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Ralph Haggard, President of Heartland Tournament Association, has always placed angler safety first and the weather was definitely an issue. After consulting his advisory board, it was decided to hold the event but change the starting hour to 9:00 am instead of the usual 7:00 am take off time.
This allowed anglers to unload boats in the daylight and it also gave the air temperatures a chance to rise. Many anglers reported temperatures at daylight of 4 to 7 degrees and several bags of ice melt were used on boat ramps and the event began without incident. Apparently the later start was a hit! After the tournament was over, several anglers asked Ralph to think about using the later take off time more often!
Well known Willard angler, Jackie Davis, made it two in a row as he was on fire and took his second straight Elite victory with a five fish limit that weighed 18.03 pounds! Not bad for a cold day in December! Jackie used his knowledge of Table Rock docks and got the necessary bites to win the event. He fished very slowly using the homemade jigs that has become a standard for him and brother Jimmie! His big fish also won big bass and the 5.42 lunker worth $650 brought the total cash award to $4850, and Jackie didn’t say a word about being cold!
2nd Place
Wes Endicott, Joplin, Missouri, was well pleased with his 5 fish limit that was narrowly edged by Davis. The 17.26 pounds would have won almost any other time but Wes gave it his best effort on a cold day. Most of the fish that he caught were taken near docks on small jigs but he did catch a few keepers in deep water on a drop shot rig with a small watermelon colored worm. Wes targeted creek channels near main lake points and used his X 17 Lowrance to find the shad that the bass were feeding on.
A Falcon 7’ dropshot spinning rod paired with a Shimano spinning reel and 6 pound Seagaur fluorocarbon line accounted for the deep fish, while he used a seven foot Falcon rod with a Shimano Chronarch reel spooled with 10 pound Seaguar and fished with 5/16 ounce jigs on brown with brown Yamamoto baby craws to take the fish that were near the docks.
The second place finish earned Wes $2200 and a 4.60 kicker fish gave him an additional $260!
3rd place
David White was more than excited. After all, he had sold his boat and was going to deliver it to the buyer on Saturday and he had just caught a great limit of bass on the last day that he used his ProCraft boat! A 4.34 largemouth anchored the Pierce City angler’s total weight of 16.87 pounds good for third place and a check for $1300!
The dynamic Bass Pro Shops pro used a 7 foot Johnny Morris Signature rod & reel combo with Bass Pro Shops fluorocarbon 10 pound test line to take his fish in very shallow water on this cold day. David caught his limit on a Jewel 5/8 ounce peanut butter and jelly football jig with cinnamon colored Bass Pro Shops twin tail grubs. His best banks were pea gravel with scattered chunk rocks in 6 to 8 feet deep. He slowly worked the jig with frequent stops and most of his fish came before 12:00 pm
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WINNING DETAILS
JACKIE DAVIS
TABLE ROCK LAKE • 12-09-2005
Lake Level: 940.01’, down 0.01’, normal 915’
Air Temp: 30-52 degrees
Skies: Clear, NWN 10-20 mph
Water Temp: rivers, 37-43 degrees;
main lake, 47-49 degrees
Water Color: Clear to Light Stained
LURES:
Homemade Davis Brother’s Jig. (Brown with a green pumpkin trailer).
TACKLE:
• 7’ Heavy Action Diawa rod
• Shimano Chronarch baitcast reel
• 14 Pound test Berkley Gold
Transition Flourocarbon line
THE WINNING TECHNIQUE
Jackie stayed with his strength, pitching a finesse jig around docks. He jumped from dock to dock targeting brush piles and other structure located around those docks.
Most of the fish Jackie caught were located around the edges containing structure. Jackie tried various presentations until figuring out that most fish liked it slow. His big fish (5.42 pounds) was caught in about 8 to 10 feet of water near a brush pile.
