Kevin VanDam

HOME COOKING: Jordon Leads Team to TTBC Victory

April 21, 2008
(fishpaa.com, April 21, 2008)

LAKE FORK, Tex. – Kelly Jordon, team captain, a former Lake Fork guide, and one of the moving forces behind the organization of the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, led his team to a dramatic victory here Sunday with a total winning weight of 228 pounds.

Although Jordon had the largest individual total catch of the tournament, 85 pounds, 8 ounces, as well as the heaviest catch the last afternoon, 22-08, team members Lance Vick, David Smith, and David Walker certainly contributed their share, including a 6-pounder by Vick and a 5-8 by Smith in the last five minutes that sealed the win.

The team of Bobby Lane, Byron Velvick, Ben Matsubu, and Chad Brauer finished second with 219-12, while Team 16, consisting of Chad Morgenthaler, Stacey King, Brian Penso, and Matt Reed grabbed third with 183-0. Last year’s Classic winner, Terry Scroggins and his team of Shaw Grigsby, Russ Lane, and Craig Downing dropped to fourth with 180-04; and Mike Iaconelli’s team, with Cliff Pace, Randy Howell, and Danny Correia finished fifth with 146-0.

“It wasn’t easy,” emphasized Jordon, whose team brought in 54-4 for the afternoon. “I only caught seven or eight keepers while David had just three. I caught three bass off beds, and David caught one. The rest were caught on a Lucky Craft D-20 (splatterback color) in deep water.”

Vick and Smith’s two last-minute fish came from a spot Vick, a guide on Fork, fishes often and from which he had lost his biggest bass of the tournament on the first day of competition.

“Deep water bass are what got us to the finals,” added Walker, “but we had to keep checking the shallow fish, as well, because they want to come shallow. As it turned out today, I’m sure glad we kept checking.”

Lane’s second place team may forever wonder if victory escaped them because Lane and Velvick ran out of gas while heading one last spot that had produced well throughout the tournament. Thinking they would spend their day fishing shallow, Velvick had only put 20 gallons of gas into his boat to keep it lighter.

http://www.fishpaa.com/news/article/home_cooking_jordon_leads_team_to_ttbc_victory/

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