Originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 24, the North region 2018 kick-off was delayed until Sunday February 25 due to extreme weather delays. Chris Ford and Billy Deacon took home the mother load.

Patty Lenderman reports winners Chris Ford and Billy Deacon not only had the top overall weight, but the biggest single bass caught as well. “Our day started out slow,” Ford began. “Our first spot was a shallow area, and we didn’t catch anything there. We hadn’t been able to practice for the tournament, so we were just trying different things. We decided to try deeper water and found a secondary point in 20’ of water.”

Throwing watermelon red baby brush hogs, Deacon got their first bite, and it was big! “This is the biggest bass that Billy has ever caught, and we are really thankful that he did it in this tournament! 

“After a little while we moved again to the other side of the lake. We found a mouth of a creek that was shallow with clear water.” Still using baby brush hogs, they wrapped up a limit by noon. Their 11.17 lb sow earned a $1,000 check and anchored their 1st place win with 16.88 lbs to cash in on the guaranteed $20,000 top prize. 

Anthony Jones and Craig Brown took second place win with 16.41 pounds. “We had a great practice, and found some fish to target. With all the rain the week prior, we were concerned whether or not they would hold where we found them. When we got there Sunday morning, there were a lot of bait fish in the area. We were fishing in milfoil, some slime, with ditches running through it. The lake had risen over two feet since practice and I think that helped us, keeping the fish there. We put our Power Poles down and stayed there all day.”

Having no luck on soft plastics, they switched to chatter baits. Craig got another good bite that measured 24-1/4” weighing 9.40 lbs. “That was our second fish of the day to put in the live well. They were biting slow, but steady, and we stayed in that one area all day.”

By days end they had 16.41 lbs to catch a 2nd place win and a $6,500 payday. “It really was a great day. If we could keep our best five of the day, we would have had a 35 pound stringer!”

Third place winners Mike Schultz and Barry Borcherding decided to try a deep water pattern. They tied on an Alabama rig, slow rolled the lure letting it tick the bottom. With only thirty minutes to go, Schultz caught their big fish weighing in at 9.56lbs. “Those were the only four fish we weighed," said Schultz  Their sack weighed 12.78 lbs and they won $5,000 for their finish.

Rounding out the top ten:
(4th) 11.81 lbs with their 10.02 lb kicker – Danny Bennett and Brian Roman took home $4,000 plus the Lowrance bonus
(5th) 11.47 lbs – Henry Gentle & Taylor Bivins won $3,000
(6th) 10.67 lbs – Branden Hollingshead & Jeremy’s Lambert took home $2,500 plus the Sportsman’s Auto Bonus, worth over $5,000
(7th) 10.59 lbs – Chris McClain & Richard Osborn won $2,000 plus another $1,000 from the Sportsman’s Auto Bonus
(8th) 10.14 lbs – Scott Barnett & Brian Clark, $1800
(9th) 10.06 lbs – Steve Hodge & Shawn O’Malley, $1700
(10th) 9.83 lbs – Timothy Weaver & Wesley Weaver, $1600
All total 41 teams earned checks, and the last $600 went to Ty Burns and Bart May having 8.62lbs,