Slam dunk finish for Heiser & Huckaby as Bass Champs South Region zips up their season
| By: Patty Lenderman |
| It was quite a day for 162 teams fishing the South Region of Bass Champs on Lake Amistad on April 21st. Prime weather conditions laid the scene not only for a portion of over $52,000 in this 110% payback event, but it was the final push for points in the Anglers of the Year race. Byron Heiser and Trent Huckaby pulled out all the stops to win way ahead of the pack.“My wife told me the day before the tournament that she had a feeling we were going to win this tournament,” Brian began. “We started out in a spot Trent found during practice,” he continued. “Trent started us out catching a four pounder, and said we may be in the money today. I told him I didn’t just want to be in the money, I wanted to win! Then the bite just got really slow.” They were fishing with Strike King Rage Tail Cut-R worms and 8” Senko’s in depths ranging from 10’ to 30’ deep. They put their second fish in the livewell weighing around 7 pounds. They hit a lot of different spots and at one point we were at a ledge on a point. That’s when Byron got the bite. “It was a real light bite. I tried to set the hook, but missed her so I just stopped and dead-sticked the bait. She picked it back up and that time I set the hook, and the battle was on!” The big fish was not going to make it easy, jumping and diving – “It took a good five minutes to get her in!” That one came in at 8.65 pounds. “We caught a lot of fish, but had two little ones in the livewell. We were finally able to cull them before the end of the day.” Weighing in their best five, their total was 24.47 pounds, winning the tournament by a leap. Not only did they receive the guaranteed $20,000 check for 1st place, they also won $5,000 from Skeeter boats for being the highest finishing team in a qualified Skeeter. They won the Lowrance electronics bonus as well for a humongous payday. “First I would like to thank my wife for all of her encouragement and support. We would both like to thank Tim and Judy Reneau at Power Tackle Rods for building such a great product!”
2nd place was won by Bubba Haralson and Jerry Green with 19.83 pounds. “We got to our starting hole, and Jerry caught a four pounder,” Bubba recalled. “Then I caught one that went 5, and Jerry caught a six pounder.” They were fishing deep hydrilla, in 20’-25’ of water with Texas rigged Senko’s. “The fish weren’t real active, and we didn’t get a lot of bites. We had all the fish that we weighed in by 10am.” They were awarded $3,500 for their finish. “We’re just two guys that had a little luck and a whole lot of fun. They say even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then. We just hope that when we grow up we are going to learn how to fish – lol!” The 3rd place team of Tim Flowers and Brian Ankrum had a rough start to their day. “We started out fishing in shallow water,” Brian stated. “Right off the bat we missed a five pounder.” That’s not how you want to set the course of your day. “We re-grouped, and pulled up in a small drain.” They were using a variety of lures – top water, swim baits, Carolina rigs, etc. “We put four keepers in the boat pretty quick. When that slowed down we moved up river to a deep grass edge about 20’ deep.” Using drop shots, swim baits, top waters and crank baits, they wrapped up a limit and then made their first cull, putting a three pounder in exchanging for one just over a pound. “I started throwing a crank bait, and as I was cranking it in a fish latched onto it and just stopped it mid stream. I knew it was a giant, and told Tim to get the net!” The fish fought hard, and although Brian tried to keep it in the water, it jumped six times before getting it to the boat. “I think I held my breath the whole time until we got it in!” Coming in to weigh their fish, first they put the big one on the scales. It took over and won the Big Bass category weighing 9.41 pounds! Adding their other four, the team had 19.04 pounds to win 3rd place and $2,000 plus another $500 for their Big Bass win.  Rick Scheen and Mike Harman have stayed on top of the points race in the South Region the entire season, and now that all of the regular season events are complete for the South they have officially been declared Anglers of the Year. Not only do they hold this prestigious title, several benefits including all entry fees for the 2019 South Region events are waived for this team. Congratulations to Rick and Mike, 2018 Anglers of the Year! There are just a few regular season events left, and they are open to anyone who would like to fish – so don’t miss out! |
