The blast of Arctic air that blanketed Georgia this week will definitely have an effect on the second Berry’s Tournament of the 2014-2015 season Saturday, said tournament angler Pat Fisher of Dacula, Ga. The question, he said, is whether the frigid temperatures will affect the fish or the fishermen more.

“We are going to have four solid days of cold, but Sinclair has a warm water system so probably 80 percent of the field will concentrate there around mid-lake,” Fisher said. “We did have a pile of rain last week which did finally stain the lake up and that will help the shallow bite.”

Fisher said it took 17 pounds to win a tournament on Sinclair last Saturday and the lake is fishing tougher than expected already.

“But somebody will catch them,” he added. “It will probably take 17-18 pounds to win this Saturday.”

Fisher said the jigging spoon bite should be on down the lake, and with the lake as clear as it is that kind of fishing should be good, especially with the colder weather.

“But I don’t plan on doing any of that,” he said. “I am going to stick with the docks at mid-lake with a ShadRap, a Shakey Head and probably a small finesse jig. However, I will target deeper docks this time, 3 to 5 feet deep.”

Fisher added that it helps when there are brushpiles in front of the docks.

“This tournament is usually won this time of year out in front of the docks,” he said. “Somebody usually gets them pretty good with a worm or a jig in front of the docks.”

The Berry’s Tournament Trail, founded in 2003 by Bobby Berry and his two sons, is somewhat unique in that all eight of the tournaments, plus the season-ending classic, are held on Lakes Oconee and Sinclair. Four regular season tournaments are held on Oconee and four are held on Sinclair, with anglers having to fish at least five tournaments to qualify for the classic, which means they have to fish both lakes at least once.

“It equalizes things,” noted Berry who started the series on Oconee and Sinclair when local anglers tired of driving all over Georgia to compete in bass tournaments. Most of the participants in his series are all local anglers.

The schedule for the 2014-2015 Berry’s Tournament trail includes: December 13, 2014, Sinclair; Jan. 10, 2015, Sinclair; Feb. 7, Oconee; March 7, Oconee; March 21, Sinclair; April 11, Oconee; April 25, Sinclair; and May 9, Oconee; with the championship May 30 on Oconee and May 31 on Sinclair.

 

Berry’s Tournament Trail

Sat, Jan 10, 2015

Lake Sinclair

Dennis Station DNR Ramp

www.berrysbass.com