December 6, 2008 Tournament

It was El Presidenta's birthday, but the fish gods would show him no love.  Luckily, his partner Jesus was wacking the fish left and right as he culled his own limit to weigh in a limit of 5 fish at 13.56 lbs.  After catching one fish early on a spinnerbait, Jesus used a 1/2 oz. jig to fill the box, and capture first place.

Second place came to the team of Bill Ellis and John Hackney with a nice limit of 11.99 lbs.

Mike Amescua and son Dillon came in third by only 0.16 lbs, but Mike did catch the big fish of the tournament weighing in at 4.55 lbs.

Finally, since this was the last tournament of the year, the Angler of the Year was finally crowned.  Congratulations go to Mike Amescua for AOY, edging out Don Steussy by only one point. 

And we can crown the owner of the Big Fish of the Year trophy.  Winner is Bill Ellis with the 12lb 8oz hog on Choke Canyon in October.

November 8, 2008 Tournament

The November tournament was held on Lake Buchanan.  This is where Jesus Cruz and John Hackney found better than a 3 pound average to weigh in a 5 fish limit of 15.76.  The second place team of Mike Amescua and guest Aaron Camp also had a 5 bass limit of 10.61 pounds, anchored by the big bass of the tournament of 3.88 lbs.

October 2-Day Tournament on Choke Canyon

The fall 2-day tournament was held on Choke Canyon lake, on October 25th and 26th.  The team of Mike Amesua and returning member Bill Ellis blew the doors off of the rest of the field with a two day total of 40.02 (9 fish) including big bass on both days (more on that later).  Second place went to the team of Don Stuessy and Kevin Balkisson with a 10 fish limit of 29.27.

On day one, Mike Amescua used a jig to catch the big bass and her sister, both over 8 lbs.  The real story is the pig that Bill Ellis caught on day 2, which may very well be the largest bass caught by a TCBC member during a tournament.  Take a look below at the pair of 8 lber's Mike caught and the 12.52 lb bass caught by Bill Ellis.

September 13, 2008 Tournament on Lake LBJ

WAS CANCELLED.  For the first time that I can remember, we canceled a tournament due to inclement weather.  Hurricane Ike was bearing down on the Galveston Island, and the prediction was that we would have 60 mph winds in the Austin area on Saturday.  The tournament was cancelled on Friday night.

August 16, 2008 Tournament on Stillhouse Hollow

Eight teams fished the 4:00 am start (well mostly, el presidenta was late) until a noon weigh-in on Stillhouse Hollow.  Overcast for most of the day, everyone seemed to find fish.  Jesus Cruz and Keith Ballard fished flukes and baby brush hogs to land a 14.81 pound limit, and first place.  Placing 2nd, and in the money was the team of Don Steussy and Dillon Amescua with a limit that weighed 13.47 pounds.

Big Bass honors went to Rick Webster, with a quality 5.80 largemouth, caught on a watermelon seed super fluke.

Also, check out Kevin Balkisson's first ever smallmouth.  Not bad at all.

July 12, 2008 Tournament on Lake Austin

The club fished Lake Austin from 4:00 a.m. until noon on Saturday, July 12th.  Even though the common "myth" is that very few fish are caught the last couple of hours before daylight, almost all the teams caught their keepers before 6:00 a.m.

Don Steussy and Keith Balkisson figure them out, to catch fish all morning long, winning the tournament with a limit of 5 fish that weighed 18.30 lbs.

(Don with his 18+ pound limit)

All of their fish were caught on a swimbait around some "do nothing" docks.  These docs had no grass, no deep water; nothing but sand (from what I understand).

Second place went to the team of Rick Trussell and John Hackney, with a total of 3 fish that weighed 12.34 lbs.  That was helped out by the monster that Rick caught early in the morning on a jig that weighed 8.20 lbs, easliy moving into first place for Big Bass of the Year.

Good job everyone!  (Now that I think about it, I'd wished we'ed have gotten photos of the snapping turtle that ate my fluke.)