Even though there are still a couple of weeks left in 2008, the official beginning of the 2009 tournament season began on Dec. 13 when Berry’s Tournament Trail visited Lake Sinclair. Some 122 anglers descended on Lake Sinclair to fish the initial tournament of the 2009 season.

Heavy rains on the order of 5 to 6 inches in the local area turned a good part of Lake Sinclair muddy just prior the tournament. Angling had been tough leading up to the tournament, and the heavy rain completely changed any specific patterns that anglers may have developed to catch their fish.

The tournament day began with cold morning temperatures near freezing and only rose into the high 40s to low 50s during the day. With much of the lake muddy, anglers were forced to find some warmer and less muddy water and that proved difficult since most areas of the lake had impacted by the heavy rain.

Even with the tough fishing conditions, a good number of teams, 33 in fact, brought five-fish limits to the weigh scales at Little River Park. In all, 274 largemouth bass weighing over 490 pounds were brought to the scales. The only downside to the good numbers of fish that were caught was the small size of the fish weighed. Most of the five-fish limits barely broke the 6-pound barrier. Only 16 teams broke 7-pounds total weight and most of the fish caught by the anglers were in shallow water areas.

The two-man team of David Ellison from Fayetteville and Jason Dobson from Thomaston only caught two fish but those two fish weighed 11.49 pounds and that was enough to put the pair of anglers in first place. Their first place finish earned the anglers $3,600. In addition, Ellison and Dodson caught the tournament’s big bass that weighed 7.36 pounds and that one fish earned them an additional $1,220. They caught both of their fish on a crawfish colored crankbait.

Second place and $1,800 went to Billy Hensley from McDonough and Chuck Kiblinger from Monticello. They weighed in a five-fish limit weighing 10.32 pounds. Hensley and Kiblinger caught their fish using small crankbaits on main lake points.

Scott Bates from Hiram and Brian Meadows from Franklin finished in third place with a five-fish limit weighing 8.88 pounds and won $900 in prize money. The pair of anglers used jigs and worms in the grass and around docks to catch their fish.

The good angler turnout bodes well for the upcoming tournament season. Gas prices have dropped significantly over the past few weeks and no one was happier to see those reduced gas prices than tournament anglers and tournament organizers. With gas prices at the previous $4 a gallon, anglers were becoming deeply concerned about spending anywhere from $300 to $500 to fish a single tournament.

Berry’s Tournament Trail has become the premier trail on Lakes Oconee and Sinclair. Much of the success of this tournament trail is due to the professionalism and downright friendly attitude of the Berry family. Several members of that family including father Bobby Berry run the tournament trail. For a variety of reasons, many tournament trails have recently suffered from a lack of participation but the Berry Tournament Trail has steadily grown in popularity with anglers.

The Berry Tournament Trail has a total of eight regular tournaments that are split evenly between Lakes Oconee and Sinclair. At the conclusion of the eight regular tournaments, the trail holds a two-day classic that is also split between the two lakes. Classic anglers fish Lake Oconee one day and Lake Sinclair the second day with the combined weight from the two days determining the classic winner.

Remaining regular tournaments are on Lake Sinclair Jan. 10, April 4 and May 30 and on Lake Oconee Feb. 7, March 7, April 18 and May 9. The two-day classic will be held on June 13-14. If you are interested in competing in this tournament trail, you can contact Bobby Berry at 770-787-6179. Entry forms can also be picked up at Little River Park on Lake Sinclair or at Sugar Creek Marina on Lake Oconee.

For additional information about Berry’s Tournament Trail, check out their Web site at www.berrysbass.com. Good fishing and see you next week.



Outdoors columnist Bobby Peoples can be reached via e-mail at brpeoples@alltel.net.