Texas B.A.S.S. Nation

Bassmasters’ Creed: I promise to create among my fellow anglers, and the public in general, an awareness of my Chapter’s and Society’s contributions to angling, conservation and outdoor recreation. I will encourage and instruct the youth of my community in the art of bass fishing. I pledge myself to full adherence to all conservation codes and to detect and report any polluter of our nation’s waters.

2026 TBN Club Division State Championship – The Sabine River

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The 2026 TBN Club Division State Championship was held March 27 & 28 on the Sabine River out of Orange, Texas. Anglers competed as 6-man team members as well as individual boaters and co-anglers for cash and prizes including three coveted spots at the B.A.S.S. Nation National Championship in 2027! This year’s event was hosted by the Orange Texas CVB and was kicked off with a registration meeting Thursday night where the anglers were served a delicious meal of crawfish and jambalaya prepared by The Hut. All the anglers and staff members raved about how good the food was! 

The first day of the tournament saw all 122 anglers converge on the Orange TX Boat Ramp for an early morning take-off. This is a top-notch tournament facility with a four-lane boat ramp and plenty of parking. The TBN staff all agreed this was a super venue for our state championship. After the benediction and the playing of our national anthem, the anglers were off.

Day #1 of the boater division saw Wesley Bennett of the Piney Woods Bass Club take the early lead with a 5-fish limit weighing 12.16 lbs. Wesley’s catch was anchored by nice 4.19 lb largemouth. In second place was Seven Coves Bass Club angler Aaron Slaten with a 5-fish limit weighing 11.55 lbs that also included a 4.19 lb fish. Rounding out the top three on Day #1 was Trevor Rogge of Canyon Bass Club with 10.40 lbs. Trevor’s 5-fish limit included the Big Bass of the day weighing 4.73 lbs. On the co-angler side, Marcus Crow of the Red Oak Bass Club took the lead with a 3-fish limit weighing 8.66 lbs. Marcus’s catch included a beautiful Sabine River largemouth weighing 5.28 lbs that ended up being big bass of the tournament. Taylor Weldon with Vidor Bass Anglers was second with a limit weighing 5.37 lbs. Cen-Tex Bass Hunters Chris Miller took third with 3 fish weighing 5.26 lbs.

On the final day of the tournament, Chad Petrie with Century Bass Club charged up from fourth place with a 5-bass limit weighing 10.48 lbs to take the win in the boater division with a 2-day total of 20.65 lbs! This makes Chad a 3-time TBN state champion after winning in 2022, 2025, and 2026. Congratulations Chad! Jacob Bruener finished second overall with a two-day total of 19.83 lbs. Third place went to Wesley Bennett with 19.55 lbs. 

In the co-angler division, Marcus Crow with Red Oak Bass Club hung on to take first place with a two-day total weight of 16.50 lbs. Second place overall went to The Bass Club angler Tim Jahn with a two-day total weight of 10.04 lbs. Danny Golden with Beaumont Bass Anglers took third with 9.27 lbs.

Congratulations to the top three anglers in each division. You will be representing Texas at the B.A.S.S. Nation National Championships in 2027!

The top 4 teams of this year’s TBN Club Division State Championship were:

1st place – Century Bass Club – Total weight 69.40 lbs

2nd place – Canyon Bass Club – Total weight 65.18 lbs

3rd place – Vidor Bass Anglers #2 – Total weight 62.11 lbs

4th place – Red Oak Bass Club – Total weight 59.78 lbs

The Texas BASS Nation board of directors would like to thank Orange Texas CVB for being our host this year. We, of course, want to thank our sponsors Classis Chevrolet (www.classicchevrolet.com) , Kast King (www.kastking.com) , and Dobyns Rods (www.dobynsrods.com) .

Barnes & Brown win Battle on Brutal Lake Limestone/Rest of Field takes Beating

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On Sunday, March 22, 2026, the North Central Region, Club Division, held its third qualifying tournament of the year on Lake Limestone. A significant warming trend on the days leading up to the tournament along with reports of water temperatures in the mid to upper 60’s had the anglers’ hopes up in anticipation of a great day on the water.  However, it didn’t take long for those hopes to “blow away” as the field was met with 18 mph SSW sustained winds gusting to 28-30 mph as they took off at safe light and those conditions would continue through weigh in.  As if that was not enough, the lake was almost three feet low making it a lot tougher than it needed to be.  Between “stupid crazy” wind gusts and a lake level that seemed to be bottoming out, lake Limestone turned into a tactical nightmare for most of the field. While many struggled to just find a bite, a few anglers cracked the code on a day where the conditions did everything they could to stop them. 

When the wind is “stupid crazy” and the lake is “stupid low,” most people are just happy to get back to the ramp in one piece, let alone with a limit. In a tournament where “blanking” was a common result—with a third of the boaters failing to bring a fish to the scales—boater Charlie Barnes, Big Sandy Creek Bass Club, was the only angler to find a true rhythm, bringing in a massive 15.73lb five-fish limit and took home $576.00 for his effort. To give that some perspective, Barnes’ bag was more than double the weight of the second-place boater, Eric Tapia, Centex Basshunters, who managed three fish for 6.19 lbs. In conditions this volatile, Barnes clearly found a pattern that held up against the heavy chop and receding water lines.

On the non boater side, Jordan Fudge, The Colony Bass Club,  was the only non boater to bring in a three fish limit weighing 6.92 lbs, however, that limit did not earn him the win and he would have to settle for second place.  Despite Jordan’s limit, first place on the non boater side belonged to Alonza Brown, The Colony Bass Club, who brought two fish to the scales with a total weight of 8.83 lbs, which included the big bass of the tournament, a 5.09 lb. beauty. Landing a five-pounder in howling winds from the back of the boat is a testament to staying focused when the bite is scarce.  For his efforts, Alonza took home a check for $360 and an additional $130 for big bass.

Up next for the North Central Region will be Granbury and Eagle Mountain on May 2nd and 3rd.  Who knows, maybe there will be straight line winds or even a tornado!  All Texas Bass Nation members, regardless of region, are eligible and encouraged to sign up and fish with us.  I have said it before, if you “know” you could do better, come put your chatterbait where you mouth is and show us how its done!

See ya on the water!

Sincerely,

Stephen Farrar

Texas BASS Nation

North Central Region Director

Club Division

(682) 465-6165

Sfarrar@texasbass.org 

Club Division SE Region: Colby Bryant Captures Win at Conroe

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The Southeast Region Individual Trail returned to action for their third tournament of the 2026 this past
Saturday at Lake Conroe on Saturday March 14, 2026, out of April Plaza Marina.
According to reports on Friday, pre fishing had been fairly good, however many anglers reported difficulty incatching the required 16” keeper fish.

At the end of the day, Colby Bryant with The Bass Club captured the win with 5 bass weighing in at 23.72
pounds, anchored by 6.80 pounder. Colby stated that he target bedding fish with Texas rigged 6th Sense
Bodega rigged with 3/16th ounce weight.

Bryan Trahan with the Vidor Bass Anglers Association came in second with 5 fish weighing 22.22-pounds,
Bryan started out his day on a seawall that he did not practice on, because he had caught fish in that area on prior trips to Conroe, he targeted that area with 3.8” swim bait and was able to catch 3 keepers there early, including a 5.75 pounder. He then left that area and went to some bedding fish he had located in practice and realized more fish had pulled up. He filled his limit and culled up to around 18 pounds with those fish throughout the day. He then left that area and returned to his starting area to see if he could locate some bedding fish in that area. He located a 4 pounder and captured her quickly then went about 45 minutes without anymore bites, then around 2:45 Pm he located another one and on the fifth cast she bit and was a six plus pounder he boxed her at 2:53PM, with a 3:15PM check in time. All of his bedding fish were caught on Big Bite baits Fighting Frog rigged with 3/16th ounce weight.

The Bass Club’s Wesley Baxley finished third overall with a 5 fish limit weighing in at 20.17 pounds,
anchored by the second overall Big Bass of the day a 7.75 pounder. Wesley stated that he started out the day fishing for bedding fish but only caught males. He spent the majority of the day looking for bigger bedding females but never did and went offshore a targeted pre spawn females to cull up to his final weight.

Juan Monroy with The Bass Club won overall Big Bass of the tournament with a 9.14-pound Lake Conroe
beauty. Juan stated that he caught the Big Girl on a Carolina Rigged Magnum Fluke near 15’ of water. Juan said that she is one of many lunkers, including double digits that he has caught on Lake Conroe, and she was one the most explosive out the water that he has experienced. He would like to thank the Lord for the catch and the Southeast Region team for hosting the tournament at this time of year.

Bryan Trahan with the Vidor Bass Anglers Association took home the Edge Rod in open drawing for all
contestants still present at the weigh-in.

We would like to thank the regional clubs that provided members to serve as tournament volunteers, as well as the Southeast Region Directors for their assistance in conducting a smooth tournament.

The Southeast Region Individual Trails’ next event is on Lake O’ the Pines, out of Lakeside Park on
Saturday, April 11, 2026.

Written by: Robert Royal Southeast Region Secretary

Club Division News

Team Division News

Kayak Division News

Stop #2 Canyon Lake – Kayak Division

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Event #2 is in the books! Huge congrats to Rolando Nandin for securing the win and big bass! Jacob Moeller got 2nd, Ote Shaw got 3rd, and Jesus Reyes got 4th! The south wind made things pretty hairy at the end of the day. We had and angler flip his kayak and was not able to recover […]