Turners win again!

Locals Casey Rayner & Terry Richard

It was a huge weekend for pro crappie fishing! The funny thing is, just a few years ago, people would have laughed if somebody even said “pro crappie fishing“.

Paul and  Elizabeth Turner of Tennessee won their second straight Crappie Masters title this past weekend on Lake Washington in Mississippi.  The husband and wife Turner team won the Louisiana State Championship on D’Arbonne just a couple of weeks ago. Local wrap team Casey Rayner and Terry Richard finished 16th in the event and will be back on D’Arbonne the last weekend of this month for the American Crappie Trail event.

Speaking of the ACT trail, it held its inaugural tournament this weekend on Grenada in Mississippi as well. No local fishermen placed high in it, but check out some of the names below. That event was won by Ron Bilbrey and Thomas Hankins with 14 fish weighing 29.50 pounds. What was ironic is that they were the ONLY team to catch two seven fish limits on that remarkable crappie fishery. You’ll be seeing most of the teams below on D’Arbonne, too as the ACT comes here March 31-April 1. The total payout of $54,645 in that one should be even bigger at D’Arbonne. I expect a big turnout!

(As for the local crappie bite on D’Arbonne, it was just getting good shallow this past weekend when rain hit Saturday and the cold front hit Monday. Lots of males were being caught shallow. It’s just a matter of being out there at the right time in between all this crazy spring weather.)

You can find out all the latest on  Crappie Masters or the American Crappie Trail circuit on their websites:

http://www.crappiemasters.net/home/

http://www.americancrappietrail.com/