The 5th tournament of the season found the river with high, muddy water once again. Another set of thunderstorms had dumped up to 5 inches of rain in some areas surrounding the river. Overcast skies and cool temperatures greeted the anglers at takeoff. The river levels were starting to drop but left the anglers two decisions: find clearer backwater or tough it out on the muddy main channel.
The team of Ray Call and Don Deerwester took the victory with 4 fish weighing 12.05 pounds. They also caught the tournament’s big bass weighing 4.67 pounds. “We didn’t get many bites today, but the ones we did get were good fish,” commented Call.
Deerwester added, “we fished in the main river channel despite the muddy water feeling we could get the fish to bite in very shallow cover.” They primarily used soft plastics to catch their fish. With the win, they took over the top spot in the Angler of the year standings with a 64 point lead going into the last two tournaments of the season.
Finishing in second place was the team of Andy Mills and Mike Mak. They weighed a 5 fish limit weighing 7.74 pounds. Their bag consisted primarily of smallmouth bass. They also moved up to second place in the Angler of the year standings.
The third place team of Dave and Ron Call also weighed in a limit of 5 fish that tipped the scales at 6.98 pounds. Fishing both backwater and the main river, this team proved how versatile they are with another top 3 finish. They are also in third place in Angler of the year standings just 3 points behind second place.
Rounding out the top 5 was Mark Noell finishing 4th with 4 bass weighing 6.61 pounds. In 5th was Tony Soto bringing two fish to the scales weighing 2.74 pounds.
The next tournament is on August 15 launching out of the Shelby ramp.
Don Deer
