A Texan outsmarted the rest of the field near his home waters to take home a win in the first tournament of the season.
Dicky Newberry of Houston, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 36 pounds, 5 ounces Saturday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League Cowboy Division event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir.
For his victory, Newberry earned $6,541.
“I had located these fish a few weeks ago and have been doing quite well on them,” said Newberry. “I had been catching 20- to 25-pound stringers off the spot for a solid three weeks in a row. It was my planned starting point of the day and I was boat 22, so I was able to get there first.
“When I arrived at the spot I caught a 6-pounder fairly quickly, but had some trouble getting anymore bites for the next 15 to 20 minutes,” Newberry continued. “I finally moved over to another location on the same ridge and caught a fish that weighed almost nine pounds. I quickly made another cast in there and broke one off. Immediately on the next cast I caught my biggest fish of the day, the 10-7. It all happened so fast.”
Newberry described the spots he was fishing as staging areas in six to 10 feet of water. These key spots were located on clay points, adjacent to the lake’s large spawning flats.
“Most of the fish came on a 1-ounce football jig,” Newberry went on to say. “This is the largest stringer I have ever caught in an individual tournament. It was a very exciting day.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
2nd: Kevin Lasyone, Dry Prong, La., five bass, 21-11, $2,270
3rd Randy Deaver, Blanchard, La., five bass, 19-13, $1,514
4th: Harold Allen, Shelbyville, Texas, five bass, 17-0, $1,060
5th: Tommy Dickerson, Orange, Texas, five bass, 16-2, $908
6th: Myron Beachy, Baytown, Texas, five bass, 16-0, $795
6th: Teddy Cloide, Vidor, Texas, five bass, 16-0, $795
8th: James Dunn, Lecompte, La., five bass, 15-1, $681
9th: Kent Graham, Nacogdoches, Texas, five bass, 15-00, $605
10th: Corey Stanley, Orange, Texas, five bass, 14-8, $530
Complete results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
