On Saturday April 28 we will host the second annual Relay for Life “Team Carry On” Bass Tournament at Lake St. John.

Contestants may register Monday through Friday at Eddie’s Marine or on tournament morning at Spokane Landing. The entry fee is $120 per boat.

You can fish alone or as a team.

Based on 50 teams the winners of the five-bass limit division will take home $1,500, second place $700, third $400, fourth $300, fifth $100.

The contestants with the top two largest bass will be awarded $700 for first place and $300 for second place.

If we have more than 50 boats the payout will increase. A percentage of the entry fees will be donated to the Miss-Lou Relay for Life/American cancer Society in memory of my late mother-in-law Dena Alexandria and to all those who have lost the battle to cancer.

There’s hardly anyone, any family that I know of, that has not been affected by cancer. It is an evil disease that takes the lives of so many people.

Participating in this or any other Relay for Life event is not only a way to help fight this horrible disease, but it brings families together to share their stories of losing a loved one or winning the cancer battle.

So come help us create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. We lost Dena after a very short battle with cancer. She was 55 years old and left behind some wonderful children, grandchildren and friends.

She told us to just “carry on,”thus the name of our team: Team Carry On. We look forward to seeing all our friends during this event.

This not just in memory of Dena. This event is held in memory of all those loved ones we have lost to cancer.

Lake St. John’s bass population is in good shape. There has been less pressure on the bass in Lake St. John than on most of the area lakes.

There should be a good early morning surface bite going on in shallow water around the bulrush, shallow cypress trees and retainer walls. If we have a day with overcast skies the top water bite can last all day on Lake St. John.

If the sun shines, soft plastics like Gene Larews Biffle Bug, Zoom’s Speed Craw and jigs with soft plastic trailers will catch the bass.

Thanks to a favorable Mississippi River stage the Old Rivers continue to produce some nice limits of white perch, huge bream, largemouth and white bass.

The catfish spawn is kicking off as well.

The river stage at Natchez Friday was 27.9 feet and rising. The slight rise is a good thing.

If the river had continued to fall at such a fast rate the good fishing would not have lasted long. The forecast predicts the rise to bring the stage up to approximately 32 feet midweek and then we may see yet another fall come downriver.

On May 12 the third stop of the new Top Rod Series of bass tournaments will be on Lake St. John out of Spokane Landing.

These non-profit events are singles only, meaning only one person is allowed per boat. The TRS April event was last weekend on Lake Concordia.

John Bruce of Vidalia landed a respectable five-bass limit weighing over 18 pounds, and Bruce landed the largest bass of the day with a 4.63 pound largemouth. Bruce took home $1,485 for his efforts.

That’s a good payday for a one day event in this area.

For more information on the Top Rod Series or any local bass tournaments contact me via email or at Eddie’s Marine in Vidalia.

 

 

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Democrat. He can be reached at fishingwitheddie@bellsouth.net.