Patrick Starnes & Bobby Peek did a fantastic job of coming from behind to win the Inaugural Texas Pro/Am Tournament on Falcon!!! There were 36 entries making 18 teams fish this first ever event.

All the anglers registered at the Zapata County Pavilion on Friday, enjoyed a great meal of guisado, rice, beans, and tortillas with ice tea to wash it down. "Paco" Mendoza and the Zapata Chamber of Commerce really rolled out the red carpet, even if we didn't hit a hundred teams. Thank you Zapata!!!

Launch on Saturday and Sunday was smooth; everyone gone before sunrise! Weigh-in was at 3:00 pm each day plus we had the treatment tanks ready early for the fish that needed to come in early. This was all done courtesy of The Angler's Lodge owner, Carl Wengenroth from Lake Amistad. James Buedele, owner of Falcon Lake Tackle, was even up to his elbows "fizzing" fish! The U.S. Border Patrol brought some of their "Explorer" recruits down to assist with weigh-in; they really did a great job!

The big fish on Saturday weighed 9.48 lbs. and then on Sunday we saw the real star of the show courtesy of Dean Alexander & Wade Hobaugh with a monsterous 12.10 lbs. bug-eyed "TOAD" taking Big Bass for the tournament!!

WE had a great time; the Pros/Boaters were outstanding mentors and the Co-Anglers were grinning from ear to ear at the opportunity to fish with some of the best anglers in Texas on one of the best big bass lakes in Texas.

Here is how it all shook out at the end:

Name Big Bass Saturday Sunday Total
Bobby Peek/Patrick Starnes 9.48 23.09 26.56 49.65
Darrell Denton/Charlie Haralson 7.29 20.56 21.08 41.64
Jason Golihar/Tim Griffin 8.71 24.03 16.58 40.61
Burt Briggs/Wayne Orender Jr. 17.62 22.68 40.30
Gene Glenn/Ram Reyes 8.51 16.48 21.94 38.42
Bryan Robinson/Richard Cremo 6.75 16.72 19.52 36.24
Jorge Cabasos/Ira Lynn 17.40 17.87 35.27
Michael Johnson/Michael Bauer 7.87 19.28 13.13 32.41
Wade Hobaugh/Dean Alexander 12.10 8.84 22.34 31.18
Ron Morlock/Tony Gutierrez 7.93 19.64 8.92 28.56
Sandy Vela/Nicholas Muller 13.77 14.76 28.53
Gus Escobar/Ralph Coggin 11.66 16.78 28.44
Glenn Hahn/Darrell Garza 14.29 13.98 28.27
Kandy Haralson/Byron Albrecht 12.76 12.92 25.68
Randy Glenn/Gary Kaehler 8.41 9.73 18.14
William Huntington/Bubba Haralson 17.56 0.00 17.56
Ralph Celedon/Dustin Taylor 14.74 0.00 14.74
Bob Spann/Scott Barnett 0.00 0.00 0.00


We want to do this tournament again next year! Amistad was suggested for the 2nd event in 2012, now we just need some good date suggestions.... hint, hint....?

Thanks to everyone who contributed and commented on this event. Your input helped put it all together.
John Watts
C.A.S.T.

I think if your goal is to draw the top 100 anglers in Texas pick a lake that 15 of the people who made the list don't guide on. The majorty of the guys on the original list want to fish for big payouts. Take it to a lake that evens the playing field and get some big financial support from some sponsors and I think you will have a very successful event. Great idea just hard for a guy in Dallas to justify a drive of 8 hrs plus and fish against local guides.

Im intrigued to see which "pro" drove the farthest to attend this event.

Wow! Look at those weights for a 3 fish limit! Incredible to say the least! I am in for next year!

You are not fishing against the guides, you are fishing WITH them. Each "Pro" was paired with an "amateur" by random draw. You get to fish with some of the best fisherman in Texas for $150 for two days. You can't even get a one day guided trip on that lake for that much! Also, a local guide did not even win it, so there you go. I think it was an awesome idea and I wish I could have been there, maybe next year.

What was the payout?

If you are on the pro side you are fishing against guides. When they didn't have enough pro interest they opened it up to the public. Out of the resultsmaybe 5 of the pros on there made the initial list.

We did a 90% payout based on the number of entries. So, with just 18 boats:

1st Place paid - $2340.00
2nd Place paid - $1404.00
3rd Place paid - $936.00
Big Bass paid - $180.00

If we would have had 100 boats first place would have paid $10,000.00 down thru 20 places!!!

I agree with skeeter250 completely. Go someplace where it is a more level playing field and lets get a true test of who is the best.You could even go out of state for something and have it still be the best of the best from Texas and have it a true Championship. I think it is a great concept and I think everyone who was nominated for the Top 100 felt it was quite an honor. I also noticed that there was very few from the original list that actually fished the event. Timing, travel and other commitments probably played a major factor in only having 18 boaters as well. FLW Everstart championship, TTBC and the Bass Cat tourney did not help.

Can't please everyone. The idea was a public vote of the Top 100 (non-touring) Pros in Texas. The names were derived from a public poll. Pick any decent lake to hold a tourney on in Texas, and you're going to be fishing against guides. Best lakes have lots of non-touring pro locals and guides who also happen to be excellent tournament anglers. Just a fact of life.

Let's see, the winner is not a guide. Charlie Haralson is no longer guiding. Bubba Haralson doesn't guide. Kandy Haralson doesn't guide. I'm confused. Besides, you're fishing against the fish, not the "guides"

I think it was a cool idea, and I think the low interest from the originals voted in are because with fall comes championships. Its just simple math, most of the guys on the list are going to be fishing or pre-fishing for championship tournaments (Bass Champs and BLT) that are paying guaranteed money or a boat. It's kind of a no brainer, you're going to fish the tournament that pays the most.

In addition to the guide thing mentioned above, I would venture to guess that 80% of the original guys voted in probably don't care what lake or who they fish against, guides, pros, home lakes, etc... starts to make less of a difference the longer you fish tournaments. I think it was more of a scheduling and payout issue as opposed to fishing against guides and the lake.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So was there only 18 teams?

I think there is something here to build on.
Make it where the boater-pro gets 60% and the non-boater gets 40% and the entry follows the same guide line.The boater has to have more money. They are the ones that pull the boats,.,2-8hrs and will be the ones pre-fishing.
And open it up to whoever wants to fish.
Or model it after the U.S. open. They fish out there in the heat of the summer. Why couldn't you do that down there?

October is when all the championships are and most of us that play are commited to other trails.

I know I had a great time and certainly look forward to the next event. Thank you to all that helped put this event on.

+1. I'd say 70% cash for the boater. To tell you the truth that was the main reason why I did not participate. It's not worth it for me to haul the boat, reveal every one of my best spots, and prefish for a 50/50 split.