Kevin Boozer
Staff Writer
JENKINSVILLE — An enthusiastic crowd of a hundred or so people turned out for the first ever bass tournament and family day held by the town of Jenkinsville. Mayor Gregory Ginyard led children on rides on his pony and excitement built up to when the anglers returned from Lake Monticello with their catches for weigh-in.
One angler caught the elusive small mouth bass for which this tournament is trying to gain a niche. Lake Monticello is one of the few areas in the state where someone can fish for small mouth bass.
Twelve boats competed in the event. James Buchanan, president of Tri-State Fishing Club, said that he had pretty decent luck fishing.
“I had no luck with the small mouth bass, though. They are hard to catch this time of year,” Buchanan said.
He should know. After a career in the Navy he fished for a while as a professional bass fisherman.
Of the twelve boats that competed, eight weighed in their catches. Andy Farr and Jonathan Sexton had the most fish caught by weight with 25.84 pounds Eric McDowell was second with 19.57 pounds. The largest of the small mouth bass that were caught weighed 3.22 pounds.
The boat with the largest fish was manned by Kenny Bush and Arthur Maple.
Ginyard hopes that they can have as diverse a slate of vendors and games for the children next year as they did this year. He hopes that next year the attendance will increase as well now that the locals saw just what kind of fish can be pulled out of the lake.
The only complaints came from a few spectators who would have loved to clean and fry the fish, which were returned to Lake Monticello per tournament rules.
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