The 2024 Southeast Region Club/Individual Division Trail made their third stop of the 2024 season, at Toledo Bend out of Lost Frontier RV Park & Marina in Hemphill, TX on Saturday, March 23, 2024, with 71 anglers competing. Due to projected high winds at take-off time this was designated a trailering tournament. According to dock talk the pre fishing had been pretty good in the weeks leading up to the tournament, however a weather change earlier in the week had kind of made things tougher and had anglers’ confidence all over the page.

At the end of the day Terry Reich with the Seven Coves Bass Club had bested the field by over a seven-pound margin. Terry brought five fish to the scales weighing in at 23.61 pounds, Terry’s bag was anchored by a beautiful Toledo Bend sow tipping the scales at 6.90, earning second big bass of the tournament. Due to the high winds Terry stated that he started close to the weigh-in and fished there until 9AM, once the winds died down, he made a move to a drain that was seven to eight foot deep with grass and fairly clear water leading to a spawning flat that was four to five deep. Terry felt like with the cooler weather that the fish may have backed off the flat and back into the drain. He targeted the drain with a Texas rigged Senko with 1/8-ounce weight pegged. He caught his five fish between 9:30AM and 12 noon. Terry gives credit to God for blessing him with a great day fishing. Terry states that he started his day with prayer and continued throughout the day and ended the day with a prayer of thanksgiving.

Terry Reich with the help of a friend shows off his winning stringer of 5 bass weighing in at 23.61 pounds.

Jody Rhoden with The Bass Club finished second with a five bass limit that weighed 16.26. Jody trailered North and was throwing a swim jig in shallow grass, the jig got hung up on top of the grass and 5.23 pounder bit it, this made Jody think that they may eat a frog, he switched to a frog and boated approximately 9 keepers before the sun came up and the bite went away. T

he Bass Club member Brian Jones finished third overall with a five bass limit tipping the scales at 13.04. Brian states that he targeted shallow sandy spots with a belly weighted watermelon fluke and a light Carolina rigged with a watermelon fluke also.

Clint Laskoskie with the Seven Coves Club had the Big Bass of the event with 8.41-pound sow. Clint said that he was going down a bank in 4 to 5 foot of water when he saw a big cruiser alongside of the boat when it disappeared he turned to see if it was on a bed he had passed up and sure enough it was, so he stopped and tied on a drop shot, first toss in the bed she swam off with off with it, but he missed her. Second cast in, she bit again and he hooked her, Chris states that after about sixty seconds of panic she was in the boat. Clint’s Big Bass also earned him a check for ninth place in the overall standings. Terry Reich with the Seven Coves Bass Club had the second Big Bass with a 6.90 pounder.

Clint Laskoskie shows off his 8.41-pound beauty that earned him Big Bass of the tournament and ninth place overall.

Thank you to the members of the assisting clubs as well as the Southeast Region Directors for their assistance in conducting a smooth tournament.

The Southeast Region next individual event is on Richland Chambers out of Oak Cove Marina, on April 6, 2024.

Written by: Robert Royal Southeast Region Secretary

The North Central Region held it’s 2024 tournament trail mid-season qualifiers on Lakes Belton and Stillhouse on March 23^rd and 24^th.  The weekend kicked off with dollar dink day on Lake Belton.  Water temps in the low to mid 60’s along with a full moon had the buck bass moving up in droves with the entire field having their fill of 13 ½ inch bass. However, when it came to keeper size fish, Lake Belton was having none of it and only produced 21 keeper size bass with an average weight of 1.04 lbs. per bass!!  

When the dink dust settled, Boater Malcolm Middlebrook, Centex Bass Hunters, weighed in 4 fish for 7.34 lbs. to take the top boater spot just edging out new boater Toby Tucker, Big Sandy Bass Club, who weighed a five fish limit for 7.11 pounds. 

On the Co-Angler side, newcomer Zac Stacy took first place weighing in a three fish limit for 4.79 lbs.  anchored by a GIANT 1.85 pounder big bass of the tournament and forcing the pre-tournament odds on favorite Co-Angler Joe Sciuto out of Big Sandy Bass Club to settle for second place weighing in two fish for 2.38 pounds!

On Sunday at Lake Stillhouse, despite the forecast of southerly winds sustained at 14-22 mph with gusts to 38 mph, the anglers were eager to turn the page on Belton and were hoping to move on to bigger and better fish.  The start of the day saw conditions that were fairly mild as the anglers spread out across the lake, but it didn’t take long for the wind to ramp up and the stronger gusts to appear and continue as the day progressed. Undeterred by the weather, the anglers’ hope of bigger fish came to fruition with all the anglers bringing fish to the scales and the weights shattering those of the day before. 

Once again and by the thinnest of margins, Malcolm Middlebrook took the top boater spot with a five fish limit of 16.65 lbs., a mere .02 lbs. more than the 16.63 lbs. brought to the scales by Justin Hallmark, Big Sandy Bass Club.  Justin did take the big bass honors however with a nice 4.89 lb. fish. 

And with rookie co angler Zac Stacy (5.15 lbs.) again edging out Joe Sciuto (4.66 lbs.), he completed the sweep and he and Malcolm finished out the weekend undefeated.  Congratulations to Malcolm and Zac.

          The North Central Region will finish up the season after the Allstar Break (The State Championship on Cedar Creek April 12-13), on May 4^th and 5^th on Lakes Amon Carter and Ray Roberts.  The AOY race for both boater and coangler is still up for grabs and will come down to the wire.  The qualifiers are open to all Texas Bass Nation anglers from all five regions, so register and join in on the fun.

          Now, for all you nation anglers who are “boasting” that, after seeing the results for lake Belton, you would have “crushed ‘em”, “wacked ‘em”, and/or “kicked their bass”, I invite you to register for one or more of our qualifying tournaments and come out and show us how it’s done!  See you on the water!

Stephen Farrar
North Central Region Director
Club Division
Texas BASS Nation