The Texas B.A.S.S. Nation – Southeast Region held its first Region Qualifier of 2021 on January 23rd.  The tournament was held on Lake Conroe out of Stow-A-Way Marina.  Water levels had risen 1.75 ft since Christmas, so the lake fished at higher levels than in months.  The week of the event the stable conditions and mild 50’s to 60’s degree temperatures held consistent through tournament day, not normal for a January SE Region tournament.  However, practice results indicated that it would be a tough tournament with many under 16″ Conroe bass.

Tournament day produced in Lake Conroe winter fashion; slow, cold, and frost-bit.  Six anglers managed to find some hard-earned limits, while 57 out of 119 of the angler field were not able to weigh a keeper.  Houston Bass Bandits angler Jason Slot managed to find his limit with 20.92 pounds, anchored by a nice 5.46 Conroe bass.  Jason put in his hard work on Lake Conroe spending over 40+ hours on the lake in his Basscat/Mercury rig, utilizing most of his time with his electronics.  Jason said recent time with Mason’s Sonar Services helped him.  “I didn’t know how many fish I had been idling past without knowing.  By Friday (in practice) I this knowledge helped me narrow it down to seven spots on tournament day.  After losing a 6+ and a 4+, I realized they were not eating my crankbait very well.  I changed crankbaits and on the third cast had a 2.25.”  After no other results Slot left to “rest those fish” to land a 5.45 with a 6^th Sense Cloud 9 adding a 5.4 pounder.  “At 9:30 I rotated my other spots that did not have another close nearby with a crankbait.  After realizing they were not feeding aggressively I backed off as far as possible, and landed with a 5.4.  At mid-day I abandoned the tough deeper bite in search of my limit.  After a day of a rollercoaster of emotions, I managed to just edge the win for my first Texas B.A.S.S. Nation Southeast tournament, and win”.

The second place earner, The Bass Club’s Shane Howell had a great 20.11 limit, followed in third with The Bass Club Brian Jones with 15.00.  In fourth place was The Bass Club Eric Adams with a 5 fish limit of 14.96 and in fifth, The Bass Club Mark Goetzman with 13.38.  Vidor Bass Anglers Association anger Dillion Y’Barbo had Big Bass honors with a 6.92 toad, followed by Seven Coves Bass Club anger Howard DeJean with 2nd place BB of 6.88.

Thank you to the Seven Coves Bass Club and The BASS Club for assisting at this event, and to all the anglers as the amount of organization, patience, and preparation at launch was evident as it was again a smooth launch.

Special thanks to sponsor partners 13 Fishing, Fish Monkey, Seauar, Impulse Rods, Swagger Tungsten, & Jordan Marine. Special thank you for the hospitality to Stow-A-Way Marina & RV Park, and North Lake Grill.

The next event will be held on Toledo Bend out of San Miguel Park, February 20.  See you at the “Battle On The Border”!

-DT