It was a rainy, cold day with occasional thunderstorms for the March 1 Rat-L-Trap tournament on Toledo Bend. Anglers toughed out the conditions they were challenged with, and came through with success.

Dean Ellzey andCraig Strickland were the first to break over the 20 pound mark with their 20.96 lb sack. It nearly held for the win, until Matt Evans and Ricky Flanigan brought in their catch weighing 23.04 lbs, taking 1st place in the tournament.

Evans and Flanigan had reportedly done some scouting prior to the tournament, and found a few spots south of Pendleton Bridge that they were going to go to. The morning of the tournament, however, they rolled the dice and decided to head north, fishing waters they had never been to before.

"We were fishing in areas 6'-8' deep that had grass, or hydrilla. We just fished our Rat-L-Traps text book style to catch our fish." They were throwing both a gold chrome/ black and an Ice Blue Shad patterned Rat-L-Trap. Their text book style method was to throw their traps over the grass, tearing them just out of the grass edge, then letting the lure fall vertically along the edge. They anchored a limit in their livewell, continuing to catch fish throughout the day. The last 40 minutes they had to fish, they were able to cull four out of the five fish they had in their livewell at that point. Wes Higgins, President of Bill Lewis Lures, presented the duo with a check for $2,100.

Dean Ellzey and Craig Strickland held onto 2nd place with their 20.96 lb sack. They headed 'up the lake a little way' to fish in water 6'-12' deep with 1 oz gold chrome / black and Rayburn Red Rat-L-Traps. "We were fishing in stumps, no grass. We just threw our traps out, let them sink to the bottom, and crawled them back to the boat." It was a successful technique, and they were awarded a check for $1,500.

Third place was won by Donald Stephens and Aaron Kochell throwing a ½ oz combination of Rayburn Red and Toledo Gold Rat-L-Traps with 7:3 ratio reel. "We were just burning those traps through the water." Wes Higgins pointed out that the Toledo Gold Rat-L-Trap is a 'knocking' trap, which makes a little different sound than most other models. Their 17.63 lb total reeled in a check for $1,000.

The Big Bass of the day was caught by Clay Ivy, using a ¾ oz red chrome Rat-L-Trap. "We were fishing (the bait) like jigs, fishing grass in 8' of water, and just pitching them about 10' from the boat and letting them sink. The fish were biting on the drop." His big fish netted Ivy a check for $1,392.00.

The second biggest bass of the day weighed 6.77 lbs, caught by Chuck Cole. He was using a ½ oz Toledo Gold color for his catch in 20' of water. "I was just chunkin' it out, and slow rolling it back to the boat!" He was awarded $928 for his catch.

Photo by Patty Lenderman / Lakecaster