Tournament winners, Anglers of the Year determined and plans for 2013 announced as Bass N Bucks wrapped up their Sam Rayburn Summer Series August 4, 2012. Winners Walter Land and Dean Brown caught 'em in a hurry and weighed in before noon with nearly 21 pounds.

The morning started out with a nice cloud cover for the competitors in the Bass N Bucks season finale. As the day progressed, the temperature gauge continued to rise to scorching temps and bright sunshine. Top teams reported a good early bite in deep water spots.

Walter Land and Dean Brown made a short day of it catching their fish early and bringing their creel to be tallied before noon. "We had picked out one spot to go to. It was a main lake point, 18 feet dropping to 25 feet." Rigged with DD22 crank baits and Texas rigged Zoom Ole Monster worms, they hit their target spot. "The first 35 or 40 minutes, we didn't catch anything. That was really worrying us because we had no plan 'B'. Only one plan, one spot and one pattern. If this didn't work we were pretty much toast." Dean broke the ice catching their kicker weighing 6.29 lbs. "After that, we put a limit together pretty quick." By 9:30am they had a limit and culled three times, accounting for all of their weigh fish. "We tried three other spots on our way back (to the weigh in) trying to cull one more small fish. Never did catch one to cull it with." Knowing they had a good sack already and not wanting the fish to become over stressed in the livewells, they made the decision to go ahead and weigh in. Their total tally went to 20.91 lbs to win 1st place overall. In addition, their kicker held for Big Bass honors.

Jason Wells and Vic Cooper caught a 2nd place check weighing in 19.91 lbs. They too targeted main lake ledges and drop offs in 9-12' depths. "We started catching fish right away," Jason explained. In a fairly short time, using Bomber Fat Free Shad crankbaits on Dobyns Rods and Lews Reels, they had a limit in the boat with plenty of time left in the day to cull with bigger catches. "We hit about 10 different spots and was able to cull up a few times. All total we probably caught 10 keepers all day." The team would like to thank Champion, Mercury, Shelby Savings Bank, Town & Country Marine and AFI Unlimited for their products and support.

16.83 lbs won 3rd place overall, brought in by Albert Collins and Gary Martin. "We had a good day! We caught most of our fish early, but caught one here and one there all day long." They targeted two different depth ranges and caught most of their fish on two different baits. One targeted depth range went from 9' to 12'. Using an E2 Baits 10" Big Tail Worm, they had a limit in 45 minutes. "We also caught several on a 6th Sense 300DD crank bait in their Candy Citrus Shad color pattern." Albert explained that line choice made a big difference. He spooled with 10# test line. "We hit a lot of different spots, but mostly ended up bouncing back and forth with the three best ones. We ended up culling about eight times." Their kicker weighed about four pounds, anchoring their 3rd place win.

Now that all three Rayburn Summer Series events are in the books, the Anglers of the Year have been determined. Congratulations to Jason Wells and Vic Cooper for achieving this status for the second year in a row! As part of the reward for achieving Anglers of the Year, their entry fees will be waived for the Rayburn Summer Series 2013 tournaments.

There will be five Region Championships for Bass N Bucks qualifiers. Bass N Bucks and Bud Light Trail have partnered in 2012 to offer FOUR combined championships, plus one more exclusively for Bass N Bucks anglers. Three of the combined championships will fish for $10,000, and one will be for a Legend Alpha 191 w/200hp Mercury. The Toledo Bend Bass N Bucks championship (for both Rayburn and Toledo Bend Series qualifiers) will also be fishing for a Legend Alpha 191 w/ 200 hp mercury!

Region Championship schedule:

September 9 Lake Tawakoni

September 15-16 Sam Rayburn

September 30 Lake Amistad

October 20-21 Toledo Bend

October 28 Ray Roberts

Teams that finish in the top 50% in any of the five region championships or enter at least two Region Championships will qualify to fish in the BLT/BnB Grand Championship where the 1st place team will receive TWO Legend Alpha 191 Boats w/ 200 hp Mercury Motors ($90,000 value). The Grand Championship will take place on Lake Texoma November 10-11.

"We would like to thank everyone who fished with us this year," announced Tournament Director Bryan Davis. "Being the first year that Bass N Bucks and Bud Light Trail has worked in conjunction we have met a lot of great anglers and learned a lot from you. We are excited to announce that in 2013 we will be offering an expanded tournament trail with even more chances to win. The full 2013 schedule will be posted on our website soon. In the mean time, congratulations and good luck to all of the championship qualifiers!"