Nearly 2,300 anglers competed in the 39th Annual Sealy Outdoors Big Bass Splash held May 1618 on Toledo Bend Reservoir. Several found the big ones biting. The Top 5 heaviest bass of the “Amateur Only” event included four 10 pounders and a nine pounder.
Steve Cannon of Pineland took the tournament’s top prize with a 10.80 pound largemouth. He won a new Phoenix 721 ZXL bass boat, RAM pick-up and $10,000 cash, including $5,000 for weighing the biggest bass during a bonus hour. Kaden Elkins of Marthaville, LA. took second with a 10.57, $15,000; Donnie Boudreaux, Leesville, LA., 10.49, $10,000; Calvin Tarver of Florian, LA., 10.44, $5,000; and Samuel Antee of Montgomery, LA., 9.53, $2,500. .
Betsey Merritt of Many, LA., won the Ladies Big Bass Bonus with a 9.03 pounder, $1,500. The top hourly cash winner was Casey Burleigh of Orange. Burleigh cashed eight checks totaling $9,550. The field weighed in 686 bass over three days totaling 3,234 pounds…… Elites dink fest on Sabine While the amateurs stayed busy catching the big ones on T-Bend, some of the nation’s top bass pros faced a much more challenging fishery downstream in the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite Series event on the Sabine River in Orange.
