The North Central Region held it’s 2024 tournament trail mid-season qualifiers on Lakes Belton and Stillhouse on March 23rd and 24th. The weekend kicked off with dollar dink day on Lake Belton. Water temps in the low to mid 60’s along with a full moon had the buck bass moving up in droves with the entire field having their fill of 13 ½ inch bass. However, when it came to keeper size fish, Lake Belton was having none of it and only produced 21 keeper size bass with an average weight of 1.04 lbs. per bass!!
When the dink dust settled, Boater Malcolm Middlebrook, Centex Bass Hunters, weighed in 4 fish for 7.34 lbs. to take the top boater spot just edging out new boater Toby Tucker, Big Sandy Bass Club, who weighed a five fish limit for 7.11 pounds.
On the Co-Angler side, newcomer Zac Stacy took first place weighing in a three fish limit for 4.79 lbs. anchored by a GIANT 1.85 pounder big bass of the tournament and forcing the pre-tournament odds on favorite Co-Angler Joe Sciuto out of Big Sandy Bass Club to settle for second place weighing in two fish for 2.38 pounds!
On Sunday at Lake Stillhouse, despite the forecast of southerly winds sustained at 14-22 mph with gusts to 38 mph, the anglers were eager to turn the page on Belton and were hoping to move on to bigger and better fish. The start of the day saw conditions that were fairly mild as the anglers spread out across the lake, but it didn’t take long for the wind to ramp up and the stronger gusts to appear and continue as the day progressed. Undeterred by the weather, the anglers’ hope of bigger fish came to fruition with all the anglers bringing fish to the scales and the weights shattering those of the day before.
Once again and by the thinnest of margins, Malcolm Middlebrook took the top boater spot with a five fish limit of 16.65 lbs., a mere .02 lbs. more than the 16.63 lbs. brought to the scales by Justin Hallmark, Big Sandy Bass Club. Justin did take the big bass honors however with a nice 4.89 lb. fish.
And with rookie co angler Zac Stacy (5.15 lbs.) again edging out Joe Sciuto (4.66 lbs.), he completed the sweep and he and Malcolm finished out the weekend undefeated. Congratulations to Malcolm and Zac.
The North Central Region will finish up the season after the Allstar Break (The State Championship on Cedar Creek April 12-13), on May 4th and 5th on Lakes Amon Carter and Ray Roberts. The AOY race for both boater and coangler is still up for grabs and will come down to the wire. The qualifiers are open to all Texas Bass Nation anglers from all five regions, so register and join in on the fun.
Now, for all you nation anglers who are “boasting” that, after seeing the results for lake Belton, you would have “crushed ‘em”, “wacked ‘em”, and/or “kicked their bass”, I invite you to register for one or more of our qualifying tournaments and come out and show us how it’s done! See you on the water!
Stephen Farrar
North Central Region Director
Club Division
Texas BASS Nation