This is the time of the year when tournament anglers begin looking for upcoming competitive fishing tournaments in which they can compete and win money. The new season is always kicked into high gear with the first tournament from the Berry’s Tournament Trail.

This year that initial Berry’s tournament will be on Dec. 13 at Lake Sinclair. A major change will occur this year since the trail will no longer be able to use Little River Park. The management at Little River Park has decided not to host any tournament with over 75 boats.

Berry’s Tournament Trail is the premier competitive fishing tournament in middle Georgia and is one of the best trails in all of Georgia. Berry’s Tournament Trail usually attracts 100-150 boats at each of its tournaments. Due to the decision by Little River Park, the trail will have to launch at the Dennis Station Access.

The facility at Dennis Station has ample parking and nice boat ramps but no other facilities except for a porta-potty. Several other tournaments that are normally held on Lake Sinclair also exceed the 75-boat limit and will either have to move to the Dennis Station Access or cancel Lake Sinclair off their schedule.

This could prove to be a bad situation for the local economy since these tournament anglers buy gas and supplies and stay in local hotels. It is a real same that we do not have a nice facility large enough to host these large tournaments. A single large tournament and certainly several large tournaments can bring a substantial amount of money into the local economy.

The Dennis Station Access might prove to be a viable option but with little in the way of restroom facilities, with no food available at the location, with no weigh facility and several miles down a long winding road, I am not sure that large tournaments will commit to using the facility.

I have not yet been able to get answers from other large tournament trails as to whether they plan to come to Lake Sinclair this coming year. Berry’s Tournament Trail will follow up the December Lake Sinclair tournament with seven additional tournaments in 2015.

The full schedule for Berry’s tournaments are Dec. 13 Lake Sinclair, Jan. 10 Lake Sinclair, Feb. 7 Lake Oconee, Mar. 7 Lake Oconee, Mar. 21 Lake Sinclair, Apr. 11 Lake Oconee, Apr. 25 Lake Sinclair and May 9 Lake Oconee. All the Lake Sinclair tournaments will launch at the Dennis Station Access and all the Lake Oconee tournaments will launch at Sugar Creek Marina.

I know a few lake residents are happy that large tournaments might not come to Lake Sinclair. I have received e-mails over the years complaining about certain aspects of fishing tournaments. Some of those complaints come from anglers but the great majority of the complaints come from homeowners whose homes are located along the shorelines of Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair.

The homeowner complaints fall into two categories. Both of the categories concern the area of disrespect according to the homeowners. The first complaint has to do with boaters who zip into and out of coves at high rates of speed disregarding the homeowners who live along the shoreline.

Georgia has a boating law in place that should resolve this problem but unfortunately many boaters, and that includes pleasure boaters as well as tournament anglers, disregard that law. The law states that any boat that is within 100 feet of a shoreline, boat dock, boathouse or an anchored boat must operate at idle speed.

If that law were enforced by law enforcement or simply by boat operators knowing the law and obeying the law, it would resolve this issue. Unfortunately either many boat operators are ignorant of the law or they refuse to obey the law and the Department of Natural Resources, Conservation Rangers and the Sheriffs Department have limited resources that cannot be everywhere on the lake.

The second complaint that I have received revolves around the homeowner’s property. You would think that common sense and respect would result in anglers avoiding docks that are occupied or taking care that no damage is done to the homeowner’s property but sometimes that is not the case.

Anglers should be able to fish around a dock but should exert special care as to not damage anything and the homeowner should understand that the angler is free to do so. A little respect from both angler and homeowner would go a long way in resolving this problem.

As I said earlier the local economy could suffer if large tournaments bypass Lake Sinclair and certainly the local economy could use the money generated by these tournaments. Look for a full 2015 schedule of tournament at Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair in a future article. Good fishing and see you next week.