FOM Big Bass Darbonne Open Results: Apr 7, 2012
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Fishers of Men Easter Big Bass Open Draws Large Crowd
Diverging from the traditional team trail format that is the hallmark of the Fishers of Men, the North Central Louisiana Division recently held its first annual Big Bass Open tournament on Saturday, April 7 on Lake D’Arbonne. A crowd of over 150 anglers, tournament staff, friends and family members started the Easter weekend with a Family Fun Night held Friday evening at the North Louisiana Exposition Center. In addition to activities for kids and adults alike, guests were treated to the music of the Bayou Crossing band followed by guest speaker Chris Wells. A native of South Carolina, Wells spends much of his time traveling with the BASS Elite Series Pros in his role as the chaplain of the Fellowship of Christian Anglers Society. The “BASS Chaplain”—as he’s come to be known—delivered a humorous, passionate and inspiring message to those in attendance. At the conclusion of the message, 12 participants made a profession of faith.
On Saturday morning, as the clock struck 6:30 a.m., the 81 anglers began their quest for the big bass of the day worth $3,000 or one of the three places to be paid out each hour. Anglers across the lake tuned in to Z-107.5 for updates throughout the day broadcast live from the weigh-in site at Ludwig Brothers Marine and then had to make the decision of whether to keep fishing for a bigger bite or hope the time spent weighing their fish would pay off.
Chad Pody, fishing with his daughter, was the first to take the lead for the day with his 3.31 pound bass that took first place in the 7:30-8:30 hour. Pody returned to the waters and his pattern of fishing a Carolina rig just off the channel and again found success with a 2.99 pounder that earned 2nd place in the 9:30-10:30 hour. 1st place for that hour went to Bobby Milner who—like Pody—completed the day with both a 1st and 2nd place finish. Milner’s winning pattern, which produced over a dozen fish, was pitching brushhogs and lizards around the shallow water stumps and trees.
The 10:30-11:30 hour brought with it a new big bass leader with Tom Stinson’s 5.36 pound bass that he caught using a junebug-colored, texas-rigged brushhog. Stinson had located a “honey hole” when, while practicing the day before the tournament, he landed a 9 ½ pound lunker. That one location also produced a 3.21 pound bass that earned Stinson first place for the 11:30-12:30 hour.
As the hours rolled on, anglers such as Jason Ledet continued to bring in their catch and vie for a portion of the $900 hourly payout. Ledet, who weighed a 2.70 pounder in the 12:30-1:30 hour, was knocked out of the payout with Mike Pirtle’s 3.38 pounder that took top honors for that period. Given that the tournament was down to the last hour, Ledet opted to spend the rest of the day in the vicinity of the weigh-in. After motoring around the corner and dropping his trolling motor down, the angler began to pitch a topwater frog around the grass-lined shoreline rocks. In an instant, the calm waters erupted as a 6.79 bass consumed the bait and Ledet set the hook in what would be the overall big bass of the day and the winner of the 1:30-2:30 hour (for a total payout of $3,500).
As Ledet was landing his monster bass, Daniel Taylor was also demonstrating his bass fishing prowess. While fishing a Carolina rig alongside a dock, Taylor landed a 2.84 pounder that took top honors for the Youth Division big bass of the day and earned the angler a $500 check. In total, nearly $10,000 in prizes were paid to the anglers over the course of the day. For a complete listing of the hourly tournament results, log on to www.fomntt.com.
The North Central Louisiana Division would like to thank our local sponsors that were instrumental in bringing the Big Bass Open to local anglers: Ludwig Brothers Marine; Z-107.5; Crawford Financial; Community Trust Bank; McKinney Honda; First National Bank; Ruston Glass & Mirror; Radian L. Hennigan, CPA; and, Southern Steel Fabricators. Special thanks to Ludwig Brothers Marine and Big Star of Farmerville who served as the Youth Division sponsors for the event.
The Fishers of Men would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the fine national sponsors that make Fishers of Men possible: Skeeter Boats; Yamaha Outboards; Stren; Pflueger; Strike King Lure Company; Nester Hosiery; Markel American Insurance; Marshall’s Marine; Power-Pole; Duckett Fishing; Buckeye Lures; Keelshield; Solar Bat; Jacobs Glass; Helly Hansen Workwear; and, Rejuvenade.
FINAL RESULTS:
OVERALL WINNER JASON LEDET 6.79 $3000 PLUS $500 for winning the hour for total winnings of $3500
7:30-8:30 1 Chad Pody - 3.31 $500
7:30-8:30 2 John Ross - 3.08 $250
7:30-8:30 3 Jason Crane - 3.05 $150
7:30-8:30 4 James Jones - 2.95 $-
7:30-8:30 5 Terry Morris - 2.29 $-
7:30-8:30 6 Tom McMillan - 2.24 $-
7:30-8:30 7 Josh Hinton - 1.93 $-
7:30-8:30 8 Kenny Harris - 1.47 $-
8:30-9:30 1 Jeremy Newsom - 3.47 $500
8:30-9:30 2 Walt Stevens - 2.84 $250
8:30-9:30 3 Andy Stinson - 2.55 $150
8:30-9:30 4 John Ross - 2.38 $-
8:30-9:30 5 Landon Wade - 2.26 $-
8:30-9:30 6 Kenny Harris - 1.67 $-
9:30-10:30 1 Bobby Milner - 3.15 $500
9:30-10:30 2 Chad Pody - 2.99 $250
9:30-10:30 3 Landon Wade - 2.89 $150
9:30-10:30 4 Jeremy Newsom - 2.78 $-
9:30-10:30 5 Trey Dye - 2.71 $-
9:30-10:30 6 Clint Stephenson - 2.38 $-
9:30-10:30 7 Jess Smith - 2.08 $-
9:30-10:30 8 Jason Ledet - 2.01 $-
10:30-11:30 1 Tom Stinson - 5.36 $500
10:30-11:30 2 Bobby Milner - 3.52 $250
10:30-11:30 3 Jason Crane - 2.76 $150
10:30-11:30 4 Chad Pody - 2.64 $-
10:30-11:30 5 Stacy Boggs - 2.46 $-
10:30-11:30 6 Clay Carpenter - 2.42 $-
11:30-12:30 1 Tom Stinson - 3.21 $500
11:30-12:30 2 Blake Eppinette - 3.05 $250
11:30-12:30 3 Scott Smith -2.97 $150
11:30-12:30 4 Troy Harrison - 2.18 $-
11:30-12:30 5 Kenny Harris - 1.76 $-
12:30-1:30 1 Mike Pirtle - 3.38 $500
12:30-1:30 2 Andy Stinson - 3.12 $250
12:30-1:30 3 Scott Smith - 2.84 $150
12:30-1:30 4 Jason Ledet - 2.70 $-
12:30-1:30 5 Jess Smith - 2.68 $-
12:30-1:30 6 Jeremy Newsom - 2.44 $-
12:30-1:30 7 Ryan Hanson - 2.42 $-
12:30-1:30 8 Jason Tucker - 2.35 $-
12:30-1:30 9 Trey Dye - 2.32 $-
12:30-1:30 10 Justin Ramsey - 2.30 $-
12:30-1:30 11 Terry Alvis - 2.26 $-
1:30-2:30 1 Jason Ledet - 6.79 $500
1:30-2:30 2 Nicky Barham - 3.79 $250
1:30-2:30 3 Scott Smith - 3.64 $150
1:30-2:30 4 Bobby Milner - 3.51 $-
1:30-2:30 5 Colby Duke - 3.09 $-
1:30-2:30 6 Tom Stinson - 2.98 $-
1:30-2:30 7 Daniel Taylor-YOUTH - 56 2.84 $500
1:30-2:30 8 Terry Alvis - 2.78 $-
1:30-2:30 9 Dale Taylor - 2.74 $-
1:30-2:30 10 Blake Everett-YOUTH - 1.22 $-
Total # of fish 54 151 Total Weight
2.80 Avg Weight
