A few years ago bass fishing in this area ranged from good to exceptional during the last two weeks in February. Two tournaments proved how good West Point can be when there are several warm days in February, and a club tournament at Bartlett’s Ferry, the next lake downstream of West Point proved fishing can still be a little tough for bigger bass.
Two weeks ago on Saturday the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished West Point for their February club tournament. Lee Hancock had a great catch, weighing in five keeper bass weighing 17.21 pounds. Keith Brown was second with five weighing 12.95, Mitchell Cardell placed 3rd with four bass weighing 9.96 pounds and Matt Corley was 4th with three bass at 7.37 pounds.
John R. Mitchell only had one bass, but he made it count by weighing in a 6.44 pound largemouth. That one fish was good for fifth place and big fish for the tournament. It also took the “over six pound” pot for the year.
Potato Creek had a total of 24 fishermen and they caught 44 keeper bass weighing 99.93 pounds.
Last Saturday there was a Fishers of Men trail tournament at West Point. This trail started a few years ago and is a Christian trail that has grown to cover 26 states. Many states, like Georgia, have several divisions. In the Georgia South division a couple of Griffin area anglers are competing.
Chris Davies and Terry Gauger won last Saturday with an incredible catch of five keeper bass weighing 25.64 pounds. Chris said he caught a 7 pounder that was big fish for the tournament and also had a five and a three pounder. Terry added two five pounders in this team tournament.
Chris and Terry landed their big bass on Terminator Spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Trap lipless crankbaits. They were surprised to find the fish feeding in muddy, cold water. Chris said the water temperature where they caught most of their limit was 49 degrees, the coldest water they fished all day.
The Fishers of Men trail encourages father/son teams to compete. It is an excellent organization and you can find tournament results as well as more information online at http://www.fishersofmenministries.com/
At Bartlett’s Ferry the Spalding County Sportsman Club did not have as good a catch in our February tournament. I was lucky in two ways. I ran into John R. Mitchell at the gas station on Saturday and he agreed to fish as my guest the next day. I won the tournament with five bass weighing 7.88 pounds, Javin English placed 2nd with five weighing 6.70 pounds and John had five weighing 6.53 pounds for third. Those were the only three limits caught.
Kwong Yu had four bass weighing 5.13 pounds for 4th place and Billy Roberts had four weighing 4.37 pounds for 5th. Alan Collum had one bass weighing 3.35 pounds and it was big fish for the tournament and also good for 6th place.
Our club had 18 members and guests brought in 40 bass weighing right at 52 pounds.
John and I stopped on a point I like to fish first thing and we landed two keepers each. Then we started fishing his spots and he beat me 9 to 7 for the day, but I was lucky enough to land largemouth which weigh more than the spots he was catching. We caught fish every place we stopped and they hit crankbaits, jig and pig, jerkbaits and Carolina rigged Zoom lizards.
There was a West Georgia Team Club trail the same place and time as our tournament and they had 54 teams. We came in after they did and saw most of their weigh-in. Most of those teams are local so I was surprised to see my individual weight would have placed 5th and John and I could have put our best five together and placed 3rd. It took five weighing 15 pounds to win that tournament.