Grove, OK. – The XFL-Extreme Fishing League hosted its 3rd event of the 2015 season on Grand Lake. 175 teams were greeted with pretty tough fishing conditions in the form of several factors. A.) In the 2-3 weeks prior to this event, it seemed that every bass in the lake spawned at the same time. By the time this tournament rolled around the vast majority of the fish had vacated the shallows and were in the “post-spawn funk”;
B.) Much of the lake has 5-10′ visibility due to the exploding zebra mussel population. Many of us anglers are just not used to fishing under such clear water conditions; C.) The day before this event there was a popular annual tournament that drew over 500 boats. Though the results of that event were quite lackluster, the increased fishing pressure surely didn’t help matters; and D.) After several straight days of very light winds, by 10:00 am on tournament day the winds picked up to a strong 20-25mph out of the south making for jolting boat rides and difficult fishing conditions. The combination of all the above conditions showed in the weights for this tournament. Only 101 teams weighted a fish, 73 of which were 5 fish limits. 461 fish were weighed with the average weight a very respectable 2.70lbs. A total of $35,000 in entry fees were collected and with sponsorship monies added, $53,826 was paid for a payout percentage of 154%. Topping the field was the father/son team of Tom and Justin Haynes with a 5 fish limit of 20.23lbs. Tom and Justin took home $20,000.00 for the win. Coming in 2nd place with 18.63lbs was the team of David Buck and Tommy Furstenberg. In addition to the $10,000 2nd place prize the team took home the $5,000 Skeeter Customer Appreciation Bonus for being the highest finisher in a qualifying Skeeter Boat. I believe this is the 2nd such bonus prize for this team. Big Bass for the event was weighed in by Johnny Diamond. Johnny’s fish weighed 6.36lbs and was worth $1,000. Congratulations to these anglers and all the other teams that garnered a check at this event.
Though I did not get to interview Tom and Justin Haynes I do have some personal insight on how their day went. The reason for this is that I fished within sight of them most of the day. I’ve known Tom and Justin for years and out of respect to them I will not divulge where they were fishing. I can tell you they were fishing with Gene Larew plastics most likely Carolina rigged and on a Hard Head in about 5-6′ of water. I could go into more detail but, like I said, I will not out of respect for them. This team has other tournaments coming up on Grand and I wouldn’t want to jeopardize their chances of doing well in the upcoming events.
On behalf of the XFL staff, I wish to thank all the sponsors and participants in this event. We look forward to seeing you on June 14th at Lake Eufaula.
Capt. Rob