CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Less was more for Robert Moseley during the Texas B.A.S.S. Nation 2017 Top Six State Championship Feb. 17-18 at Falcon Lake.
The Corpus Christi angler has caught heavy five-bass limits on Falcon Lake before, but he never amassed the weights of the three-fish limits that clinched his victory in the non-boater division of the state championship. “I have had pretty good days where I had 23 pounds or so on five fish but never 20 (pounds) on three fish and 18 on three,” Moseley said. “It was just insane.”
Despite being restricted to a three-bass limit each day, Moseley won the non-boater division with six bass weighing 39.11 pounds, while Bass Anglers of Houston club member Nick Diberardino, who was allowed to weigh in five-bass limits per day, won the boater division with 41.02 pounds. The 32-year-old Moseley weighed in a 20.47-pound three-bass limit the first day and followed up with an 18.64 limit the final day.
The first competition day Moseley drew Darrel Blades who took him to the dam area. “I had my 20 pounds by about 11 o’clock,” Moseley said. “The first fish I caught was about a 7- or 7 1/2-pounder on a crankbait. Then it took them a while to get fired up. I threw a Texas rig and jig and broke off enough tackle that I told myself to just stick with the crankbait.”
The Brush County Bassmasters club member recalls catching a 3 1/2-pounder next, followed by a 6-pounder and a 7-pounder which allowed him to cull out his smallest fish. He caught all of his fish that day on a chartreuse and blue Spro deep-diving crankbait and a sexy shad Strike King 6XD crankbait.
The next day, Moseley’s boater partner, Stephen White, agreed to take Moseley to the dam area in the morning and then they would fish White’s area in the afternoon. “I had 18 pounds by 10:30,” Moseley said. His first bass was an 8 1/2-pounder followed by a 2-pound fish, a 4-pounder and a 6-plus fish. The Spro crankbait produced all of the fish Moseley caught in the dam area.
When they moved to White’s spot up lake to flip timber in the afternoon, Moseley caught a few keepers but never culled to add onto his weight.
Moseley’s catch was in jeopardy though at the end of the day when White’s boat ran out of oil on the run back to the weigh-in. White was able to call the tournament director who sent out a boat to bring them some oil. With time running out, White filled up the oil reservoir and resumed his long run.
“I didn’t think we were going to make it to the weigh-in on time,” Moseley said “It was pretty stressful there at the end because I was looking at the GPS and it showed we had exactly one hour to get back to the weigh-in at our current speed and we had to be there for check-in in exactly one hour.”
Making it back on time, Moseley got to weigh in his fish and win the non-boater division to qualify for his first Texas Nation state team. Moseley has been in the Texas Nation for three years and owns Viper Rods, which rods he used to catch all of his bass in the state championship.
