What a busy past six weeks it has been chasing a dream. Crappie fishing has led me down lots of roads and met lots of good folks. Starting at the Millwood Lake Tournament for CAT(Crappie Anglers of Texas), my partner Chris Coffman and I placed first in Division 2 with a weight of 14.53 and a big fish of 2.79. It was my first time on the lake and got to pre-fish a half of a day before the tournament. We targeted fish in the deep-water channel that were suspended on the east side of the lake.
I left Millwood and headed to Grenada, Mississippi, later that night. Started pre-fishing on Sunday for a two-day tournament the next Friday. Since it was Spring Break week, I was able to take off and enjoy the week. On Tuesday during practice I caught a 16+ pound bag. I thought I had found a pretty good spot since the Saturday before the Magnolia Crappie Club tournament was won with just over 15 pounds. The lake was up 27 feet so that made the fishing tough and the fish were scattered. I was one pole fishing while I saw lots of spider rigging on every part of the lake I fished. I targeted suspended fish off points that were at the mouths of coves. After Friday Day 1, my partner Chris Coffman and I was in 16th place with 12.91. On Day 2 we had 14.76 and moved up for a top 10 finish with a total weight of 27.67. Grenada Lake is an awesome fishery and I caught over 20 two pounders during the week. Big fish during the tournament for us was a 2.63. I will be going back.
From there I traveled to Lake Fork the following weekend to fish Crappiefest which is a one big fish tournament. I weighed in a 1.98 and placed 21st out of 280 plus people. They paid the top 20, and 20th place was 1.99. That’s what kind of day it was as the winds picked up causing my boat to ride a roller into a stump and breaking my shaft of my trolling motor. Finished fishing 2 ½ hours before time was up.
On to the next weekend back to Lake Fork for a two-day one pole challenge Crappie Master’s tournament. After weighing in on Day 1 14.89 pounds, my partner Jay Hupp and I were sitting in 9th place. We didn’t do so well the second day and only had 11.96 and finished in 27thplace. It was a tough one to swallow after being in the hunt after Day 1. A thunderstorm rolled through on Day 2 which produced 60-70 mph winds, heavy rain, and hail. It made it tough on everyone who stayed on the lake. Lake Fork is always a blast and never ceases to amaze me with the size of fish it produces. Our big one for the tournament was 2.74. I will be going back!