly changing the playing field as the contenders fished. It wasn’t until around noon when they finally caught a break in the extreme weather to have just a few more hours to find the fish they needed.
Silmon and Hortman were among the first to weigh in, and had to wait an hour-and-a-half before it was confirmed they were the winners. All the hard work was worth it in the end.
“It started out rough this morning with the weather, but once we finally made it to our spot, we power poled down," said the winning team.
Using Rayburn Red rattle traps along the inside grasslines, they landed three decent ones pretty early. In the pounding rain they continued to catch - then cull, until 11:30. By the end of it all, they won by more than six pounds.
Jonathan Garrie and Keith Morris brought in 23.33 lbs for 2nd place.
“We started out with spinnerbaits, looking for good spawning areas. We weren’t on any fish, our deep fish were gone.” They put a limit together pretty quick, but it was small – only about 8 pounds total. They switched up their baits and culled all their original fish with new ones for their final weight. Bass Champs awarded them $5,000 for their 2nd place finish.
Wade Ellis and Joe Martin said their day was wet, cold, and uneventful until 12:30 when the rain stopped. Then the fishing really heated up, ultimately bringing in a third-place limit of 22.36 pounds, backed by a 8.63 lb kicker. They earned $3,000 for their efforts.
1st $20,000 29.61 lbs Jerry Silmon & Brett Hortman
2nd $ 5,000 23.33 lbs Jonathan Garrie & Keith Morris
3rd $ 3,000 22.36 lbs Wade Ellis & Joey Martin III
4th $ 4,000 22.01 lbs Ryan O’Neal & Riki Pike
($2000 Skeeter $$)
5th $ 1,200 20.82 lbs Rusty Clark & Cory Rambo
6th $ 1,090 20.01 lbs Jason Bonds & William Howell
7th $ 1,080 19.97 lbs Keith Green & Rusty Rogers
8th $ 1,070 19.84 lbs Lani Ordone & Morris Hymel
9th $ 1,060 19.36 lbs Jonathan Simon & AP Castino
10th $ 1,050 19.27 lbs Brian Shook & Cody Goodman
The points race is another aspect of competition that results in a shuffling in the standings throughout each season. Each time competitors sign up to fish an event, they receive points. How many points they receive is directly correlated to how much weight they bring in. The team with the highest points at the end of the regular season is declared Anglers of the Year. The reward for this accomplishment is free entries into the next season for the division they won the title in.
Here are the top points leaders after two Bass Champs East Region tournaments:
442 pts Rusty Clark & Cory Rambo
441 pts Jerry Silmon & Brett Hortman
438 pts Jason Bonds & William Howell
436 pts Wade Ellis & Joey Martin III
435 pts Glenn Robertson & Chad Cole
The next East Region tournament will take place March 24th on Sam Rayburn at the Umphrey Family Pavilion. In the mean time, Bass Champs staff and crew are headed to Lake Belton for the Central Region event #2. Whether you can fish one or all of Bass Champs tournaments, each one is open to anyone who would like to compete for a part of the big payouts at each event. For more information, go to www.BassChamps.com or call 817-439-3274.
