Fifty-three teams from Virginia to
Georgia competed for the top honors of the Southern Crappie Classic
April 13th and 14th at Clark Hill Lake. With great weather, it was still
tough for most anglers to catch these post spawn crappie. Friday awed
for some good weights by a lot of teams only to see that it was hard to
repeat the same on Saturday.
Coming out on top for the fourth straight
year was the dock shooting team of Randy Pope and Jerry Pruitt from
Hickory and Salem, N.C. The two are nationally known for their dock
shooting technique. Randy and Jerry were using Lindy Fuzzy Grubs, white
in color, along with 4 pound test of Stren Magna-Thin line to increase
their weight from just over 14 lbs. on Friday to almost 16.5 lbs. on
Saturday. They had a weight of 30.55 lbs. for the two days. This gave
them first place and a 16ft Dura Craft Crappie Special with a 40 horse
Mercury worth $10,700.00 along with five hundred dollars form Outdoor RV
and Marine World in Columbia S.C. Along with that package came a second
big fish of the tournament that weighed 2.91 lbs. This one fish was
worth $1350.00 dollars. Also included are two B and M poles worth
$120.00 to bring their winnings to $12,170 for their efforts.
Taking home second place honors and $2500
was the Leesville and Cayce, S.C. team of Leonard Frick and Lewis
Marshall. The duo was also fishing docks and brush to bring in 12.44
lbs. on Friday and 16.92 lbs. on Saturday for a two day total of 29.36
lbs.
Also having a good performance for the
trollers were the Cassatt and Columbia, S.C. team of Wil Hinson and
Tommy Slice. Wil and Tommy were fast trolling the upper part of the lake
in the morning and switching to slow trolling from mid-morning until the
end of the day to catch craps that were snug on the bottom in 25ft of
water. Using Charlie Brewer Culprit paddle tails and AWD Crappie
Delights, the two boated 15.29 lbs. on Friday and 13.88 lbs. on Saturday
for a two day total of 29.17 lbs. Along with other bonuses, they can
cash $3050 for their efforts.
Total Purse including case and prizes for
the weekend was over $40,000.00. A total of 49 checks were distributed
to 23 teams for a 43% of the field payback.
