Joe Dickey and Greg Johnston weighed six bass totaling 19.98 pounds on Saturday at Beaver Lake to win the Bradford Marine and ATV Buddy Bass Tournament that benefits the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce. They won a Tracker bass boat valued at $17,000.
C.W. Smith of Rogers and Scott Dover of Pea Ridge were a close second with six bass that weighed 19.93 pounds. They also had big bass at 6.02 pounds.
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Chamber Tournament Top Ten
1. Dickey, Johnston, 19.98 pounds.
2. Dover, Smith, 19.93.
3. Edwards, Shannon, 18.53.
4. Ash, Beaver, 14.82.
5. Henshaw, Upshaw, 14.65.
6. Kincaid, McClain, 14.4.
7. Curry, Ray, 14.17.
8. Easter, King, 13.7.
9. Loveland, Loveland, 13.61.
10. Bell, McGarrah, 13.55.
— Source: Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce
Warren Edwards and Allan Shannon, both of Farmington, placed third with six bass at 18.53 pounds.
In team competition, Hook, Line and Sinker won the eight-boat division with 109.26 pounds. Jiffy Kwick won the four-boat division with 42.85 pounds. Buddy Blue LLC won the two-boat division with 20.49 pounds.
Dickey of the Rocky Branch community and Johnston of Rogers cast white tube baits at spawning largemouth bass for their winning catch. They fished and area from the Ford's Creek arm near Rocky Branch park to Moulder Hollow near Starkey park.
The spawn was hard to gauge on Saturday. "I couldn't tell if the spawn is over, if it's tailing off or just getting started," Dickey said. Water temperature was 57 to 61 degrees in the areas they fished.
Smith and Dover worked jig and pigs along points near Beaver Dam for their second-place catch. They caught their fish early in the day. Their big bass of 6.02 pounds bit at 7:15 a.m., Dover said.
Edwards and Shannon worked jigs tipped with plastic crawdads along flats in the Lost Bridge area of Beaver Lake for third place. The pair caught about 18 bass during the day, Edwards said.
They brought three smallmouth bass, one spotted bass, a largemouth bass and one "meanmouth" bass (a hybrid of spotted and smallmouth) to the scales for third place.
The tournament is the largest of the year at Beaver Lake in terms of the number of fishermen. The event typically attracts more than 300 two-person fishing teams. A fishing derby for youth is held on tournament morning as part of the festivities.
Profits from the tournament benefit economic development programs of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce.
Outdoors on 05/05/2014