Jerry Miller
Jacksonville Daily Progress
JACKSONVILLE —
Norman Terry took First Place on Lake Palestine in July by landing five bass totaling 18.30 pounds during the Jacksonville Bass Club’s monthly tournament.
Terry said, “This was the first time that I fished the bass club this year. I decided to fish Ledbetter Creek. I had a Zoom, watermelon Finesse worm tied on a Texas rig with a 1/0 hook. After fishing three boat houses I caught a 6.75 pound bass. It was about 4:15 a.m. I said, ‘Lookee here, the day is starting off right!’ After that I fished all the other boat houses and never caught another fish.”
Norman’s 6.75 pound bass was the largest bass of the tournament.
At daylight Norman started fishing with a perch-colored, Yellow Magic bait. On his third cast he caught a keeper bass. By 8:30 a.m. he had his five bass limit.
The key to most of Terry’s success was how he fished the Yellow Magic top water bait. Terry said, “I realized you had to cast the bait right up against the metal retainer wall. I would throw the bait right against the wall and let it sit. Then work it real slow. Maybe pop it twice and let it sit. That’s when I would catch ‘em. I think the waves had worked out a hole against the retainer wall. It was about two feet deeper right against the wall. I also caught a few bream on the Yellow Magic. I think that’s what the bass were feeding on.”
Norman said he caught 14 keeper bass. One was a 15-inch Kentucky. About 9:15 a.m. he landed one more 17 inch black bass and culled his smallest fish.
Second Place winners were Jerry Beasley and Brian Looney. These two struck pay dirt early on. Beasley said, “Brian caught a 5.54 pound bass on his third cast with a 10-inch Yum black with blue tail worm. When he landed his second bass I switched over from a black and blue fleck worm to the blue tail worm. That’s when I caught a 5.24 pound bass.” By six a.m. (daylight) these two already had their five bass limit.
The area they were fishing was in a cove near the deep end, not far from the dam. One of the reasons they were so successful was because someone had sunk about 20 trees around his boat houses. Beasley said, “We were fishing heavy brush in three to eight feet of water. We were using 1/16 and 1/32 ounce bullet weights on a Texas rig, along with 12 to 15 pound line. We caught lots of 14 to 14-1/4 inch bass which we threw back.”
Later they motored up to another boat house with brush and culled one of their small bass with a three-pound fish.
The duo weighed in five bass totaling 17.30 pounds. The Jacksonville Bass Club had a total of 19 fishermen who competed in the Lake Palestine tourney.
The Jacksonville Bass Club’s next tournament will be held on Lake Jacksonville, August 14 and 15. The hours are from 4:00 a.m. to Noon. This will be a team tournament.
The Top Eight Bass fishermen so far this year are:
1. Mark Ford with 91.53 lbs.
2. David Watson with 72.14 lbs.
3. Tony Goodman with 48.24 lbs.
4. Barry Moore with 58.06 lbs.
5. Dale Meeks with 57.89 lbs.
6. Anthony Holcomb with 57.61 lbs.
7. Randy Dykes with 46.67 lbs.
8. Jerry Beasley with 33.68 lbs.
The top eight fishermen at the end of the year will fish a championship tournament on Choke Canyon Lake.
Jerry Miller can be emailed at gonefishing2@suddenlink.net
