Crappie USA Tournament Results for Kentucky Lake

  • Monday, March 31, 2008

This past Saturday Crappie USA held a qualifying event at the Paris Landing near Paris, Tennessee on Kentucky Lake. These anglers were competing for not only cash and prizes, but a chance to advance to the prestigious Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic to be held this fall on Indiana’s Patoka Lake.

Semi-Pro Division Results
Total of ten crappie can be weighed by each team

Taking first place was the Wingo, Kentucky team of David and Larry Sisson with a total weight of 12.66 pounds and taking home $1,050.00. David and Larry started fishing at the mouth of Blood River, but as the wind got up they moved halfway back in Blood River catching their fish using live bait on Eagle Claw Hooks in 23 feet of water.

Second place went to the McKenzie, TN team of Pam and Tim Ridley weighing in 12.48 pounds and receiving $550.00. Tim and Pam split the day fishing half the day on the Tennessee River and half on the Big Sandy fishing man made cover, mostly stake beds in 12-22 feet of water. Tim and Pam were using Teezer jig heads with chartreuse/purple and yellow Southern Pro Umbrella jigs. Pam and Tim also received an additional $250.00 for the Ranger Cup Award in the Semi-Pro Division.

In third place was the Paducah, KY team of Scott Mitchell and Jeff Casey with 12.41 pounds and taking home a check for $400.00. Scott and Jeff were fishing man made cover in 20 feet of water up Blood River fishing solid chartreuse tubes under ¾ ounce egg weights over drop off’s.

Steve Coleman and Ronnie Capps of Dyersburg, TN took fourth place with a weight of 12.07 pounds and receiving $250.00. Steve and Ronnie were fishing south of Big Sandy using lime and chartreuse tube jigs where their fish were holding close to cover in 5 feet of water.

Fifth place went to Michael Walters of Troy, OH and Rick Solomon of Piqua, OH with a weight of 11.19 pounds. Mike and Rick were looking for big fish in 20 feet of water up Blood River. The team noted that they caught a few small fish in 5 feet of water using lime and chartreuse tube jigs. Mike and Rick received a new Ego Net for fifth place.

Amateur Division Results

In first place in the amateur division was Ralph Dillard and Scott Watson of Paris, TN weighing in a total of 11.15 pounds and taking home a check for $850.00. Ralph and Scott were fishing man made cover on the Big Sandy river area south of Mansard Island. The majority of the fish came out of 12-16 feet of water using yellow and glow tube jigs with pink jigheads.

Second place went to Larry Buchanan of New Concord, KY and Scott Buchanan of Williamson, KY with a weight of 10.61 pounds and taking home $450.00. Larry and Scott were using Eagle Claw Laser hooks with live bait on drop offs and rocky points in the Blood River area with their fish in the 24 feet range.

Taking third place was Craig Barron of Nashville, TN and David Pinkerton of Trenton, TN weighing in 10.47 pounds and receiving $250.00. Craig and David caught over 90 fish with 40 of them being caught in one man made cover area up the Big Sandy in 8-9 feet of water using white/chartreuse tube jigs.

In fourth was the team of Randy and Cindy Turner of Belknap, IL weighing in 9.9 pound and receiving $225.00. Randy and Cindy were using Southern Pro black/blue/chartreuse tube jigs in 20 feet of water in the Blood River area.

Fifth place went to the team of John and Matthew Feagin of Mayfield, KY with a weight of 8.94 pounds and received $200.00. John and Matthew were fishing in 20-29 feet of water on drop offs up Blood River using orange/chartreuse tube jigs.

Congratulations to all the teams fishing this event. The first place team in each division have now qualified for the Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic along with the top 10 teams in each division advancing to the regional event which will have a major payback. For a complete list of tournament standings and photos for this event visit www.crappieusa.com then go to Tournament Results.

Big Fish Award

Taking big fish of the event was the team of David and Larry Sisson of Wingo, KY with a 2.77 pound Kentucky Lake crappie and receiving $580.00. Second place in the big fish contest was the team of Randy and Cindy Turner of Belknap, IL with a 2.61 pounds and taking home $250.00.

Crappie USA 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 4-$5,000.00 scholarships to be drawn for at the Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic.

Crappie USA and our anglers have contributed near $250,000.00 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 all the anglers who braved these conditions to fish this major qualifying event. Also thanks to the Paris/Henry County Chamber of Commerce for their support in this event. For more information on the area call: 1-800-345-1103 or visit their website at: www.paristnchamber.com.

Stats for the Tournament:

Total # of participants-122

Weather- Winds 12-18 MPH NNE with cool morning at 37 degrees warming to 50 during the day.

Water-Water was 9 feet over pool stage with temperatures 54 in the southern part of lake to 48 on northern end of lake.

National Sponsors of Crappie USA are: Cabela’s, Ranger Boats, Suzuki Marine, Tite-Lok Rod Holders and Acc., Cruiser RV, B ‘n’ M Poles, Minn Kota, Humminbird Electronics, Adventure Products EGO Nets, J.R. Mad’s, Eagle Claw, Eagle Claw Nitro Baits, Charlie Brewer’s Slider Co., Food Source Lures, Big Bite Baits, TTI-Blakemore Road Runner, Vicious Fishing Line, Flip Stick Co., Southern Pro Tackle, Crappie Unlimited, Culprit Crappie Baits, AWD Baits, ANPAC ("American National"), Porcupine Fish Attractors, Cruiser RV and Ron Gooding Insurance.

The following companies furnish product to help make these events possible: Kodiak Fish Attractants, Keep Alive, and Hydro Glow.

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