By Jerry Miller



The 10th Annual Jacksonville Bass Club’s Tomato Fest Tournament is coming up next Saturday. Fishing hours are from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with boat launching at the concession boat ramp.

A minimum of three places will be paid. Fees are $60 per team, which includes $5 fee for Big Bass. State regulations apply. You are allowed a five fish limit per team including big bass. Largemouth and Kentucky bass may be weighed in.

Entry forms are available at Wal-Mart sporting goods or from Jacksonville Bass Club members.

With all the hydrilla gone, fishermen will now have to target brush piles, logs, boathouses and points mostly.

In years past bass were caught early on topwater baits, including buzz baits, Yellow Magic baits and Zara Spooks. As the day progressed many anglers switched to Carolina rigs, Texas rigs and jigs.

This time of year the big 10-inch Berkley Power worms should get you bit. When the bite gets tough, a Shakey Head rig with a Zoom worm should help you to catch more bass.

A lot of man-made fish attractants have been placed throughout the lake. Most of the bass probably will come out of the 12 to 20-foot range.

Teams who have located the deep brush piles will probably score well. It’s important to figure out which attractants are holding the larger bass. Many times the largest bass have been caught by anglers who are very patient and have learned to fish a big worm very slow, especially when the In order to keep their big fish alive, contestants are allowed to bring a big bass or string to be weighed in at any time. Last year Paul Garvin brought in his big bass early to be weighed. The 7.5 lb. bass proved to be the largest of the tournament.

Garvin and his fishing partner Rudy Norton weighed in five bass totaling 22.59 pounds. They used jigs and deep crankbaits to catch their bass. No other team came anywhere close to matching this weight. It took only a little over 11 pounds to win second place. Numerous prizes were given away after the tournament. Everyone who stuck around for the final drawing received a prize.

Last Thursday I fished Lake Jacksonville during the morning hours and got about 12 bites but only landed 7 bass up to 16 inches long. The first hour was good for top water baits like the Yellow Magic. Then I switched over to Berkley Power worms in the 7 to 10-inch size. I like to use dark colors like black, blue fleck. Most of my worm bites came from brush piles in the 14 to 18-foot range. The bass were active, so I used a medium to fast retrieve. The short Carolina rig worked best for me.

It’s hard to predict, but a mixed bag of big largemouth and the smaller Kentuckies just might draw you a check this year. Not many big bass are being caught at this time. Usually one team manages to bring in a 20-pound stringer.