“The key was that I found a group of fish in practice,” said Owens. “I found them on my electronics. They were pulling up into a pocket and everybody was just fishing way too shallow for them.”
Owens said he prefers to fish for staging fish in the early part of the year, and the event played right into his hands. He said that many of the ditches or drains at Choke Canyon are flat, but the one he found fish on had definition and featured hydrilla and milfoil. Owens described it as the “perfect place for the fish to pull up on.” He caught all of his fish except one on a pearl/chartreuse/black Norman Deep Little “N” crankbait in 5 to 11 feet of water. His only other bass came on a Rat-L-Trap on a windy point.
“Any event would be great to win, but the quality of the top 10 here it just made it more special,” Owens said. “It made me understand that I could go out and compete with these guys.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
2nd: Russell Cecil, Willis, Texas, 13 bass, 53-9, $10,258
3rd: Kevin Lasyone, Dry Prong, La., 12 bass, 47-0, $8,548
4th: Matthew Scogin, Magnolia, Texas, 15 bass, 46-11, $7,693
5th: David Curtis, Trinity, Texas, 14 bass, 44-4, $6,839
6th: Charles Bebber, Willis, Texas, 14 bass, 42-5, $5,948
7th: Todd Castledine, Nacogdoches, Texas, 13 bass, 38-11, $5,129
8th: Kellogg’s pro Jim Tutt, Longview, Texas, 10 bass, 37-8, $4,274
9th: Cody Bird, Granbury, Texas, 14 bass, 36-3, $3,419
10th: Tommy Martin, Hemphill, Texas, 11 bass, 33-15, $2,564
Owens caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Friday – an 11-pound, 3-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Big Bass award of $236.
Dan Wilson of Pilot Point, Texas, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger boat with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 31 pounds even.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
2nd: Trevor Rogge, San Antonio, Texas, 11 bass, 29-12, $3,985
3rd: Clinton McNiel, George West, Texas, 11 bass, 27-8, $3,542
4th: James McKeithen, Baton Rouge, La., 10 bass, 23-2, $3,099
5th: Russell Lohman, Pineville, La., seven bass, 22-10, $2,656
6th: Keith Hawkins, Missouri City, Texas, eight bass, 22-3, $2,214
7th: Steve Corbin, Bacliff, Texas, eight bass, 21-3, $1,771
8th: Joseph Brozak, Orange, Texas, nine bass, 20-2, $1,328
9th: Gary Fields, New Orleans, La., seven bass, 19-15, $885
10th: Danny Bickom, Canastota, N.Y., six bass, 19-15, $708
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