Total Year Standings
Total Fish Caught 409
Total Dead Fish 3
Total Limits 33
Big Fish 6.41
Total Fish Weight 635.36 lbs

Tournament Results

The Hawg Hunters held the May tournament out of Ellis Landing at Miller’s Ferry.  We had 16 members fishing.  The weather was cloudy in the morning and clearing as the day progressed.  Temperatures started in the 60’s and rose to the lower 80’s.  Water temps were 68 early and 75 by afternoon.  We had moving water all day and the color was good for the river with visibility of about 2 feet in the main river but stained and cloudy in most creeks.

I fished behind Dave Bock, and we went up a day early to pre-fish.  We stayed up river from the landing all day Friday, and we did find a few nice fish on worms.  We tried crank baits with only small fish and not any fish on spinner baits.  Not surprising the colors that worked for us were junebug and greenpumpkin. 

As the tournament day began we decided to try to check out a favorite place of mine, “blue canoe”, but we were able to only catch short fish there.  Dave did manage one small keeper  there.  We did make one short stop on the main river, and I managed to pick up 2 small keepers and then later,  one more short keeper before we headed up river.  We decided to stop on a bank where I like to try for spots, and I was able to pick up 3 more small keepers and culled a smaller fish.  Next we ran up river to a spot is a creek where Dave had caught a nice fish in practice.  We fished hard there but we did not get even so much as a bite.  We returned to the bank where we had found a few spots and Dave picked up his 2^nd keeper.  That was it for us… A really tough day.  We did have fun fishing together but the bite was tough.

At the scales we learned that everyone had at least one fish to weigh and that was a good thing. There were not any major mishaps that would challenge Billy’s hold on the Slammer Award.  However, Lee Branon did  have a hub go bad on the way  to Millers Ferry.  Seems like I heard a story of that hub going bad in October….mmmmm. Oh well….back to the weigh-in.  Taking first place was Jeremy Burkart with a limit  @ 6.73 lbs.  Congratulations Jeremy!  John Buck managed 2^nd place with a limit @ 6.58 lbs.  Jere Jaillite took 3^rd with 4 fish @ 5.96 lbs.  Thom Labelle took 4^th place with 4 fish @ 5.59 lbs.  Buddy Yates had the lunker  @ 3.15 lbs.

One small point of interest… February tournament 1^st and 3^rd from back of the boat…March-1^st place back of the boat, April-1^st place and 3^rd place back of the boat, and May 1^st and 2^nd place back of the boat.   Do I maybe see a trend evolving here?  Just food for thought….

Next month the tournament will be our first “short’ day tournament with a weigh-in at 2:00 PM.  The tournament will be on the Tensaw River out of Cliff’s landing.  Dave Dyess, Dave Bock, and John Buck will miss due to the fact that they will be in Canada catching 3-4 lb smallies.  Be safe in the heat guys and wishing you the best.  See ya in July. 

Keep your hooks sharp!

John