Randy Groves and Chuck Murray "Three Peat" at Gaston Lake
Gaston Lake — The NC BASS Federation Nation Team Trail made its fourth stop of the year Saturday with 16 teams attending. The water temperature was around 82 degrees and it was a hot muggy day with plenty of boat traffic. The boat traffic did not affect the bite too bad as half the field had seven fish limits.
Chuck Murray and Randy Groves took first place in the tourney with a 7 bass limit weighing 21.10 pounds. They stated they caught their fish around grass early, however their good fish came in the middle of the day in about 10 ft of water. With all the rain in the area, many of the feeder creeks had muddied up and they had to change their tactics. “We were not expecting our first stop to be in muddy water, but all the recent rain really stained the water where we wanted to fish. So we had to retreat to the main lake.” Murray and Groves stated they caught their fish on 10 inch Berkley Power Worms, Shooter Lure jigs, and top water baits.
Phillip Sykes and Patrick Wooten took second place with a nice limit weighing 17.74 pounds, third place went to T.J. DeFelice and Robert Holley for the second time in a row with a nice limit weighing 16.72 pounds and Danny Smith and Mike Barnes took fourth with a nice limit weighing $14.80 pounds receiving their third check of the year.
Chuck Murray and Randy Groves remain tied for first with a seven point lead over Danny Smith and Mike Barnes. Jimmy Spence and Shane Carter are right there in the mix only 11 points behind Danny and Mike. The total weight race has tightened some with Danny and Mike holding a 5.11 pound lead with one tourney to go. Danny and Mike had a huge limit weighing 42+ pounds in the first tourney of the year, but Randy and Chuck have been able to close the gap some. It will all come down to the last tourney on Kerr on October 10th.
Important note: The October tourney on Kerr Lake has been rescheduled to 10/10, not 10/24. Please mark your calendars!