Lone fish enough for Guillory to grab Sam Rayburn co-angler win

Local’s massive day-three sack propels him to hometown win in Stren Central event

JASPER, Texas – Local angler Bill Guillory of Jasper, Texas, isn’t much of a middle man – he’s hot or he’s not. As Saturday’s temperature finally warmed on Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Guillory’s bite cooled dramatically. But his day-three limit, weighing 22 pounds, 5 ounces, was so scorching that he only needed a puny 1-pounder today to earn his first Stren Series Co-angler Division win.

This is a pattern that repeated itself over the four-day Central Division event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. Guillory caught a staggering 21-2 sack on day one to handily lead the division only to zero on day two. His amazing weight from Friday, the second-heaviest limit of the entire tournament in either division, was then followed by his one-fish, 1-pound weight today. But his two-day total of 23-5 was still enough for the win and to earn Guillory $5,000 plus a Ranger 519VX boat.

“There was two patterns all week: a spinnerbait on day one and a Carolina rig on day three,” Guillory said, adding that the spinnerbait is made by a local bait company named Mr. Blitz and that he used Zoom plastic with his Carolina rig. He then joked, “I had a problem on day two: I didn’t catch any.”

Guillory still had plenty of weight to make the initial top-20 cut and more than enough to make yesterday’s top-10 cut, but his low weight today had him sweating until the very end of the weigh-in when he beat out Rodney Dotson of Silsbee, Texas, by almost 2 pounds.

Dotson reverses fortune for runner-up honors

Dotson was the only co-angler to catch a limit today, and a fine limit it was, weighing 16 pounds, 14 ounces to give him a two-day total of 21-7. Dotson caught his fish Saturday on a fluke and won $4,000.

Interestingly, Dotson entered today’s finals in 10th, or last, place. So his partner was pro David Cochran of Royal, Ark., also in 10th, and both men had meteoric rises to end the tournament as runners-up in their respective divisions.

“Today we just went out and went fishing,” Dotson said. “We just had so much ground to gain.”

Clearly the “just went fishing” method paid off for them.

Sam Rayburn master co-angler places third

Local Jasper, Texas, co-angler Bill Rogers fished his way to another third-place finish in FLW Outdoors competition this year on his home waters. Today’s $3,480 finish in the Stren Central event follows his third-place finish in the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail event on Sam Rayburn earlier this month. Rogers caught three bass today that weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces for a two-day total of 19-6.

When the weigh-master commented that he was off to a great year in 2006, Rogers replied, “I had a better year last year.”

Though the comment got a laugh, Rogers was sincere; he earned an astonishing seven top-10s last year from the back of the boat across the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the Stren Series and the TTT, including one on Sam Rayburn. The Jasper master of Ram Rayburn has also earned another Stren Central top-10 on his home waters (2003) and a BFL win here (2001).

Making a strong showing as a Stren Central rookie was Phillip Hudnall of Newkirk, Okla., who came in fourth with a final-round total of 19 pounds, 4 ounces worth $2,480. Hudnall caught four bass today weighing 9-5.

Coming in fifth was Tom Medlock of Licking, Mo., who added a 1-10 bass Saturday to his two-day total for 17-7. He earned $1,980.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers in the finals of the Stren Central event on Sam Rayburn:

6th: Thomas Szwankowski of Hope, Ark., two-day total of 12-11, $1,880

7th: Brian Branum of Longview, Texas, 12-3, $1,780

8th: Michael Herron of Paris, Texas, 10-1, $1,680

9th: Gilbert Herald of Pittsburg, Texas, 9-15, $1,580

10th: Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., 8-12, $1,480

Stren Central action resumes April 26-29 when the series visits Lake Texoma at Denison, Texas.