The Mississippi River Anglers Association conducted its first 2018/19 Winter Trail Tournament on Saturday October 6th, at Lake Washington with 23 boats fishing in the tournament. Our tournament was originally scheduled for Eagle Lake, but due to a fish kill the weekend before our tournament, I changed it to Lake Washington. Even with this somewhat short notice of the lake change, I think it was the right thing to do. With the weather still being in the high 80’s to low 90’s I felt like we should stay with the 4 bass limit, and it was hot on the day of the tournament. We had 51 bass brought to the scales on tournament day and no dead fish were weighed in, so good job everyone.
Saturday on Lake Washington, first place went to a team from Vicksburg, Gordon Watkins and John Hadad III, their 4 bass limit weighed in at a nice 15.40 lbs., coming in second place was a team from Brandon, Chris Coy and Rudy Vanderford, their 4 bass limit weighed in at 13.59 lbs., coming in a close third place was a team from Grenada, Tim McDaniel (fishing by himself) and Logan McDaniel, his 4 bass limit weighed in at 13.55 lbs., coming in fourth place was the father and son team from Leland, John Polasini and Reeves Polasini, their 4 bass limit went 12.79 lbs., and coming in fifth place and getting the last check was a team from Cleveland, Joey Beevers (fishing by himself) and Bobby Burton. Joey’s 4 bass limit weighed in at 12.40lbs. The tournament big fish was brought in by the team of Newton Ford and Jonathan Kent, their lunker weighed in at of 5.12lbs. Congratulations to all the money winners, great job by everyone.
MRAA 2018/19 Winter Trail Results Lake Washington 10/6/2018:
| Place | Angler 1 | Angler 2 | # Fish | Pounds | Winnings | Points |
| 1 | Gordon Watkins | John Hadad III | 4 | 15.40 | $1,100.00 | 115.40 |
| 2 | Chris Coy | Rudy Vanderford | 4 | 13.59 | $560.00 | 112.59 |
| 3 | Tim McDaniel | Logan McDaniel | 4 | 13.55 | $370.00 | 111.55 |
| 4 | John Polasini | Reeves Polasini | 4 | 12.79 | $240.00 | 109.79 |
| 5 | Joey Beevers | Bobby Burton | 4 | 12.40 | $150.00 | 108.40 |
| 6 | Matthew Bates | Terry Bates | 4 | 12.31 | 107.31 | |
| 7 | Steve Tullos | David Streeter | 3 | 10.74 | 104.74 | |
| 8 | Jay Pickle | Pat Pickle | 3 | 10.13 | 103.13 | |
| 9 | Lawson Davis | Matt Battman | 3 | 8.90 | 100.90 | |
| 10 | Randy Bolden Jr. | 3 | 8.77 | 99.77 | ||
| 11 | Newton Ford | Jonathan Kent | 2 | 8.33 | $460.00 | 98.33* |
| 12 | Ryan Grey | Michel Coomes | 3 | 7.82 | 96.82 | |
| 13 | Johnathan Sulton | Colby Sulton | 3 | 7.39 | 95.39 | |
| 14 | Bart Ballard | Justin Thomas | 2 | 6.02 | 93.02 | |
| 15 | Mike Ainsworth | Josh Goodman | 1 | 3.57 | 89.57 | |
| 16 | Josh McGee | 1 | 2.29 | 87.29 | ||
| 17 | Todd Lott | Jim Goodman | 1 | 2.19 | 86.19 | |
| 18 | Jason Lunceford | Andy Graves | 1 | 2.16 | 85.16 | |
| 19 | Mac Hutson | Taylor Hutson | 1 | 1.93 | 83.93 | |
| 20 | Jene Jones | Taff Hitt | 0 | 73.93 | ||
| 20 | Kenny Vanderford | Grant Allen | 0 | 73.93 | ||
| 20 | Marty Crain | 0 | 73.93 | |||
| 20 | Pete Christian | Jay Smith | 0 | 73.93 |
The second 2018-19 MRAA Winter Trail Tournament will be at Lake Ferguson on November 10th, launching from the city front ramp.
On a much serious note, last month David Sykes’ wife Jennie passed away unexpectedly. I’ve been friends with David and Jennie for many years, and I was really saddened to hear of her passing. Please keep David in your thoughts payers during this still tough time. I’ve attached a sympathy card that David and his family sent us for you to read.
Fishermen remember without the help from these sponsors below, our trail would not be what it is, so please support them too.