The old saying I heard frequently as a kid from my mother was “If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.” Meaning, if the beginning of the month has wind and storms, the end will be calm. Unfortunately for the fishermen on Lake Darbonne, February of 2024 wanted to start that party early.
The high winds blew into our area this past weekend and with it came the Crappie Masters national fishing trail. Starting on Friday and ending on Saturday, the two-day tournament saw some of the best fishermen in our area and beyond riding the white caps of Lake Darbonne hoping to cut a check.
Day 1 saw Eldorado, Arkansas residents RJ Hargett and his son Zack take an early lead when they weighed in 5 fish with a total weight of 11.12 lbs. and a big fish that went 2.53. “We found our fish suspended 8-10’ down in 25’ of water. We had our weight by 11AM and left them for the next day. We bounced around the lake looking for secondary spots for the next day if we needed them,” said RJ.
Coming in hot behind the leaders was the team of Ryan Hanson and Junior Dye, both from Union Parish. Their sack was respectable as well, with 5 fish for 10.72 lbs. and a big fish that went 2.63. I talked with Junior on Sunday about the experience. “The wind was ok early, but it picked up later,” he explained. By the end of the day, not only did they have a solid hold on second place, they also had drained their two trolling motor batteries due to the high winds.
Holding a tight grip on third place was Kayle Ward from Durant, Oklahoma and Dillion Gossett from Emory, Texas. Their 5 fish weight of 10.57 lbs. kept them just ahead of the local team of Chris Fields and Jared Riser, who finished the first day in fourth place with 10.37 lbs. “We started fishing deeper holes on the south end of the lake that we found in practice. We found fish roaming in 16-22 feet of water amongst schools of baitfish. We knew heading into tournament day that it would be a struggle to get the right quality fish to bite. We boated three tournament fish in the first hour of fishing. After that, fishing was about as tough as it gets,” said Gossett. After bouncing around to some other deep holes throughout the day and putting two more solid fish in the livewell, they knew they had a respectable bag.
Day 2 however, would be different for everyone it seemed. The Hargett team showed up to the same spot they left early on the first day but there wasn’t a fish over 1.20 lbs. in sight. After searching everywhere, they decided that the fish simply were gone and made a move at 10 AM to some of the secondary spots they fished the day before. “We found a few better fish but still not the tournament size fish we were looking for. At that point our anxiety was through the roof. We turned the trolling motor on high and covered as much water as possible to put together what we did on championship Saturday. Which was a little shy to keep us in the lead,” said RJ.
For Hanson and Dye, they were having troubles of their own. After taking out the drained batteries and replacing them with a 24v set up from Junior’s boat, they got started and found a slow bite. Much slower than the day before. As the day went on, the bite got better but the size of the fish weren’t near what they were the day before. “We tried but we never could get on a kicker fish at all,” said Dye.
The day found Ward and Gossett putting in work and trying to make a push for the lead. “Heading into day 2, we changed our game plan slightly. The moon phase had fish feeding throughout the night, so we figured our highest percentage chance of catching the right quality of fish was within the first hour. We started in the same general area as yesterday, but we weren’t seeing the same quality of fish,” Gossett explained.
After moving a little farther north, they managed two tournament fish around 9AM. With the fish acting spookier on day 2, they knew they needed to cover more water to see more quality fish. “The North Winds made some areas hard to fish, but we had to make it work. Towards the end of the day, we boated two more tournament fish. We were close to the weight we had on day 1, but we both knew we were probably one good bite away from winning,” said Gossett.
In the end, Hanson and Dye had enough weight to take the first-place trophies and a $7,500 check away from the Hargett’s. Their second day 5 fish total was 10.56 lbs., giving them the heaviest 10 fish of the weekend with 21.28 lbs. “”I really want to say that all the praise & glory goes to my Lord and Savior,” Dye added.
Day 2 found Kayle Ward and Dillion Gossett jumping a spot to second place, when they weighed in a 5 fish bag that totaled 10.59 lbs. Combine that with the 10.57 lbs. they brought to the scales on day 1 and the group from the west side ended the event with a 2-day total, 10 fish weight of 21.16 lbs., solid enough for second place. “We weighed two consistent bags of fish both days and it was good enough for a 2nd place finish. It’s not the ending we wanted, but we’re happy. We have been plagued with 2nd places finishes, but our time will come one day!”
The Hargett’s ended the event falling to third place with a day 2, 5 fish weight of 9.76 lbs. Their total 2 day, 10 fish weight ended up being 20.48.
The highlight of the event on Saturday for me was watching RJ’s 11-year-old son Zack taking the stage as the last team to weigh-in and he was alone. RJ had to leave before the weigh-in and Zach stepped up to handle the business himself and he did a very fine job on the mic. “He talked better than I did,” laughed Junior Dye.
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