Amon Carter Individual Results
Ray Roberts Individual Results
Club NC Region YTD Standings
The North Central Region held its final two qualifying tournaments of 2024 on Lakes Amon Carter and Ray Roberts on May 4th and 5th.
On Saturday morning, under overcast skies and light drizzle, the anglers launched their boats on Amon Carter from basically inside the boat ramp parking lot as the lake levels had risen significantly from the recent rains. Both lake levels were well into the flood pool according to Andrew Wren, Assistant Regional Director and president of the Tarrant Christian Bass Club. Andrew was the acting tournament director for the events as I was in Florida for my daughter’s graduation from college. At takeoff, with the Angler of The Year title still very much in question, the anglers went their separate ways, fishing both the “old” and “new” sides of the lake.
Upon returning to weigh in at the end of the day, it was Angler Justin Hallmark and Co-Angler Joe Sciuto, both from Big Sandy Bass Club, who finished on top. With the only limit among the boaters, Justin’s five weighed in at 12.57 pounds, edging out second place finisher Andrew Wren, who weighed in three fish for 9.82 pounds including the big bass of the tournament, a 3.49 pound Amon Carter behemoth. Andrew said he was on the right size fish but had a few shake off and prevent him from filling his limit. According to Hallmark, who fished with Co-Angler Joe Sciuto, (neither of which had ever been on the lake), all of the fish they weighed in, with the exception of one, were caught on Flukes in 2’-12’ of water on the new/clear side of the lake. Justin also stated they caught keepers on the old/dingy side of the lake on swim jigs but “those fish wouldn’t cull.” Sciuto’s three fish limit weighed 5.13 pounds and was enough to clinch the Co-Angler of the Year Title. Impressive wins for Justin and Joe considering they fished the lake for the first time, but I am sure it won’t be the last based on Justin’s remark that “Amon G. was a neat lil’ lake to fish!”
There was still one unanswered question heading into Sunday’s tournament on Ray Roberts and that was who would be the North Central Region Angler of the Year. Starting out overcast Ray Roberts was in a stingy mood, as Ray Roberts can get, and the conditions turned partly cloudy and humid by afternoon weigh in. None of the anglers or co-anglers would bring in a limit, but apparently the opportunity was there. In the end, Justin Hallmark brought 4 fish to the scales for a total weight of 10.36 pounds, taking first place and securing the Angler of the Year title. Justin said he was just “junk” fishing with each of his four keepers coming on a different bait. He said he “lost #5 twice, once on a walking bait and one about 3-4 pounds on a shaky head at the boat.” Two of the four fish came off the dam. Angler Andrew Wren brought in 3 fish for 8.62 pounds which was good enough for second place. He stated that he lost two fish that were easily over 4-5 pounds each first thing in the morning but couldn’t buy a bite after 9:00 a.m. On the Co-Angler side it was Zac Stacy, Big Sandy Bass Club, who took down Joe Sciuto for the win with a nice 5.40 pound Ray Roberts beauty and taking the big bass honors.
The North Central Region will finish out the year with the Regional Championship on Lake Richland Chambers in October and it should be “one for the books”! Special thanks to Andrew Wren for running the final qualifying tournaments while I was away.
I want to thank all of the anglers that fished the North Central Regional trail this year. Even though the field size was a little smaller in numbers than usual, I believe the guys really had a good time getting to know everyone involved and participating in some friendly smack talk all while enjoying the sport that we love. I am looking forward to seeing you back next year as we continue to re-grow our region!
Stephen Farrar
North Central Regional Director
Club Division
Sfarrar@texasbass.org