Lady bass pro Judy Wong of Many, La. has a way of rising to the top when there is a big title on the line. Twice in three seasons the Texas native has walked off the stage at the Women's Bassmaster Tour Championship with a pretty trophy in one hand the fattest pay check in the other.
Wong's most recent championship victory came in mid-October when she crushed the field by margin of nearly five pounds to take the crown on Cypress Bayou Lake near Shreveport, La. She won $60,000 in cash and prizes.
Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., finished second to Wong and likewise earned the 2009 WBT Angler of the Year title, which comes with a coveted berth to the 2010 Bassmaster Classic on Lay Lake in Alabama.
Other lady anglers from Texas who scored Top 10 finishes at the WBT Championship include: Robin Babb, Livingston, 3rd; Juanita Robinson, Highlands, 4th; and Janet Parker, Little Elm, 7th.
Big Time Hunt
winners announced
Texas Parks and Wildlife recently announced the winners of the 2009 Texas Big Time Hunts campaign and Ty Chumley of Nederland claimed the grand prize. A tugboat operator who lost his home and most of his personal belongings to Hurricane Ike, Chumley bought one $10 chance in the lotto-style drawing and it paid off.
Chumley was selected as winner of the Texas Grand Slam. His prize package includes four separate guided hunts for Texas' most sought after big game animals - desert bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope and mule deer. The package is easily worth more than $100,000.
Winners in other categories included:
Premium Buck Hunt — Kelly Nunn, Austin.
Exotic Safari — Michael Masera, Houston and Jeffrey Pumphrey, Midway, Kentucky.
Whitetail Bonanza — Lawrence Ringley, McKinney; Gene Finn, Granger; Daniel Boschert, Dallas; Randy Ansley, Forney; Sammy Kelley, San Antonio; Robert Peterson, Temple; John Ehrhart, Highland Village; Charles Salazar, Houston; James Denny, Lockhart; John Massey, Kerrville.
Big Time Bird Hunt — Phillip Barry, Highland Village.
Waterfowl Adventure — Donald Tousley, Wichita Falls.
Gator Hunt — Gregg Slade, Lockhart.
College bass teams set to compete upcoming FLW regional
Twelve Texas college bass fishing teams will compete in the National Guard FLW College Fishing Texas Regional Championship on Nov. 14-16 on Sibley Lake in Natchitoches, La. The event was originally scheduled to be held on the Red River, but was relocated due to unsafe water levels.
Texas colleges that will be represented include Stephen F. Austin State University, Sam Houston State University, Lamar University, University of Texas. Texas A&M University, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Baylor University, Angelo State University, Tarleton State University, Texas Tech and University of North Texas.
Private lake ShareLunker
The Toyota ShareLunker program recently received its first entry of the 2009-10 season, courtesy of Lanny Smalley of Athens, Ala.
Fishing a private lake near Ben Wheeler, Smalley caught a bass that weighed 13 pounds even. It is the 472nd bass topping 13 pounds entered in the program since its inception in 1986.
Fisheries biologists at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens said Smalley's bass encountered some problems early on, but appears to be adjusting well to life in its lunker bunker hotel.
