Results

The North Central Region capped off its 2024 season on October 26^th and 27^th with the Regional Championship at Richland Chambers Reservoir.  Faced with a lake that was fishing tough, record high temperatures forecasted for both days, and an extremely crowded field of contestants, the anglers would have their work cut out for them. 

          On Saturday morning, the anglers navigated the crowded boat ramp at Oak Cove Marina to launch their boats and everyone was in the water ready to go.  The sunrise was spectacular, the temperature was cool and there was a slight breeze from the south when the field took off.  The wind picked up later in the day and the temperature steadily rose into the uncomfortable range and was downright hot at weigh in.  Justin Hallmark, Big Sandy Creek Bass Club, had the only limit on the boater side and took the first place spot with 9.83 pounds.  In second after day 1 was boater, Toby Tucker, also from Big Sandy Creek Bass Club, with 8.75 pounds and one fish shy of a limit. Rounding out the top three boaters in the event after day 1 was Andrew Wren, Tarrant Christian Bass Club, with 5.33 pounds on four fish.  On the Co-Angler side, it was Joe Sciuto bringing in an impressive three fish limit weighing 8.46 pounds, which included the big bass of the tournament, a 3.69 pound behmouth!  At the conclusion of weigh-in on day one, only 0.2 pounds separated the second place co-angler, James McDonald, CenTex Bass Hunters, one fish for 1.64 pounds, and third place co-angler, Stephen Farrar, Tarrant Christian Bass Club, one fish for 1.44 pounds, setting up a day two epic battle royale between those two co-anglers for a place on the 2025 Texas State Team.

          Another beautiful sunrise awaited the anglers on the final day of competition, however, on this Sunday morning the wind was almost nonexistent.  The bite was tough, and the entire field struggled to put keeper fish in the boat, with all of the anglers reporting catching a slew of undersize fish, especially after noon with the return of the wind.  After a long, hot day, Justin Hallmark managed to bring only three keepers to the scales for 7.26 pounds, but his two day total weight of 17.09 pounds would be enough to take first place on the boater side and become the 2024 North Central Region Champion Angler.  Second place went to Andrew Wren with a two day total weight of 12.65 pounds.  Andrew mounted a valiant comeback by weighing in the heaviest sack of the day, 7.32 pounds, which was enough to overtake Toby Tucker, who dropped to third overall with a two day total of 11.95 pounds. 

On the Co-Angler side, first place went to Joe Sciuto, who completed his wire to wire dominance over the rest of the co-angler field with a two day total of 11.04 pounds. Joe is the 2024 North Central Region Champion Co-Angler!  In the highly anticipated race between McDonald and Farrar, the competition was brutal and fierce, and the dual would come down to the very last second. When all was said and done, both of them blanked on day two, leaving James McDonald in second place and cementing his place on the 2025 Texas State Team. 

          Congratulations to the 2025 North Central Region representatives for the 2025 Texas State Team! Boaters – Justin Hallmark & Andrew Wren; Non-boaters: Joe Sciuto & James McDonald.

          For those Nation members who dream of fishing the next level and ultimately the bass master classic and who may be interested in fishing the North Central Region trail in 2025, we invite you to join us and mark your calendars.  We will be accepting registrations for the regional qualifiers beginning on December 1, 2024 and hope you will come fish with us next year! All nation members are welcome to sign up.

Stephen Farrar
North Central Region Director
Club Division
Texas BASS Nation
(682) 465-6165
Sfarrar@texasbass.org

The Southeast Region Individual Trail held their 2024 Top 40 Championship on October 19-20, 2024, on Lake Tyler in Whitehouse, TX. They had 18 Boaters and 11 Non-Boaters competing for a spot to represent Texas B.A.S.S. Nation at the 2025 B.A.S.S. Nation Central Qualifier, date and lake to be announced next month.

Lake Tyler consists of two lakes (East & West) connected via a canal. This tournament had a little different twist, as half of the field would fish the East Lake and the other would fish the West Lake on day one and they would swap lakes on day two.

Pre-tournament reports varied from pretty slow to really good in the days leading up to the tournament.

Saturday morning started off chilly with a slight fog early and turned out Sunny and breezy. At the conclusion of Saturday’s weigh-in Jacob Bruener of the Nacogdoches Bass Club led the Boater division with 5 @ 16.50, anchored by a 7.33 pounder from the East Lake.

Jason Branham with Katy Bassmaster was second with 5 @15.17 from the West Lake and Justin Royal with the Vidor Bass Anglers Association was sitting in third with 5 @13.74 from the East Lake.

In the Non-Boater division Seven Coves member Andrew Rutherford brought in a 3 fish limit weighing in at 7.33 pounds from the West Lake. Rodney Mladenka with The Bass Club was in second with 3 @ 5.56 and Ned Westmoreland was in third with 3 @ 4.96 from the East Lake.

Sunday’s tournament was shortened by one hour to allow more travel time for anglers to return home. Weather conditions started out pretty much the same, but with less wind.

In the Boater Division, Justin Royal with the Vidor Bass Anglers Association brought in a 5 fish limit weighing 17.83 pounds from the West Lake, this combined with his day one weight of 13.74 gave him a two-day total 31.57 pounds, clinching the win and spot on the Texas B.A.S.S Nation Team at the 2025 B.A.S.S. Nation Central Qualifier.

Justin states that he started out on natural banks Saturday morning throwing a swim jig and after a couple of hours without a bite, he went to a stretch of boat docks, he skipped a bladed jig under the dock and caught a keeper fish and he decided he would do that the rest of the day, as well as on day two in the West Lake. He utilized a 3/8-ounce shad colored bladed jig, paired with Reneau Tackle The One 03 7’3” rod and Shimano reel spooled with 14-pound Gamma fluorocarbon, he was targeting docks in two-to-five-foot water with shade, he would skip the bait as far back as possible under the docks. He states that if caught one he would Power Pole down and make multiple casts from different angles, this often led to multiple fish from one dock. Justin would like to thank Jordan’s Marine & Pro Fuel for keeping him on the water and Sam Rayburn Performance Rigging for getting his 360 hooked up before the event.

Terry Reich with the Seven Coves Bass club weighed in a five fish limit weighing in at 16.45 pounds from the West Lake, this combined with his day one weight of 6.64 pounds brought his two-day total to 23.09 pounds and landed him in second place overall, securing him a spot on the Texas B.A.S.S. Nation team at the 2025 B.A.S.S. Nation Central Qualifier.

Terry said that he started out each day with his individual prayer and that he is thankful that Southeast Region Director Matt Russel starts our tournaments with a prayer and the National Anthem. Terry stated that his pattern was fishing boat docks located in the mouth of coves near the main lake. He said he was blessed first thing in the morning on Sunday by catching a 2 ½ pounder and a 3 pounder on what he called the magical dock. He says he felt the big bite should happen around noon, so he only hit a couple of more docks near by and returned to the magical dock again around 11:30 and caught 3 of his bigger fish by noon. They all came on the outside part of the dock in 8 feet of water on Senkos. Terry would like to thank God for a great day of fishing.

Brian Jones with The Bass Club brought in a 5 fish limit weighing 12.93 pounds, this combined with his day one weight of 9.87 brought his total weight to 22.80 and earned him 3rd place overall in the tournament. Brian targeted boat docks on both lakes utilizing a flipping stick rigged with a 3/8-ounce weight and soft plastics.

In the Non-Boater Division Andrew Rutherford with the Seven Coves Bass Club brought in 3.88 pounds, this weight combined with his day one weight 7.33 pounds brought his two-day total to 11.21 pounds and earned him first place in the Non-Boater division and secured his place on the Texas B.A.S.S Nation team in the Non-Boater division at the 2025 B.A.S.S. Nation Central Qualifier.

Larry Green from The Bass Club brought in a 3 fish limit weighing 5.35 pounds from the West Lake this combined with his day one weight of 4.96 pounds earned him a second-place finish in the Non-Boater division and a spot on the Texas B.A.S.S Nation team in the Non-Boater division at the 2025 B.A.S.S. Nation Central Qualifier. Larry stated that he targeted boat docks and lily pads both days with a spinner bait and soft plastics.

The Bass Club member Rodney Mladenka finished third in the Non-Boater division with a two-day total of 8.96 pounds.

Pete Elliott with the Vidor Bass Anglers Association captured the Boater Division Big Bass of the tournament as well as the overall Big Bass of the tournament with a 7.51 pounder caught on Sunday from the East Lake.

The Bass Club member Glen Miglicco caught the Big Bass of the tournament in the Non-Boater division a 3.22 pounder caught on Sunday from the West Lake.

We would like to thank Southeast Region Director Matt Russell, Tournament Director Ed Grisham, Tournament Coordinator Justin Royal and current Assistant Director/Director Elect Tye Grissom for their time and efforts in making this tournament a success.

Written by: Robert Royal Southeast Region Secretary