West Texas Team Trail (WTTT) Championship Results

The WTTT championship tournament was held September 13^th and 14^th on beautiful Lake Brownwood. We had 50 teams show up to fish with us. We luckily didn't even get rained on the entire weekend. With the hurricane passing to the East of us, it felt as if everyone needed some rocks in their pockets on both days because of the 20 to 30 mph winds. But, the lake lies in such a way that anyone could find a calm place to fish. We were fortunate to even be able to hold the tournament, considering the possibility of the hurricane moving over the tournament site. Due to a passing cold front to the North and the hurricane to the east, the winds were out of the Northeast on the east end of the lake and out of the Northwest on the west end of the lake. This really tested the skills of the teams that fished the tournament.

With the help of Ranger Boats, Evinrude, MinnKota and Humminbird, we were able to give away a fully rigged 2009 Ranger 170 bass boat equipped with an Evinrude E-Tec 115 hp outboard, MinnKota 24 volt trolling motor and two Humminbird color fish finders. Any team that fished 5 of the 6 tournaments had their name put in for the drawing of this beautiful boat. This way, anyone, good fisherman or the amateur that was just having a blast by fishing a tournament trail, could win a new Ranger boat. Dinty Bowman and James Mays were the lucky team to pull this boat home. James just underwent surgery this year to remove a cancerous brain tumor. His truck broke down this week and his boat broke down on Saturday. He had never won anything in his life before today. I guess you could say that the script couldn't have been written better for a team that really needed to win the boat. Tears were streaming down James' face even before he could work his way through the crowd to the weigh-in tent. Anyone within his reach was receiving a big hug! He kept saying that he had never won anything in his life and that the Lord was responsible for his good fortune that day.

I really want to thank the many teams that supported the trail. Also, we extend a sincere and heart felt appreciation to the great sponsors that joined us in our inaugural year. We had the best sponsors that any trail could ask for. Brad Dubert won a MinnKota 101 36 volt trolling motor in a drawing that was donated by MinnKota. Dorothy and Randy McDaniel of Texas Sidewinder Rods donated a rod for the drawing and also donated custom built rods for the Angler Of The Year team of Bryan Schmidt and Bill Story. MinnKota donated some really nice battery chargers. Stearns donated 2 pair of Sospenders automatic inflatable vests and MadDog Gear donated two large duffle bags. GrandeBass donated certificates for purchasing baits on their website in the amounts of $500 and $250. Evinrude gave away $1000 for the highest placing E-Tec owner, $500 for the second highest placing owner and $250 for the third highest placing finish of the E-Tec owners. The team of Smith & Smith actually finished out of the money for the tournament, but had the big fish for $200, the $250 GrandeBass certificate and $1000 from Evinrude. So, without winning a placing check in the tournament, they took home $1450!

The Brownwood Chamber of Commerce provided a great hamburger feed for all the fishermen on Saturday and gave each fisherman a LED flashlight. I want to thank the chamber for all their hard work in putting this together. This Chamber of Commerce knows the importance of fishermen coming to their great city and showed it in a big way!

Blake at Mountain View Lodge was an exceptional host. The facilities are great for holding bass tournaments. Any tournament director that is looking for a place to fish should definitely get with Blake and hold their tournament at Mountain View.

We could not have had such a successful season with the help from the best sponsors any trail could ask for. We had a dream of creating the best tournament trail in all of west Texas and these sponsors believed in the dream. They include Ranger Boats, Evinrude, MinnKota, Humminbird, Stearns, MadDog Gear, Xcite Baits, Texas Sidewinder Rods, GrandeBass, Brownwood Chamber of Commerce, Angler's Lodge of Lake Amistad, Angler's Lodge Tackle Store, Cannon, KeepAlive Oxygen Infusers, Lane and Tony of Sure Life Labs, Dirty Jigs Tackle, Fun-N-Sun Marina of Cleburne, Blue Sky Graphics, Gary Yamamoto Baits, LedHedz Jigs, Stidham Vinyl Lettering, Stratos Boats, Fishing4Insurance.com and Kennedy Park & Marina of Lake O.H. Ivie.

We were able to give away over $34,500 in prizes and cash at this championship tournament, due to these great sponsors. It's hard to believe that this was only our inaugural year and 2009 promises to be even better. We welcome everyone to fish with us in 2009. Please visit our website for further information.

Thank you for a great year and for supporting the greatest team tournament trail in all of west Texas,

Tommy & Barbie Hagler

Big Bass   Smith & Smith   5.85   $200
2nd Big Bass   Soto & Miranda   5.83   $100

1st Duncan & Duncan   25.34   $2,240
2nd Blythe & Hagler   20.64    $1500
3rd Stockard & Arrington   19.36   $1100
4th Soto & Mirnada   17.33   $650
5th Reynolds & Cartmel   16.99   $400
6th Brooks & Brown   16.96   $320
7th Starr & Rose   16.92   $290
8th Schmidt & Story   16.36   $280
9th Mills & Wallace   15.83   $500 GrandeBass Certificate
10th Smith & Smith   15.67   $250 GrandeBass Certificate
11th Brown & Hair   15.64   MinnKota Charger
12th Jeffrey & Pippin   15.42   MinnKota Charger
13th Tubb & Ward   15.18   MinnKota Charger

1st place father and son team of Herschell & David Duncan

3rd place team of Arrington & Stockard

Brad Dubert with his MinnKota trolling motor prize

Angler Of The Year team with Randy & Dorothy McDaniels of Texas Sidewinder Rods

Angler Of The Year team with assistant director, Dale Blythe and owners Tommy & Barbie Hagler

Angler Of The Year Team of Bryan Schmidt & Bill Story

Dinty Bowman & James Mays with their new Ranger Boat