By Staff
March 9, 2001
The father son team of Tom and Andy Mayatt had a big day on Ross Barnett Reservoir during the first tournament of 2001 on the BASS ANGLER TOURNAMENT TRAIL. They caught a 5-fish limit of bass weighing 15.18 pounds to edge out Robbie Miles and Billy Morgan. Miles and Morgan also had a limit of bass that weighed 15.12 pounds, just percentage points behind.
Third place went to the team of Harold Smith and Rick McGinty with another 5-fish limit weighing 13.74 pounds. Fourth place went to the team of Frank Sullivan and Leland White with a limit of bass weighing 13.44 pounds. Fifth place went to the team of Billy Clearman and Mike Ellis with 3 fish weighing 13.18 pounds.
According to several tournament anglers, the fish bit a little of everything on tournament day. Charles Wilson and his partner John Mason caught most of their fish on spinnerbaits in water less than 2 feet deep. Wilson and Mason had on enough bass to probably win the tourney but couldn't get them in the boat. They had one on that would have gone 6 or 7 pounds, which would have been the difference between 1st and 7th. The big old sow managed to throw the hook before being boated. With a 15 inch minimum, a bass had to be a good one in order to be weighed in. Many of the fishermen indicated that they caught and released in excess of 30 bass.
The remaining money places are as follows:
6th. Chris Stokes, Waymon Newell
7th Charles Wilson, John Mason
8th Keith Lovett, Adrian Coleman
9th Mark Mathis, Mickey Long
10th Jeff and Gordon Collum.
Local fishing update
Kemper Lake: According to local fisherman, the bass are really tearing it up at Kemper right now. Bass are being caught along the banks in water as shallow as 12 inches deep. Worms, spinnerbaits and shallow running crankbaits seem to be the ticket right now. There is a 14 to 18 inch slot limit on the lake and many of the bass being caught are in the slot. That makes for some fine fishing when the best fighting bass have to be released to bite and fight another day. There is also an abundance of 11 to 13 inch bass being caught as well. There are also some bigger bass being caught on jigs and suspending Rogues off the deeper points and drops. Many bass are staging in these areas and are no more than a cast distance off the bank. As the water warms up to the desired spawning temperature, the bass will move up more and more shallow. Of course when the nights drop back into the 30's the bass may back off into the deeper water until it warms up again.
Okatibbee: The bass and white perch were starting to bite pretty well on the lake before last week's stretch of rainy weather. A lot of bass were being caught pretty shallow on spinnerbaits and plastic worms. Some nice strings of crappie or white perch were also being taken along the creek channels and drop-off areas in 7 to 12 feet of water. Most fishermen were catching the perch on minnows. As soon as the water stabilizes and clears up a little, the bass and perch will be headed further into the shallow waters in search of spawning sites. The fishing should only get better as the days continue to warm up. The fish will be ready, it's just a matter of the weather cooperating at this point.
Mike Giles is an Outdoors writer for The Meridian Star.