Texas Bass Couples love Lake LBJ and Lake Buchanan June 15 tournament
Nathan Hendrix/The Highlander
Texas Bass Couples Southeast Region held the final regional tournament of their 2019 season on Saturday, June 15 on Lake LBJ. The next to the last tournament was held on Lake Buchanan. Members of the group said they enjoy their time in the Highland Lakes' fishing destination.
By Nathan Hendrix
Sports Editor
Members of the Texas Bass Couples Southeast Region completed the final regional tournament of the season on Saturday, June 15 at Lake LBJ.
Texas Bass Couples is a state-wide fishing community divided into regions; after six regional tournaments, the top-six teams in each region advance to the state tournament – the Top Six Invitational.
Southeast Region members James and Janet Wannamaker from La Grange said the group is like a second family.
“We've made a three-day weekend out of the tournaments,” James said. “Everyone arrives on Thursday, and we camp and hang out. Then we fish on Saturday.”
This year, the final two stops in the Southeast Region season were in the Highland Lakes area – June 1 on Lake Buchanan and June 15 at Lake LBJ. It was the first year the group fished Lake Buchanan, and James suspects the group will include it in the rotation again next year.
“I think everyone will vote for that one,” he said. “We had a good time up there.”
Lake LBJ has been in the group's rotation of venues for nearly a decade, and all of the members continue to vote for it to be part of their season series due to the quality of fishing experiences.
“The lake is very clean – a lot cleaner than other lakes we fish,” Janet said. “There's a lot of fish, so we're never bored.”
The windy conditions on Saturday proved to be a challenge for all of the anglers, but it didn't stop the first-place team of Eric and Peggy Brigman from pulling in a quality haul. Eric won the men's big bass with a fish weighing 7.88 pounds.
“We both put a lot of time into fishing,” Peggy said. “[Buchanan] was a little tougher than Lake LBJ, for sure. We still caught five, but the bites weren't coming as frequently.”
James and Janet had a little more frequent success at Buchanan.
“I loved Lake Buchanan,” Janet said. “The campground was nice, and the lake itself was wonderful. We caught fish all day out there. We had a full string by 9 a.m.” . . .
Read the rest of this story, including the impact of the October flood on the bass tournament in the Tuesday, June 18 issue of The Highlander, the newspaper of record for the Highland Lakes. To offer a comment or news tip, email nathan@highlandernews.com. For subscription information, call 830-693-4367.
