The Sportsman's Bass Club of Southwest Louisiana held our Open Team Night Tournament on July 23rd out of Big Bass Marina on Toledo Bend. 74 teams competed in the 7pm - 7am event. Toledo Bend was really living up to her name as the #1 bass lake in the country! Winners were:

1st place - Miles McDaniel / Brian Martin - 30.79 lbs
2nd place - Trey Brown / Trent Pharis - 30.78 lbs
3rd place - Joe Storozyszyn / Kevin Slaydon - 28.82 lbs
4th place - Clint Mayo / David Grover - 24.93 lbs
5th place - Charles Andre / Daniel Davis - 23.99 lbs
6th place - Aaron Bertrand / John Hester - 22.46 lbs
7th place - Tommy Rascoe / Alton Powell - 21.72 lbs
8th place - Ryan Borel / Dustin Nash - 21.63 lbs
9th place - Chance Bass / Doug Dowden - 21.56 lbs

1st place Big Bass - Trey Brown / Trent Pharis - 8.16 lbs
2nd place Big Bass - Miles McDaniel / Brian Martin - 7.62 lbs

The Sportsman's Bass Club would like to thank all of the sponsors who help make this event possible. Proceeds from the tournament will be used to award cash scholarships to local graduating seniors in May 2017.


1st place - Miles McDaniel / Brian Martin - 30.79 lbs


2nd place - Trey Brown / Trent Pharis - 30.78 lbs


3rd place - Joe Storozyszyn / Kevin Slaydon - 28.82 lbs


4th place - Clint Mayo / David Grover - 24.93 lbs


5th place - Charles Andre / Daniel Davis - 23.99 lbs


6th place - Aaron Bertrand / John Hester - 22.46 lbs


7th place - Tommy Rascoe / Alton Powell - 21.72 lbs


8th place - Ryan Borel / Dustin Nash - 21.63 lbs


9th place - Chance Bass / Doug Dowden - 21.56 lbs




Top 25 results

dang those are some nice looking bass. thanks for the pics...

Nice turnout and good fishing but hated to see all the dead bass.

Night fishing was obviously better than the day time bite on Saturday.

BLM. Bass Lives Matter!

Seriously, I do everything in my power to keep my fish alive and as energetic as possible. I haven't weighed a dead fish, either in a team event or in a bass club tournament, in at least the last six years. I've fished over 85 club tournaments and 35 Fishers of Men tournaments in that time. I/we take fish care very seriously. I/we use ice and livewell additives, plus run the aerators continuously. There's never more than 30 minutes goes by without me or my partner checking to see how our fish are doing.

Still...they are just fish. I hate when one of them dies, either at my hand or anyone else's, but I'm not going to write an obituary or have a funeral when it happens. I get irritated with people who keep their fish out of the water for minutes at a time, either at a weigh in or to take pictures, but I don't consider them fish murderers.

100% of fish that go in the grease die and no one is going to propose that fishing for food be banned in the warm weather months or anytime else. If I catch a fish, keep it in cool, circulating water, and release it into the water after I weigh it she has a lot better chance of survival than if I filleted her.

Its not that complicated. I saw a bunch of dead ones at ray roberts. We caught fish deep and they al swam off just find but we actually had to put effort into fish care. It cost us all of 5 minutes. This is what we do every time we have a small or big tournament in the summer and it works like a charm.

1. Fresh water from main lake. Not boat ramp. Cool down with frozen bottles of water or ice itself until you bring the temperature somewhere into the 70s.
2. Flip clips- We dont fizz bass immediately when they start floating. We put clips on their anal fins that allow them to be upright. 9 time out of 10 by the time the tournament is over they have equalled themselves out normally and do not need to be fizzed.
3. Please Release me. Atleast 3 or 4 capfuls until the water gets almost soapy. It makes them super relaxed.


With these 3 things YES it takes a little time out of our night but I can assure you our delayed mortality is probably very minimal. Surface temps at ray roberts yesterday were 91.5 degrees and people are wondering why they are killing fish.

X 2

I would agree with that. Compare the Ram Open Results
Total Participants:
107
Ave. Fish / Participant:
1
Fish Weighed:
192
Fish Released:
166
86%
Ave. Weight / Fish:
2.88
Ave. Weight / Participant:
5.17

X 3, I would have liked to see the organizer of the tournament instruct the anglers who lost fish how to keep take care of their fish for future tournaments. There were too many who didn't lose fish to blame it on the heat. They shouldn't have allowed dead fish to be weighed plus a 12 hour tournament doesn't make sense this time of year. Like the previous posters said it's not that hard.

We had 155 fish weighed, with 132 released back into the lake (85%).

In competition this time of year, it's paramount to practice best methods known to work.. The above is it.. I used block ice when I could find it, a little floating temp gauge and 4-6 oz Hydrogen Peroxide, please release me..
Man, to lose, or not tie over a 100th of an oz.... a drop of water..OUCH

If you guys using ice and cooling your water 10 degrees don't slowly temper those cool fish when you release them every one of them will swim away and die.
Keeping them cool gets them to the weigh in feeling good but releasing them cold puts them in shock.
Ask fishbreeder on here. You have to temper fish back to the water temp slowly.
I'm not saying you are wrong using ice, I do also. But it takes about 10 minutes to correctly temper the fish back to lake temps.

Don't know that 85% is acceptable Brian, not with the improvements in boats live wells and the availability of products to cool and treat the water. I guarantee you the anglers had plenty of refreshments to keep them hydrated during a 12 hr. tournament. There are circumstances that may be unavoidable, a fish swallows a hook or just may be in bad health to start with, but the top three teams with the largest bass weight had 0 losses. Two teams lost 3 of their 5. That is unacceptable under any conditions. At the least, a memo should be sent to those teams who lost fish to be better prepared and educated on how to care for their catch. If you are offended by this I apologize, I only mean well and I think as competitive anglers we are obligated to care for the sport and it's resources.

Yep, all you guys saying cool your water off are killing just as many as who don't, just not during the tournament. Ask any biologist and your not supposed to cool more than around 5-10 at most.