Monday, March 1, 2010

The Rear End Kicking!

We all dream about winning back to back tournaments with 20plus pound bags and beating the field by ten pounds and looking like the stud sticks of all time, and there are times when truth is stranger and harder to believe than fiction. To start the 2010 fishing season a team made fiction look believable and handed out one of the biggest ass whoopins that I can remember seeing in tournament fishing! Gerald Porobil and Daniel Barnes won back to back tournaments on two different lakes with 54lbs of bass and the next closest team had 22lbs in both tournaments. It happened in the MediaBass ( http://mediabass.com/ ) Texas I-35 Division in the first two tournaments of this year. The first tournament was on Stillhouse in January the second tournament was on Belton in February. Not exactly the two lakes that jump to mind when you think 25lb bag! However this new team has em figured out so far.
Now sure we can all remember some big wins in a tournament 10 or more years ago, maybe the one on a slot lake, the one team that fished in the monsoon and won by 15lbs in a field of eight teams or the back to back wins sight fishing, but this is different. This is two different lakes, non-sight fishing and both times the field was over twenty boats and loaded with real sticks on the lakes. As a matter of fact the previous anglers of the year in the division had 11lbs in the second tournament and that was third place! If you know anything about Central Texas fishing then you are aware of the local names like Fielding, Barnes, Babcock and Parrish. These guys do not make a habit out of donating and you do not see any team dominate multiple tournaments with ease. It is also where the team of Landan Ware & Keith Combs fought many a tournament battle. Central Texas fishing is about as tough as it gets to get paid in and very few ever dominate a tourney. Winning back to back is hard enough, but making your competition look bad while doing it is unheard of!
This is not the first back to back wins ever. Many in Florida may know of Jeremy Baltzell and Tom Fitzgerald, they won two tourneys back to back last year on Blackwater. However, both tournaments were won by a combined margin of less than a half of a pound. In West Louisiana Pate & Shaw won 3 out of 5 tournaments on two different lakes but in two of the tournaments the field was only 11 & 16 boats. The total margin of victory in all three tournaments was less than fifteen pounds. And sure Lawhon & Lawhon have torn up Lake Talquin in Florida with back to back wins over 11 & 13 teams. The accomplishment of these and many other multi time winners are very impressive. They are so impressive that what they do is make what Barnes and Porobil did look absolutely astonishing!
Here are just a few of the numbers that are behind this enormous accomplishment.
Media Bass held over 160 tournaments in 2009 and will hold that many again in 2010.
Of the 160 tournament less than fifteen teams had multiple wins in any division. Only three had back to back wins.
In the entire year of 2009 in the CenTex division there were only six bags weighed in all year over 20lbs.
At Stillhouse this year Poboril & Barnes weighed in 29.41lbs. The rest of the entire field had 36lbs.
They won Stillhouse by 18.5 lbs! They beat third place by 23lbs!
At Belton they weighed in 24.56 pounds. they won by just three pounds but beat third place by 13.3lbs!
Meaning that they beat the third place finishers in back to back tournaments by over 36lbs!
They beat the last in the money teams by 40lbs!
There were only SIX limits brought to the scales in both tournaments. Remember they had two of them.
No other team had a limit in both tournaments.
Even more astounding is how different teams finished well on the two lakes EXCEPT Barnes & Poboril.
No other team cashed a check at both tournaments.
The average lbs in boat at the tournaments was under 5lbs. These were tough, tough tournaments for everyone except Barnes & Poboril!

The stats go on and on. Just a couple more.

The second place team at each event had no more than one fish in the other event of the year.
No team weighed in more six fish in both tournaments and no team weighed in multiple fish at both events.
The three teams that were in the money with Barnes & Poboril at the first event had a combined weight of 3lbs at the next event!
Talk about laughing all the way to the bank.
They have now won $3180 after entry fees this year. The next best team has won $490.00 and only four teams have made more than their entry fee in the first two events.
Here is one for you real numbers lovers. In the opening events in ten divisions of Media Bass this year (including Deep East, Big "D", Super Teams, Hwy 31, West, Northeast, and many more) the margin of victory in all ten combined was 18lbs. That is what Barnes & Poboril won by in their first event alone!

I had a chance to talk with Daniel Barnes and I expected that I might run into the usual cocky bass fisherman with a we caught em in the mouth story. However, as is often the case my assumption only made me the ass. Daniel is actually a polite guy that was complimentary of other Central Texas sticks like former resident Keith Combs and his own brother Adrian Barnes. He like many of us is a Mike Iaconelli fan. He and his partner fish out an Alpha 199 Legend and he wanted to thank the sponsors that help with his fishing. They include Marine Outlet (http://www.marineoutlet.com/ ) of Temple Texas, Victory Tackle, Powertackle and Tightline Premium Fishing Tackle.
Surprisingly the team has only been together for one year and these two wins are their first bigger than the Tuesday night jackpot variety. So what is the big secret? Well it may be two fold. Certainly the team knows the lakes. On Stillhouse Daniel said they fished an area that , "only about two or three other teams know about." On Belton they fished an isolated cove with water temperatures about 5 to 7 degrees warmer than almost anywhere on the lake.
Secondly, you gotta have the bites. On Stillhouse Daniels reported that his partner caught back to back five pounders in an area and then Daniel adjusted boat position threw right back in the same spot with a jig and landed their 9lber! With a 9 and a couple 5's on board you are gonna be tough to beat ANYWHERE. Especially if the no other team on the lake that day puts a limit together.
On Belton the team fished jigs and swimbaits all day. However, all day was really unnecessary. Again on back to back casts in the second straight tournament the team caught quality fish. Daniel had a 3 and 4 lber on his first two casts and was culling 3lbers by 7:30 a.m.! What they believe was 19lbs turned out to be near 25 and again a cruising victory to start the season.
Daniel said that he had found the small spot prefishing and thought they could have 14lbs or so. Somedays you get the "or so!"

It was a pleasure to meet Mr. Daniels and I wish him and his partner continued success. If they keep this up they may run out of room in the garage for the really neat Media Bass Trophies.


I would love to hear of a recent feat that comes close to what these two have done. It is hard to believe even as I go over these numbers again. Two lakes that fished so different and so tough. Half of the field has one fish or a zero and no other team could figure out both lakes. Yet one team dominates both and just embarrasses a whole group of fishermen. If there is a better definition of butt whoopin in tournament bass fishing I cannot wait to write about it here!

UPDATE: Had a fellow write me and add that Daniel Barnes won a tourney on Feb.13, 2010 on Belton also. And then a friend sent me a link to ANOTHER Media tourney held last June and in the first tourney they ever fished together on Stillhouse Barnes & Poboril had 28lbs! UNCLE, I give I couldn't make up a new team, three tourney run like this! 83lbs in three tournaments for a brand new team. If I made it up, you readers would laugh at me!