# Bream World Championships - Team Swamp Donkey



## eddiem84 (Nov 3, 2010)

We fished the Bream World Championships at Red Bay Grocery on Saturday and had a heck of a time! I help put the tournament on, but Trey Nick from Nick's Seafood Restaurant is who really makes it happen, we couldn't do it without him! This was our 6th year hosting the tournament and was our best turnout to date, 17 teams!

Anyway, on to the report. Team Swamp Donkey (myself, Nate Powers and Brodie DeBogory) put in at Smokehouse around 5:30 am. At our first spot we immediately caught a nice warmouth, which don't count for the tournament, but are plenty fun to catch. 









We moved around a little, catching some small bream here and there before Brodie caught a nice warmouth at Inside Lake. 









There are some really beautiful spots on the Choctawhatchee River, people who don't get out there really don't know what they are missing. 









Finally around lunchtime, I got us on the board with a nice bluegill. 









We caught a few more fish here and there but nothing special until our last 30-45 minutes before we had to take out to get back to the weigh in. We went back to the first spot we tried and finally found a good bed. Nate had a big bite on a cricket and it turned into a big shellcracker!









Brodie followed him up with a couple more nice shellcracker. 









With a good mess of fish on ice, we decided to head to the weigh not knowing what to expect. 









Once at Red Bay Grocery, Trey weighed our fish, and to our surprise we were in the lead! Nate's shellcracker weighed 1.31 pounds and our six fish stringer went 5.81!



















We cleaned fish for the fish fry and awaited the final results.









We ended up with the biggest bream of the day, winning the tournament and finished second in the aggregate! We ended up winning $265, more than enough to cover our food, beer and bait for the day!









Thanks to everyone who came out and fished, I know we had a heck of a time and it sounded like most everyone else did as well. More than anything it was awesome to prove that you don't have to fish private ponds to catch big bream or win the tournament! There is some awesome fishing on the Choctawhatchee River!

Edited to add the final standings:

Biggest Bream
1st: Team Swamp Donkey - 1.31 lbs
2nd: Team Rippling Lips - 1.13 lbs

Heaviest Stringer:
1st: Team Rippling Lips - 6.51 lbs
2nd: Team Swamp Donkey - 5.81 lbs

Largest Non-Bream:
1st: Gus Andrews - 6.27 lbs
2nd D. Bigot & J. Reyes - 4.05 lbs


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## MoganMan (Feb 24, 2013)

Awesome write up and great pictures, those bream are beautiful! But they pale in comparison to the Choctawhatchee river, absolutely stunning!


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## Mike Moore (Feb 10, 2010)

Curious what the "non bream" species were? Bass or catfish? Congrats on the win!


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## eddiem84 (Nov 3, 2010)

Mike Moore said:


> Curious what the "non bream" species were? Bass or catfish? Congrats on the win!


They could be anything that's not a bream, I think 1st place was a catfish and 2nd was a redfish.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

That's a great report and beautiful photos. This Smokehouse Run has had a million pictures take of it. Beautiful when the light is right and it was right for you. Congratulations to all.


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## Mike Moore (Feb 10, 2010)

eddiem84 said:


> They could be anything that's not a bream, I think 1st place was a catfish and 2nd was a redfish.


gotcha.....thanks


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## jcoss15 (Oct 11, 2010)

Great report and pics!


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## eddiem84 (Nov 3, 2010)

fishwalton said:


> That's a great report and beautiful photos. This Smokehouse Run has had a million pictures take of it. Beautiful when the light is right and it was right for you. Congratulations to all.


Thanks. That picture was actually from the run to another lake a little upriver from Smokehouse, I'm not familiar enough with the river to know what it is called though.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*Mile*

On the picture, yes, that's the run at Mile or Half Mile Lake I believe. I get them mixed up. First thought it was Smokehouse. There is an open lake at the end of the run. Sometimes you can do well in that area.


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## Slot Pursuit (Oct 22, 2007)

Good report.


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## eddiem84 (Nov 3, 2010)

fishwalton said:


> On the picture, yes, that's the run at Mile or Half Mile Lake I believe. I get them mixed up. First thought it was Smokehouse. There is an open lake at the end of the run. Sometimes you can do well in that area.


That must be it, we found a few fish in there.


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