Not one Goliath fell but more than 200 when 14-year-old Mark Pena took his Favorite brand rod and Daiwa reel, cast into the grass and pulled out a 7.57 pound Largemouth Bass out
during the Border Bass Battle tournament.
Going down with a thud were the nearly 240 anglers, mostly much older boat owners, from throughout Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana who were in line on Amistad National Recreation Area’s Lake Amistad battling for the $21,000 in prizes.
While Border Bass Battle is responsible for funding some Del Rio Chamber of Commerce and Convention Visitors Bureau projects, in this case, it did a lot more than that, it motivated Pena to boost his grades.
Several months ago, Rick Harris, aka Captain Rick, a fishing guide on Lake Amistad offered Pena, his occasional fishing partner, a chance to tag along and fish the tournament with him.
Harris got a quick yes from Pena. So, the plan was set, until Harris had a conversation with Pena’s dad a month ago.
“He told me that his grades were slipping, to the point he was failing,” Harris said.
The young 8th grade angler was sporting a 68 average. Harris simply told him, no improvement, no fishing.
Pena focused on the grades like a bass eyeing a helpless shad. When tournament day rolled around, the Del Rio Middle School 8th grader was sporting an 85 average, enabling him to be casting towards the grass in about 5-feet of water.
When the bass took his chatterbait, it headed under the boat. “Captain Harris was telling me to get to the front of the boat,” Pena said.
As he made his way to the front of the boat, the big fish jumped out of the water. “My heart raced,” the skinny teen said with a smile.
Harris was still encouraging him to move to the front.
Finally, the big bass was in the boat. It was the tournament’s first hour, and they weighed the fish in later during one of the morning sessions. Later, as the clock struck 3 p.m., the tournament’s witching hour, Pena and Harris were standing near the scales seeing if anyone would bring a bass in that would dethrone him and snatch the overall biggest largemouth check out of his hand.
They’d listened to Jay Gonzales interview Kurt Dove on KDLK 94.1 throughout the day as he updated listeners twice an hour on who was winning the hourly contests.
When the clock struck 3 p.m., Pena was King of the Lake and had to fill out the first IRS W-9 in his life, with three new checks. He won $2,200 for largest Largemouth Bass, $1,350 for winning an hour slot and $600 for largest bass in the junior division.
“It was crazy,” Pena said.
Organizers barely missed their goal of 300 anglers, during COVID times, just having a tournament is a victory. However, more than half of those anglers were in Del Rio from throughout the state of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana and several from Mexico, so it’s a win for Del Rio’s economy.
However, for one young angler and his fishing mentor, it was the day of a lifetime.
