Fish Are Hungry For Final Tom’s Marine Regular Season Tournament On Douglas Lake
Fall bass fishing on Douglas Lake is turning on just in time for the final regular season tournament on the Tom’s Marine Team Trail schedule, said tournament director Richard McMaster.
“We are looking for them to catch a bunch of fish this weekend,” McMaster said. “The fish are starting to school up around big balls of baitfish. They started early this year to feed up for fall and winter, getting ready for cold weather. We’ve seen a lot of fish chasing bait and scattering bait, especially on the upper end of the lake.”
And that is where most of the action is expected to be this weekend, he said.
“The water seems to be a lot colder up the river. It’s probably around 70 degrees up there and down on the lower end of the lake it’s still pushing 80 degrees. I’m sure a lot of boats will be running to the upper end of the lake.”
McMaster said a lot of teams will be trying to get in their last tournament Saturday so they can qualify for the two-day championship, Nov. 2 on Cherokee Lake and Nov. 3 on Douglas Lake.
“We take the top 100 and those who have fished at least six of the seven scheduled tournaments get in automatically,” he said. “We’ve had a really good season, averaging 100-plus boats per tournament and we expect about 90 to 100 boats this weekend on Douglas Lake.”
McMaster said the 2013 points championship is David Mullins’ and Brent Hoskins’ to lose.
“It looks like Hoskins and Mullins are going to win the points again this year unless they have a really bad day, but if they weigh in just one fish the title is theirs.”
Hoskins and Mullins are more than 70 points ahead of the second place team in the standings after finishing in the top 10 four out of the six tournaments so far. They were 13th march 9 at Cherokee, 10th March 30 at Cherokee, 1st in April on Douglas, 3rd in May on Cherokee, 14th in June on Douglas and 6th in September on Cherokee.
“We are starting to get really excited about the championship in early November,” McMaster said. “We want to thank Mickey Furr and Ranger for bringing their cooker and doing a Ranger barbecue for everybody at our championship banquet.”
McMaster said the winning team at the championship will take home a new $44,000 Ranger Bass Boat with a Mercury motor on it.
“We are looking forward to giving away a lot of prizes at the championship and we are inviting everybody who fished our tournament trail to come and enjoy the banquet, even if they did not make the championship.”
The Tom’s Marine Team Trail is a seven-tournament series, culminating with a two-day championship, Nov. 2 on Cherokee Lake and Nov. 3 on Douglas Lake. Entry fee for the Tom’s Marine tournaments is $110, which includes a $10 lunker fee. First place is guaranteed $2,500, with the payout at least 90 percent of entry fees, paid one for every six entries, at the ramp.
The Tom’s Marine Winter Trail starts Nov. 9 with seven tournaments on both lakes, culminating with the championship Jan. 11 on Cherokee. The 2014 Tom’s Marine Team Trail will kick off March 15 on Lake Cherokee and end with the championship Oct. 25 on Cherokee and Oct. 26 on Douglas.
The trail offers most major boat bonus programs, including the Ranger Cup, Triton Gold, Stratos 2X, Skeeter Real Money, Phoenix First Flight, plus other incentives including the Bass Pro Shops Tournament Rewards, Motor Mate and the PAA Pay Day Program.
Tom’s Marine Team Trail
Sat, Oct 5, 2013
Douglas Lake
Shady Grove Access
Call Richard McMaster at 423-748-3240
