This weekend the third stop of the Malone’s Marine Marshall Bass Super Series took place on Stonewall Jackson Lake. Despite the rainy day, the anglers stepped up and brought some West Virginia mega-bags to the scales. Most competitors remarked that there were many big bags shallow and ready to be caught, but they could not figure out how to catch them.
I think it is safe to say that Travis Heater and Erick Lipscomb were not those anglers. Travis and Erick brought in the largest single-day weight ever in a Marshall Bass Super Series event with 18.90 pounds!
“Finally getting some practice was a big thing for us. I was able to get out Tuesday and Thursday and found some shallow fish that helped me piece together a game plan,” Heater remarked.
Grabbing their first win on the Marshall Bass Super Series was impressive, but breaking the all-time single day weight record was even more impressive. They beat out Cody Huddleston and Zach Horrock’s weight record by over a pound and etched their names in Marshall Bass Super Series history.
Travis is a local to Stonewall Jackson Lake, calling South Weston his home. Travis remarked that the way they were catching them was pretty simple.
“We were catching them in the bushes by skipping our baits as far back as we could”
By taking this approach, he believed he was getting his bait to fish that were less skittish than some that their competitors were targeting.
But it wasn’t until 2:30, Travis and Erick made a move to try and get one more big bite.
“We left our spot later in the day and tried to look for one more big bite because we were running out of quality fish in our area. We made a move and culled out a three and half-pounder, which helped us edge out the Hanshaws for the win.”
Finishing up in second place was Charlie and Jeffrey Hanshaw who had a 17.27 pound bag. Putting them in third place in the Team of the Race only 12 points trailing Brian and Dylan Fitzgerald.
Rounding out the top three was the father son duo of Cole Sowards and Mike Sowards who dropped a 17.01 pound bag on the scale.
Big fish was caught by the duo of Lee Hess and Josh Miller had a 5.73 pound lunker.
The next tournament is the Malone’s Marine Marshall Bass Super Series at the Kanawha River presented by the St. Albans Parks and Recreation. Stay tuned and keep up with the Marshall Fishing Team on Facebook!