The Lady Bass Anglers Association (LBAA) enters their first full year of operations and tournaments with an increasing membership roster, a full slate of tournaments, a bright future on the horizon. The first tournament of the 2011 LBAA Tournament season will be on a lake affectionately known as “The Big Sam.” The women of the LBAA kick off the 2011 LBAA Tournament Season as they hit “Big Sam” and East Texas March 17-19, 2011.
Sam Rayburn Reservoir is located north of Jasper, Texas in the heart of the East Texas Piney woods. At 114,500 acres, Rayburn is the largest manmade lake in the state of Texas, and has a maximum depth of 80 feet and nearly 750 miles of shoreline. Sam Rayburn came into existence to provide water for Beaumont and Lufkin and provide flood control to the Angelina and Neches River basins. At “full pool” or “conservational pool” elevation Rayburn usually sits at 164.4 feet, however Rayburn is currently at 156.7 feet – down nearly eight feet.
“Right now Rayburn is very low and the ladies will need to use caution when running the lake,” commented Brookeland, Texas LBAA Pro angler Laura Moore. “The water is very warm and the water temperature is coming up daily. A limit is not hard to catch even for those who have been off the water for a while, the fish are concentrated, and big fish are biting. Anybody could win this one!”
Waxahachie, Texas’ Patti Campbell weighed in with her thoughts, “I expect there will be several patterns the ladies will be able to put together. Sight fishing should be good during this tournament for those wishing to target those females looking to make their way to spawn. There should be some good weights come in as Rayburn is an awesome fishery — especially in the spring.”
The lake goes “off limits” from March 7th through March 12th. Official practice then begins March 13th and goes through 12 Noon Wednesday, March 16th.
Days one and two (03/17 & 18) of the LBAA Sam Rayburn Tournament will be the LBAA Sam Rayburn Pro-am Event. All women competing in the Pro-am Event must be members of the LBAA.
Day three (03/19) of the LBAA Sam Rayburn Tournament will be the LBAA Sam Rayburn Rainbow Room Charity Team Tournament. This tournament is open to the public with proceeds going to support the Rainbow Rooms of Jasper and Lufkin. Entry fee is $100 per team. There will be a guaranteed first place prize of $1,000. There will also be a $200 bonus prize for both the highest finishing team with a female and the highest finishing team with a child age 12 or under. The LBAA Sam Rayburn Rainbow Room Charity Tournament is open to all interested parties and LBAA membership is not required to fish this tournament.
Immediately at the conclusion of the weigh-in for the LBAA Sam Rayburn Rainbow Room Charity Tournament, there will be a drawing for raffled items. This will add to the support for the Rainbow Rooms of Jasper and Lufkin. For more information on the Rainbow Rooms of Jasper and Lufkin, go to the World Wide Web at http://www.gtcp.org/rainbowroom.asp
All three “official” tournament days will launch at “Safelight” from either the Twin Dikes Ramp or the public ramp located on Farm Road 255. All daily weigh-ins will get underway at 3PM at the Sam Rayburn Marina Resort.
Host lodging for the Lady Bass Anglers will be Sam Rayburn Marina Resort. The Sam Rayburn Marina Resort is located at 4404 West Recreational Road 255 Brookeland, Texas 75931. Phone: 1-409-698-2696. World Wide Web @ http://www.samrayburnmarinaresort.com/index.html
Partnering with and supporting the 2011 Lady Bass Anglers Association Tour are: Wilkins Brothers Outdoors, Todali Tackle, Dawn Outdoors, Red Dirt Bait Company, FINS Superlines, Rayjus Outdoors, Kick `n Bass , Castaway Graphite Rods, Vickie’s Threadworks, Necessity Jigs, West Kentucky LED, SureLife, Arkansas Tournament Fishing (ATF), Fleck’s Hand Poured Baits, Ray Barga and Associates Inc., Nite Owl Productions, and River Runner Baits. The LBAA 2011 Contingency Programs are Phoenix First Flight, Skeeter Real Money, the Legend Advantage Program, BassCat Quest, and Triton Gold.
“Big Sam” tournament sponsors/supporters also include the Jasper Lake Sam Rayburn Area Chamber of Commerce, The Crazy Horse Ranch, Jasper County Sherriff’s Department, Save Phace, Backwater Custom Baits, Santone Lures and Predator Spinnerbaits.
For more information on the LBAA contact co-founder Cheryl Bowden @ 1-214-738-7518, co-founder Secret York @ 1-270-748-9041, or media specialist Larry Morris @ 1-540-239-7902. The LBAA has a presence on the World Wide Web on Facebook and at http://www.ladybassanglers.com/
