Berkeley Lake Bass Fishing Tournament Results - 2001 

As the Sun rose and the pollen fell, fourteen fishing teams left the Lake Berkeley Chapel dock to participate in the annual Bass Fishing Tournament.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a record high expected for an April 7^th.  Lake Berkeley was so clear that it looked like a giant aquarium.  You could see fish everywhere.  There were Brim, Crappie and Bass guarding their “Beds”.  The Bass we spotted were the most abundant fish, but catching them was another story.   

            On one of my first casts, I caught one of the lakes few Rock Bass. As   they don’t get over 12 inches, it was released.  Later I caught and released a one-pound Brim on the productive Beetle-Spin lure.  One crew caught a huge Crappie.  As it was an all-artificial lure tournament Daron and I stuck with the Beetle Spin and trusty Plastic Worm.   The worm worked its magic catching Bass in the stained water near the creeks feeding the lake, in the shade of the docks and where the pollen had collected near the shore. 

            Only six of the fourteen teams produced Bass at the One O’clock Weigh-in.  Geoffrey Carroll took home $50 for catching a 3.0-pound Bass. Geoffrey caught it using a white single blade spinner with a zoom plastic lizard.  Daron Strub landed a 2.9 and a 2.8-pound Bass using a Zoom Trick Worm.  Daron and myself were awarded $40 for the heaviest stringer of 3 Bass at 6.3 pounds.  Fisherman Tom Dyer’s stringer of 3, including a 2.5 pounder, weighed in at 5 pounds to take home $30.  Clint Davis and Brian Candler’s 4-pound threesome was worth $20.  Just out of the money were Todd Houle and David Slaughter with 2.8 pounds and Geoffrey & Charles Carroll at 2.3 pounds, minus the Big Fish. One crew claimed that they released their fish, as they did not have a stringer.   There were reports of lines being broken and lures lost.  

            Other participants were Chris Holben, Gordon Gearhart, Richard Thompson, Bill Laber, Shirley Bruno, Greg Kelley, Tim Gregory, Rigsby Barnes, Sean Osawa, Tim Adams, Robbie Brannon, Jim & Lisa Alexander, Shawn McNew, Keith Thurman, Richard Seger and Harold Brady Jr. 

            One of these years the tournament will produce a Bass weighing over 10 pounds as they are occasionally caught.  All of this year’s fish were released and happily swam away.  Thanks the Berkeley Lake Homeowners Association membership the lake is a great place to fish.  The rules, results and photos of this and past years tournaments are the Internet. click here.

                                                                        Good Fishing, 

                                                                                    Stu Davidson