Truax tallies top spot in Texas Tournament Trail Championship
Anderson vaults atop co-angler leaderboard on Lake Ray Hubbard
ROCKWALL, Texas – In retrospect, most anglers would probably agree that the opening day of the 2003 Texas Tournament Trail Championship was not at all what they had expected. After practicing in windy conditions for the past week or so, anglers suddenly found themselves facing bluebird skies and virtually no wind early this morning – a fact that left most of the field desperately scrambling to locate new patterns. Today’s final results only seemed to underscore that point. Out of the 102 pros and co-anglers, only eight anglers managed to net a five-fish limit.
Remarkably, David Truax of Beaumont, Texas, bucked the odds despite his own struggles. Although Truax had difficulty with the calm conditions as well – only managing a four-fish catch in the process – his 16-pound, 3-ounce stringer was still good enough to take the overall lead in the Pro Division.
“Considering everything that happened today, it feels pretty good to be in first place,” said Truax. “I really wished that I had caught that fifth fish, but my pattern was not a very good calm-day pattern, so I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out. I really felt like if the wind had picked up, I would have done a lot better. But then again, if the wind picks up, I think a lot of the guys will do a lot better.”
Truax, who is primarily throwing crankbaits, said that he has some definite concerns heading into tomorrow’s pro finals.
“For starters, my boat is going to be one of the last boats scheduled to leave the marina tomorrow. And I think by the time I get to my spot, there will be a lot of people already there,” he said. “I have about four or five backup spots, but you just never know how things will turn out. I also don’t have a very big lead, so I’m really going to have to catch them tomorrow. We’ll just have to see what happens.”
Other than hoping for a windy day, Truax said he’s not going to do anything different in tomorrow’s competition.
“The pattern I’m using is really the only pattern that has gotten me quality bites,” he said. “So I’m not going to change anything tomorrow. I just hope that wind picks up a little bit.”
And what would it mean to come out on top in the finals?
“It would really mean a lot to me,” said Truax. “Fishing is all I do now. And that $70,000 first-place prize sure would be nice.”
Second place in the Pro Division belonged to Landan Ware of Jewett, Texas, with a catch of 13 pounds, 10 ounces. Meanwhile, David Curtis of Trinity, Texas, grabbed third place overall with a catch of 12 pounds, 6 ounces.
Robert Collett of Zapata, Texas, and Keith Combs of Nolanville, Texas, finished the day tied for fourth place with identical catches weighing 11 pounds, 12 ounces.
Best of the rest
Rounding out the top 10 pro anglers were Greg Christian (sixth) of Azle, Texas, with a catch of 11 pounds, 6 ounces; Bill Rule (seventh) of Bryan, Texas, with a catch of 11 pounds, 4 ounces; Dale Witt (eighth) of New Braunfels, Texas, with a catch of 11 pounds, 3 ounces; Randy Qualls (ninth) of Streetman, Texas, with a catch of 10 pounds, 9 ounces; and Randy Millender (10th) of Teague, Texas, with a catch of 10 pounds, 5 ounces.
Chris Wilkerson of Livingston, Texas, captured the day’s big-bass award after hauling in a healthy 6-pound, 9-ounce largemouth. Wilkerson was in 15th place heading into tomorrow’s finals.
Anderson dominates co-angler competition in opening round
Using an impressive catch of 14 pounds, 4 ounces, Charlie Anderson of Marble Falls, Texas, not only outfished 50 of the 51 pro anglers in the tournament after the first day of competition, but he also managed to net the top spot in the Co-angler Division and take a commanding lead heading into tomorrow’s finals. And amazingly enough, he did it all without ever having set eyes on Lake Ray Hubbard until early this morning.
“It feels great,” said Anderson, after landing the bass-fishing equivalent of the pole position heading into tomorrow’s finals. “This is the first day I’ve ever fished on this lake, and, to tell you the truth, I wasn’t expecting to do this well. Basically, I just looked at this tournament as another fishing trip. I wasn’t stressed out at all. I didn’t even expect to catch anything today.”
Anderson said that he used a Baby Brush Hog on 8-pound-test line to land the only five-fish stringer recorded in the Co-angler Division all afternoon.
“I just had a really good day. I had my limit by 9:30 a.m.,” said Anderson. “I also caught all of my fish on the same bait. But I think the key was using lighter line. All of the guys who were using 17-pound line weren’t catching anything.”
Although Anderson admitted that he took a rather carefree attitude into the tournament, he said today’s events have definitely changed his perspective heading into tomorrow’s finals.
“I’m definitely going to be fishing a lot harder tomorrow,” said Anderson. “I missed at least two fish today because I wasn’t paying attention. And I’m not going to let that happen again. I’m going to attack this lake tomorrow.”
Anderson, who retired from the Houston Fire Department after 23 years of service, said that he couldn’t be having more fun.
“It’s great to be in first place,” he said. “But I’ve also had a lot of fun just meeting new people. I’ve made a ton of new friends here already. Winning all of that money and a new boat would definitely be nice tomorrow. But I’ll tell you what, I want that (first-place) belt buckle more than anything else.”
Best of the rest
Rick Turner of Tyler, Texas, used a 10-pound, 15-ounce stringer to grab second place overall in the Co-angler Division.
Gene Pegoda of Huntsville, Texas, registered a 9-pound, 3-ounce catch to finish the day in third place, while Armil Morgan of Mineral Springs, Ark., grabbed fourth place with a total catch of 9 pound, 2 ounces.
Co-angler Joe Cooper of Smithville, Texas, netted fifth place after landing a total catch weighing 8 pounds.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were Richard Strother (sixth) of Tyler, Texas, with a catch of 7 pounds, 13 ounces; Richard Hooter (seventh) of Natchitoches, La., with a catch of 7 pounds, 4 ounces; Drew Rickman (eighth) of Martindale, Texas, with a catch of 6 pounds, 8 ounces; Gary Wendeborn (ninth) of Gatesville, Texas, with a catch of 6 pounds, 1 ounce; and Jason Barton (10th) of McGregor, Texas, with a catch of 5 pounds, 14 ounces.
Tomorrow’s final championship takeoff is scheduled to take place at 7:15 a.m. at Chandler’s Landing Marina, located at One Harbor View in Rockwall, Texas.
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