Wells, Cooper take win at Bass N Bucks kickoff
By PATTY LENDERMAN

JASON WELLS and Vic Cooper nudged their way to a first place $10,000 win with 22.96 pounds.

In traditional Bass N Bucks style, the 2007 season officially kicked off Dec. 3 on Sam Rayburn at the Umphrey Family Pavilion.

Taking only a short break between the championship and the new season, 442 anglers braved the cold temperatures and wind advisories to fish. Over $47,000 in prize money was up for grabs and Jason Wells and Vic Cooper won $10,000 with a first place win.

Temperatures started out in the low 30's, feeling a lot colder with the wind and moist air. Lake advisories had been issued, so trailering was allowed for safety reasons. The teams headed to various launches around the lake to get closer to their target areas in the hunt for big fish.

Todd Soape and Arty Longram had trailered closer to their target area and weighed in early with a nice sack of fish. Their five fish limit weighed 22.30 pounds including a 5.33 lb. kicker putting them at the top of the leader board.

"We didn't get to pre-fish any for the tournament, but some friends gave us a few tips pointing us in the right direction" Longram explained. "We used an old style black eel, rigged with a split shot. Ann's Tackle is the only place that has them. We also caught some on a rattletrap. The fish were very finicky. We had to run our baits real slow, bouncing them off the bottom, in 12- 20'. We had a limit in the

RAQUEL and Kirk Rohwedder brought in the 6.29 lb Big Bass of the tournament, finishing sixth place overall.

boat by about 9:00, weighing about 12 pounds. It had taken us about an hour and a half to establish a pattern then after that we just started pounding them. We worked about three different spots, and we were able to cull all but one of our original limit. The areas we were fishing were exposed to the wind, but we just let it drift us. I think the wind helped us today."

Soape and Longram held the lead through much of the weigh in, ultimately being nudged to a second place finish winning $4,000.

It was Jason Wells and Vic Cooper that brought in the winning 22.96 lb. sack taking home a $10,000 first place finish.

"We fished the mid lake area, concentrating on drains" Wells began. "Our fish were on the North banks, so we were throwing into the wind with a Bomber Fat Free Shad in 10-12'. We had about an 18-pound limit in the live well by 9:00, and were able to cull five times after that. The bigger fish bit in the morning, but we caught fish all day."

In addition to their $10,000 first place check, they also won the $1,000 Champion Boat Bonus for an $11,000 day.

In third place with 19.51 lbs. was the team of Jeff Wise and James Wright.

"We got to pre-fish Saturday, but all we did was cull water. Today we tried to get on some schoolies, but that didn't pan out for us

either so we headed further North. At that point, we started catching keepers, but only had about a 10-pound limit at 2:30 p.m.. We were throwing Texas rigged lizards in flooded brush, about 4' deep. At that point the fish turned on and we culled all five in the next 30 minutes."

They had a rough day. "Our trolling motor went dead the last hour of the tournament. We had to motor up to our spot and drift back over and over, and just keep working with the wind. In all, we hit about four different spots. We had trailered to our area, but we were short on time and had to run the boat to the weigh in." They had a cold ride back, but it paid off with a $3,000 check.

The big bass of the day was caught by husband and wife team Kirk and Raquel Rohwedder. Their kicker fish weighed in at 6.29 lbs., winning $1,000 for Big Bass plus another $1,800 for a sixth place overall finish.

"We started our day with two big fish" Kirk stated. "This was Raquel's first tournament, so we trailered North to a spot we could be fairly protected from the wind. We slow rolled big red spinnerbaits and caught those first two, then the bite got real slow. We prayed, started throwing a worm and a wacky and caught two more, losing one. Our fish were on a big grass line, and we were working it in a parallel fashion. At one point, we were going to try to make it to another spot, but when we hit the main lake the waves were throwing spray over the boat getting Raquel wet. This was her first tournament, so I didn't want to put her through that and we went back." Raquel was cold, but very excited about their day. "I'm hooked now!" she said.

Top teams:

First - $10,000 22.96 lbs. Jason Wells and Vic Cooper

Second - $4,000 22.30 lbs. Artie Longron and Todd Soape

Third - $3,000 19.51 lbs. James Wright and Jeff Wise

Fourth - $2,800 18.74 lbs. Terry Burghart and Jeff Holder

Fifth - $2,000 18.60 lbs. Travis Ballard and Rick Dorsett

Sixth - $1,800 18.36 lbs. Kirk and Raquel Rohwedder

Seventh - $1,700 17.99 lbs. Justin Morton and Pat Cascio

Eighth - $1,600 17.73 lbs. Kelly Owens and Lamar Thibodeaux

Ninth - $1,600 17.16 lbs. Greg Christian and Bill Wilcox

Tenth - $1,600 16.96 lbs. Rusty Clark and Shelby Shaw

........and last in the money......

29th - $500 14.29 lbs. Dannon Erskins and Cole Garrett

Big Bass - $1,000 6.29 lbs. Kirk and Raquel Rohwedder

Champion bonus $1,000 Jason Wells and Vic Cooper

Darrell Proffitt and Michael Doggett placed just

out of the money and won gift certificates for free boat detailing from Hook'em Sharon's Boat Detailing service.

Bass-N-Bucks offers an exciting variety of tournaments. The first series begins in December and runs five tournaments on Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend.

The Summer Series begins in June with three qualifying events. The Conroe/Livingston circuit begins Jan. 27 with a series of five events, with the last two on Sam Rayburn. The championship will encompass all three series for a chance at three fully rigged Champion Boats.

For years now Bass-NBucks has offered to its "qualifying" anglers the most prestigious team championship anywhere around. The overall payout

for the two-day championship event has paid out well over $100,000 in cash and product.

"We will be conducting a total of 12 events for 2007. There will be three separate trails with tournaments being held on lakes Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Conroe and Livingston. We will be taking qualifying teams from all three trails to the big championship. Our Championship has a unique twist that is "A Championship for Everyone." We actually have three qualifying brackets where the teams are competing only against their group for a fully rigged Champion Boat powered by Mercury and equipped with Minn Kota and Lowrance," said Dave Concienne

For more information, call 409-727-8941 or click to www.bassnbucks.com.