The rain this week will really help the bass and crappie spawn. Water levels were low on all the area lakes and low water levels are not good for the spawn which starts in a couple of weeks, in mid-February.

Lakes Concordia and Bruin were about three feet below normal and Lake St. John was two feet low this past weekend.

All three lakes receive a lot runoff from surrounding farm ground.

A couple more inches of rain will raise the water levels back to normal.

This past Saturday, Concordia Bass Club had their first tournament of the 2008 season on beautiful Lake St. John.

The night before the event a hard, cold rain lowered water temperatures to the upper 40s and the bass were hard to catch for most of the 20 plus fishing contestants.

However, a few good fish were brought to the scales. Ronnie “Fuzz” Gillespie only boated two fish all day but one of those weighed over seven pounds.

That’s a rare catch from Lake St. John and may be a sign of good things to come. Ronnie placed third with his two fish and won the big fish pot as well as the progressive (over six pounds) big bass award.

Both his fish hit a jig fished around isolated cypress trees in three to five feet of water in the lake.

John Bruce pitched a jig all day and placed second with a little over 10 pounds.

Danny Smith boated two bass early and carried them around until afternoon when he hit a stretch of trees and finished off his five bass limit.

Smith won the event with a little over 19 pounds.

Concordia Bass Club is open for new members. Our next tournament will take place Feb. 9 on Lake Concordia out of Lakeview Lodge.

To find out more information on how to join the fishing club, contact me or drop by our new place in Vidalia, Eddie’s Marine and Tackle.

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