January 10, 2010
Lake Travis – Austin, TX

Generally speaking, the season opening January tournament usually sees a bit of a better turn out with new club members looking to start off a good year of competitive bass fishing. Unfortunately, that was not the case this year, and even many of the club’s faithful tournament participants opted to sleep in and stay in the warmth of their beds rather than face the frigid 18-20 degree weather that was forecasted at launch time on this particularly freezing morning. After the tournament, most of the anglers that attended had probably wished that they did stay at home in their warm beds! At the weigh-in there were many stories being swapped about the ice build up that occurred that morning on tackle, equipment, and boats. The conditions were so difficult that only two anglers brought in fish creating a four-way tie for third place! Despite that, David Bueche went on to win his second January tournament in a row by weighing in four fish for a total of 8.28 pounds!

David started off his morning making a brutally long run for the given freezing temperatures and ran up the lake more than 20 miles. The morning’s trip was so cold David later jokingly commented that he felt like his non-boater, Aaron Campbell, ought to get the third place money simply for enduring such a cold trip with no console to hide behind. The decision to make that run apparently paid off for him though. His primary pattern consisted of fishing a 1/2oz black / green jig on steep, rocky banks. David caught three of his fish shallow on the jig, up close to the shoreline, while his boat was positioned in about 30 feet of water. He also commented that the fish caught on the jig would pick it up off the bottom and not bite it on the fall. Of those three jig fish, one happened to be the big bass of the tournament at 3.33 pounds. His last keeper fell victim to a lipless crankbait and bolted out from under a boulder on a shallow flat to nab the bait. Congrats on the great win, David!

The only other angler to catch fish in the difficult conditions was our second place finisher, Gary Brownell. Gary was hot on David’s heels weighing-in four fish for a total of 7.45 pounds. Having difficulty with his boat’s steering freezing up that morning, he began fishing a crankbait fairly close to the launch site. On his fifth cast he put his first keeper in the boat on the crankbait. Fishing around a bit and trying different baits, Gary went back to the crankbait and fished it down along the side of the ramp to bag his second keeper before 8:00 AM. Having caught a short fish on a wacky-rigged Senko a little earlier, Gary tried his luck with it again on a dock floating over 40ft of water. Skipping the Senko under the dock produced keeper number three and another short fish. Feeling confident in his success thus far, Gary decided to make a long run to other areas up the lake, and that’s when things drastically slowed for him. He didn’t get any other bites until close to 1:30 putting his final keeper in the livewell once again on the wacky-rig under a dock.

Having completed the 2009 season, congratulations are also in order for the 2009 ATX Bassmasters Angler of the Year, Michael Waldrop! Michael commanded the lead for the majority of the year. He took over only a few months into the year, and once he got it he never backed off. Also congrats to Ander Meine for winning the 2009 Big Bass of the Year award with his 9.49 pound hog from Choke Canyon Reservoir!

Our next tournament is scheduled for February 21st on Lake Austin at the 360 Bridge. Those interested in participating in club events are encouraged to come to our club meetings the first Tuesday of every month at Threadgill’s on Riverside at 7 PM.