Crappie USA Tournament Results for Crescent Lake
OutdoorHub 01.20.13
This past Saturday January 19th, Crappie USA held a qualifying event at Florida’s Crescent Lake at Crescent City, Florida. These anglers from 12 different states were competing for not only cash and prizes, but a chance to advance to the prestigious Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic. This year’s classic will be held October 23-26, 2013 on Kentucky Lake at Paris, Tennessee.
Semi-Pro Division Results
Taking first place was one of Florida’s top teams George Parker of West Palm Beach, Florida and Daryl Cole of Leesburg, Florida with a total weight of 13.2 pounds and earning $1,100.00. George and Daryl were fishing the north end of the main lake in 8-11 feet of water trolling blue/chartreuse Charlie Brewer Slider jigs where George added that, “the fish were laying right on bottom, if you brought your bait off the bottom you didn’t get a bite”. The team caught over 50 fish for the day.
Second place went to Scott and Billy Williams of Cochran, Georgia with a weight of 13.11 pounds and earning $700.00. Scott and Billy also caught Ranger Boats Ranger Cup Award earning an additional $250.00. Scott and Billy were trolling blue/chartreuse Big Bite jigs in 10 feet of water close to the north end of the main lake. “The best speed to trolling that we found was 1.1 MPH which helped us to catch over 40 fish for the day”.
In third place was William Hinson of Cassatt, South Carolina and Joey Hilton of Rock Hill, South Carolina weighing in 13.09 pounds and earning $500.00. The team also caught 2nd biggest fish of the day with a 2.39 pound crappie which give the team an additional $150.00. William and Joey were trolling the middle of the lake early then like others headed north where they caught over 80 fish using blue/chartreuse Triple Ripple jigs in 8-12 feet of water.
Tim Eberly of Margate, Florida and Teresa Cole of Leesburg, Florida took Big Fish of the event with a crappie weighing 2.53 pounds and earning $350.00 for big fish of the event. The team was using blue/chartreuse AWD jigs in 10 feet of water on the north end of the lake to catch big fish of the event along with over 30 more crappie for the day.
Amateur Division Results
First place in the amateur division was the team of Jason and Brody Little of Cochran, Georgia and their partner Tim Fowler also of Cochran, Georgia weighing in 12.54 pounds and earning $900.00. The team was trolling chartreuse/blue/black jigs close to Dunn’s Creek on the north end in 10-12 feet of water to catch 25-30 fish for the day.
Second place went to Mike Cannon of Jesup, Georgia and Buck Spann of Crescent, Florida with a weight of 12.38 pounds and earning $600.00. Mike and Buck were trolling at a speed of 1.1 MPH south of Dunn’s Creek on the main lake in 10-12 feet of water using black/blue/chartreuse jigs to catch 25-30 fish for the day.
Taking third place was Fred Walker of Lizella, Georgia and Tommy Hilburn of Fort Valley, Georgia with a weight of 12.36 pounds and earning $400.00. The team also earned an additional $150.00 for the Ranger Cup award in the amateur division. Fred and Tommy were trolling the middle of the lake in 10-12 feet of water using blue/chartreuse and green/yellow/chartreuse jigs running at 1.1 MPH to catch over 30 fish today.
In fourth was the team of Samuel Adams of Tavares, Florida and Russell Cheatham of Eustis, Florida weighing in 12.01 pounds and earning $250.00. Samuel and Russell were fishing in 9-12 feet of water on the north end of the lake using blue/chartreuse jigs to catch over 30 fish for the day.
Fifth place went to the team of James A. Whitt of Trinity, North Carolina and Gary Bishop of Archdale, North Carolina with a weight of 11.89 pounds and earning $200.00. James and Gary were long line trolling in 12 feet of water on the north side of the lake using, you guessed it, blue/chartreuse jigs to catch over 30 fish for the day.
Congratulations to all the teams fishing this event. For a complete list of tournament standings and downloadable photos for this event visit www.crappieusa.com then go to Tournament Results.
Crappie USA Free Kids Fishing Rodeo
In conjunction with the tournament Crappie USA held their Kids Rodeo on Saturday morning with several local children attending the event. All the participants signed up for a chance to win one of 6-$1,000.00 scholarships to be drawn for at the Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic.
Crappie USA and our anglers have contributed nearly $316,000.00 to the “Crappie Kids” Scholarships since 1997. We are very proud to be a part of the education process for the youngsters who participate in our tournaments as adult/youth teams and those who fish in the Crappie USA “Kids Fishing Rodeos”.
A special thanks goes out to Mayor Joe Santa and all the city council members and the Putnam County Chamber of Commerce for hosting the event and all the volunteers who worked hard bringing in over 30 venders and holding events all day long on Saturday for the whole family to enjoy. It was a great weekend to be in Crescent City, Florida.
Stats for the Tournament
Weather-A cold front hit on Thursday before event. Temperatures on Saturday morning was 50 degrees warming to 69 in the afternoon. Winds on Friday were 25 mph dropping to 10-15 on Saturday.
Water- Water temps 69 degrees. This area experienced unusually mild winter which had the fish spawning already.
