Submitted by Brett Graham (ip 208.14.27.41)

Date Fished: 5/10/2006
Water Clarity: 4 feet or greater

We just returned from the Trophy Bass Lodge Big Bass Challenge on Lake Huites last week. I will not get into the full details of the tournament, however to read the full report go to www.trophybasslodge.com as some details are posted with more to come. That being said, we had two of the six finalists come down and fish three days in advance. Frank Walker of Michigan had one bass over 10 and one over 11 pounds during his "practice" period. The bass continue to be in transition to their deep water summer haunts, which is a little later than usual. Usually at this time the main lake points and humps are stacked up and is where we concentrate most of our fishing. However, last week saw many quality fish caught on numerous baits, and the majority of them came in water less than ten feet deep. I personally caught my biggest fish on Huites yet, a fish that was around the ten pound mark. She hit a Norman DD22 on a main lake point about 15 feet deep. To my disgust I was "technically" testing boats and equipment for the tournament, but happened to have a couple of rods with me. No camera, no scale, no one else even in the boat to witness! Oh well, what is a guy to do but appreciate the moment and move on.

The better quality fish (from 7 to 11 pounds) were caught in areas all over the lake, from in front of the lodge to the dam and up the Chiapas River. No real distinguishable pattern as far as location. The lures that took the big bass included DD22 crankbaits, swimbaits, chug bug top water, spinnerbaits, and even a little bandit crankbait. The third place finisher caught his big fish, an 8 pounder, on a Strikeworks Jig, and said he caught approximately 35 bass in a matter of 45 minutes. Jim Russell of Strikeworks provided all of the contestants with a bag full of his beautiful jigs, thanks Jim!. Like I said, the fish are just all over the place right now. Lake Huites has been fishing like that since November, any bait can be a great bait, and any spot can hold a school. The lake is in excellent shape, around 70% pool and the water was beautiful. The fish looked very healthy. There was some schooling occurring, and when it happened it seemed to be bigger fish over five pounds. As far as numbers, the three boats averaged 75 to 135 fish per day. The swimbait bite should hit full stride in the next week or two, and as usual the end of May and first of June will produce some of the biggest bass of the year.

The winning fish in the tournament was just under 9 pounds, and was caught by Brett Moore of Covington, Louisiana. The tournament was filmed by Bassin' Mexico for the Men's Channel, Glen Willis, host of Fox Sports Nets' Sportsmens Heritage Television Show, and Arizona Outdoors magazine. The morning Brett caught the winning fish, we actually had just dropped the cameraman off in his boat. Film was rolling when Brett got the bite, and the bass hit so hard it ripped the reel right off the rod. While I have yet to see the footage for myself, I was told by Brett's co-anger (Roger Lange of Grand Rapids, Michigan) that Brett had his rod under his arm and was performing some type of Cajun reel dance trying to get that fish in. And according to Roger, you can expect allot of "bleeps" when the show airs! The second place fish, caught by Tom Sainsbury of Sugar City, Idaho was also caught on film as well. For Brett's efforts, he won a fully paid trip to the Amazon for the awesome Peacock Bass, as well as a paid return trip to Trophy Bass Lodge for next seasons' Big Bass Challenge.

Lake Huites will only be open one more month, then closes for the rainy season and will reopen October 1st. Don't miss your chance to enter the Big Bass Challenge next year! I will be back down to Huites May 31-June 5 for one last trip before we close. We will be hosting Mark Davis of Pflueger/Shakespeare, Steve Quinn, editor of In-Fisherman Magazine, and a handful of their associates. I will report on that trip as soon as I return! Maybe this time I will have a picture to show for my Mexico trophy!

Brett Graham Trophy Team www.texmexadventures.com

Heres a couple of pictures for you from Huites! http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/097266.jpg http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/097255.jpg

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