Three-hundred-thirty-two boats launched out of the southern end of Lake Sam Rayburn. Two sacks were caught over 30 pounds.

Shawn O’Neal and Matt Bates were the first to bring in a big sack weighing just over 20 pounds, setting the mark to beat at 20.10 lbs. It didn’t take long at all before John Iles and Brian Shook brought in their catch weighing 31.92 lbs.

George Jeane Jr and Tater Reynolds weighed in soon after, first weighing their largest bass at 9.46 lbs, taking the big bass lead and temporarily holding a 2nd place overall position.

Harold Allen and Matt Loetscher heaved their catch to the scales. Challenging the Big Bass leaders, they put their biggest on the scales first. It weighed 9.15 lbs, just under the top weight. Putting the rest of their fish in the basket, the scale again went over 30 pounds for a total of 30.72 pounds.

Patty Lenderman for Bass Champs reports that Shook related that he and his partner a terrible practice, and didn’t find anything they could really focus on.

“We decided to just head out and just go fishing.” They started by looking for shallow grassy areas. “There really isn’t a lot of grass yet, and we didn’t catch anything in our first spot.”

Switching gears, they backed out into deeper water. “Our second area, we used a 6th Sense 500DD crank bait, and put about 15 pounds in the boat.”

Staying on the move, they switched again to a Carolina rigged Strike King Game Hog and caught their kicker, 7-1/2 lbs, plus another five pounder to add to their limit weight.  Staying in the mid lake area, focusing on deep brush piles 25-30’ deep, when the bite started again they were able to cull up to their final weight.

For full results and schedules, go to www.BassChamps.com or call 817-439-3274