Fishing on a String Tournament Trails

Pro Angler Bart Blakelock wins American Fishing Series with 66.02 pounds and takes home $21,943.00. Blakelock won by more then 4.89 pounds over second place finisher Wayne Ebarb who had 61.13 pounds. I have Video's and they will be loaded Sunday due to other things going on. Please check back tommrow       

American Fishing Series Co Angler Winner Larry Cotten his total weight for the 3 day's came to 46.06 pounds, Cotten won by 6.96 pounds over second place finisher Jeff Sprague who had 39.10 pounds which is still a great tournament weight for any one. Cotten takes home $8,850 for his week of fishing.         

On the stage first place winners from Stephen F. Austin, the team of Robert Platt and RyanWatkins. Second place to the far right from LSU the team of Douglas Mcclung and Travis Laurent they got a check for . Third Place from Lamar University the team of Danny ILes and Matt Morrison. Fourth Place from Baylor University the team of Brian Bauer and Joseph Garland. Fifth Place from LSU Shreveport Gavin Harvard and Joe Landry. These top 5 teams received a check that is split with their college and their fishing club. To see how the rest of the teams did please visit their site by clicking here http://www.collegefishing.com/tournament.cfm  click photo's to enlarge them for a better view.           

On behalf of the local residence, I want to thank FLW for bringing the American Fishing Series and The National Guard College Fishing event to Toledo Bend. These events are very important to our area and we hope that they continue to bring them here as often as possible. I realize I did not get the AFS staff shot but they know we appreciate them and their hard work this week. We look forward to the next events.               

FLW and the National Guard have put together a great program for the college students, they get to go across this country and fish on great bodies of water with some of the best known pros in the business. However the pro's are not allowed to help the kids in any way except to drive the boat to the kids chosen fishing location and then back to the weigh in at the end of the day. It is up to the college kids to locate and catch their fish. Today there were 40 colleges represented on Toledo Bend and the winning college will receive ten thousand dollars, half that money goes to the college and the other half goes to the club to help pay for their needs in the club. I have a few video shots of some of the kids in action.                 

These are just the ones I saw fishing so close that they could just about flip a jig in the other guy's back pocket, the photo below shows some anglers that chose to stay out away from the crowd's. There will be an early weigh in today for fish care, I will post photo's and video's tonight.  Thanks for visiting the site and I hope you enjoy the coverage.         

But it does not matter the group because he slayed them today, he being the one and only George Jean Jr. George brought in a 30.05 pound sack of fish today, and with that he takes a comanding lead of the American Fishing Series by more then 7.05 pounds, it is rumored that he can and will be in tommrow with another good sack. We will be there to find out. Congrats on a great day George.           

I walked down to an area and watched as several boats started running kind of early, they either got their limit or are looking for it, we will just have to wait and see. These boats are going in different directions looking for the sweet spot.       

After anglers go through live well and safety inspection they go back into the pocket and wait for their take off number to be called. Local pro Tommy Martin is geared up and ready. As you can tell he only has a couple of stick's on the deck at the ready, it will be interesting to see which pro's have figured these Toledo Bend fish out.  Below are several photo's click the photo to get a better view.           

At the briefing tonight the field was said to be 128 pro's and 128 Co anglers and most are ready to get the derby started and see how things shake out. The first day's weigh in will be shown live on FLW Outdoors tommrow at 3:00 pm.     

A few of the anglers that went out today were checking their fish and not trying to stick any of them, most the anglers are either ready or are just going to wing it and hope for the best. It is going to be interesting to see if some of the old hands are going to stroke them or if some of the young guns are going to shine. I am getting a small sampeling of information that right now both are sitting on last day fish. I can hardley wait to see which information is the most realiable. Stay tuned to find out.           

Tuesday, June 15th anglers show up at the public boat ramp getting ready for their day on the water, practicing for the up coming American Fishing Series, that is slated to start on Thursday morning on Toledo Bend. Pro Angler Todd Castledine from Nacodoches arrived at the ramp this morning and said this was his first real day of practice. Todd said he did go out for a little bit yesterday, and just hopes not to be struggling this weekend. Other anglers at the ramp reported they were finding fish scattred out and the ones that will bite were small. I think that the anglers who can bring in 18 lbs a day will be in the running to fish the final day Saturday. We will just have to wait and see.             

I talked to pro angler Chris McCall this morning and he said the bite was a litttle tight so far, he's not used to being on Toledo Bend during this time of the year. Chris said he has been looking the water over since Sunday.