Newsletters

#13

#12

#11

#10

#9

#8

#7

#6

#5

#4

#3

#2

#1

19th Annual Awards Banquet



Sardis Results - June 18, 2011 - Sardis, MS

Sardis Winners

Randy Bouchillon and Joe Lowrey waited until the end of the regular tournament of the 2010-11 season to show out—winning our last 2 regular season tournaments. At Sardis, they fished Black Jack Point all day, in one spot, with minnows, and produced a winning weight of 11.13 pounds, and showed the crank bait fishermen how to do it on Sardis.

Joe was overheard to say at the weigh-in, “We ain’t got no crank baits so we had to stick with what we know and that’s minner fishin’. One of these days, I’m gonna try me some cranks.”

The regular season ended on a high note. After our two smallest crowds of the season at Okatibbee (28 teams) and Barnett II (32 teams), Sardis provided us with a good crowd of 33 boats, and, again, several firsttime MCC tournament fishermen, including several guest fishermen and one brand new team. I think that bodes well for next year if all those new faces we saw this season come back.

Personally, I was thoroughly impressed with the Sardis facility. Clean restrooms and parking lots, lots of freshly mowed grass, beautiful camping and picnic areas, and lots and lots of shade trees. Just another beautiful lake that we’ve fished this year. And, we caught lots and lots of fish. The trick was to catch 7 really good ones like ol’ Joe & Randy did.

I give all 4 COE lakes we fished this year an A+ in overall appeal and fishability. We are so fortunate to live in a state that has these wonderful fishing facilities available to us, just for the asking. I wish the folks who are building new boat ramps at Barnett would take a lesson form the COE. PJ

As Good As It Gets

Shelton Culpepper and David Thornton are our Points Race Champions for 2010-11. Congratulations, gentlemen. Although y’all didn’t win a single tournament this season, you showed consistent top-level fishing skills on every lake we fished this year. Great job!!

Sardis was as good as it gets for several reasons. The least of which was not the Friday Nite Get-Together brought to us by Les Smith. What a treat!! The food was great, and Les was the perfect host, opening up his lodge to all of us who wanted to attend. Thanks, Les, we really enjoyed it. We had a big crowd Friday night including one of our best sponsors ever—Jack Wells and his son Ivey from B’n’M Poles. As I said Friday nite, B’n’M has been a sponsor of the Magnolia Crappie Club since we began over 19 years ago. Thank you, Jack.

Also in attendance was special guest Chris Ross of Bandit Lure Company. We’re hoping Bandit joins the MCC family next season as a club sponsor. I think Chris’s eyes were opened to the potential crank bait market that is crappie tournament fishermen. I know he now understands that MCC is the oldest and largest non-profit crappie club in the entire country..

Tournament No. of TeamsWinning WeightMCC Team
Arkabutla39 teams 14.68lbs Driscoll/Harrison
Wolf Lake 42 teams 9.57lbs Moak/Moak
Eagle Lake36 teams 11.12lbsKrutz/Stevenson
Chotard37 teams 12.02lbs Robertson/Stewart
Barnett I 42 teams 7.23lbs Driscoll/Wyssinger
Washington43 teams 11.61lbs White/White
Grenada39 Teams 17.59lbs Robertson/Stewart
Barnett II32 teams 9.87lbs Blount/Sullivan
Okatibbee28 teams 8.31lbs Bouchillon/Lowrey
Sardis33 teams 11.13lbs Bouchillon/Lowrey

The MCC Board met at Sardis and produced a post-season plan that I think everyone will really buy in to. First of all, the Board approved upping our State Championship 2-day tournament payout to $22,000. Congratulations and thank you to all our sponsors and to the MCC members who solicited these sponsorships. See the list of this year’s sponsors in this issue.

Secondly, the MCC Board has decided, for the first time ever, to host two events (our two biggest events, too) at the same time. Mark your calendars now for September 15-17 to be at Grenada. Details on both our State Championship and our 2nd Annual Big Mama Open to follow in this issue. Just know that what we are trying to do is cut down some travel expenses for our fishing teams. By combining these two events into the same days we should have our largest crowd ever.  PJ

Paul Johnson 601-624-0359
Sardis Winners - June 18, 2011

1st Place
Joe Lowrey and Randy Bouchillon take first place with 11.13 pounds on Sardis. This experienced team closed out the 2010-11 season with back-to-back wins. Great job, gentlemen. Y’all bring them minner poles with you to Grenada in September. Great veteran club fishermen—some of our best—tough on every lake.

2nd (Tie) Place
Chris Johnson and Stan Tallant delivered 10.40 lbs to the Sardis scales. Good enough for a tie for 2nd place.

2nd Place (Tie)
Where you guys been? Anthony Reasons and Tony Lowrie tied for 2nd with 10.40 lbs, too. See you at the Big Mama Open.

4th Place
Outstanding year for Terry Stewart and “Short Stack” Robertson. Good job, Terry and Tonya. 10.26 lbs at Sardis.

5th Place
Hugh Krutz and Steve Stevenson hit the Top 5 again with 10.22 lbs. Good job, men, and thank you for your service.
Big Fish Results - 1st Place Big Fish Results - 2nd Place
Craigg Cannon / Jared Gray - 2.51lbs Craigg Cannon / Jared Gray - 2.15lbs
Tommy O'Keefe / Wayne Stewart - 2.15lbs
The Best of the Rest
6th - Bo Hudson / Brad Chappell - 10.16 lbs 11th -  Kent Holmes / Allen Morgan - 9.64 lbs
7th - Tommy O'Keefe / Wayne Stewart - 9.94 lbs 12th - Shelton Culpepper / David Thornton - 9.44 lbs
8th - Ray Williams / Roger Womack - 9.85 lbs 13th - Nathan Howell / Vic Finkley - 9.26 lbs
9th - Carl Painter / Chuck Hudson - 9.84 lbs 14th - Craigg Cannon / Jared Gray - 9.16 lbs
10th - Bernard Williams / Don Terry - 9.82 lbs 15th - Kent Driscoll / John Harrison - 8.70 lbs
MCC Sponsors 2010-11 - Thank You
Sponsor Name  Sponsor Level  City  State 
Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co.  Exclusive  Jackson  MS 
Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau  Exclusive  Yazoo City  MS 
Jackson Advertising COOP (Wendy's)  Exclusive  Memphis  TN 
B'n'M Pole Company  Exclusive  West Point  MS 
Taylor Made Labels  Special  Richland  MS 
JBS Fishing Line, LLC (Vicious)  Special  Dora  AL 
Browning Eyewear & Accessories (AES)  Platinum  Senatobia  MS 
Desiccare, Inc.  Platinum  Pomona  CA 
War Eagle Boats  Platinum  Monticello  AR 
S & W Welding & Machine Works  Platinum  Richland  MS 
Southern Belle Originals, Inc.  Platinum  Calhoun City  MS 
Insurance Associates of Rankin County  Platinum  Brandon  MS 
Holiday Lodge  Platinum  Como  MS 
Crappie Masters  Platinum  Lebanon  MO 
Rankin First Economic Development  Platinum  Brandon  MS 
Jasper Co. Farm Bureau  Platinum  Bay Springs  MS 
Super 8 Hernando  Major  Hernando  MS 
Carl's Sheet Metal Shop  Major  Jackson  MS 
Wayne's One Stop  Major  Calhoun City  MS 
Simpson's Jigs  Major  Gates  MS 
Region 8 Mental Health  Major  Brandon  MS 
Huff-N-Stuff  Major  Puckett  MS 
Craigen's Garage, LLC  Major  Hernando  MS 
Peoples Bank  Major  Mendenhall  MS 
Parker's Grocery & Sporting Goods  Major  Coffeeville  MS 
Jim McKay Drywall, Inc.  Major  Brandon  MS 
Rankin County Cooperative  Major  Brandon  MS 
Architectural Building Components  Major  Houston  TX 
Reeds Grocery (Graham, Inc.)  Major  Meridian  MS 
Spec Building Materials Corp.  Major  Pearl  MS 
Days Inn Meridian  Major  Meridian  MS 
Southern Star Bait N Thangs  Patron  Hollandale  MS 
Collins Bait Shop  Patron  Grenada  MS 
Ulmer Machine Co  Patron  Richland  MS 
Casey Systems Inc.  Patron  Clinton  MS 
Cannon Cheverolet-Olds-Cadillac Inc.  Patron  Greenwood  MS 
Don Bass Insurance Agency  Patron  Richland  MS 
Bill Berry  Patron  Mobile  AL 
J.R.'s Quick Stop  Patron  Hernando  MS 
Heritage Farms Kennel  Patron  Hernando  MS 
Mississippi Mortuary Services  Patron  Pearl  MS 
Legislative & Consulting Group  Patron  Brandon  MS 
Farm Bureau  Patron  Calhoun City  MS 
Chotard Landing Resort  Patron  Vicksburg  MS 
Scales & Skinz  Patron  Yazoo City  MS 
Yore Country store  Patron  Vicksburg  MS 
Fisherman's Corner  Patron  Morton  MS 
The Bait Shop  Patron  Grenada  MS 
Lake Harbor Trade Depot  Patron  Brandon  MS 
MS Roofing Supply  Patron  Pearl  MS 
Robert J. Neely, DMD  Patron  Jackson  MS 

Okatibbee Results - May 21, 2011 - Meridian, MS

Okatibbee Winners

Mcc’s V-P, Shelton Culpepper, said it best at the weigh-in. “This was a battle of the small fishes.” Indeed, Okatibbee’s best kept secret and challenge to our tournament competitors was where to find “some good fish”.

MCC veterans, Randy Bouchillon and Joe Lowrey, found a few “good ones” pre-fishing Thursday and Friday, and, being the tough competitors they are, locked in on a few “good ones” on Saturday.

Regardless of the size of the fish, we all had a great time on a beautiful lake in east, central Mississippi. And, as always, the best part seemed to be the great fellowship and cook-outs and conversations we shared off the lake under the shade tree or on Thursday and Friday nites with some great “get-togethers”.

Culpepper cooked fish for us on Thursday nite at the Day’s Inn, and I’m telling you the fish and the fries and the fixins were all great, Shelton. Thank you, sir. Again, you’re way too good to us.

And, then on Friday nite Rodger Womack and Ray Williams broke out the grills and the tequila wings and the deer sausage, and we all ate until we darn-near popped.

When other crappie clubs call and want to know how we manage to attract such good numbers at our tournaments, my explanation always begins with stories about our “get-togethers”. I’m not sure where else you could go to have so much fun with a bunch of your fishing friends. PJ

As Good As It Gets

Shelton Culpepper and David Thornton were very worried when they put the boat on the trailer at the end of T-Day at Okatibbee. These veteran tournament fishermen were leading the Points Race going in to Okatibbee, and they were pretty sure they were in risk of losing their season-long grip on 1st place with such a poor catch at Okatibbee.

But, their closest competitors for Points Winners for Season 2010/11, Will Clark / Carl Painter and Tonya Robertson / Terry Stewart, struggled to catch big fish at Okatibbee, too.

Ain’t that what it’s all about? Good clean competition with a few of your fishing friends is “as good as it gets”. In the midst of the State’s worst Mississippi River flooding where many of our competitors are displaced and evacuated and/or fighting daily to keep the high waters off their valuable crops and homes, we some how managed to set those things aside for a little bit and have a great time at a fishing tournament.

Tournament No. of TeamsWinning WeightMCC Team
Arkabutla39 teams14.68lbs Driscoll/Harrison
Wolf Lake 42 teams9.57lbs Moak/Moak
Eagle Lake36 teams 11.12lbsKrutz/Stevenson
Chotard37 teams12.02lbs Robertson/Stewart
Barnett I 42 teams 7.23lbs Driscoll/Wyssinger
Washington43 teams 11.61lbs White/White
Grenada39 Teams 17.59lbs Robertson/Stewart
Barnett II32 teams 9.87lbs Blount/Sullivan
Okatibbee28 teams 8.31lbs Bouchillon/Lowrey

Y’all just ask one of newest and oldest members, Roy Norwood, about this MCC bunch. By the way, y’all did notice that Roy was “in the money” again, didn’t you. While chomping on a Womack Special Tequila Chicken Wing, Roy was heard to say, “This is about as good as it gets. Wish I’d come back to MCC sooner.”

And, where else could you get such a kick out of seeing an 11-year old boy catch the Big Fish of the tournament? Y’all need to hear this. Tommy Moss lied to young Jake Clark in the last hour of the tournament, telling him we were catching all ours on “pink & white” cranks—a complete falsehood.

You guessed it—Jake quickly found a “pink & white” bait and tied it on his trolling pole. Tommy had just said to me, “Wouldn’t it be something if he caught one on that “pink and white?”, when young Jake went to hollering for the net.

Turned out to be the Big Fish of the tournament, and put Tommy and me on the hunt for some “pink & whites” in our own tackle boxes.  PJ

Paul Johnson 601-624-0359
Barnett II Winners - April 30, 2011

1st Place
Joe Lowrey and Randy Bouchillon take first place with 7 Fish - 8.13 pounds on Okatibbee. After finishing 2nd in our previous tournament at Barnett, this experienced team was determined to catch the Top Prize at their favorite lake, Okatibbee. Great job, gentlemen. Y’all bring them minner poles with you to Sardis.

2nd Place
Tommy Moss and his boat driver, Paul Johnson, some how managed to catch 2nd place with 7 Fish - 7.60 lbs. Where’s your cap, PJ?

3rd Place
First-year member and crank bait specialist, Tommy O’keefe, along with guest Scott Vance cranked up 3rd place with 7 Fish - 7.27 lbs.

4th Place
Two of our club’s officers, Hugh Krutz and Steve Stevenson, showed out with 7 Fish - 7.07 lbs of Okatibbee’s best. Thanks, guys.

5th Place
Grandpa and grandson—Sid & Sid Steen III— scored 5th place, 7 Fish - 6.94 lbs. Look out, Scott, Sid Three may be moving in on you.
1st Big Fish Results

Jacob Clark, 11 years old, is quite a fisherman. Listening to good advice from nearby competitor, Tommy Moss, Jake was quick to put on the suggested “pink & white” crankbait. In less than 3 minutes, Jake had the Big Fish of the day tugging on his string. His daddy, Bobby, finally got the net under the fish. Tommy Moss was heard hustling the young fisherman at the weigh-in. Something like, “Hey, Jake, I know what I’m going to do with my half of the Big Fish money. What are you going to do with your half?
1.59 lbs.
2nd Big Fish Results

Larry Nipper caught the second place Big Fish while Ken was gone to town on lunch break, or something. Actually, I don’t know who caught this “monster”, and it was great seeing both you guys, given your major flooding problems up in the Delta.
1.58 lbs.
The Best of the Rest
6th - Ray Clary / George Walker - 6.86 lbs 11th -  Chris Criswell / Brad Taylor - 6.58 lbs
7th - Cole Rowell / Eli Rowell - 6.82 lbs 12th - Ken Middleton / Larry Nipper - 6.55 lbs
8th - Shelton Culpepper / David Thornton - 6.80 lbs 13th - David McWilliams / Guest - 6.40 lbs
8th - Bernard Williams / Don Terry - 6.80 lbs 14th - Roy Norwood  - 6.36 lbs
10th - Monty Blount / C. Blount - 6.68 lbs  

Barnett II Results - April 30, 2011 - Madison, MS

Was it windy the entire month of April? Yes is the answer for most of us. With a rare exception of a calm day on Friday, the day before the Barnett II tourney, every time I’ve been to Barnett this spring the wind has be fierce. And, on the last day of April at our 8th tourney of this season the wind beat us again.

Toughing it out were Monty Blount and Keith Sullivan, a veteran MCC tourney team. With the spawn all but over at Barnett (as evidenced by every female crappie weighed being flat-bellied), Monty and Keith fished for fish that would bite.

Managing almost 10 pounds for their best 7, this veteran team bested the rest, but not by much. Several teams were close. 1st place @ 9.87 lbs; 2nd place @ 9.83 lbs. Geez, Monty, that is cutting it close, friend. Every Top 5 team had over 9 pounds. That’s a horse race I tell you.

And, thank you to LaDora Hall and George Walker for hosting our first ever crappie club crawfish boil. A great time was had by all who attended Friday PM. LaDora, you have a beautiful place, and George, your generosity is unmatched in our club. What a great couple of hours. We all enjoyed it. I had several members say “this one (meaning cookouts and gettogethers) was the best so far this year”.

Thank yous to Tonya Robertson and her brother Jason for the hotdogs and hamburgers they made ready for us at the weigh in—such nice folks. What a nice thing to do for our fishermen!

Okatibbee is up next. Make your reservations now. PJ

As Good As It Gets

With only 2 regular tournaments left on our 2010-11 Regular Season schedule, we keep drawing new teams. In my book (which has almost 20 years worth of club history to back up what I’m saying) drawing new teams at this part of our season is “as good as it gets”.

Y’all say “welcome back” to a charter member of MCC—one that’s been out of tournament action for a while—Mr. Roy Norwood. Roy, it is great to see you back in the game. You’ll find many new faces and new friends in the Magnolia Crappie Club.

Tournament No. of TeamsWinning WeightMCC Team
Arkabutla39 teams14.68lbs Driscoll/Harrison
Wolf Lake 42 teams9.57lbs Moak/Moak
Eagle Lake36 teams 11.12lbsKrutz/Stevenson
Chotard37 teams12.02lbs Robertson/Stewart
Barnett I 42 teams 7.23lbs Driscoll/Wyssinger
Washington43 teams 11.61lbs White/White
Grenada39 Teams 17.59lbs Robertson/Stewart
Barnett II32 teams 9.87lbs Blount/Sullivan

Let me warn all of you about Roy. He will kick yore butt on T-day. Talking about “walkin’ the walk and talkin’ talk”, there is none better than Roy. When I was trying to explain to Roy our changed rules since he was around, especially about pole and hook limits per boat, Roy said, “Paul, I don’t own but two jig poles. Is it alright if I just jig fish?”

Roy, you need to meet Earl Oswalt. He’s about the only MCCer left who “just jig fishes”.

With the truest sense of respect, I must warn all of you new to Roy that he will tell a lie the day or two before a tournament. Oh, yes, he will. He’ll lead you astray, send you on a snipe hunt, point you in the wrong direction if given the opportunity. What I’m saying, I guess, is that Roy will fit right in with this “new” bunch.

Y’all did notice that he scored “in the money” on his first trip back didn’t you? Look out Top 5. Move over 1st place winners. Roy is back in town!!!

Check out “Mississippi Sportsmen” magazine, May issue. Great picture of Ricky and Jimmy Smith one front cover representing MCC at one of those “pro-fessional” tournaments. Jimmy says it’s time to break out the crank baits. See you at Okatibbee. PJ

Paul Johnson 601-624-0359
Barnett II Winners - April 30, 2011

1st Place
Keith Sullivan & Monty Blount
CONGRATULATIONS, to some old MCC vets. Keith and Monty have been with us as a team for several years, and Monty goes back to practically Day One, I believe. No surprise these accomplished tournament fishermen scored a win on a very tough, windy day. This win moved them closer to the Top 10 group.
7 Fish - 9.87  pounds

2nd Place
Joe Lowrey & Randy Bouchillion
Marking their spot in the Top 5 for the first time this season.
Good Job!! - 7 Fish - 9.83 lbs

3rd Place
Carl Painter & William Clark
You know these 2 fishermen by now.
7 Fish - 9.32 lbs. Another outstanding T-Day by these pros.

4th Place
Kent Holmes & Allen Morgan
They’ve made the Top 5 multiple times this season, too.
7 Fish - 9.05 lbs.

5th Place
Sid Steen & Scott Steen
The Steen boys are back.
7 Fish - 9.02 lbs.
1st Big Fish Results

Monty Blount / Keith Sullivan
2.59 lbs.
2nd Big Fish Results

Charles Lindsay / Charles Lindsay, Jr.
2.54 lbs.
The Best of the Rest
6th - Charles Lindsay / Charles Lindsay Jr. -8.93 lbs 11th -  Lowell Jones / Kenny Blackwell - 8.09 lbs
7th - Roy Norwood -  8.87 lbs 12th - George Walker / Ray Clary - 7.99 lbs
8th - Paul Johnson / Tommy Moss - 8.36 lbs 13th - Ronald Wade / Danny Wade - 7.86 lbs
9th - Bobby Clark / Jake Clark - 8.39 lbs 14th - Mike McMurtry / Jason Eichwurtzle  - 7.71 lbs
10th - Terry Stewart / Cole Stewart - 8.19 lbs 15th - Johnny Weatherford / John Weeks - 7.50 lbs

Grenada Lake Results - April 9, 2011 - Grenada, MS

Grenada served up some of her best Big Mamas ever at our April 9, 2011, event. Can you imagine the results if we had a break from Mother Nature? Many of us “practiced” for several days in the wind, and on T-Day it blew and blew again. The very first fish Tommy Moss and I caught on Wednesday, our first “practice” day, weighed over 3 lbs 5 ozs. What a way to start the whole 3 or 4 day tournament experience!!

Hard work, true talent, perseverance, along with practice, paid off for the hard working team of Tonya Robertson and Terry Stewart. On Friday, through much effort including Tonya having to push Terry’s boat off a sand bar, they found a honey hole out in front of Turkey Creek. They caught a 3 pounder there Friday and decided to try it again Saturday. Thankfully, they didn’t run aground Saturday, and they stayed with it long enough to bring the winning stringer to the scales. Great job, Tonya—uhhh, you too, Terry.

William Clark came the closest to winning my hundred dollar Big Fish bounty money. I understand he told folks in the crowd before hitting the scales that he was fixin’ to take Paul Johnson’s money—guaranteed. Hey, William, your Big Fish @ 3.32 lbs was really good, just not good enough!

Barnett II is up next. The spawn won’t be over at Barnett, I predict, but you may have just had your last chance to catch a 3 lber this season. Hope to see a big crowd at Barnett, April 30th. PJ

As Good As It Gets

Only three regular tournaments are left in this season. My how time has really flown this tournament season! The last three spots on our tournament schedule all have something special built in.

Barnett II could see the crank baits come out for the first time this year. Okatibbee will be brand new for many of our teams, and, for the rest of us, it’s been a few years since we fished Big O. And, I can’t wait to get to Sardis. Sardis is growing ‘em as big as they get, and crank baiting is the norm—not the exception.

Tournament No. of TeamsWinning WeightMCC Team
Arkabutla39 teams14.68lbs Driscoll/Harrison
Wolf Lake 42 teams9.57lbs Moak/Moak
Eagle Lake36 teams 11.12lbsKrutz/Stevenson
Chotard37 teams12.02lbs Robertson/Stewart
Barnett I 42 teams 7.23lbs Driscoll/Wyssinger
Washington43 teams 11.61lbs White/White
Grenada39 Teams 17.59lbs Robertson/Stewart

Grenada was our best tournament so far this season when it comes to huge fish and heavy weigh-in weights. With an average size Grenada fish being 1.80 pounds compared to the next closest tournament, Arkabutla with a 1.55 pound average, Grenada showed us who is boss and which lake is the best in the state, so far.

And, every one of our tournament teams talked about, catching so many little “throwbacks”. Hey, I’m not complaining. Seeing those monsters plus so many of those 6 inch to 12 inch crappie tells me one thing. The crappie fishery at Grenada is well-managed and doing really well.

Is it the 12 inch limit, the 20 instead of 30 daily creel limit, the annual water level change from very low to high, the nutrients in that dark muddy north Mississippi water? All of the above I’m guessing and other variables that only people smarter than most of us know.

Whatever it is, it’s working. Do y’all remember the local Grenada fishermen screaming about the “new Grenada regs” a few years ago? Wonder if the same people are still complaining? WOW—What a crappie lake!!!

And, I want you all to know that our tournament catch, over 400 pounds of crappie, was donated to the Joe Rowland Boys Home, Grenada, MS.

For years, MCC conducted an ongoing charitable project we called “Catch a Crappie—Feed a Child”. Well, those fish in the big blue tank at the weigh in served the same purpose. They all went to a very good cause.

New folks and others who need to catch up to qualify for the Post- Season, it’s all in this issue of the newsletter. See the rules on page 10 and comments on page 3. It’s not too late to get in on the fun fishing for the Big Money at the end of our season. Call me if you have any questions. PJ

Paul Johnson 601-624-0359
Grenada Lake Winners - April 9, 2011

1st Place

Terry Stewart and Tonya “Short Stack” Robertson did it again!!! Congratulations, Tonya and Terry. Grenada served up your second win of the season—a very difficult achievement. Y’all do see that the crappie are almost as long as “Short Stack “ is tall, don’t you? Great job—7 Fish - 17.59  pounds

2nd Place
Kent Driscoll / Wes Parker
What? How’d you boys wrestle this 2nd hole from Culpepper & Thornton?
7 Fish - 16.98 lbs.

3rd Place
Grenada pros, Bo Hudson & Brad Chappell show off 3rd place fish with 7 Fish - 16.58 lbs. Another outstanding T-Day by these pros.

4th Place
The Steen Boys had been missing in action this season—until Grenada. Welcome back Scott & Sid. Good job.
7 Fish - 16.25 lbs.

5th Place
Allen Morgan and “Get-A-Long” Kent Holmes make the Top 5 for the second time this season. Great job, men.
7 Fish - 15.79 lbs.
1st Big Fish Results

Carl Painter / William Clark
3.32 lbs.
2nd Big Fish Results

Lowell "Doc" Jones / Kenny Blackwell
3.17 lbs.
The Best of the Rest
6th - A.E. Smith / Les Smith -15.65lbs 11th -  Andy Tackett / Callaway Harris - 13.68lbs
7th - William Clark / Carl Painter - 15.14lbs 12th - Nathan Howell / Vic Finkley - 13.34lbs
8th - Charles Lindsey / Willard Parks - 14.92lbs 13th - Jimmy Smith / Rickey Smith - 12.92lbs
9th - Monty Blount / Keith Sullivan - 14.62lbs 13th - Marvel Hicks / David McWilliams  - 12.92lbs
10th - Shelton Culpepper / David Thornton - 14.48lbs 14th - Robert Knight / Tommy Haynes - 12.84lbs

Lake Washington Results - March 12, 2011 - Glenn Allan, MS

Lake Washington was windy!! Teams who best managed the wind caught the fish and did well at the pay window. The rest of us forgot our chain or wind sock, ran out of battery juice, broke our trolling motor brought the wrong tackle box, fished in the trees, fished too shallow or too deep.

Pick one, friend. One excuse is as good as another. Certainly we can all agree that on a day when we had our largest turnout of this season, we continued to get the raw end of the deal from Mother Nature.

No excuses from tournament winners David and Steve White of Monticello, AR. David told me they fish Washington “all the time”. They even have a camp on Lake Washington. So we got beat by some MCC Rookies who are Washington veterans.

Seems the winning strategy for the White boys was dragging road runners on the bottom, rigged with an egg weight in front of their Road Runners. They put in at Glen Allen and fished the same 300 yard stretch in 6 foot water all day. They didn’t forget their wind sock.

Of particular interest to me was that of the 10 fishermen in the Top 5, six of you are rookies are returning MCC veterans in their first tournament this season. Welcome back, Marvel Hicks—great seeing you again. Congrats on that Top 5 finish.

MCC vets, Shelton Culpepper and David Thornton, eased into first place in the Points Race. How many seconds is that, Shelton?

PJ

As Good As It Gets

We’re past the half-way mark for the 2010-11 season, and things are heating up. Let’s re-cap the winners briefly.

Tournament No. of TeamsWinning WeightMCC Team
Arkabutla39 teams14.68lbs Driscoll/Harrison
Wolf Lake 42 teams9.57lbs Moak/Moak
Eagle Lake36 teams 11.12lbsKrutz/Stevenson
Chotard37 teams12.02lbs Robertson/Stewart
Barnett I 42 teams 7.23lbs Driscoll/Wyssinger
Washington43 teams 11.61llbs White/White

You do notice that our strongest turnout this season was our last tournament, Lake Washington, don’t you? Let me tell you MCC folks and the rest of the crappie tournament world something. We’re the king-daddy of crappie tournaments in the entire country.

That is, compare us to any nonprofit, all volunteer, local crappie club, and you folks belong the biggest and most active and oldest crappie club anywhere.

Why, shoot, according to Mike Jones, our host and only sponsor at Lake Washington, our participation numbers—43 boats at this last tournament— are much greater than other tournaments that have made the Washington scene.

Mike and I discussed how to best attack the lack of sponsorship coming from the area. Mike would like to see us get to that magical number that puts Lake Washington in our State Championship rotation. To do that, we’re going to have to attract funds from sources in addition to Southern Stars.

As an example of what can be done, consider the Yazoo Co. CV&B’s commitment—for several years. Once again they are sponsoring MCC at our top Exclusive Event Sponsorship level. We will bring our “out-of-town” fishermen back to Wolf Lake for our big 2-day State Championship in September for the third or fourth time. Yazoo County C&VB—thank you!!!

MCCers, I’m betting we’ll be fishing for one of our largest-ever post season pots if all of you will focus on bringing in a new sponsor.  Thank you, MCC members and elected leaders for bringing in sponsors. And, thank you sponsors.

And, Ken Middleton, thank you for hosting our Washington Get-Together. You were just way too good to us. Our Board met Friday at Ken’s place before the Get-Together started, and I’m here to tell you that we are so fortunate to have such a fine, dedicated group of leaders.

We couldn’t hire such good help at any price. This year’s Board members are about as good as they get.

PJ
Lake Washington Winners - March 12, 2011

1st Place
Steve White / David White
7 Fish - 11.61 lbs.

2nd Place
David Thornton / Shelton Culpepper
7 Fish - 11.06 lbs.

3rd Place
Carl Painter / Will Clark
7 Fish - 11.05 lbs.

4th Place
Marvel Hicks / David McWilliams
4 Fish - 10.80 lbs.

5th Place
Vic Finkley / Nathan Howell
7 Fish - 10.42 lbs.
1st Big Fish Results

Vic Finkley / Nathan Howell
2.36 lbs.
2nd Big Fish Results

Jim Dodd / Kent Driscoll
2.33 lbs.
The Best of the Rest
6th - Bernard Williams / Joe Ingram -10.32lbs 11th - Jimmy L. Smith / Johnny Smith - 9.43lbs
7th - Ronald Wade / Danny Wade - 9.92lbs 12th - Ken Blackwell / Doc Jones - 9.40lbs
8th - Ken Middleton / Larry Nipper - 9.83lbs 13th - Kent Driscoll / Jim Dodd - 9.01lbs
9th - Kent Holmes / Allen Morgan - 9.80lbs 14th - Brad Chappell / Bo Hudson  - 8.94lbs
10th - Monty Blount / Keith Sullivan - 9.51lbs 14th - Hugh Krutz / Steve Stevenson - 8.94lbs

Ross Barnett Results - February 12, 2011 - Madison, MS

The Rez turned cold, real cold on us on T-Day. With surface temps in the high 30’s on most of the reservoir, teams that found a “warm spot” caught a few small fish.

More black crappie (specs) were weighed on this cold day than I have ever seen at a Barnett Tournament. That tells me a couple of things. The typical Barnett patterns of fishing river ledges and drops and break lines and deep stumps where we often catch lots of white crappie and where a spec is an odd-ball occurrence didn’t work.

And, those fishermen who fished deep, on-the-bottom structure caught practically all black crappie. Several teams fished Plumber’s Slough area and found mostly early male specs on the bottom.

The tournament winners, Driscoll & Wyssinger, however used a technique unknown and untried to most of us. It was reported to me that the winning team did not have a fish in the boat at noon. So tournament rookie Todd Wysingger broke out a couple of dock-shooting rigs.

For the uninformed, these rigs are usually a really short whip-like rod comboed with an ultra light spinning reels. In sling-shot fashion the idea is “shoot” the jig as far under a dock, deck or pier as possible. Well, that’s what they did down in Main Harbor and managed to “shoot” enough fish to win this early Barnett event.

Congratulations, men. Y’all bring them little short rods & reels with you to Washington. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Shoot at ’em up there at Washington, March 12th.

PJ

As Good As It Gets

Look I admit, it’s tough to keep saying “as good as it gets” given some of the tournament results we’ve had so far this season. Let’s re-cap briefly.

Tournament No. of TeamsWinning WeightMCC Team
Arkabutla39 teams14.68lbs Driscoll/Harrison
Wolf Lake 42 teams9.57lbs Moak/Moak
Eagle Lake36 teams 11.12lbsKrutz/Stevenson
Chotard37 teams12.02lbs Robertson/Stewart
Barnett I42 teams7.23lbs Driscoll/Wyssinger

But, these winning stats don’t tell the full story. Although our participation numbers are up 20 % or so over last year, and that’s great. The overall fishing success has been one of the worst seasons I can remember. Too many teams have struggled just to bring a 7 fish tournament limit to the scales.

I’m right in there with you, folks, and I’ve got some really good company in the “boloed” section. Don’t give up, yet, rookies—fishing will get better.

Congratulations, as always, to teams who have won and to teams who are doing well in the Points Race. Even you will agree that the bite has been tough for most of the lakes we’ve been to this year.

But, those of us who have done this tournament fishing for a while know that’s just part of the overall game. Hanging in there, keeping your spirits and your interest up when the catching is bad measure’s ones tenacity, for sure. Trust me, it will get better.

From my position, I’d have to say the Arkabutla tournament, a new site for MCC, has been the highlight of our tournament year so far—in terms of great catching success by most teams.

We’d have to give Wolf and Barnett I a nod just from the higher number of boats entered, and Wolf yielded a Rookie Team—the Moak Boys, first tournament ever, winner—quite a novelty thing in the world of tournament fishing.

Eagle Lake for me was tough. The good thing for me was that it gave me the opportunity to fish one last time with my good friend, Jim McKay. Bad thing for me, was that it was the last time I fished with my good friend, Jim McKay. As you know, Jim passed away a couple of weeks later on Christmas day.

Announcing the return of Tommy Moss. Look out now, folks, is all I can tell you! Tommy has agreed to take Jim’s place in my boat, and he guarantees our team numbers will improve. Great to have such a long-time member and club asset like Tommy back. We’re gonna kick some serious booty, you wait and see.

Now that’s about as good as it gets!!!

PJ
Ross Barnett Winners - February 12, 2011

1st Place
Todd Wyssinger / Kent Driscoll
7 Fish - 7.52 lbs.

2nd Place
David Thornton / Shelton Culpepper
7 Fish - 7.29 lbs.

3rd Place
Charles Lindsay, Jr / Charles Lindsay, Sr
7 Fish - 6.10 lbs.

4th Place
Eli Rowell / Perry Herring
4 Fish - 6.08 lbs.

5th Place
Bernard Williams / Don Terry
7 Fish - 5.81 lbs.
1st Big Fish Results

Randy Bouchillon / Joe Lowery
2.30 lbs.
2nd Big Fish Results

Johnny Weatherford / John Weeks
2.24 lbs.
The Best of the Rest
6th - Terry Stewart / Cole Stewart - 5.80 lbs 11th - Dennis Moak / Sidney Moak - 5.00 lbs
7th - A.E. Smith / Les Smith - 5.75 lbs 12th - Pat Jeffcoats / Harold Thomas - 3.92 lbs
8th - Hugh Krutz / Steve Stevenson - 5.55 lbs 13th - Brad Taylor / Chris Criswell - 3.77 lbs
9th - Brad Chappell / Bo Hudson - 5.51 lbs 14th - Kent Holmes / Allen Morgan - 3.65 lbs
10th - Duane Guidry / Mike McMurtry - 5.17 lbs 15th - Johnny Smith / Jimmy L. Smith - 3.44 lbs

Lake Chotard Results - January 8, 2011 - Vicksburg, MS

I can’t think of another place we hold tournaments where we have more fun than at Chotard. Most of the time the fishing is really good, and our hosts, Jerry and, now, his son, Mark Johnson treat us so good. They really are glad to have us come to their facility, and they just open up the whole place for us.

Such accommodating folks, the Johnsons, over at Chotard Landing Resort—thank you.

The 2011 Chotard tournament offered us challenging conditions. Low water levels positioned the fish completely different than last year and eliminated our ability to fish the Tennessee Lake part of the normally 3 lake compound.

Pre-fishing was great on Thursday, slow and windy on Friday, and only the best of the 37 boats entered did well in the conditions and with the stubborn bite on Saturday. Overcoming a slow bite and very cold north winds to take the event were Dr. “Short Stack” Tonya Robertson and her tall drink o’ water side-kick, Terry Stewart.

Most teams were able to catch and weigh 7 fish—that’s always good. Some of us were too damn stubborn to put down the crank bait strategy and pick up a minnow pole or a jig pole, and it showed on the scoreboard.

Points race starts to get interesting about this time of the year. Some teams really helped themselves on Chotard—some of us didn’t.

PJ

As Good As It Gets

When we set our tournament schedule in August every year, Chotard and other Mississippi River lakes always come up, and some on the Board worry that we’ll have bad river conditions—that we’ll be flooded out, or that a fast rising river will kill the bite, or that it’ll be too cold, or that the gar will make it impossible to catch a white perch.

Look, I’ve been doing this since day one, and Chotard is absolutely at the top of my personal list for greatest places to hold an MCC event, and I will be pushing for 2 events on Chotard next season—plan on it.

Yes, like lots of elected officials lately, I am declaring my run for MCC President for next year early. And, I’m telling you now, if elected, I will do everything in my power to bring 2 events to Chotard in our next season. Don’t dare vote for Paul Johnson if you don’t want to take in Chotard twice next season.

I’d love to see us work toward having our State Championship there in the fall. Look, I bet you didn’t know this, either, those new lakeside condos were open for rent this time. Seems their long-term clients who had them covered up for a year have finished working on that pipeline, and have moved on, leaving lots of newer, lake-side accommodations. All we need now is a larger sponsorship base from over there, and, bam, we’re there.

To me and to lots of you, Chotard turns into a magical, adventure-like event. Just the remote setting, behind the levee, where tons of deer roam and ducks and geese fly, and phone reception is impossible for some make this Chotard adventure as good as it gets.

And, the scenery is beautiful. Chotard, Albermarle and Tennessee lakes are beautiful resources of which our state should be so proud.

And, from recent sources I understand the State of MS intends to have a public landing on the lake in the future. I was told it’s a done deal. That alleviates the worry many of us had that the potential was there for a large private company to buy up all the access points to the lakes and turn this public paradise into a private club.

Not gonna happen, friend. State Legislature has promised there will be public access to these beautiful public waters.

Hey, how much better does it get than having 4 different winners thru 4 different tournaments? Can’t help but notice Points Leaders Krutz and Stevenson are having a banner year. They’ve made the TOP FIVE 3 out of 4 events and won the Eagle event. Good job, to Steve and Hugh. Y’all are having one heck of a year.

Big Bad Barnett in February can be as good as it gets, too. Expect huge egg-laden, pre-spawn females to make the weights very high. 1st Big Mama Split ends with Barnett event. Don’t miss out.

PJ
Lake Chotard Winners

1st Place
Terry Stewart / Tonya Robertson
7 Fish - 12.02 lbs.

2nd Place
Shelton Culpepper / David Thornton
7 Fish - 11.97 lbs.

3rd Place
Steve Stevenson / Hugh Krutz
7 Fish - 11.74 lbs.

4th Place
Ray Williams / Rodger Womack
4 Fish - 11.64 lbs.

5th Place
Carl Painter / William Clark
7 Fish - 11.53 lbs.
1st Big Fish Results

Don McDonald / Vanessa McDonald
2.45 lbs.
2nd Big Fish Results

Terry Stewart / Tonya Robertson
2.22 lbs.
The Best of the Rest
6th - Carl Koestler / Gary Grey - 11.28 lbs 11th - Ronald Wade / Danny Wade - 10.36 lbs
7th - Jimmy Smith / Ricky Smith - 11.14 lbs 12th - Ken Middleton / Larry Nipper - 10.22 lbs
8th - Kent Holmes / Allen Morgan - 10.89 lbs 13th - Charles Lindsay / Willard Parks - 10.16 lbs
9th - Vic Finkley / Nathan Howell - 10.76 lbs 14th - Johnny Smith / Randy Martin - 10.03 lbs
10th - Lowell Jones / Kenny Blackwell - 10.61 lbs 15th - Don McDonald / Vanessa McDonald - 9.79 lbs

Eagle Lake Results - December 4, 2010 - Vicksburg, MS

Before the Eagle Lake tournament I set up the newsletter getting as much work out of the way as possible. This early newsletter work included typing in some headlines—just to remind myself what went where. And, the headline above originally read “Eagle Soars”—get it?

Oops! The eagle certainly didn’t soar. I believe the eagle went into a steep nose-dive, and I don’t think I’d get any arguments from any of the 36 teams that fished it.

I recall one other awful tournament—as far as fishing results go—on Eagle Lake. We had 48 boats that caught only 92 fish. This one had 36 boats and we caught only 76 fish on T-Day. Can’t sugar-coat that any way, folks. The fishing was terrible on Eagle.

Congratulations to the 5 teams who managed to weigh 7. And, congratulations to Hugh Krutz and Steve Stevenson for figuring out the tough bite and weighing the heaviest 7.

Hugh told me afterwards that they took everything down in their boat so they could crawl under one particular pier that produced their winning catch. “We spent our time knocking and banging under one iron pier and one boat house. We were literally crawling around under there. We lost our 2 biggest fish—just couldn’t get the net under them.”

Seems that corks and straight minnows and a whole lot of patience and determination was the winning strategy.

Success on a day when 16 teams "bo-loed" puts another star on this win for Steve and Hugh. Tough day—tough fishermen. Good job, men. PJ

As Good As It Gets

Hey, we can never predict the probability of fishing success on any of the lakes we put on our schedule. And, our tournament season can be analogous to playing a golf course. Some holes play differently than others. Some are easy par 3s and some of super tough par 5s.

Think of Eagle Lake as that one hole where lots of teams bogied or even double-bogied. Teams that managed to catch fish at Eagle had the right club and particular skill required to succeed. The rest of us should have stuck to putt-putt golf.

But, it wasn’t all bad. In fact, for those of us who spent a couple of days “practicing” Eagle was a great time. 25 or so of us can attest to the fact that David Thornton is one heck of a host and a darn good cook.

The fish fry at David’s was absolutely one of the best meals a man could get anywhere. And, the company and scenery wasn’t half bad either. Thanks so much David for such a great meal and wonderful time at your place.

And, then the Womack and Culpepper chuck wagon opened on Friday nite. Actually, there were lots of contributors who cooked and/or brought more food that we could possibly eat. Good times—yes sir—good times for all at the Friday Nite Get Together.

We have lots of new faces this year. Rookies, pay attention. We do these things at practically every event. Be sure to join in on the fun. These get-togethers are a great part of what makes MCC as good as it gets— regardless of the fishing success on T-Day.

Some rookie questions I got at Eagle… 1- How do the points work? Teams get 10 points for entering. Then we add one point per pound using 1/100ths to keep score. At the end of the season we pay $1 per point to teams who have entered at least 7 tournaments and accumulated 90 points total and returned $125 in raffle ticket funds per adult fisherman. This points money is paid at the Annual Awards Banquet. The Top 10 teams receive special recognition and caps signifying their success.

2—What’s the difference between the Big Mama and the Big Fish? We pay money at each regular tournament for the 2 heaviest fish. These Big Fish Awards are paid at the rate of $5 per boat entered at that particular tournament and the split is 60%/40%. The Big Mama prizes are bigger prizes and are paid to post season qualifiers. Again, that’s 7 events & 90 points this year. Big Mama money is set aside from each event at the rate of $5 per boat. Then we split the season into 2 halves—paying a total of 10 Big Mama prizes at the end of the year. Big Mama standings can be found in every issue of the newsletter. Plus, the heaviest fish of the year wins another $250.

Hope to see everyone at Chotard, Jan 8th. PJ
Eagle Lake Winners

1st Place
Steve Stevenson & Hugh Krutz
7 Fish - 11.12 lbs.

2nd Place
Don McDonald / Nessa McDonald
7 Fish - 11.02 lbs.

3rd Place
William Parks / Charles Lindsay, Sr.
7 Fish - 8.11 lbs.

4th Place
Ray Clary / George Walker
4 Fish - 7.95 lbs.

5th Place
Shelton Culpepper / David Thorton
7 Fish - 7.65 lbs.
Big Fish Results
1st - George Walker / Ray Clary - 2.37 lbs 2nd - George Walker / Ray Clary - 2.32 lbs
The Best of the Rest
6th - Jimmy Smith / Ricky Smith - 7.56 lbs 11th - Kenny Blackwell / Doc Jones - 4.01 lbs
7th - Bernard Williams / Don Terry - 6.96lbs 12th - Ronald Wade / Danny Wade - 3.12lbs
8th - Brad Chappell / Bo Hudson - 6.54 lbs 13th - Ray Williams / Rodger Womack - 2.82 lbs
9th - William Clark / Carl Painter - 6.26 lbs 14th - Terry Stewart / Cole Stewart - 2.72 lbs
10th - A.E. Smith / Leslie Smith - 4.92 lbs 15th - Paul Johnson / Jim McKay - 2.59 lbs

Wolf Lake Results - November 6, 2010 - Yazoo City, MS
It was cold. It was foggy. The fish hadn’t bitten in a week. It had rained a few days earlier over 2 inches for the first time in months. There were 2 bass tournaments on the lake, taking up a good portion of the parking room and burning gas all day long.

Good thing new members and first-time MCC regular tournament fishermen, Sidney and Dennis Moak, didn’t know conditions were so bad. Nothing to it, uh, men?

I recall speaking to these two young fellers at our Big Mama Open, encouraging them to participate as fishing members in our regular tourna- ments. “Aw, shucks, Mr. Johnson, we’re just plain ole crappie fishermen from Summit, MS. We ain’t ever done nuthin’ lack this here before. We’d hate to embarrass ourselves on tournament day with yore reg-lar bunch. We don’t how to compete with you MCC folks.”

Yeah right, and I’d bet money these two boys would be tough at the poker table, too. Usually, in poker playing parlance, new players represent “dead money” on the table. But, the Moak Boys shot down that idea right from the get-go. Congrats to you, Dennis and Sidney. Come on back. We’ll be ready for you next time.

Overall, Wolf was good to some teams and played hard to get with oth-ers. Jim McKay and I had to dust off our jig poles and fish tight to shallow water structure to catch our 7. They were small, but, hey, we were pretty damn proud of ’em, especially after catching 3 on Thursday and 0 on Friday. Ole Jim told me at the end of the day that he never expected us to catch as many as we did after our miserable showing on practice days, and with the slow start on T-Day. But, our jig poles kept us from bo-loing. PJ

As Good As It Gets

Let me tell you, “as good as it gets” is turning out to be prophetic and exactly the right club slogan for MCC this year. What a great couple of events we’ve pulled off already.

Our first-ever Big Mama Open was in every way a success for MCC. It did exactly what I’d hoped for. It made the club a little much need cash which will become part of our Post Season Payout Package, and it brought us lots and lots of new teams, including the Moak Brothers, winners of Wolf Lake.

Our first regular season tournament sent us to a brand new lake, Arkabutla, and 38 teams had a great time catching some of the biggest white perch we’ll see all season.

Next came Wolf where we get such great support from the Yazoo County Convention and Visitors Bureau and have for several years—thank you again, Tonja Smith, Yazoo CVB Your sponsorship is a big part of our Post Season Payout Package. We’ll be back in September, 2011 with probably our largest Magnolia State Crappie Championship ever. We’re gonna need some more parking.

Hugh Krutz, our Tournament Director, reports to me that we had 42 teams fish Wolf and that 4 of them were brand new teams. I’ve been doing this stuff for 19 seasons, folks, and I’m here to tell you, this is as good as it gets! Further Hugh reports that we have a total of 49 different teams who have made our points page + another 3 teams who have paid membership fees already but not fished—outstanding numbers for MCC.

Did y’all see that fancy-dancy scoreboard at Wolf Lake? Hey, I can tell you some stories about our scoreboards over the years—basically getting one made and keeping one looking good and functional has been an expensive and difficult task since day one.

Enter second-year member Rodger Womack. Sorry you were feeling poorly at the weigh-in, Rodger—must have been something you ate—like three helpings of Paul Johnson’s world-famous liver and onions the night before the tournament. But, we need to say a great big thank you to Rod for providing us with our best looking scoreboard ever, and it didn’t cost the club a dime. Now if that’s not as good as it gets, I don’t know what is.

Look out, John, here comes Eagle Lake. Early reports are that the huge white crappie are back, and we’re talking Eagle Lake huge. No lake in Mississippi—that’s right, I said no lake—grows ’em bigger than Eagle.

Look out, Big Mama Splits. Some of you Top 5 Big Mamas in Split #1 are in double-trouble. Get a jig pole in your hand, friend. Learn to love it.  Make it an extension of your fishing self. You’re gonna need it over at Eagle. Shelton Culpepper said he’d be giving lessons over at Eagle. Shelton said, “Paul, Eagle Lake is about as good as it gets.” PJ
Wolf Lake Winners

1st Place
Sidney Moak & Dennis Moak
7 Fish - 9.57 lbs.

2nd Place
Pat Jefcoats & Harold Thomas
7 Fish - 9.01 lbs.

3rd Place
Cole Stewart & Terry Stewart
7 Fish - 8.54 lbs.

4th Place
Jimmy L Smith & Johnny Smith
7 Fish - 8.53 lbs.

5th Place
Patrick Stone / Brandon Fulgham
7 Fish - 8.51 lbs.
Big Fish Results
1st - Dennis Moak / Sidney Moak - 1.82 lbs 2nd - Jimmy Smith / Ricky Smith - 1.80 lbs
The Best of the Rest
6th - Jimmy Smith / Ricky Smith - 8.38 lbs 11th - William Clark / Michael Clark - 8.00 lbs
7th - Earl Oswalt / Costner - 8.31 lbs 12th - Ronald Wade / Danny Wade - 7.97 lbs
8th - A.E. Smith / Les Smith - 8.14 lbs 13th - Chris Horton / Troy Garrett - 7.95 lbs
9th - Charles Lindsay / Charles Lindsay, Jr. - 8.08 lbs 14th - Al Mullins - 7.76 lbs
10th - Joe Lowery / Randy Bouchillon - 8.07 lbs 15th - Shelton Culpepper / David Thornton - 7.75 lbs

Arkabutla Results - October 16, 2010 - Hernando, MS
For two seasons in a row, the top-notch team of Kent Driscoll and John Harrison won our first regular tournament. Last year they bested the rest of us at Ferguson in Greenville. This year, Arkabutla felt their magic, and the rest of us felt their winning ways.

But, hey, it was pretty dang close. It took over 14 pounds to win. Heck, it took over 14 pounds to get into third place. Arkabutla turned on and showed out. This will be one of our heaviest weights of the year, y’all, and it’s October.

One of the first things a local Arkabutla guru told me at JR’s Bait Shop, early Thursday morning, was that the shallow bite was over to “go deep—forget the shallows”. I wanna believe the man was telling me the truth and not leading ole Jim and me astray. But, I can tell you we spent two days wasting our time trying to find those “deep” fish. Finally, on Saturday, we went shallow and had a great, fun day.

The winners and practically everyone who did well will tell you the fish were shallow, real shallow in some cases. Kent and John used 4/0 hooks and great big minnows fishing in water mostly 3 feet and less. That’s right, I said four aught hooks. Go to the bait shop and look at some. You’ll see my amazement, I’m sure. Congrats, to a couple of great fishermen who are also amazing club supporters. These guys do it the right way.

We had 38 teams in the hunt at Arkabutla—outstanding, simply an outstanding start to our new year. Of these 38 teams, 10 of them had never fished an MCC regular tournament before. How ’bout that, sportsfans. You veteran members who were at Arkabutla will agree with me. We have some great rookies this year—perhaps our best crop ever. I can’t wait to see our turnout at the next T-Day, Wolf Lake, Nov 6. You new folks are in for a real treat at Wolf. See you there. PJ

As Good As It Gets


Our new club slogan “as good as it gets” certainly describes where we find ourselves here in the very early stages of our new regular tournament season. One regular tournament down, nine to go. Welcome to the 2010-11 regular tournament season, folks.

We have lots of new people in the club, so I want to explain a couple of really important things right from the get-go.

We keep score, y’all. Every fish counts that you weigh in counts towards our points race and you’re in it. Cold hard cash is on the line here, not to mention “bragging rights”, and you need at least 90 points to qualify for the post-season payouts and activities. You get 10 points just for entering the tournament. Plus you get one point per pound of fish weighed and we use 1/100ths to settle the difference. So weigh your fish even if you don’t think you’re going to get in the money at that particular tournament. You’ll need the points later on.

Big Fish vs Big Mama scores—Every team at every tournament is entered in the Big Fish Pot. When you pay your $90 entry fee, $5 of it goes to that day’s Big Fish Pot. We pay 2 places on a 60/40 split. With 38 teams at Arkabutla the Big Fish Pot was $190.

Another $5 of your $90 entry fee goes into the Big Mama Pot. This pot is paid to Post-Season Players who have caught the heaviest five fish during each half of the season.

So, I’m betting that 2.89 lb monster caught by Jimmy Smith that already paid him $114 will also pay him handsomely when our post-season comes around. Let’s say we average 38 teams for the first five events. The Split # 1 Big Mama Pot becomes $950, and if Jimmy’s fish holds the top spot for the first half of the season, and he qualifies for post-season by entering all but 3 of our held events and accumulating 90 points, we’ll pay him another $285 for what then becomes our heaviest Big Mama of the first half of the season.

We start over with the second half to make it more interesting for everyone. Point is, Arkabutla produced 5 great big fish that may be hard to knock off between now and the February 12 Barnett event.

But, we veterans know that upcoming lakes like Eagle, Wolf, Chotard and Barnett can certainly grow ‘em as big as they get, too.

Finally, let me say to the new members that we’re very glad to have you—welcome—we hope you have fun at every event. Come to Wolf Lake, Nov 6th. It’s a beautiful skinny lake that twists and turns for 22 miles and is located just west of Yazoo City. Wolf is loaded, absolutely loaded with white perch. Come get you some. This is already about as good as it gets.. I hope you’re having as much fun as I am. PJ
Arkabutla Winners

1st Place
John Harrison & Kent Driscoll
7 Fish - 14.68 lbs.

2nd Place
Steve Stevenson & Hugh Krutz
7 Fish - 14.62 lbs.

3rd Place
Cole Rowell (Youngest Club Member) & Eli Rowell
7 Fish - 14.04 lbs.

4th Place
Allan Morgan & Kent “Get-Along” Holmes
7 Fish - 13.32 lbs.

5th Place
Carl Painter & Joey Eldrige
7 Fish - 12.82 lbs.

1st Big Fish
Jimmy Smith & Donna Smith
2.89 lbs.

2nd Big Fish
Brad Chappell & Bo Hudson
2.66 lbs.
The Best of the Rest
6th - Terry Stewart & Tonya Robertsonon - 12.26 lbs 11th - Shelton Culpepper & David Thornton - 11.76 lbs
7th - Ronald Wade & Danny Wade - 11.95 lbs 12th - Joe Lowery & Randy Bouchillon - 11.19 lbs
8th - Monty Blount & Keith Sullivan - 11.93 lbs 13th - Anthony Reasons & Tony Lowrie - 11.16 lbs
9th - Lowell Jones & Kenny Blackwell - 11.88 lbs 14th - Ray Williams & Roger Womack - 11.06 lbs
10th - Chris Horton & Kevin Horton - 11.86 lbs 15th - Jimmy Smith & Donna Smith - 11.05 lbs

BIG MAMA OPEN BIG WIN - September 25, 2010 - Grenada, MS
The Magnolia Crappie Club held our first-ever OPEN event on Grenada yesterday, Saturday, Sept 25. Let me tell you about it.

Sixty-three teams from several states including LA, TN, AR, KY, AL, SC (that's right, I said South Carolina), and, of course, good ole MS made the scene. Our new friends from SC are a father and daughter team--Rob Wall and 10- year-old Jordan made the long trip. We were impressed watching Jordan handle that big boat like a real pro at the launching ramp. Heck, I've had grown men partners who couldn't or wouldn't back the boat off my trailer in a crowd. But, Miss Jordan had obviously done this chore several times before.

We met an estimated 150 new fishing friends at our free BBQ on Friday nite. Thanks to Mike Ward, War Eagle Boats, for sending their cooking crew (that’d be Mike and a couple of his employees and pro-staffers) and their smoker-on-wheels.

Thanks to the Corps of Engineers staff at Grenada for providing such wonderful support. They couldn't do enough for us. I can tell you that I've been involved for 19 years staging tournaments and nobody, anywhere comes close to the COE at Grenada when it comes to providing help to organizations like ours.

Additional supporters included, first and foremost, a bunch of MCC members who volunteered for specific jobs and tasks--several getting important things done without being asked. I’ve only seen two other club events in 19 years where so many members provided so much help, and those were an Eagle Lake restoration project and a post-Katrina “fish fry” where we fed 1100 hungry people down around Sandy Hook, MS.

Point is, it takes a lot of work to pull an event like this off, and this would have never happened without key MCC members like John Harrison, Shelton Culpepper, David Thornton, Ray Clary, Kent Driscoll, Hugh Krutz, Steve Stevenson, Bo Hudson, Brad Taylor, Jimmy Smith, “chicken man” Ray Williams, Roger Womack (who originally presented this idea to a group of club leaders back in July), Charles Lindsay, George Walker, Eli Rowell, Bernard Williams, Don Terry, Patrick Stone (our Grenada “one-call, that’s all” guy), Nathan Howell, Brandon Fulgham, Charles Talley, Chris Horton, and, forgive me, others who I know I have forgotten to list.

Added to that great list of MCC members we had great help from my fishing partner for the day Jack Mitchell, Dawn Williams, “Jackie” Womack, and others.

Key sponsors of this first-ever MCC Open were War Eagle Boats, B’n’M Poles, Budweiser, Academy Sports, Husqvarna, Driftmasters, Hi-Tech Rod Holders, Vicious line, Southern Belle T-Shirts, Blakemore Road Runner, Moss Back Fish Rack, Collins Bait Shop, and The Bait Shop.

What I’m trying to tell you is that when the idea was presented by Roger Womack back in July to a group of club leaders I called together, the light bulb went on for those of us who heard it, and, from there, it quickly became an official club project that grew legs like I’ve never seen.

Winners--yes we had winners--of the Big Mama Open were Eli Rowell, Foxworth, MS, and his father-in-law, Perry Herring, Sandy Hook, MS--both MCC members, by the way--took the honors with a 2.79 pound slab they caught first thing Saturday morning. Comical story that I'll have to let Eli and Perry give you all the details (if you want them) involves Eli, the call of nature, and the dipnet. You get the picture, I think.

While Eli was busy, Perry shouts, "I got a good 'un. Get the net, get the net!" Eli was "conflicted" there for a second, but rushed to get the net under the monster just the same. Now you got the picture, right?

Eli and Perry won $1500 cash + $500 B'n'M Bonus Bucks + $200 cash for catching the heaviest fish weighed by MCC members. Additionally, we paid $500 to second place, $400 to third place, and gave a couple of expensive door prizes to 4th and 5th places.

Our club slogan this year is “As good as it gets.”. I think the Grenada Big Mama Open, our first event of our new season, shows just how smart the MCC Board was to come up with this new slogan and then deliver this well-done event.

MCC's first regular season tournament is Oct 16th on Arkabutla. Call 601-624-0359 or 601-946-3111 for more info.

See the Photos - See the Tournament Results
Big Mama Open Winners

1st Place
Eli Rowell & Perry Herring
2.79lb Slab

2nd Place
Ricky Odom & Doug McCormick
2.56lb Slab

3rd Place
George Walker & Ray Clary
2.50lb Slab

4th Place
Torch Tindle & Satdoc
2.48lb Slab

5th Place
Anthony Reasons & Tony Lowrie
2.44lb Slab
MCC 2010-2011 Tournament Schedule
Date Lake Location
Oct. 16, 2010 Arkabutla Arkabutla, MS
Nov. 6, 2010 Wolf Lake Yazoo City, MS
Dec. 4, 2010 Eagle Lake Vicksburg, MS
Jan. 8, 2011 Chotard / Lake Washington Vicksburg/Glen Allen, MS
Feb. 12, 2011 Barnett Madison, MS
Mar. 12, 2011 Washington Glen Allen, MS
Apr. 9, 2011 Grenada Grenada, MS
Apr. 30, 2011 Barnett Madison, MS
May 21, 2011 Okatibbee Meridian, MS
Jun. 18, 2011 Sardis Sardis, MS
Sep. 16-17, 2011 Championship Grenada Lake Grenada, MS
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, Paul Johnson, or Brad Taylor (662) 820-4581 for ordering.