The Florida B.A.S.S. Nation held its first Team Championship Tournament on Lake Okeechobee out of Okeechobee City September 19-20, 2015. The weekend started on Friday evening with 41 teams registering for the tournament. The anglers were provided with a barbeque dinner prepared by Tom Brown of Brown’s Real Pit Barbeque, followed by a brief welcome from the Okeechobee County Tourist Development Council and title sponsor of the event. The evening was capped off with approximately $3,500 worth of door prizes being given away to the anglers, which wouldn’t have been possible without the support from the following sponsors: Denali Rods, TA Mahoney’s of Tampa, FL, Boca Bearings, Zoom, Culprit, and Triton Alliance member Mercury.
Over the two day event, teams had no problem getting early limits of 2 pound fish but as each day would progress the bite would get tougher and tougher for most teams. After Day 1, the team of Fred George and Ray Trudeau of Bass Rattlers Association led the tournament with five fish that went 25.44 lbs. They also had the big fish of the day that went 8.14 lbs. On Day 2, several teams made a charge at George and Trudeau, including the team of Curtis Lewis and Steve Fairtrace, also of Bass Rattlers Association, who weighed in the second day’s heaviest sack of 23.01 pounds. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to take over the lead as George and Trudeau backed up their Day 1 weight with a weight of 22.81 pounds for a total weight of 48.25 pounds. Lewis and Fairtrace ended up in second with an overall weight of 44.43 pounds, and third place went to Steven Thames and Zach Weimer of Bassmasters of Gator Country with a weight of 36.99 pounds. The big bass on Day 2 was 6.73 pounds caught by John Barrow and Allen Wares of Lake County Bassmasters.
Full results can be found here.
Through this event, the top 3 teams will advance to the Bassmaster Team Championship Tournament being held on Lake Guntersville in December, as well as the top 4 teams earning an invitation to compete in the Florida State Team Championship being held on Lake Toho, April 8-10, 2016.
