This past Friday & Saturday April 10th & 11th, 2015 Crappie USA held their 2-day $10,000.00 super event on the Kentucky/Barkley Lakes at Paris, Tennessee. Nearly 200 of the top anglers from 14 different states and Ontario, Canada were competing for not only the $14,645.00 in cash and prizes, but a chance to advance to the prestigious Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic. This year's classic will be held October 7th-10th, 2015 on Indiana's Patoka Lake at Jasper, Indiana.

Semi-Pro Division Results

Taking first place was the Murray, Kentucky team of Sammy Tidwell and Danny Todd weighing in a 2-day total of 27.8 pounds of crappie to earn $3,000.00. Sammy and Danny were fishing Blood River over manmade cover (Brush Piles) spider rigging in 4-18 feet of water. The team said the fish moved down deeper as sun came out. Sammy and Danny were using Southern Pro Black/Chartreuse and Black/Orange/Chartreuse jigs. The team stated that Blood River had took a hit on the population of fish but still had good quality fish.

Second place went to the team of Hunter Dowdy of Humboldt, Tennessee and Brently Smith of Gadsdon, Tennessee with a 2-day weight of 26.82 pounds and earning $2,000.00. Hunter and Brently fished on the main channel of Kentucky Lake and in the mouth of bays as well. The team was spider rigging in 7-14 feet of water using Southern Pro jigs. Hunter and Brently said, "anything with Chartreuse worked". The team had 70 total fish for the 2-days of the event.

In third place was the 3 person Wingo, Kentucky team of Dewayne McCord along with Reed and Robert McCord with a weight of 26.25 pounds and earning $1,000.00 for third place. The team also earned $250.00 for taking the Ranger Cup Award and an additional $200.00 for the Cumberland Crappie seat bonus. The McCord team fishing out of their Ranger 620 boat fished from the Paris Landing to Blood River in 24 feet of water, Spider Rigging and pulling Brown/Chartreuse baits. The team had 85 fish for the 2-days of competition. The McCord's targeted the mouth of big bays using their new 360 Humminbird Technology to take third place.

Doug Sikora of Noblesville, Indiana and Don Licht of Indianapolis, Indiana took fourth place in the Semi-Pro Division with a weight of 25.93 pounds and earning $600.00. Doug and Don fished from Paris Landing to Blood River and as well stating that the wind was an issue for them this weekend. The team did about everything from Vertical Jig, Spider Rig, & Pull baits. They targeted channel breaks and main lake points in 20-25 feet of water using Pink/Chartreuse jigs to land a total of 40 fish for the weekend.

Fifth place went to the Paris, Tennessee team of Scott Watson and Douglas Muench with a 2-day weight of 25.81 pounds and earning $500.00. Scott and Douglas were fishing in the back of bays from Danville to Blood River in 15 feet of water pulling orange baits to land a total of 40 fish. The team had a kicker fish on Day 1 that weighed 2.18lbs

6th place went to Henry and Jo Haley of Carmi, Illinois earning $400.00 weighing in 25.75 pounds while fishing out of their 205 Ranger Boat.

7th place went to Tony and Michael Sheppard of Dexter and Kirksey, Kentucky earning $300.00 with a weight of 25.70 pounds.

8th place went to Leonard Barnett and Arnold Wilson of Owensboro and Henderson, Kentucky earning $200.00 with 25.36 pounds.

9th place went to Jim and Lance Freeman of Eddyville, Kentucky earning $200.00 with a weight of 25.30 pounds.

The Talon Bonus went to Lionel Hughes and Bonnie Lee of Springville, Tennessee earning $250.00 and weighing in 23.41 pounds. The team had 2 silver 12ft. Talons.

Kayak Division

First place went to Don Sweet of Romulus, Michigan with 5.68 pounds and Big Fish winner with a 2.19 pound crappie. Don was fishing in Leatherwood Bay on Kentucky Lake in 25 feet of water spider rigging with minnows in his Predator 13 kayak using his Humminbird 797 SI to find his fish. Don said his fish were suspended in 20 feet of water.

Second place was Lucian Gizel of Livonia Michigan with 4.74 pounds. Lucian fished the Big Sandy River area to make his catch which included a 1.68 pounder for his big fish.

Amateur Division Results

First place in the amateur division went to the lone angler Doc Holladay of Paducah, Kentucky with 27.03 pounds and earning $1,500.00. Doc was a one person team that fished Lake Barkley one pole at a time over manmade cover. Doc was fishing in 8-12 feet of water using Southern Pro Brown/Chartreuse and Yellow/Chart jigs as well as Cajun Crickets. Doc had a total of 50 fish for the weekend.

Second place went to the Stewart, Tennessee team of Bobby and Betty Cox with 26.82 pounds and earning $1,000.00. Bobby and Betty fished the Danville area using either straight minnows or white/Chartreuse Road Runner jigs in 10-12 feet of water catching a total of 60 fish for the 2 days. The teams big fish weighed 2.33 pounds. They had a 2 pound average the 1st day.

Taking third place was the team of Cody England of White Bluff, Tennessee and Brent Williams of Fairview, Tennessee with a 2-day weight of 25.72 pounds and earning $600.00. Cody and Brent were fishing south of the Danville Bridge spider rigging in the back of the bays and at times in the mouth of the bays in 16 feet of water using Southern Pro and Lake Fork Chartreuse Jigs tipped with minnows to catch 45 fish for the 2-days.

In fourth place was the David Sharp of Eddyville, Kentucky and Lonnie Mathis of Dawson Springs, Kentucky with 25.09 pounds and earning $400.00. David and Lonnie were fishing the little river area on the south end of Lake Barkley. The team was using one pole fishing over manmade structure in 10 feet of water using chartreuse colored jigs to land a total of 60 fish.

Fifth place went to Chad Maida of Orland Park, Illinois and Dave Slepawic of Homer Glen, Illinois with a weight of 23.59 pounds and earning $300.00. Chad and Dave drove all the way from the Chicago, Illinois area almost being too late to fish the event but proceeded and came in 5th place. The team fished around Lake Barkley State Resort Park on Lake Barkley targeting ledges in 8-12 feet of water spider rigging and using one pole at a time. The team used Southern Pro blue jigs to catch 50 fish in the 2-day event.

6th place went to Kyle Levering and Dwayne Craig of White House, Tennessee and Cottontown, Tennessee earning $200.00 with 23.45 pounds.

7th place went to Ed Hadley and Mark Young of Clarksville, Tennessee earning $200.00 with 23.20 pounds.

8th place went to Mike Wise & Matt Hall of Payneville, Kentucky and Ekron, Kentucky earning $150.00 with 23.13 pound.

9th place went to Ronald Taylor and Ronald Keel of Mckenzie, Tennessee and Cedar Grove, Tennessee earning $150.00 with 22.89 pounds.

Big Fish

1st Big Fish of the event went to Jeffery Lang Jr. & Jeffery Lang of Alexandria, Kentucky and California, Kentucky hauling in a total weight of 17.75 pounds and their Big Fish weighing in at 3.10 pounds giving the team $700.00. The Lang's had the first fish over 3 pounds this season. They were fishing Blood River 100 yards from Wildcat Boat Ramp when they landed the big fish. They were pulling jigs in 9-14 feet of water and only had 3 fish coming from that area.

2nd Big Fish went to Scott Waldrop and Christy Johnson from Murray, Kentucky and Benton, Kentucky bringing inn a total weight of 21.04 pounds with 2nd Big Fish of the event weighing 2.57 pounds and earning $300.00.

Ranger Cup Award in the Amateur Division went to Terry & Jerry Barker of Eubanks, Kentucky and Nancy, Kentucky weighing in 16.95 pounds fishing out of their new 621 Ranger and used their new Talon very well this weekend.

Members of the media that were present were Don Sweet, TV host of "Catch One Fish" and "Catfishing in America" and Melanie Howard of the Paris P-I Newspaper.

Congratulations to all the teams fishing this event. For a complete list of tournament standings and downloadable photos for this event visit www.crappieusa.com then go to Tournament Results.

Crappie USA Free Kids Fishing Rodeo

In conjunction with the tournament Crappie USA held their Kids Rodeo on Saturday morning with several local children attending the event.. All the participants signed up for a chance to win one of 6-$1,000.00 scholarships to be drawn for at the Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic.

Crappie USA and our anglers have contributed nearly $322,000.00 to the “Crappie Kids” Scholarships since 1997. We are very proud to be a part of the education process for the youngsters who participate in our tournaments as adult/youth teams and those who fish in the Crappie USA “Kids Fishing Rodeos”.

Special thanks to David Hamilton and the board of directors of TRRA for hosting the event. Buchanan Resort for furnishing the seminar site & Paris Landing State Park for the weigh in site. Teams were present from 14 states and one team drove over 1000 miles from Ontario Canada to fish the event. Also thanks to Rich Christensen of Minn Kota and Shawn Whitley of Kayak Kaboose for attending. Also Fishtale for exceptional service and amenities for our anglers.

Stats for the Tournament:

Weather- Storms moved out late Thursday night Friday AM windy (10-15 NNW) temps in 60's.

Water- Water steady, murky and 62 degrees.