Connestee Falls (2024) Bass Fishing Tournament Results
The morning of Saturday May 4th turned out to be one of the best fishing periods in my 30 years of Bass Fishing Tournament Organization. Earlier in the week, the weather folks had predicted thunderstorms and Connestee Falls residents described the Saturday AM weather as “Iffy” and “rough”. Despite the forecast, eight teams were registered by noon on Friday. When the ninth twosome entered at 4 PM, I saw the rain was supposed to hold off until Saturday afternoon and the tournament was a “GO”.
Just before 7:30 AM on Saturday, nine teams scattered from the Ticoa Dam including canoes (2), pontoon boats (2), rigged fishing boats(4) and one shore casting duo. Four of these teams had launched from their home Ticoa dock, the others via the ramp. Fishing was great, the bass were biting. My front angler, Daron Strub sunk his barb into a Senko worm and I used a Zoom trick worm in the same weed -less rigging. Our live well (a cooler) bubbled with a battery operated aerator. As we caught Bass, we found that most of them were just under the 12 inch minimum, they swam away. Of the 24 or so that we boated, 8 were just tournament eligible, half of them swam away. We had quick releases and lost some Bass under docks as usual. Only four Bass per team were to appear at the weigh-in per the rules.
We fished almost the whole lake shore in the 4.5 hours. Rarely did we encounter another boat. Some teams were fishing the shore line, at least one trolling and another appeared to be using the drop shot technique. At 10:30 the clouds darkened, but the sun came out then repeated the pattern. At 11:30, a light rain started and we headed for the dock. I told Daron that I hoped some had caught a big bass, I was not disappointed.
At the noon weigh in, the Stroup brothers, Ryan and Zack, held up a Lunker that weighed 8.66 pounds, about 24 inches long. Needless to say, they took first prize of $40 for the largest bass. It was the largest fish (by 2.5 pounds) ever to appear at my “local” tournaments. After many photographs they gently released it across the lake at the dock where it had been caught. Next we weighed the stringers of three Bass for second and third place, as it rained harder. Nathan Pressley and Tyler Greer produced a threesome weighing 2.87 pounds for $30. There was a tie for third place at 2.62 pounds so teams of William Berry/Tim Krupnick and Chris Brown/Jason Trent split $20 regaining their entry fee. Just out of the money were the Stroup brothers whose stringer of three brought 2.52 pounds. Al Bryne and Scott Smith’s triplets weighed in at 2.31 pounds. Daron and I had three but two slipped out of my hands as I attempted to get them into the weight net, no biggie though! Also fishing were Paul Worley with Danny Shook, Glen Handrahan with Mark Harmon and Chris Wunder with Rick Clark. A few trout and one nice crappie were caught, they swam into a frypan. The rest of the fish were released!
Special thanks go to Chris Wunder who took pictures which are on the website! Thanks to the fishermen who participated, the CFPOA for their announcements and the Fishing Club for its support! These results, pictures, rules and past results are available via the Connestee Falls Fishing club website https://www.cffishclub.org/ or my site, www.davidsonantiques.com/fishing.html
Good Fishing, Stu Davidson