The two-day Berry’s Tournament Trail Classic was held on June 2-3 and the tournament saw an extremely close finish as anglers were trying to secure the best total weight for the two-day tournament that was split between Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair.

A first prize of $10,000 awaited the two-man team that could bring the most weight of largemouth bass to the weigh scales for the two days. A total of eighteen teams would receive cash prizes at the end of the tournament.

After competing in eight regular season tournaments that were also split between Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair, there were 126 two-man teams that qualified to fish the two-day classic event. The first day of the tournament was held out of Sugar Creek Marina on Lake Oconee.

Kim Carver and Matt Ferman from Milledgeville jumped ahead after Saturday’s day of competition on Lake Oconee with 20.75 pounds. Carver and Ferman caught their fish by throwing spinnerbaits all day. They were closely followed in second place by well known Lake Oconee angler Norris Edge and his partner Jimmy Golden with 20.30 pounds.

Day two of the tournament on Sunday shifted to Lake Sinclair’s Little River Park and some teams were able to improve their total weight for the two days while others could not add a good weight to their good first day catch on Saturday at Lake Oconee and fell out of the running for the top prize. Some anglers who were in the top ten after day one at Lake Oconee fell completely out of the money in the end.

The team of Tony Green and Davey Montford could only manage 13.85 pounds on Saturday at Lake Oconee but brought 19.15 pounds to the scales on Sunday at Lake Sinclair to win the $10,000 first prize. Their total weight of 33 pounds beat out first day leaders Carver and Ferman by less than one pound.

Tournament winners Green and Montford also won the big fish pot of $1,110 on day two at Lake Sinclair with a largemouth bass weighing 6.52 pounds. Green and Montford threw Rebel Pop-R lures all day on both days to catch the majority of their fish and win the tournament.

Carver and Ferman finished with 32.10 after catching only 11.35 pounds on day two at Lake Sinclair by throwing crankbaits for most of their fish. They took home a check for $5,000 for their second place finish.

Finishing in third place with 31.74 pounds and winning $3,000 were David Whyte and Bobby Gaston. They were very consistent with 16.45 pounds on Lake Oconee and 15.29 pounds on Lake Sinclair.

Fourth place and $2,000 went to Norris Edge and Jimmy Golden for their total weight of 30.34 pounds and rounding out the top five places and winning $1,600 was Barry Stokes and Russell Hall with a total weight of 29.94 pounds.

This was certainly one of the closest ever finishes in the two-day classic tournaments held by the Berry’s Tournament Trail as less than four pounds separated the first five teams. Berry’s Tournament Trail is operated by Bobby Berry and family and their professionalism has caused this tournament trail to become the best in middle Georgia if not in all of Georgia.

The Berry’s Tournament Trail will return to Lake Sinclair and Lake Oconee this fall with their annual Bobby’s Fall Series of tournaments and then the next regular trail will return to Lake Sinclair and Lake Oconee in December. To learn more about the Berry’s Tournament Trail go to www.berrysbass.com or call Bobby Berry at (770) 787-6179. Good fishing and see you next week.