Regional Qualifiers
Presentation of the format
Crown Lake
Thunderbird
Sequoyah
.7th Place
Name: Brad Kell
Partner: John Morris
Boat: 2009 Puma FTD
Qualified: KABCOT
Crown: 0.00
Thunderbird: 0.00
Norfork: 1.76
Bull Shoals: 0.00
Total: 1.76
The Tennessee team of Brad Kell and John Morris leftArakansas disappointed by their failure to land more than two keepers over the course of four fishing sessions, but nevertheless invigorated by the unique challenge of the Bass Cat Owners Regional Championship, Presented by Mercury Marine.
“A marathon was a perfect name for it,” Kell said. He had heard through the rumor mill that there might be a trout fishing component to the event and was disappointed that didn’t come to pass. “I was really hoping for that. I’ve been fishing the Norfork and White rivers for trout since the 8th grade. Maybe that’s something they’ll have in the future. Only Rick can come up with something like that.”
They spent four hours of their practice day on Norfork and four hours on Bull Shoals, figuring that if they could unlock the secrets of the bigger lakes, they could figure something out on the smaller lakes on the fly. That didn’t come to pass, but they didn’t regret the decision to “swing for the fences.”
During practice, they used the electronics on Kell’s Puma FTD to locate schools of fish corralling bait, but they elected to save those fish for tournament day. If others “were beating the banks and flipping docks,” Kell explained, they’d have that pattern all to themselves and it might be a way to win in a tournament where there were no points at stake. Unfortunately, the fish turned out to be white bass, walleye, hybrids and undersized bass. While they tried a wide variety of lures to get the job done, both of their keepers came on a spoon in 27 feet of water.
“I used 8 pound test and 10 pound test for the first time in my life,” Kell said. “I borrowed four spinning rods because I don’t even own one.”
The pair fished out of Kell’s Puma FTD, which is his second Bass Cat, and he’s already pondering the purchase of his third one. Morris is pursuing a degree in engineering, which keeps him busy, but he still finds time to guide on Reelfoot Lake. The pair plans to be back next year.
“Pride and a need for redemption will drive me,” Kell said. “This was an outstanding opportunity but I plan to come back. I have a good feeling that I will be back and I will swing for the fences again.”
Other than the memories and the giveaways, the pair took home something else from the region – a bottle of water taken directly from Bull Shoals – meant to inspire them and to remind them of the need to adjust when they return.
6th Place
Name: Joe Wikoff
Partner: Shawn Wikoff
Boat: 2009 Puma
Qualified: SEBCOG
Crown: 0.00
Thunderbird: 0.00
Norfork: 3.56
Bull Shoals: 7.17
Total: 10.73
After enduring a Day One goose egg, the father-son team of Joe and Shawn Wikoff of Alabama proved their resilience by improving with each subsequent session, including marking the second best catch overall at the closing session on Bull Shoals.
They practiced on Norfork and Bull Shoals, and while that shows in the results, Joe lamented that the decision to do so “came back to bite us.”
“We had an awfully big uphill climb after Day One,” he said. “We’d had a fair practice on Norfork but we hadn’t done that great on Bull Shoals.”
Ultimately, the heavy Day Two winds forced them to adapt. They’d used jigs and worms to feel their way to bites on the bigger lakes during practice, but when the blustery conditions set in they found limited success with a jerkbait, a spinnerbait and a Chatterbait. “We couldn’t feel a thing,” Joe said.
If they had an opportunity to reset the tournament to the beginning, the pair would’ve fished shallow on the smaller lakes to break them down more quickly. While they fished some grassy points there on Monday, they would’ve tried other forms of shallow cover and structure.
Joe’s 2009 Puma isn’t the first Bass Cat the pair have fished out of. Previously he owned a 2000 model year Cougar for seven years, and he said that he’ll never own another brand. “I love the shallow draft of the boat, the fact that you can get it into extremely shallow water,” he said. “And it outperforms everyother boat when it comes to handling big water. I’ve been in other boats where when you’re sitting still in a crosswind you get wet. In this boat, even going through big water, I never feel like I’m going to get wet.”
The other contributing factor is the family behind the boats. “The Pierces are very much into what they do and they put out a fantastic product,” Joe said. “We thoroughly enjoyed everything about this tournament and we will fish the southeast championship again next year to try to make it back.”
5th Place
Name: Ivan Morris
Partner: Janet Morris
Boat: 2013 Puma FTD
Qualified: VABCOG
Crown: 8.50
Thunderbird: 5.97
Norfork: 0.00
Bull Shoals: 0.00
Total: 14.47
You might be able to forgive the Virginia team of Ivan and Janet Morris if they hadn’t been too enthused about the tournament after its conclusion. They’d been just one bite out of the lead heading into Day Two, then blanked on both Norfork and Bull Shoals to end up in 5th place overall. After a grueling 19 hour drive home, however, Ivan couldn’t help but rave about the tournament. Not only is he a long time devotee to the Bass Cat brand (with two of them currently at his Lake Gaston home), but he had the opportunity to fish with his wife. In doing so, Janet Morris became the first woman to compete in a Bass Cat Owners Regional Championship.
“It’s always special to me to have my wife fishing with me,” Ivan said. He’d fished club, Federation and Bassmaster Invitational tournaments for 20 years without her before she finally agreed to fish with him a few years back. “That day she caught a 4 pounder. After she put it in the livewell, I heard whimpering from the back of the boat. She was crying with joy. Since the moment she caught that fish, she’s been hooked.”
Based on last year’s tournament, the Morrises suspected that this year’s event might once again be a multiple lake marathon and they weren’t disappointed. Suspecting that they might spendsome time on Norfork and/or Bull Shoals, Ivan consulted with his brother, Elite Series pro Rick Morris, and got some intel into places to look on Bull Shoals. Rick hadn’t been on Norfork, but provided the duo with some hints about Ozarks region lakes generally. Practicing on Crown Lake, they found fish with a Biffle Head and a hula grub as deep as 40 feet, quickly boating multiple fish. With that established, they left for Norfork, where they could not duplicate that pattern.
On the morning of Day One, they culled four times up to their weight of 8.50 on Crown. When they got to Thunderbird, they couldn’t replicate the bottom bugging pattern, but Ivan eventually caught a quality 3-plus pound bass out of a brushpile on a spoon. In a true team effort, Janet then added another quality keeper with a dropshot.
While they made the most of their opportunities that first day, when the weather changed for the worse on Day Two things got much tougher. “We were whacking them on Norfork, but they were all 12, 13 and 14 ½ inch largemouths,” Ivan said. A keeper largemouth there must be 15 inches. They also added some subpar smallmouths and spots to the mix, ultimately boating about 20 fish, none of which could be weighed in. On Bull Shoals, they landed three smallmouths, but once again they were all too short to keep.
In hindsight, the pair expressed remorse that they hadn’t looked shallower and tried topwater. “When I heard that some of them were catching them on chrome spooks, I wished I had tried it,” Ivan said. “I don’t throw anything but chrome spooks for topwater. They were catching them that way in the backs of pockets.”
Despite the lackluster second day, Ivan, who in addition to the BASS Invitationals has competed in a Federation National Championship, said he will always cherish “the opportunity to go to this tournament and experience it. Fishing is kind of a way of life for us and I’m proud that we accomplished this.”
The pair fished out of a 2013 Puma FTD, but they also have a 2012 Eyra as a backup boat. By his best estimate he’s had a dozen Cats over the years, everything from the original Eyra, through multiple Jaguars and Pumas, up to the reintroduced Eyra.
“I’ve always liked the look of them and the quality of them,” he said. “I really don’t think in terms of any other boats. They take care of their people.”
4th Place
Their strategy during practice was to stay close and focus on the two bigger lakes, figuring that the smaller bodies of water they’d face on Day One could be analyzed more quickly during the actual competition period. That strategy seemed to pay off during prefish, as they found fish one half to three quarters of the way back in two creeks, where deep rockpiles harbored keepers that were willing to bite.
“We banked on that rockpile, but the fish just moved,” Maples said. “My gut instinct told me to go further back in those creeks, but instead we went to the clean water just to try to catch a few Kentuckies.”
At the opening session on Crown they caught a baby limit that pulled the scales down to 6.02 pounds. While they hail from the Lone Star state, a hotbed of power fishing, most of their damage at Crown came on a dropshot. They supplemented that presentation with one fish on a spinnerbait, dragged out of a patch of lily pads. At Thunderbird, they returned to the dropshot and landed two quality keepers.
The pair’s best catch came at Norfork, where they cranked their way to a 6.09 pound limit on a Storm Wiggle Wart, the ultimate Ozarks staple. Apparently they had done their research and come prepared. Unfortunately, they couldn’t carry over that pattern to Bull Shoals, where they managed to catch only a single keeper.
In hindsight, Maples said that his biggest regret was trying to adapt a Texas mentality to Ozarks-region bass. “We’re used to fishing for Florida strain largemouths,” he said. “They shut down when it gets cold, but the largemouths up there are used to the cold water. Our thought was that the cold weather (on Day Two) would shut down the largemouths and we needed to focus on smallmouths and Kentuckies. We shouldn’t have been scared to go shallow for largemouths.”
Hughes agreed. “If I had it to do over again, I’d probably go shallow,” he said. “We were out in 50 to 60 feet of water. I’d probably try to find some dirty water. We’re just not used to fishing places where you can flip a quarter into the water and see it fall for 13 seconds.
They fished out of a 2006 Puma owned by Maples. It’s his first Bass Cat after owning multiple other brands, and he stressed that he “love they ride. It’s dry and it handles rough water.” Most importantly, he now understands the true meaning of the Bass Cat family. “Being around Rick and the whole family, it’s not very often that you see people in that position who are that friendly. It meant a lot to me.”
Hughes, who runs another brand of boat, was similarly impressed by the Bass Cat brass. “Rick is one of the most down home guys I’ve ever met,” he said. “I felt like he’d give you the shirt off his back.”
The pair is already prepping for a return visit and a little bit of vengeance on the Ozarks lakes.
“I’m ready to go,” Hughes said. “I told Corey that we need to start preparing right now.”
“We talked about it the whole way home,” Maples said. “We’re going to make it back. We know the changes that we need to make.”
Although they had no experience on large southern impoundments, Hurlburt and Martin did ample research, including the use of satellite imagery, to get the leg up on what they correctly assumed would be a multi-lake challenge. Furthermore, each angler brought a distinct skill set to the table.
“I’m a power fisherman,” Martin said. “I like to throw a half ounce football jig, a big Texas rig and a crankbait. Steve throws a swim jig with a single tail grub a lot. That’s pretty much his forte. I’m a bottom bouncer and he’s a swimmer. We complement each other.”
The elected to practice on Crown and Norfork, and got off to an auspicious start. “My first Arkansas fish was a largemouth that weighed almost 5 pounds on a chrome spook,” Hurlburt said. Their strategy was to look for “filthier, dirtier water,” preferably with some sort of rock on the break line. After that early hint, they had some clues to work with.
“The format made you make decisions without as much information as you would’ve liked to have had,” Hurlburt explained. On Thunderbird, they tried to duplicate what they’d found on Crown with the shallow topwater bite, but it didn’t work out. Ultimately they headed out deep in the last hour of the session and scratched out two keeper fish. “We didn’t dial it in fast enough,” Martin said.
Their three fish for 6.93 on Norfork all came on the chrome spook, and had them in the running, but once again the topwater bite died during the day’s second session. They scrambled and still managed three fish for almost 6 pounds on Bull Shoals, but never got the big bite they needed to claim the title.
“The biggest mistake we made that kept us from winning is that we left the instructions about the landings behind during practice and chose to launch at a ramp about a 20 minute run from the tournament launch,” Martin said. They found fish there, but had to sacrifice 40 minutes of a 3 ½ hour competition in travel time. One more good fish and they might’ve come out on top.
The Puma that they fished out of is Hurlburt’s fourth Bass Cat. He bought his first, a red Sabre, in 1991. After that, he had an older-style Eyra, then a 2002 Pantera Classic. He purchased the certificate for that Pantera from touring pro Rick Morris, brother of fifth place finisher Ivan Morris, who he met for the first time this week. He explained his brand loyalty simply: “It’s rock solid equipment, built like nothing else, and with a lot of innovative features. Also, the people at the factory are fabulous. They care about how each and every customer is treated.”
Martin, who owns another brand of boat, was amazed by the BCB experience. After touring both the Bass Cat plant and that of another Arkansas manufacturer, he said he was “totally turned on to the quality and attention to detail that Bass Cat puts into it. Their commitment and ethics are rock solid.” When the time comes to get a new boat, he’ll be in a Cat. “They sold me on it. It would definitely be my next boat.”
Villemarette described the event in glowing terms: “We were on a high, with a lack of sleep, living off beef jerky and oatmeal pies,” he said. “I’m 45, and (Josh) is in his mid-twenties, and this was the number one best experience we’ve had fishing in our lives. You couldn’t prepare for it. As crazy as it was, it was so well-organized that it didn’t feel haphazard.”
After practicing on all three lakes open to them, they were in 3rd place after Crown, but then caught a session best 9.24 pounds at Thunderbird (3 fish) to claim the Day One lead, less than a pound ahead of second place team Ivan and Janet Morris. “We found a little rock pile on Thunderbird that produced seven fish, three of them keepers,” Sikes recalled.
Their Louisiana background may have hampered them when the harsh weather moved in on the second day of competition.
“Here is Louisiana, when that happens, the shallow bite dies,” Sikes said. “On Norfork, we stayed out deep. That was a mistake because the deep fish shut off.” They were around plenty of fish, but they all proved to be short of the legal size limit, including one “line scratcher” that came within 1/16 inch of being legal. The result was a one-fish catch, for a little bit less than a pound, taking them out of the lead. They adjusted nicely on Bull Shoals, however, and but for a slight mechanical issue might’ve had time to reclaim the lead.
“We stayed shallow and went way up toward the Missouri line,” Sikes said. “We caught four fish real quick on a spook.” Unfortunately, Murphy’s Law kicked in as they moved and their propeller threw a blade around 2pm.
“We couldn’t decide whether to fish it out and try to limp back,” Villemarette recalled. “Eventually we decided to take the safe route and we headed back to the landing.”
In hindsight, they might’ve elected to go shallow earlier on Norfork, but the Louisiana team said they had few regrets. “We’re just a couple of dirty water boys from south Louisiana,” Villemarette said. “I cannot say I would do anything different.”
Along with Ivan and Janet Morris, Villemarette and Sikes were the only two BCB team in the field – they fished out of Villemarette’s 2013 Puma FTD, and Sikes has a 2007 Puma – and they were effusive in their praise for the company.
“Before my Puma, I had a 2012 Pantera 2,” Villemarette said. “I intended to keep it forever. It fished every bit like a 20-footer. Then we went to a boat show and saw this boat and my wife told me that if I could get a good deal to buy it. I’ve had several other brands, but the ride and the storage capacity are unbelievable. We had 40 rods and two peoples’ tackle in the boat this week. I intend to keep this one forever, too, but if my wife drags me to another boat show, who knows?”
Sikes is likewise in love with his 20 foot Cat, as he was with his previous Pantera: “The all around performance is great,” he said. “It gets in shallow water and in our club we have about 45 guys and the three fastest boats are Bass Cats.”
As much as the quality of the product, they raved about the quality of the people at the company. They were already aware of the Pierces’ attention to detail, but seeing it firsthand throughout this event drove the point home.
“The absolute thing that has blown me away since I had my Pantera, is the way that the whole Bass Cat team treats us like family,” Villemarette said. “From the Bass Cat Owners Board to the ability to call up the factory to ask a question, it sets them head and shoulders apart from any other product I’ve ever known. I left there thinking that Rick Pierce felt like an uncle I hadn’t seen for a long time. No one else can claim that kind of backup behind their boat.”
With their faith in the company reinvigorated, and newfound confidence in their clear water fishing skills, after a near-win they’re anxious to start the process all over again.
“Second place was great, much better than we expected,” Sikes said. “But it kind of left us thirsty.”
Cook admitted that the two venues on the first day of competition “threw us for a loop.”
“They were two small bodies of water and we fish mostly big reservoirs,” he said. “We found decent fish on Crown but we missed a bite or two and it kind of goofed us up. Then we struggled at Thunderbird.” They concluded Day One with three fish for 6.94 pounds, which had them more than 8 pounds off of the leaders’ pace.
The pair then used their big water experience from frequent tournaments on Lake of the Ozarks to break through for the win. Cook had been to Norfork a handful of times and “kind of knew what to expect.” He’d also been to Bull Shoals about a month earlier with his son to fish an Anglers in Action Championship. Despite that past experience, he said that the whirlwind nature of this tournament forced them to rely less upon past knowledge and more about quick adjustments. “It was moving so fast that we didn’t have time to think. When that happens, you just have to go with your gut and fish your strengths. We did what we know how to do.”
Specifically, what they know how to do is fish Green’s homemade ½ ounce and ¾ ounce brown football jigs.
“That’s what we threw 95 percent of the time and caught all of our fish on,” Green said. “We’re stubborn that way. We tried a lot of different stuff – a jerkbait, a spinnerbait, a crankbait – but we couldn’t catch them on anything else. In practice, the fish had been out on the fronts of docks, but the harsh cold front that rolled through during the competition hours pushed the fish up to the bank, into less than 2 feet of water.
The approaching bad weather didn’t concern them, as they had experience with similar situations on their home waters. “The wind messed us up at Crown,” Green said. “But it helped us at Norfork. It pushed them in on our bank.” On their first pass down the key stretch they’d identified, they caught eight keepers and then culled one more time for good measure at 9am. At that point, they made the decision to head back closer to the ramp with a good bag to avoid the possibility of some unforeseen troubles. They didn’t help themselves, but they didn’t need to, as their 14 pound bag beat everyone else’s catch at Norfork by at least 7 pounds. They were in the middle of the pack again at Bull Shoals, but caught enough to claim the title.
Cook said he’s never fished further away from his Missouri home than Guntersville and Texas. Green related that he’s never been out of the United States. Now the pair will see if their big water expertise translates into truly big water – the Amazon – when they claim their all-expenses paid prize trip.
First, though, they’ll continue to reflect on their big win. The first item on Cook’s agenda is to get a Bass Cat of his own. In fact, his household may soon become a two-Cat family as his son is considering buying Green’s 1999 Pantera III. “He’s been saving his money and he’s going to look at it this week,” Cook said. “I suggested that maybe he should get a truck first, but he said that if he had a boat like that, any of his friends would be willing to pull it.”
Cook himself will likely get out of his current boat and into a Mountain Home product sooner rather than later: “Next year I hope to be fishing out of a Bass Cat,” he said. “After the way that we were treated, if I’m going to spend money on a product, I want it to be one like that. I can see why the Bass Cat guys are all so loyal to the product. I fish some tournament just about every weekend and I’ve always said that the Bass Cat Owners Tournament is the best event there is, but this one was right there with it. It was a super, super tournament. We got to know everybody there and made some great relationships.”
The 2013 Puma that they competed from is Green’s second Bass Cat product and he said he’ll never own another brand.
“I like how it handles rough water,” he said. “Lake of the Ozarks is rough all of the time and we fish a lot of summer night tournaments. I had an older boat from another brand, and my Pantera was far superior to that, and this Puma is far superior to my ’99.”
The experience was so great for the winning team that while they’re still “just soaking it in,” plans are already in the works to “bust our butts to get back.” First they’ll have to recover from winching in big Amazon peacock bass.
