Bassmaster Elite 50 tournament slated for Lewisville Lake

The top professional bass anglers will take to the waters of Lewisville Lake this summer as the Bassmaster Elite 50 tournament series makes its first stop in the North Texas area. The event will be held June 1-4 and is being coordinated locally by the Lewisville Visitors Bureau and the City of Lewisville.

�We are thrilled to welcome the world�s top anglers and their fans to Lewisville Lake,� said Lewisville Mayor Gene Carey. �This is a terrific opportunity for people to come out with their families and have a great time, and for television viewers all over the world to admire the beauty of our lake.�

Tournament highlights will be broadcast June 11, from 10 to 11 a.m., and again June 18, from 10 to 11 a.m., on ESPN2. A full telecast schedule is provided below.

The Bassmaster Elite 50 tournament format brings a select field to a four-day �showdown� competition. After the second day, the top 12 anglers will be separated from the field. That group will be cut in half to form the final group of six anglers competing on the last day of the event. The field will share a $400,000 purse, with $100,000 being awarded to the event winner.

To qualify for the field, equal to about one-third the size of the full Tour�s, anglers must make it under the wire of very stringent criteria. The Elite 50 field is composed of 2004 Bassmaster Classic champion Takahiro Omori, the reigning Bassmaster Angler of the Year and Toyota Rookie of the Year, the top 20 active anglers on the all-time BASS money list, and the 27 anglers with the best cumulative point totals during the past three Tour seasons.

Tour sponsors include CITGO Petroleum, Toyota, Busch Beer, Purolator, Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Berkley, Lowrance Electronics, MotorGuide, Bass Pro Shops and Cialis (tadalafil).

Although Lake Lewisville has been the site of other fishing tournaments in the past, this will be the first time a BASS event has been held there. The most recent BASS event in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was in 1996, when a Bassmaster Megabucks Tournament was held at Richland Chambers Reservoir near Corsicana and at White Rock Lake in Dallas.

The Bassmaster Elite 50 tournament will be based at the city�s Lewisville Lake Park, with boat launches at 10 a.m. each day from Sneaky Pete�s Marina and weigh-ins each evening at Eagle Point in the park. The Bassmaster Outdoor Expo will be held at Eagle Point on Friday and Saturday, and a county fair and carnival will be held in conjunction with tournament events. Friday and Saturday evenings will end with fireworks shows over the lake.

Lewisville Lake is located 15 minutes north of downtown Dallas along Interstate 35E. Created in 1954 on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, the lake covers nearly 30,000 acres of surface area and reaches depths of up to 67 feet. Lewisville Lake is rated as �excellent� by Texas Parks & Wildlife for catfish, crappie and white bass, and �good� for largemouth bass and striped/hybrid bass.

Lake Park is situated on 350 acres of land leased by the city from the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Park features include overnight and day camping sites, picnic areas, swimming beaches, playgrounds and a state-rated disc golf course. Visitors to Lake Park from Interstate 35E will use the Valley Ridge exit east to Mill Street, then north on Mill to the park entrance.

BASS is the world�s largest fishing organization, sanctioning more than 20,000 tournaments worldwide through its Federation. The CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite 50 series, is the oldest and most prestigious pro bass fishing tournament circuit.

For event information, please call (972) 219-EVENT or visit http://www.cityoflewisville.com or http://www.visitlewisville.com.

2005 Bassmaster Elite 50 tournament schedule:
Stop 1 April 20-23 Smith Lake, Jasper, Ala.
Stop 2 May 18-21 Lake Dardanelle, Russellville, Ark.
Stop 3 June 1-4 Lewisville Lake, Lewisville, Texas
Stop 4 June 15-18 Lake Wissota, Chippewa Falls, Wisc.

ESPN2 broadcast schedule:
Saturday June 11 10 a.m.
Monday June 13 noon
Friday June 17 6 a.m.
Saturday June 18 10 a.m.
Tuesday June 21 5 p.m.
Friday June 24 6 a.m.

Once these guys start the tournament and see all of the morons in thier speedboats flying around the lake while these guys try to fish, they will think twice about coming back next year!! They need to take this tournament to Fork, Cedar Creek, or Tawakoni. NOT Looserville!

Will they want the pictures of all the trash
that the bank fisherpeople leave?

I am happy they are fishing lewisville, Its my home lake, I like the lake and think it is a pretty good bass lake, better than many others I have fished anyway. It will be interesting to see where these guys catch their bass. I used to live in Tulsa, and last year they had a tournement on Keystone lake, similar to Lewisvile, muddy and no grass, and tons of pleasure boaters. Those bassmasters did great on that lake. I would not be surprised if one of them gets a lake record, especially spotted bass, I think I beat the spotted bass record a few times on lewisvilee but did not know that the record was only 2 lbs at the time I caught them. This is a great deal!, Fork would have been fun, with some monster bass, and especially if a pro weighs in a legal 3 inch long bass he snagged. But for me I live on the lake and fish it every week so bring em on!

i was @ lewisville today we caught 65 sandies and a 19 inh hybrid but i agree those bass boat drivers are complete idiots. they fligh through where you try to fish and kick up huge waves!!!

i was @ lewisville today we caught 65 sandies and a 19 inh hybrid but i agree those bass boat drivers are complete idiots. they fligh through where you try to fish and kick up huge waves!!! oops hit it twice

I just saw a lucky Craft Boat and Truck on the way to work. I think it was Skeet Reese.

I would be surprised if you saw Skeet Reese yesterday morning anywhere in North Texas. The Elite 50 series kicks off tomorrow on Smith Lake in Alabama and I would assume that any of the competitors fishing that event would be prefishing yesterday and today. But, who knows...

The first official day of practice for the Lewisville LAke event is Sunday, May 29. Most of the anglers will be on the water that day because this is the first time BASS has visited Lewisville. Practice also is scheduled for that Monday and Tuesday, May 30-31.

It was friday actually, so I did not really "just see it". Whoever it was took the garden ridge exit about 6:30am heading south. It was decked out fully painted with Lucky Craft all over the truck and boat. I was trying to see if I could read a name on it, as I passed it but I could not find a name. I am pretty sure it was a Skeeter. It was definately a pro staffers rig. Maybe it was someone else driving the rig down here.

I can only imagine the looks on those guys faces after prefishing Sunday and Monday (Memorial Day weekend/holiday). Between the crazy folks, drunks, and of course, the "eye candy" they will probably have some interesting opinions about the lake and it's inhabitants. I will defer until Tuesday through Friday, then I plan on being there.

By the way, PipperBBS, I wasn't trying to doubt who or what you saw, just the timing. If it was a Lucky Craft rig, it was no doubt a Skeeter boat.

Scott, its cool, my bad. I hope they dont have dropping water levels like our last basschamps tournament.

Lake O Pines or Richland Chambers would have been a much better selection.

Texas' most dangerous lake following a summer time holiday weekend, Failed Bit warning!!!

If Texas BASS Federation wasn't a joke, they would lobby Austin for slot waviers for Fork or Roberts.

That's a little harsh, isn't it? Besides, last I checked, the Texas BASS Federation wasn't putting on the E50 - the corporate (or National BASS) side of things is in charge of that.

Don't think it was skeet reese, his rig is a champion. Maybe Kelly Jordan or Mike Auten.