2008 Tournament Summaries
| February 23 | Brandy Branch |
| March 29 | Cypress Springs |
| April 26 | Bob Sandlin |
| May 17 | Tawakoni |
| June 28 | Cedar Creek |
| September 13 | Lake O' the Pines |
| October 18 | Championship |
Brandy Branch: February 23, 2008
There's No Place Like Home - Brewer Wins 2008 Opener
Jimmy Brewer considers Brandy Branch his home lake and the Century Bass Club member proved just how good the lake can be under the right conditions. Fishing in his first Northeast Regional Qualifier and over coming any home lake jinks, Jimmy brought an impressive 21.77lb limit to the scales Saturday afternoon to best a field of 40 anglers. Jimmy's winning limit was anchored by the tournaments 1st place "Big Bass" which weighed 7.43lbs. Great Job and welcome to the Texas BASS Federation Nation!
In second place with a 21.34lb limit was Century Bass Club's Joey Deans. Lake Cities Anglers' Rick Carter finished the tournament with a 5 fish 17.57lb limit and the third spot. David Porter with Backwater Bass Club found 17.39lbs of Brandy Branch bass for a forth place finish and rounding out the top 5 was Denton County Bass Club's Ronnie Sims. Ronnie fought through trolling motor problems and was able to boat 5 fish weighing 17.34lbs.
The tournaments second place "Big Bass" was brought to the scales by Lake Citie's Bob Crump. Bob's lunker weighed 6.57lbs.
Over all the 40 NETBFN members brought 130 bass to the scales that weighed 390.89lbs, an average of 3.01lbs per bass.
Special thanks goes out to the Northeast Region's Tournament Director Brannon Long, Century members Joey Deans and Mike Dysput for all the work they did to make launch and weigh-in move very smoothly.
Cypress Springs: March 29, 2008
Allen Takes First At Cypress Springs
The Northeast Texas B.A.S.S. Federation Nation held it's second tournament on Lake Cypress Springs Saturday March 29th. Strong thunderstorms greeted the field as they arrived at the ramp actually delaying the start of the tournament by 30 minutes.
Backwater Bass Clubs Michael Allen fought through the early morning conditions and boated the tournaments best 5 fish limit weighing in 19.20lbs. Michael's limit was anchored by the tournaments 1st place "Big Bass" a very healthy 9.70 lunker.
David Nichols, also with Backwater Bass Club, loaded his Nitro Z9 with 5 fish that weighed a very respectable 17.93lbs and 2nd place. In the 3rd spot was Northeast Texas Anglers Ron Jones. Ron brought a 5 fish limit to the scales that weighed 15.03lbs. Ron's limit included the 2nd place "Big Bass" of the tournament which weighed 5.91lbs. Century Bass Club's Jon Harshbarger's 5 fish 14.20lb limit was good for a 4th place finish and Mike Hughs, also with Century, placed 5th with a 13.51lb limit.
Over all 38 regional members brought 134 bass to the scales that weighed 291.37lbs a 2.17lb average.
Bob Sandlin: April 26, 2008
Ghaffar Wins on Sandlin
The Northeast Texas Region held it’s third tournament of 2008 on Lake Bob Sandlin Saturday April 26th. The 33 angler field found the lake to be significantly different than what was experienced during last years visit. In 2007 the water was 10 feet low. This year the water was up in the shore line vegetation and brush seemingly scattering the fish to all depth levels.
Hameed Ghaffar, a long time member of the Texas B.A.S.S. Federation Nation and Century Bass Club, was able to figure out the Sandlin bite by weighing in 4 fish at 12.52lbs to claim his first win in 2008. Hameed also had the tournaments second place “Big Bass” which weighed in at 5.56lbs.
In second place was Northeast Texas Angler’s Mick Horton. Mick brought 5 bass to the scales that weighed 12.18lbs. Finishing in the third place spot was J.P. Duran. The Bassmasters of East Texas club member weighed in a 5 bass limit at 11.68lbs. Wayne Randall, fishing in his first regional tournament for 2008, brought 5 fish to the scales weighing 11.44lbs. The Denton County Bass Club member finished in the 4th spot. Also fishing with the Denton County Bass Club and rounding out the top 5 was Jose Ramos. Jose brought 3 fish to the scales that weighed 11.26lbs. and included the tournaments first place “Big Bass”. The DCBC President’s lunker weighed in at 5.72lbs.
Tawakoni: May 17, 2008
Hastings Take Tawakoni
The Northeast Region held it's 4th tournament of the 2008 Tournament Trail Saturday May 17th at a high and muddy Lake Tawakoni.
Dennis Hastings, our Assistant Director and Denton County Bass Club member, brought 4 bass to the scales that weighed 12.22lbs for the tournament win. Dennis' bag included the tournaments 1st place "Big Bass" which weighed 3.84lbs.
In second place was Century Bass Club member Rusty Owens. Rusty's 3 fish weighed in at 8.62lbs. Paul Starnes representing Denton County Bass Club finished in 3rd place with 3 fish that weighed 8.37lbs. Paul's non-boater for the day, Paul Jones, also had 3 fish that weighed 7.90lbs good enough for the 4th spot. Jones, a Century Bass Club member, also had the 2nd place "Big Bass" of the tournament that weighed in at 3.57lbs. Finishing in 5th was Century Bass Clubs Jon Harshbarger. Jon brough 2 fish to the scales that weighed 5.24lbs. Jon had everyones attention at the scales when he brought two weigh bags up claiming he had a huge fish. He did. Unfortunately, it was the wrong species. Seems while flipping Tawakoni's flooded brush Jon hooked into and landed a 19lb. catfish. The big, what looked like a Blue catfish, was released after everyone had a good look.
Cedar Creek: June 28, 2008
Conover Conquers Cedar Creek
The Northeast Texas Federation Nation held it's fifth tournament of the season June 28th at Cedar Creek. In past years the June Cedar Creek tournament has been known for numbers of legal size fish being caught and there is usually a monster in the mix. This year seems that only half of the usual came true.
Century Bass Clubs Randy Conover found the numbers needed to win his first NETBFN tournament of the 2008 season. Randy brought 5 fish to the scales that weighed 13.76lbs besting the 27 member field.
Mike Dysput, also with Century, had his best finish so far this season by bringing in a 5 fish limit good enough for second place. Mike's fish weighed in at 13.01lbs. In the third spot was NETBFN's very own Tournament Director and Century Bass Club member, Brannon Long. Brannon's 5 fish limit weighed in at 12.30lbs. Current AOY points leader and Century member Jimmy Brewer remained consistent with another top 5 finish. JImmy brought a 5 fish 11.92lb limit to the scales which was good for fourth place. Rounding out the top 5 was Lake Cities Anglers Carl Barrett. After making a very long, overnight drive from far south Texas Carl was able to locate and catch a 11.14 pound limit.
The first place "Big Bass", and monster mentioned earlier, was brought to the scales by Austin Pearson. The first year Century Bass Club member's lunker weighed in at 7.32lbs. The second "Big Bass" of the tournament weighed 5.27lbs and was brought in by Mark Calhoun with Century Bass Club.
Lake O' The Pines: September 13, 2008
Brewer Laps Field on LOP and Claims 2008 AOY Honors
Jimmy Brewer started the 2008 season with a huge win on Brandy Branch. Seems fitting that he would also win the final Championship Qualifier of the season and clinch the Angler of the Year title for 2008. The Century Bass Club member brought in a very impressive 22.14lb limit to the scales Saturday basically doubling to second place bag. Jimmy's limit was anchored by the tournaments "Big Bass" which weighed 6.81lbs.
Finishing in second was Mike Casanova. Mike, also with Century, brought 5 fish to the scales that weighed 11.62lbs. In the third spot was Red Oak Bass Club's Mark Lawrence. Mark brought two fish to the scales for 7.82lbs. The largest of his two fish claimed the second "Big Bass" pot and weighed 5.49lbs. Century Bass Club's Jon Harshbarger brought in 4 bass which weighed 6.72lbs good enough for a fourth place finish and AOY runner up. Rounding out the top 5 was Gary Martin also with Century. Gary brought in 2 fish that weighed 5.49lbs.
Championship Cedar Creek Lake: October 18, 2008
Harshbarger Wins 2008 Championship
The Northeast Texas Federation Nation held the 2008 Regional Championship October 18 th and 19 th on Cedar Creek Lake . Similar to the June Regional Qualifying event, Cedar Creek was stingy when it came to numbers of legal size bass. The 18 members that qualified for the championship reported catching a significant number of “short” fish and had to work to find quality.
Jon Harshbarger was able to locate and catch the quality needed to earn him the title of 2008 Regional Champion. At the end of day one the Century Bass Club member was sitting in 5 th place with 4 fish weighing 9.79lbs and 2.74lbs out of the lead. As the day two weigh-in progressed Jon's chances of catching the top 4 places seemed to improve.
Joey Deans led day one with 4 bass weighing 12.53lbs; however, on day two the Century Bass Club Tournament Director was only able to bring in 2 bass for 5.14lbs giving him a two day total of 17.67 and a fifth place finish. Century Bass Club's Mark Calhoun started day two in second place with 5 bass weighing 12.01lbs; but, he struggled on the second day as well with 1 bass weighing 1.99lbs. Mark finished the championship with a Top 6 finish with a total weight of 14.00lbs. Robert Hargrove, also with Century, went into day two sitting in the third place spot having weighed in 11.32lbs on day one. Day two wasn't as productive for Robert. He finished the championship with one additional bass which weighed 1.76lbs for a two day total of 13.08 and 7 th overall.
The Northeast Texas Federation Nation Regional Trail Angler of the Year, Jimmy Brewer, went into day two in the 4 th spot with 4 bass weighing 9.90lbs and was able to take over the day two lead with 4 bass weighing 9.07lbs for a two day total of 18.97lbs. Shortly after Jimmy took the lead Brannon Long, who started day two in 7 th place, weighed in the first limit of the day. Brannon's 5 bass 10.33lb limit helped him improve to a two day total of 18.88lbs and ultimately 4 th place overall.
After a brief slow down at the scales Mike Casanova checked in with a full weigh-in bag of Cedar Creek bass. The Century Bass Club member started day two seemingly out of contention with 3 bass weighing 6.42lbs; but, that changed dramatically as Mike loaded the weigh-in basket with 5 very healthy bass. When the basket settled on the scales Casanova had taken the lead from fellow Century member Jimmy Brewer, with a day two weight of 17.07lbs and a championship total of 8 bass weighing 23.49lbs. The largest bass of Mike's limit weighed 5.53lbs and took over the lead for the “Big Bass” pot. As impressive as Casanova's limit was it becomes more so when we remember that he accomplished it from the back of the boat both days.
As weigh-in continued Casanova held the lead as Jon Harshbarger began to pull his day two catch from his weigh-in bag. The first few fish were about average for what had been weighed in both days. The fourth bass was a little better quality and then the expression of Jon's face changed with the championship outcome to follow. The fifth bass pulled from Harshbarger's weigh-in bag was a genuine Cedar Creek giant that weighed 10.03lbs taking the “Big Bass” pot and anchoring a 5 bass 17.99lb limit that claimed the 2008 Championship with a two day total of 27.78lbs. The Championship win earns Jon a spot on the Texas Top 12 Team that will compete in the Central Division Qualifier on the road to the Bassmaster Classic.
Congratulations to everyone that qualified and participated in the Championship and thank you for your participation in the 2008 Northeast Texas Regional Trail.