Duff and Costlow win $20,000 at Toledo Bend




Penny Lenderman reports that 277 teams fished the Bass Champs tournament on Toledo Bend, Feb. 14. Lance Duff and Cole Costlow captured first place with a 5 fish limit weighing 26.64 pounds.

“We just knew it was going to take 30 pounds to win this tournament,” Duff and Costlow agreed. They have fished tournaments for several years, and this event marked their first big win. “We live three hours from here, and have also fished in Bass Champs Central Division.”

They started their day with a prayer. “Right then, I just had a funny feeling”, Duff stated. They decided to go to a spot they had fished the year before. When they got there, they said they were just ‘calmed’. “We gave it all we had, and trusted the Big Man upstairs!” When they were declared the winners, the duo was markedly emotional.

“Winning the money is awesome, but this (the trophy) is what we were fishing for!” Bass Champs awarded them $20,000 for their win. Sure Life kicked in another $200 for using the product in their livewell. “We would like to thank Jesus Christ first and foremost and our family and friends for always being there and supporting us.”

A 11.39 lb bass anchored a 2nd place finish for Ray Beck and Shane Hilton. Adding their other four bass to their total weight, they came in with 24.73 lbs. “We had practiced a week before the tournament,” Shane began. Toledo Bend is his ‘home lake’, and he knows it well. “We had gone North in practice and picked out a spot to fish when the water temperature warmed up. In this area, the temperature is key.”

The day of the tournament, they made a calculated decision to start in a completely different area. “We were trying for a kicker first and then spend the rest of the day finishing a limit.” They didn’t go far from Cypress Bend to a deep drop. “It was about 18’ deep, at the end of an underwater ledge point with lots of natural cover.” Ray had a Stanley Football head jig tied on with a Swamp Hog trailer.

Shane hooked the first fish, and before he got it reeled in Ray said “I think I need a little help here!” The big sow was at the end of his line. When they got it to the boat, they snapped a couple of pictures and tried to ease her into the livewell. “She was just too big, and couldn’t get comfortable. We called Chad to see if we could bring her straight in to be weighed, so she could be released as quickly as possible. He agreed, and we came on in.”

When they went back out, they went to their other spot, shallow water, back in a pocket, and fishing with spinnerbaits, jigs and lipless crankbaits. “Ray caught one as soon as we got there, and before we left we had culled three times.” Their win included $6,000 for 2nd place, $1,000 for Big Bass, $5,000 from Skeeter boats, plus the Biobor, UnderArmor and Costa Del Mar bonuses! “We took chances. This spot had not been touched in a while. We just took an educated guess and it worked out well for us.”

Troy Reed and Gary Martin enjoyed a 3rd place win with their 24.06 lb limit. “We just went fishing,” the team explained. “We had found some fish last weekend, and today we started catching them right away on a spinnerbait.” They were concentrating on ditches with stumps 6’-9’ deep. “Later in the day we switched to Rat-L-Traps, and caught our last weigh fish at 1:00.” They stayed in one area all day, and never started their big motor until it was time to come in. They were awarded a check for $4,500.

Rounding out the top 10 includes:
4th $3,700 23.81 lbs Jason Bonds & James Mitchell
5th $2,700 22.83 lbs Billy Beasley & Lee Brown
6th $2,200+ 22.09 lbs Chris Lewis & Keith Jones
7th $1,800 21.39 lbs Scott Bailey & Russ Carter
8th $1,700 21.31 lbs Bill Cook & Lane McGaha
9th $1,600 20.74 lbs Thomas Tripp & James Littleford
10th $ 1,500 20.68 lbs Larry Weppler & Dennis Fikes
and last in the money
36th $ 600 17.37 lbs Chad Dyess & Michael Crawford.

The next event for the East Region will be March 7, back on Sam Rayburn at the Umphrey Pavilion.

 




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Toledo Bend Lake

Fishing Report from TPWD (Mar. 27)

GOOD. Water slightly stained; 62 degrees; 2.40 feet below pool. Spring started off with a freeze. Water temperature is running 59-63 degrees and the clarity is clear. Lots of bass are still spawning in 1-5 feet of water hitting wacky-worms and senkos. There are good numbers of bass starting to show up that have already spawned, these fish spawned on that February full moon. These fish can be caught on shallow running crankbait and Carolina rig lizards . With the next moon coming, there will be more bass on the move towards the back. This will keep going until the first of May. Crappie are good, but with the colder weather will delay it several days. The crappie are super picky due to the changing weather. Best baits have been roadrunners and jig heads with curl tail or tube. Report by Stephen Johnston, Johnston Fishing.

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