2011/2012 Newsletters

Issue #4

Issue #3

Issue #2

Issue #1

Chotard II Results - January 14, 2012
Chotard II Winners
Kent Holmes and Alan Morgan, an MCC veteran team of many, many tournaments, showed the rest of us what a little more time on the water can mean. No one works harder at winning a tournament than these two old pros. Talk about daylight to dark, John Harrison ain’t got nuthin’ on these here fellers. “We love it,” said Kent “Get-Along” Holmes. “You can’t get Pa off the lake before dark,” soft-spoken Alan told me at the Friday nite Get- Together. “He comes to fish, and we’re catching a lot of fish on Chotard.”

Two of MCC’s finest veteran members showed out at Chotard, weighing in 13.31 pounds of Chotard’s finest. Big fish were abundant, coming in bunches to the scales. Close race, but in the end, Mr. Holmes and Mr. Morgan showed the rest of us how to best the best. Congrats, gentlemen!!!

Holmes and Morgan finished in the Top 5 in the Overall Points Race last season and currently hold the 5th spot this season, so we know these men are good on every lake we fish.

Look for Get-Along and Big Head to Repeat or 3-peat this season. When these boys get on a roll, they really dig in.

Lake Washington is always good to them, and it’s up next. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if we saw these same two fishermen standing in the winners circle at Lake Washington. Keep an eye on this team—pay attention to what, where, and how they fish. Plan on starting early and staying late if you’re going to scout them before the next tournament. They sure put in the practice time.

Roy’s Store at the north end of the lake will be our tournament Headquarters. Lake Washington in February can be “as good as it gets”.   PJ
As Good As It Gets
Chotard did not disappoint, did it? Yes, this was one of our best tournaments so far this season for several reasons. One, the fish bit. Man, did the fish bite on Chotard!

Only days before the Chotard tournament I had calls and e-mails asking me, begging me, threatening me to move the tournament to Eagle Lake. TD Terry Stewart was receiving the same kinds of calls, too. Some were sure that Eagle Lake was hot and Chotard was not. Some were convinced that Chotard would be too high, have too much water, or be extremely muddy on T-Day.

First-year Tournament Director Terry Stewart held firm to our scheduled agreement, and everything worked out great. Good job, Terry.

None of those fears were reality, were they? The lake was on a fall, the Vicksburg river level was well below our cut-off mark of 35 feet, and the water was as clear and beautiful as I’ve ever seen it.

And, man, the fish bit! That’s always a factor that makes one tournament more memorable than others—catching fish, catching huge fish.

You will note that the 2 largest fish for Split #1 Big Mama came from Chotard on page 6. Randy Bouchillon/Joe Lowery weighed a 2.80 lb monster, and Jennifer & John Ratcliff (2nd place in the tournament) weighed a huge Chotard fish @ 2.68 lbs. Those results are one of the reasons we fished Chotard twice this season.

And, as a reminder, before the weigh-in, I announced that Chotard closed the Big Mama Split # 1. Please note that to qualify for Big Mama payouts teams must meet the minimum participation level for Post-Season Payouts.

This year, that minimum participation level is to enter 6 regular tournaments and earn at least 80 points. Again, see page 6 for current participation levels for all teams. All that is to say that should any of the five teams currently listed to win Split # 1 Big Mama money not qualify, we go to the scorebook and pick the next heaviest fish caught during these first four events. We pay the money at the Awards Banquet.

The second reason we scheduled two events on Chotard this season was to support and say thank you to long-term club sponsor, Chotard Resort Landing. Mark Johnson and staff did a wonderful job as our hosts under “flood recovery” conditions. The Friday night Get-Together, sponsored by Chotard Landing, was “as good as it gets”, and we’ve never had tournament hosts who were so cordial and welcoming before.

Thank you Chotard Landing!!! We love coming here and fishing for some of the biggest and best crappie in the state of Mississippi. What an adventure, what a tournament!!! PJ

1st Place
Kent Holmes / Alan Morgan - 13.31#s


2nd Place
Jennifer Ratcliff / John Ratcliff - 12.94#s


3rd Place
Jimmy Smith / Jimmy L. Smith (guest) - 12.67#s


4th Place
Danny Wade / Ronald Wade - 12.66#s


5th Place
Brad Chappell / Bo Hudson - 12.64#'s


1st Place Big Fish
Randy Bouchillon / Joe Lowery - 2.80#s

2nd Place Big Fish
Jennifer Ratcliff / John Ratcliff - 2.68#s

In The Running
6th - Ken Middleton - 12.63#s 11th - Eli Rowell / Cole Rowell -11.81#s
7th - Joe Lowery / Randy Bouchillon - 12.40#s 12th Dennis Moak / Sidney Moak - 11.53#s
8th - John Harrison / Brad Taylor - 12.30#s 13th  - Paul Johnson / Tommy Moss - 11.51#s
8th - Hugh Krutz / Steve Stevenson - 12.30#s 14th - Chris Horton / Kevin Horton - 11.38#s
10th - Shelton Culpepper / David Thornton - 11.97#s 15th - Chris Criswell / Christopher Criswell - 11.34#s
Barnett Results - December 17, 2011
Barnett Winners
Robbie Niven and David McWilliams, a rookie team this year, showed the old pros in this club how it’s done on a cold, windy December day on Barnett. Windy down in the main lake? No problem, take it “upriver” and push minnows thru some heavy tops and lay downs; lose your net along

As tournament organizers, we’re always happy to see teams do well— especially new ones. At Barnett, David McWilliams and Robbie Niven, Yazoo City, MS, did really well winning the tournament “up river” with 7 huge specks weighing 12.11 lbs. Great job, fellers, and welcome to MCC.

the way; and miss the biggest fish of the day. Result—tournament winners in only their second tournament as a team. Both Robbie and David fished a tournament or two last year as guests of other team members. We’re sure glad you Yazoo boys showed back up this year. Keep it going.

I won’t disclose the exact location of David and Robbie’s upriver success. But, I can tell you that the top 3 weights came from the same area. When Tommy Moss and I made our move to our third stop, they were already there—slow trolling the outside edges of the river structure.

We fished close to one another for the first 30 minutes or so and then they broke to the other side of the river, and Tommy and I continued upriver, around the next bend. After a couple of hours of being out of sight of the winning team Tommy and I worked our way back down stream around the same bend and danged if David and Robbie weren’t exactly where we’d left them. Tommy said to me, “Those boys must be on a good top over there.” Turns out they sure were.

Good turnout at Barnett with 37 teams participating. Take note of the new names and faces at each of our events and be sure to make all our members feel welcomed in the MCC family. Glad to see all. PJ
As Good As It Gets


Did she say yes? Yes, she certainly did. Terry Stewart won the best prize of the day when his sweetheart and fishing partner, Tonya Robertson, said yes to Terry’s marriage proposal.

Talk about the MCC Family! Tonya and Terry sure illustrated the point at the Barnett weigh in.

Upon his arrival, I told Bobby Cleveland, Outdoors writer for the Clarion Ledger, what was going to happen before the weigh in, and he said, “That’s great—sure makes the point that MCC is a family-oriented club.”

Yes, Tonya, Terry told a few us on Friday what he had planned and quite frankly we were worried what Terry would do if you said, “let me think about it”. I asked Terry if he was sure about doing this in public, stating that he might get his heart broken, and he told me he’d never been more sure of anything in his life. You could certainly see the excitement in Terry’s face on Friday which turned into relief and happiness on Saturday.

As you all know, Tonya and Terry are not only tough tournament competitors on any given lake at any given time, they also serve the club as officers. Terry is the Tournament Director, and Tonya is our Sec-Treas.

What a great couple!!! And, we’re all so glad, Terry & Tonya, that you let us share your happiness and excitement. Terry, you did a fine job of the whole thing, sir. Shoot, most of us men could not have gotten thru your proposal without messing it up somehow.

And, Tonya—well, Tonya, all I can say now is that you didn’t hesitate for a second, making Terry one happy, lucky man.

Check with Paula and Mike Nowell, newlyweds last year, about honeymoon plans. As we all know, Paula and Mike spent their honeymoon fishing our Arkabutla tournament last season.

Congratulations, you two!! I’ve got an idea for the wedding. Let’s do it on the lake. I didn’t say at the lake. I said on the lake. Some of you oldtimers will remember the first memorial service we did on the water after long-time member Elmo Lyons died, don’t you? We had 35 boats in procession and we gathered around just north of the 43 bridge. We played a hymn or two, said a prayer or two, and gave a short eulogy. Hey, a wedding and a funeral have a few things in common, don’t they?

That new boat you’ve got is plenty big enough to get a preacher and a couple of bridesmaids and a best man on board. The flower girl and the ring bearer can come out in a separate boat. And, we can hold the reception under the pavilion after the weigh in. How’s that sound?PJ

1st Place
David McWilliams and Robbie Niven score big at their second tournament as a new team. I can vouch for them. We fished the same undisclosed area. They found a really good top and stayed on it for most of the day. Say, how do you score over 12 pounds without weighing a 2-lber? Answer—They’re all good ‘uns.


2nd Place
Jackie and Rod Womack (some folks calls her Katie—I calls her Jackie) caught some upriver slabs, too. Great job with 11.99 lbs.


3rd Place
Tommy Moss, in the drivers seat all day, with Paul Johnson handling the dip net scored a really nice 3rd place with 10.89 lb.


4th Place
Welcome back, Charles Lindsay. You, too, Junior. Always hard to beat this father/son team who turned in 9.55 lbs.


5th Place
Tournament pros, Joe Lowrey and Randy Bouchillon, bested 32 other teams placing 5th with 9.41 lbs. Nice job, men.


1st & 2nd Place Big Fish
Katie & Rodger Womack won both Big Fish prizes with 2.31# and 2.17# slabs.

In The Running
6th - Jimmy Smith - 9.31lbs 11th - Ken Middleton / Larry Nipper - 7.78lbs
7th - Dawn Williams / Ray Williams - 8.86bs 12th (Tie) - Cole Rowell / Eli Rowell - 7.50lbs
8th - Shelton Culpepper / David Thornton - 8.65lbs 12th (Tie)  - Dennis Moak / Sidney Moak - 7.50lbs
9th - Pat Jeffcoats / Rabbit Rodgers - 8.14lbs 14th - Brad Chappell / Bo Hudson - 7.30lbs
10th - Ronald Wade / Danny Wade - 7.83lbs 15th - Chris Horton / Ron Brewer - 7.12lbs
Chotard Lake Results - November 12, 2011
Chotard Winners
Brad Taylor and John Harrison, MCC Board Members, won the Chotard tournament employing a new strategy. Brad told me that John found some good fish on one top up in Albemarle while pre-fishing.

“We made sure we got to ‘the spot’ before Shelton and David, and we stayed on it all day. The top was real thick, and we broke off and re-tied 50 times, literally using up a 50 count pack of hooks. We caught close to 60 fish on that one top! No, sir, didn’t crank the motor all day except to get there and get back”, according to John when asked if they fished a lot of spots. Great job to a couple of club leaders. Y’all dun good!!

John told me they kept trying to figure out how to use their sponsors’ products in that top, but they never could get that Bandit crank bait to stay down. And they quickly lost all their Mr. Twister stuff to the brush.

So it was good ol’ Eagle Claw hooks and straight minnows that won the day for them. They didn’t even need their GPS unit, their lake maps, their side-imaging depth finder, their I-Pilot trolling motor, or their fish whistle.

I figure these fellows will be hard to handle the rest of the year. Look out Barnett, John and Brad figure on making it two in a row.

Our one and only Barnett tourney is up next, Dec 10. We’ll base the tournament out of the Hwy 43 Boat Ramps Pavilion. Early December on Barnett can be really good with fish feeding up before cold weather kicks in. Jig fishermen, slow trollers with minnows, long-liners using jigs and crank baiters can all win this event. It’ll be any body’s tournament to win, and, given good weather, it will come down to who can catch 7 really good ones. Looking forward to it. Hope to see 47 teams at Barnett. PJ
As Good As It Gets
Chotard didn’t disappoint. Chotard, as always, gave us a great, fun time for a day or two. I guess we look forward to making the Chotard tournament because it’s always more than just a fishing tournament.

It has an appeal for many of us for several reasons. One, the three lakes, Chotard/Albermarle/Tennessee, are some of the most beautiful resources our Magnolia State has. And, those beautiful waters contain some of the biggest crappie in the State of Mississippi. Two, our on-the-lake sponsors, Mark and Jerry Johnson of Chotard Landing Resort, top my list for being so accommodating to our bunch.

Three, we know how to tailgate—we’ve become experts at it. And, Chotard tops the list for our bunch when we gather for a cookout. Yes, we have good times wherever Rod Womack cranks up the music, and he and Shelton fire up the grills. Chotard seems just right for our outdoor, fun-loving crowd.

And, y’all do know that the Johnsons have been through a once in a lifetime flood this year—shoot, someone called it a 500 year flood—taxing their limits to bring it back to what it used to be and handle a group the size of MCC.

Mark and Jerry, thank you again for making our first-of-this-season Chotard tournament such a success. We’ll be back in January. Make your reservations now, folks. It’ll be duck season soon, 601-279-4282. And, a great big thank you to David Thornton, Eagle Lake, MS. David hosted any one and every one who wanted to come to his house on Thursday night. The fish was good, the hushpuppies were great, the pickled onions sublime and the company was so fine. Thank you, David. We really enjoyed it.

I was very pleased with the Chotard turnout—especially after I heard the wind forecast for T-Day. We had 38 teams according to Sec-Treas “Short Stack” Tonya Robertson. And, in the mix of the 38 teams were a bunch of new faces. Hope all you new folks keep coming on back—we need you. Tonya tells me that we had 8 teams for whom Chotard was their first event to enter this season. Adding those 8 teams to the 39 teams we had at Arkabutla puts our roster at a total of 47 teams very early in our season. And, the potential for continued growth this year is still there because we’ve had a good number of guests thru two tournaments this season.

I encourage all 47 Teams to be at the Barnett event, Dec 10. See T.D. Terry Stewart’s page for details. Plus, George Walker & Ray Clary are hosting a Friday Get-Together beginning at 3:00 PM at the Hwy 43 Pavilion at the boat ramps. I promised ’em I’d cook some of my infamous “liver & onions”. Join us, but you’d better bring something to throw on the grill. PJ

1st Place
Brad Taylor and John Harrison serve the club and members of the Board of Directors. In addition to serving in these leadership roles, these 2 fine gentlemen know how to catch fish on T-Day. Without moving from one top all day, John and Brad scored the winning total of 13.26 pounds and they caught the Big Fish of the day.


2nd Place
Board member, Ken Middleton and partner Larry Nipper caught big enough fish off of Culpepper’s top. They weighed 12.18 lbs


3rd Place
Weigh-Master David Thornton and club V-P Shelton Culpepper did good, too. They weighed 11.85 lbs of Albemarle specks.


4th Place
Two more of the club’s Directors, Terry Stewart and Tonya Robertson, did very well at Chotard, again. 11.84 lbs.


5th Place
Club rookies Calloway Harris and Andy Tackett hit the Top 5 in their 2nd MCC tournament. Great job, men with 11.52 lbs.


1st Place Big Fish
New team this year, but both are tournament veterans—Brad Taylor and John Harrison won the Big Fish with 2.29lb slab.

2nd Place Big Fish
Club President Paul Johnson & Board-Member Tommy Moss with 2.24lb Black Crappie.

In The Running
6th - Eli Rowell / Cole Rowell - 10.31lbs 11th (Tie)- Buras / Gunter - 9.69lbs
7th - Kent Holmes/ Alan Morgan - 9.92bs 11th (Tie) - Pitts / Sumrall - 9.69lbs
8th (Tie) - Bernard Williams / Don Terry - 9.83lbs 13th - Ronald Wade / Danny Wade - 9.68lbs
8th (Tie) - Rod Womack/ Katie Womack - 9.83lbs 14th - Brad Chappell / Bo Hudson - 9.57lbs
8th (Tie) - Randy Bouchillion / Joe Lowrey - 9.83lbs 15th - Hugh Krutz / Steve Stevenson - 8.95lbs
Arkabutla Winners - October 22, 2011

1st Place
Rev. Mickey Ferguson (guest) & Ray Williams
15.09#'s


2nd Place
Bernard Williams & Don Terry
14.41#'s & 2nd Big Fish 2.63#'s


3rd Place Tie
Warren Cotton & Kirk Lewis
13.06#'s


3rd Place Tie
Ray Clary & George Walker
13.06#'s


4th Place
Hugh Krutz & Steve Stevenson
13.03#'s


1st Place Big Fish
Craig Cannon & Jared Gray

In The Running
6th - Eli Rowell / Cole Rowell - 12.99lbs 11th - Roy Norwood - 12.00lbs
7th - Anthony Reasons/ Tony Lowrie - 12.95lbs 12th - Rod Womack/ Katie Womack - 11.76lbs
8th - Ron Nobles / Chris Pender - 12.56lbs 12th - Kent Holmes/ Alan Morgan - 11.76lbs
9th - Andy Tackett / Calloway Harris - 12.51lbs 14th - Randy Bouchillon/ Joe Lowrey - 11.63lbs
10th - Monty Blount - 12.49lbs 15th - Sidney Moak / Dennis Moak - 11.24lbs

MCC 2011-2012 Tournament Schedule
Date Lake Location
Oct. 22, 2011 Arkabutla Arkabutla, MS
Nov. 12, 2011 Chotard Vicksburg, MS
Dec. 10, 2011 Barnett  Madison, MS
Jan. 14th, 2012 Chotard Lake (with Eagle Lake substitute, should conditions warrant) Vicksburg, MS
Feb.11th, 2012 Lake Washington Glen Allen, MS
Mar.17th, 2012 Grenada Lake Grenada, MS
Apr. 14th, 2012 Sardis Reservoir Sardis, MS
May 5th, 2012 Enid Reservoir (Open Tournament, no club membership required, part of the 2nd Annual World’s Largest Crappie Fest) Water Valley, MS
June 2nd, 2012 Wolf Lake Yazoo City, MS
TO BE ANNOUNCED STATE CHAMPIONSHIP - BIG MAMA OPEN GRENADA, MS

Championship Results - Sept. 17-18, 2011 - Grenada, MS

Championship Winners


John Harrison & Kent Driscoll won the State Champs Title at Grenada in a really close race. They did it coming from "back In the pack" after Day One. In fact, they didn't make the Top 10 teams for Day One, and John said they changed locations on the lake on Day Two and ''went for broke".

John Harrison and Kent Driscoll show off the State Championship Trophies at Grenada. Great job, men!

Being on the "hot seat" while watching the next ten teams weigh in trying to knock them out of 1st place was an anxious time for this veteran team to say the least. They were over-joyed when George Walker/Ray Clary, Day One leaders and the last team to weigh-in, didn't have quite enough to overtake them.

Driscoll/Harrison registered 23.68 pounds for a two day total that was just enough to survive the late push by 2nd place overall finishers Robertson/Stewart (23.40 lbs) and Clary/Walker (22.90 lbs).

I'm proud to see such great assets to the club do so well. These men contribute so much to MCC's overall success. Both raise lots of sponsorship money and facilitate things the rest of us just couldn't make happen. Thank you, Kent and John. You fellers come on back next season. We'll be glad to try to win some of that money back.

Speaking of next season, it's here!! Yes, sir, right now we're making plans for the next first event at Arkabutla on October 22nd. See the details in following pages in this issue. Last October we had one of the best tournaments of the year on Arkabutla. Some of the heaviest fish and limits were caught, and I know that if you fished it last year, you're like me and can't wait to get back to Hernando, MS.

Bring a new member or a guest fisherman with you. We just finished a big growth year, folks, in membership, sponsorship, and tournament participation. Let's keep the momentum going.  PJ

2011 Big Mama Open

The Big Mama Open got even bigger this year1 Our 2nd Annual BMO brought in 69 teams vs 63 teams a year ago. That's nearly a 10 % growth rate, and any business enterprise in America would be tickled pink right now with a 10 % growth number. We should be, too.

The Grenada COE were such wonderful hosts again this year. Our buddy, Mr. Don Gober, Chief of the Grenada COE Office. IS retiring in December, and I want to say thank you, Mr. Gober, and thank you to all the other Grenada Park Rangers and Game Wardens and staff who helped facilitate our growing numbers at Grenada.

We look forward to coming back as often as we can. The best to you Mr. Gober in your retirement. Come fish with us. You'll have a ball. Congratulations to Dave (he said call him "Gator") & Darlene Roach, Horn Lake, MS, for winning the BMO with a 2.46 pound Big Mama. They caught this really good fish on a B'n'M Pole and earned $500 B'n'M Bonus Bucks in addition to $1500 cash.

Gator and Darlene Roach shown with Jack Wells, B'n'M Poles, fished j their first tournament ever at Grenada BMO. Great job, rookies1 Dave told me that he bought the biggest minnows he could find at Tadpole's in Hernando late Friday night, and he believes that made the difference. Gator claimed he caught 14 white perch over 2 pounds with those really huge minnows on Saturday.

The story goes that Ray Clary drew him a map on Friday afternoon at registration showing him were to launch and fish. Seems Gator had never even seen Grenada Lake before. Plus, he had a blowout on his boat trailer on the way to the lake Saturday morning and didn't get started fishing until after 8 o'clock.

Gator's home lake is Arkabutla. And, he told me the really big fish are biting on Arkabutla--over 3 Ibers, over 18 inches long. Man, I can't wait!!! How bout you?  PJ

Paul Johnson 601-624-0359

Championship Winners - September 17-18, 2011

1st Place
John Harrison and Kent Driscoll pulled the rabbit out of the hat on Day Two and overcame a low Day One weight. An emotional win for these two great fishermen. Congrats, men, on a 2-day total of 23.68 lbs.


Terry Stewart & Tonya Robertson score a very close 2nd place overall with 23.40 Ilbs. Great job, y'all.


3rd Place
Ray Clary & George Walker Day One winners with 12.54 lbs finished with a 3rd place overall total of 22.90 lbs.


4th Place
Defending State Champs, Bo Hudson & Brad Chappell placed 4th Overall this year. Not bad, guys, not bad at all. 22.64 lbs.


5th Place
Ken Middleton & Larry Nipper were 5th Overall with 22.18 lbs. Great job for a couple of row crop farmers from the Delta.
Craigg Cannon / Jared Gray - 2.51lbs Craigg Cannon / Jared Gray - 2.15lbs
Tommy O'Keefe / Wayne Stewart - 2.15lbs

In The Running
6th - A. E. / Les Smith - 22.07lbs 14th - Womack / Womack - 19.70lbs
7th - Don Terry / Bernard Williams - 21.74lbs 15th - Moak / Moak - 19.36lbs
8th - Monty Blount / Keith Sullivan - 21.52lbs 16th - Nathan Howell / Vic Finkley - 19.27lbs
9th - Jimmy / Ricky Smith - 21.05lbs 17th - Garrett / Horton - 19.04lbs
10th - Randy Bouchillion / Joe Lowrey - 20.02lbs 18th - Cannon / Gray - 18.95lbs
11th -  Blackwell / Blackwell - 20.02lbs 19th - Chris Criswell / Brad Taylor - 18.95lbs
12th - Michael Nowell / Paula Nowell - 19.97lbs 20th - Eli Rowell / Cole Rowell - 18.68lbs
13th - Ronald / Danny Wade - 19.86lbs  

Other State Championship Stats
Other State Champ Stats 33 boats-A little disappointing that 2 of our qualified teams couldn't fish this event due to personal conflicts or health reason. We missed Jeffcoats / Thomas and Lindsay/Lindsay. We hope you boys are able to join us at Arkabutla Oct. 22nd.

31 teams weighed 204 fish on Day One that weighed 286.81 pounds. That's an avg size of 1.41 lbs per fish.

28 teams weighed 190 fish on Day Two that weighed 275.22 pounds. That's an avg size of 1.45 lbs per fish.

Total weight 562.03 lbs

Avg size crappie @ 1.43 lbs

Opps, Tommy, after a 5th place finish on Day One, we dropped the ball on Day Two. I told you we should have pulled Bandits.

New Monogrammed Shirts Available - Only $35

We've got them in Aqua and Burnt Gold, sizes up to 2XL. The shirts are customized by Embroidery Design. They are embroidered with your name and the club logo.

We also have three (3) new cap designs for the new season. Contact Shelton Culpepper (601) 764-8168 for ordering.