Rogers, Frances jump to first place at Bass-N-Bucks on Sam Rayburn
By PATTY LENDERMAN Lakecaster Managing Editor

Outdoors photo/Patty Lenderman BILL ROGERS holds the 9.22 lb. Big Bass of the tournament, while Steve Francis shows a few more of their 23.93 lb. winning limit.

The weather was perfect for a bass catching day on Sam Rayburn April 1. Parking at the Umphrey Family Pavilion was full with trucks & trailers, and the Public Ramp area was overflowing. More than $41,000 was up for grabs in an all cash payout at Bass-NBucks. Everyone fished hard for a part of the money, out of 196 teams there were 117 limits!

At 2:45 the first teams started trickling in to the scales. Gene Stovall & Charlie Trahan established the initial leaderboard, double fisting their sack to the scales with a 14.26 lb. limit.

As the weigh in rolled on, most teams had limits, albeit small in most cases. Stovall & Trahan's weight was topped several times, then Jason Moorhead and Tim White brought in the first of many big bass to the scales at 8.53 lbs.

Steve Francis and Bill Rogers had to bring their limit in in two separate bags. Weighing their big bass first, she tipped the scales at 9.22 lbs!

Putting the other four on the scales with her, their total weight was 23.93 lbs. ultimately winning the tournament by more than a five pound margin!

Outdoors photo/Patty Lenderman LONE ANGLER TEDDY JOE CLOIDE brought in the second place stringer weighing 18.84 pounds at the Bass N Bucks event on Sam Rayburn Sunday.

"We caught fish all day," Bill said with a grin. "We caught them from the minute we started all the way to the end."

They estimated catching about 30 keepers, and in the last 30 minutes they had to fish Steve told Bill "if we had one about 8-10 pounds it would do us wonders!"

They were about to move to one last spot, but Bill said to just stay there. Time was ticking, and there was only time for one last cast. Bill was using a fluke, fishing outer main lake points. He felt the bite, set the hook and told Steve "Oh, my God I've got him!"

He had to wrestle her out of shallow brush to the boat, and they had no net but managed to get her safely in the livewell.

"It was an unbelievable day!"

They won $10,000 for first place plus another $1,000 for Big Bass.

Outdoors photo/Patty Lenderman MIKE METCALF and Glenn Kirk had all chunks in their bag weighing 18.84 lbs., winning third place.

Second through fourth places tightened up, all in the 18-pound range. Teddy Joe Cloide boated 18.84 lbs. fishing by himself to win second place.

"I caught all my fish on a Mr. Blitz double willow perch colored spinnerbait in about 5'," Teddy explained. "I stayed on grassy points and willows, covering a lot of water. I caught fish all day, and was able to cull to bigger fish about four times."

His regular partner, Wes Dawson, had to miss out today but Teddy would like to thank Dawson Marine and Mr. Blitz. Bass N Bucks presented him with a $4,000 check.

18.64 lbs. won third place, caught by Glenn Kirk & Mike Metcalf. Mike divulged that they were fishing 10' and less inside and outside the grass lines with a Carolina rig. Glenn said that they didn't get to do any prefishing, but after the years they've spent on Rayburn had a pretty good idea what they were going to do.

"We wrapped up a limit by 11 a.m., and caught a lot in that next couple of hours. By 1 p.m. we caught about four limits, but didn't cull anymore after that. I anticipate that as summer gets closer, things should just keep getting better for us."

They took home $3,000.

Top Teams:

First - $10,000 23.93 lbs. Bill Rogers and Steve Francis

Second - $ 4,000 18.84 lbs. Teddy Joe Cloide

Third - $3,000 18.64 lbs. Glenn Kirk and Mike Metcalf

Fourth - $2,000 18.07 lbs. Yarri Schreibvogel

Fifth - $1,800 17.58 lbs. Alan Moore and Clint Teutsch

Sixth - $1,500 17.53 lbs. Bill Hudspeth and Ricky Potts

Seventh - $1,300 17.46 lbs. Clayton Boulware and Chris McCall

Eighth - $1,200 16.75 lbs. Tim White and Jason Moorhead

Ninth - $1,200 16.42 lbs. Raul Morineau and Don Rossell

10th - $1,200 15.67 lbs. John Presley and Brian Webb

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

26th - $500 14.26 lbs. Gene Stovall and Charlie Trahan

Big Bass - $1,000 9.22 lbs. Bill Rogers and Steve Francis

Champion Bonus - $500 Steele Netterville

The next East Texas Team tournament will go to Toledo Bend for the first time this year on May 20. That will wrap up the 1st series, and everyone who registered for all five events will automatically advance to the championship in September. Then the Summer Series will begin June 9 back on Sam Rayburn.

For more information on Bass N Bucks events, click to www.bassnbucks.com or call 409-727-8941.