The Sam Houston State Bearkat Bass Anglers had our first official qualifying club tournament this Saturday on Gibbons Creek.  8 teams fought the high winds and tough changing conditions Saturday.  We decided to do a paper tournament and only count fish that were bigger than 14" towards our limit and then calculate the weight by the length conversion chart.  Gibbons was 5.5 ft low, and NO vegetation in the water, NO pads either, and water clarity at best maybe 6" visibility, which made alot of my spots high and dry.  Main lake temps 66 degrees and 78 at the discharge.

My teammate Wil and I won the tournament with an estimated 11.31 lbs with 5 fish, but in actuality those "footballs" we caught weighed closer to 13 lbs. 

2nd place went to a team with 5 fish weighing an estimated 8.63 lbs

3rd place went to a 4 fish limit of 8.61 lbs

Of course all these weights were actually higher, but these were just the weights based on the length chart.

The winning pattern was a combination of shaky heads and square bill crankbaits.  We were on a school of fish suspended on a rockpile in 8 ft.  We got the school fired up with the plastics, then I proceded to catch the big bass of the tourney, 19" on a square bill while kneeling and reeling to get the crankbait to dive deeper and bang off the rocks.  We caught around 20 fish but only five measured over 14".  The bite was pretty slow, with most of our fish being caught in periodic spurts throughout the day. 

This being our first tournament of the season, puts Wil and I in 1st place in the points standings towards qualifying for the National Championship next year on Pickwick Lake, AL.  I hope to continue at this pace so I can make that championship.

All in all it was a good day on the water and I just thought I'd let the SCBC know how Gibbons was.