The Texas Team Trail would like to thank our anglers for an incredible 2015 season! With a record total combined in overall payout, it’s another reminder that TXTT events deliver more opportunities to win than any other trail in Texas! We look forward to kicking things off again next year – stay tuned for a 2016 schedule announcement soon!
INSIDER REPORT: Frog bite carries Burns brothers to TXTT Championship
by Brett Carlson
Congrats Mike Burns & Rob Burns!
FLINT, Texas – It’s no secret that the state of Texas has been inundated with rain over the past month. While many fisheries were bursting at the seams with water, Lake Palestine simply sat a few feet above full pool. As the water gradually receded and the clarity improved, so did the bass fishing, enabling the Texas Team Trail Championship, presented by Cabela’s, to be a shallow-water shootout. In the end, a 9-pound frog fish by brothers Rob and Mike Burns sealed the title.
With little practice time, the Burns brothers relied on previous experience and opted to fish the north end of the lake. They had a few different patterns going come tournament time as they were catching fish on topwaters over peppergrass and coontail, as well cranking mid-depth timber.
“We knew it was a shallow-water fishery; it’s got stumps and all kinds of vegetation,” said Rob Burns. “We’ve got some history on the lake, but we hadn’t fished it in some time. Mike came out and prefished the whole day Friday and was able to get some topwater going. He was also able to get a couple good bites cranking in 6 to 8 feet of water off of spawning flats.”
The two started Saturday on the topwater program – throwing both buzzbaits and frogs at first. With a decent limit, they moved over to the cranking area. While they caught only three fish, one was the 6-pounder they were looking for.
“We ran the same deal today,” added Rob. “We hit the topwater first – starting out in the peppergrass. We caught three keepers pretty quick. Then we hit some matted coontail and filled out our limit with a few flurries. Then we hit an intersection of a creek channel and I saw one kind of roll on my frog in super shallow water. I popped it twice and she just engulfed it. That fish was 9.29 and that made all the difference. We spent the last two hours cranking the trees, but we never got a good bite.”
“I saw the fish jump out of the water and I didn’t even know if it was on his lure or not,” said Mike. “It was kind of crazy.”
Of the 10 fish the Burns brothers weighed, nine came on the frog – a Spro Popping Frog in bluegill and sexy shad colors. The other weigh fish, the 6-pounder, came on a Lucky Craft RC 4.5 crankbait.
“Palestine is interesting in that the fish stay very shallow, but you needed to be around a little bit deeper water,” explained Rob. “They didn’t live there, but they needed access to a little deeper water.”
The winning team said they weren’t really saturating a single area, nor were they fishing incredibly fast.
“You wanted to stay where you had the bigger bites, but we also had to keep moving,” said Rob. “They would eat it if you put it around them; they were definitely there to eat. We were just hitting an area a time or two. You would go 40 minutes or so without a bite, and then all hell breaks loose. That’s frog fishing.”
“I think two things were important,” added Mike. “The first was that we continued to move. The other thing was sticking with the shallow bite even as the day went on.”
With a two-day total weight of 41.56 pounds, the Burns brothers won a Ranger Z119c with a 225-horsepower engine as well as $1,425 of Anglers Advantage cash for a total purse of $48,425.
“We’ve had a lot of success over the years, but we’ve been in a little drought the last five or six,” said Rob. “To actually win one again feels really good. Sometimes when it’s your time it’s your time. I just happened to throw where that 9-pounder was living. That was our last fish we caught today. We were knocking at the door already. But a fish like that makes all the difference.”
“It’s been a really bad season for us,” Mike added. “It was getting disappointing. So it’s exciting and a good way to wrap up the season.”
Wilcoxson and Wilcoxson second
Tim H. Wilcoxson and Tim P. Wilcoxson, two fishermen who ironically are not related to each other, finished second with a cumulative total of 40.90 pounds.
“We first practiced in deeper water, but they were just not there,” said Tim H. Wilcoxson. “Then we went north near the Neches River area, fished shallow and found some success.”
Their shallow-water program could not have been any simpler.
“We were just flipping shallow-water grass and buck brush. We pretty much stayed in a half-mile square area. We just kept going in circles. The wind blowing in there really helped out by pushing baitfish and supplying oxygen. We caught tons of fish. We were culling 2 1/2 and 3-pounders all day. You just had to get in there and grind it out.”
Wilcoxson and Wilcoxson used a Texas-rigged Strike King Rage Craw (black and blue) with either a 3/8-ounce or 5/16-ounce weight.
“All of our fish came on the Rage Craw – every one of them.”
Tim H. explained that the expired fish the first day was simply stuck in the tongue.
“We knew that dead fish was going to hurt us and it did. You don’t know how painful that was.”
For taking second, the two claimed a Ranger Z119c with a 150-horsepower motor and $1,045 of Anglers Advantage cash.
“This is still the highest finish we’ve ever had in the Texas Team Trail. We’re pumped up and ready for next year.”
Stevens and Martin third
Terry Stevens and James Martin Sr. also had their chances.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet deal,” said Stevens. “I lost a few big fish yesterday, one that was over 10 pounds for sure that broke me off. I tried to pull her up too hard. That would have won it for us.”
Stevens and Martin employed a two-pronged approach.
“I found two deeper areas down south and my partner patterned some shallow fish up north,” explained Stevens.
When fishing shallow, the two used a combination of Strike King frogs, Rage Bugs and Rage Blades in water 1 to 3 feet deep. On the deeper stuff, they employed Strike King 6XD crankbaits.
“The frog bite was off yesterday, but we caught two 4-pounders fairly early. Then we came back down south to the deep water and I caught a 5- and a 6-pounder on back-to-back casts.”
The deeper structure was a ridge that topped out at 12 feet and dropped into 15 feet. Stevens said the bass were holding right on the drop off. Of the 10 fish they weighed, four came deep and six came shallow.
“During practice I thought we had a real good shot. I knew when that big fish broke me off it was an uphill battle. We just needed one more big bite. Overall, it was a good tournament; I’m happy with what we did.”
For 39 pounds, 15 ounces and third place, Stevens and Martin earned a total of $2,955 with Anglers Advantage cash and a Ranger bonus.
Fuller-Hatcher fourth, Wright-Headrick fifth
In fourth place with 35.77 pounds was Patrick Fuller and Kevin Hatcher. Behind them was Monty Wright and Brian Headrick with 35.47 pounds. Both teams brought five-bass limits to the scale each day of competition.
Dolezal and Pringle capture Team of the Year honors
Jerry Dolezal and Jerrel Pringle officially claimed the coveted Lucas Oil Team of the Year award with 1098 points over five events. Dolezal and Pringle outpaced the powerhouse team of Russell Cecil and Todd Castledine who finished second with 1092, as well as David Curtis and Mark Mueck, who finished third with 1078.
“We’ve been fishing a long time and we know being the most consistent team over the course of the year is a big deal,” said Dolezal. “It’s a feather in our cap so to speak. We beat out some good fishermen; that’s why it’s important to us.”
While they cashed checks at both Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend to start the season, Dolezal and Pringle failed to record a single keeper at Texoma.
“After Texoma, we lost our Team of the Year mindset. But there were a lot of zeros because the conditions were terrible. All of the other tournaments really went in our direction.
“Coming into this tournament I knew it was a possibility because I live on Lake Palestine and because of the double points. Today, within the last hour we still needed two fish. During practice I tried to find a place that wasn’t getting hammered, an out-of-the-way place. That place paid off as we caught a 3-pounder and a 4-ounder in that last hour of the tournament.”
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 teams at the 2015 Texas Team Trail Championship on Lake Palestine:
