The river guys, myself included, were ready and willing as we began our second leg of the 2005 season on the Pearl. The river had fallen to 7.5 the week before the tournament and great stringers were coming from on and off the main river.
The problem was the rain! Lots of rain in Jackson and locally had the river on a rise and the fish on the Pearl do not like a rising river.
Roger Boler, the BASS superstar (he’ll hate that I put that in there!), made the Delacroix run and had an impressive 14.95 lb. stringer with a 5.15 lb. kicker that was second place lunker. Roger caught his fish early over the grass on frogs. He was fishing lakes and had one about seven or eight pounds sucking on the legs of the frog but could not tease her into eating the part with the hooks.
Second place angler Bill Pruett was able to manage the rising muddy water of the Pearl and catch what would have won most of the tournaments lately. He caught 14.40 lbs. of fish throwing a buzz bait and spinner bait somewhere around the Davis landing section of the West Pearl. His stringer was anchored by the lunker for the day at 5.70 lbs.
Billy Hoelzel also made the Delacroix run and brought back 12.80 lbs. to take the third place money and would have made the top six had he not missed the last tournament.
Fourth place goes to long time river fisherman Reese Watkins for his 10.15 lb. stringer, Reese will get to fish for free at the next tournament.
A close fifth was John Gillespie with an even 10 lb. stringer.
Joel Lee had sixth with 9.90 lbs. and moves to third for the year.
David “in the money” Williams and the marsh master, Ben Hollingsworth drop the ball on the duel for the year. Ben did not show and David did not weigh in so they both drop out of the top six for the year. I don’t guess we should rub it in that if David had weighed in his small limit he would still be angler of the year!!!
The next one:
[bThe LBTA at East Pearl
The Pearl is nice and low and clear as I write this but you never know about the rain. We will be out of East Pearl launch on July 9th for our fifth tournament of the year.
CLASSIC QUALIFICATIONS
Remember that you must fish four of the six tournaments to qualify for the classic or fish three and pay for one. If you have fished all three at Delacroix, you must fish or pay for one more to qualify for the classic
