Eddie Griggs Hot on Kerr Lake

By Gary Conner

South Hill, Virginia – 8 June 2008 – How do you spell hot? Summer finally decided to show up mid-week and she showed up with a vengeance. The Virginia division held the two-day division championship this weekend during what turned out to be the hottest week of the year, to date. 100 plus degree weather with no wind made for stifling conditions all week. That did not seem to affect the bass, however, because they remained shallow throughout the heat wave.

Winner Eddie Griggs of Richmond, Virginia braved the heat to practice for two days to try to put together a pattern. He was not disappointed when he found a combination of schooling and shallow fish that were eager to help him win the event and the $5000 first place purse. Most of his fish came shallow fishing Yum trick worms in extremely skinny water. It turned out the bass were feeding on the bream, which were in the process of spawning, so there were a lot of bass in shallow water. Having discovered this pattern in his pre-fishing, he searched out areas where there were good numbers of bream beds, and then simply used a run and gun method of going from one location to another, fishing those spawning areas.

The pattern proved successful as Eddie was able to put together limits of fish both days of the tournament which totaled 24.76 pounds. William Powell Kemp was close behind him with a total weight for two days of 22.19 pounds, which included the big fish of the tournament at 5.11 pounds.

For the co-anglers, Kermit Crowder finished on top of the heap with both the winning weight of 13.83 pounds and big bass for the co-anglers at 4.45 pounds.

This event concluded the Virginia division events for the season and the members that fished this event are now qualified to continue on to the regional championship being held October 3 on West Point Lake in Georgia.

Frank Poirier held on to claim the top honors for the division as the point leader on the boater side of the competition. His eighth place finish was just enough to edge out ninth place angler Mike Hicks for the point leader position. Kermit Crowder, of Matoaka, Virginia, clinched the co-angler overall points title.

The Virginia anglers proceed next to West Point Lake in October for the regional championship, in an effort to make the top 20 percent of the field and continue on to the national championship on Lake Norman, North Carolina in November.

Place
Name
Fish
Weight
Big Bass
Penalty
Total
Points
Earnings
1
10
25.01
4.13
0.25
24.76
400
$5000
2
10
22.69
5.11
0.50
22.19
398
$1444
3
10
21.72
0.00
0.00
21.72
396
$828
4
10
21.94
0.00
0.50
21.44
394
$579
5
9
20.93
4.42
0.25
20.68
392
$497
6
10
20.93
4.03
0.50
20.43
390
$0
7
10
18.54
3.72
0.00
18.54
388
$0
8
10
18.66
0.00
0.25
18.41
386
$0
9
10
18.11
0.00
0.25
17.86
384
$0
10
10
17.82
0.00
0.50
17.32
382
$0
11
10
17.14
3.35
0.25
16.89
380
$0
12
8
17.47
4.46
0.75
16.72
378
$0
13
8
16.12
0.00
0.25
15.87
376
$0
14
9
15.60
0.00
0.00
15.60
374
$0
15
10
15.56
0.00
0.00
15.56
372
$0
16
8
14.94
0.00
0.00
14.94
370
$0
17
8
15.15
0.00
0.25
14.90
368
$0
18
10
15.09
0.00
1.00
14.09
366
$0
19
9
14.17
0.00
0.25
13.92
364
$0
20
7
13.53
3.71
0.25
13.28
362
$0
21
8
11.41
0.00
0.50
10.91
360
$0
22
8
10.97
0.00
0.25
10.72
358
$0
23
8
10.18
0.00
0.25
9.93
356
$0
24
5
8.79
0.00
0.25
8.54
354
$0
24
5
8.79
0.00
0.25
8.54
354
$0
26
5
8.67
1.48
0.25
8.42
350
$0
27
3
5.74
0.00
0.25
5.49
348
$0

Boater Results for District 19 Date:05/24/2008 Lake: Chickahominy / James Rivers

Place
Name
Fish
Weight
Big Bass
Penalty
Total
Points
Earnings
1
5
14.73
4.97
0.00
14.73
200
$5145
2
5
14.34
0.00
0.00
14.34
199
$889
3
5
14.14
0.00
0.00
14.14
198
$593
4
5
12.13
0.00
0.00
12.13
197
$415
5
5
11.91
0.00
0.00
11.91
196
$356
6
5
11.18
4.58
0.00
11.18
195
$0
7
5
10.67
0.00
0.00
10.67
194
$0
8
5
10.62
2.32
0.00
10.62
193
$0
9
5
10.08
2.79
0.00
10.08
192
$0
10
5
9.50
0.00
0.00
9.50
191
$0
11
5
8.92
2.43
0.00
8.92
190
$0
12
5
8.55
0.00
0.00
8.55
189
$0
13
5
7.43
0.00
0.00
7.43
188
$0
14
5
6.96
0.00
0.00
6.96
187
$0
15
5
6.62
0.00
0.00
6.62
186
$0
16
5
6.47
0.00
0.00
6.47
185
$0
17
4
5.64
0.00
0.00
5.64
184
$0
18
3
4.84
0.00
0.00
4.84
183
$0
19
4
4.51
0.00
0.00
4.51
182
$0
20
2
4.21
0.00
0.00
4.21
181
$0
21
3
4.20
0.00
0.00
4.20
180
$0
22
2
2.49
0.00
0.00
2.49
179
$0
23
2
2.35
0.00
0.00
2.35
178
$0
24
1
2.24
2.24
0.00
2.24
177
$0
25
2
2.02
0.00
0.00
2.02
176
$0
26
1
1.50
1.50
0.00
1.50
175
$0
27
1
1.42
1.42
0.00
1.42
174
$0
28
0
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
50
$0
28
0
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
50
$0

Mike Hicks takes Virginia Division Lead
Claims Triton Black Gold at Kerr Lake

By Gary Conner

South Hill Virginia – April 19, 2008. Everyone knew it would be a tricky bite for the tournament. Water levels had reached almost 305 feet, five feet above normal pool and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was doing everything they could do to pull the water down in preparation for storms in the forecast. All week long they had dropped the lake about six inches a day, and tournament day was no exception. Throughout the week the bite started out aggressive and tapered off the closer we got to the event. Anglers who found spinnerbait and crank bait bites during the week found that bite had all but disappeared. Almost to a man the anglers said the only thing that was still working was a very slow plastic bait bite.

Mike Hicks wins Triton Black GoldMike Hicks of Goochland, Virginia said he was concerned that his patterns would not produce when he only had two fish by eleven in the morning. “I thought to myself that in the past I would get impatient and start to fish faster and faster, so I forced myself to slow down and concentrate even harder. I had two days of practice where I had had moderate success on plastics and stayed with that pattern. Pitching plastic baits close to cover it was not long until I hooked up with my largest fish of the day at 6.40 pounds. That put me at three fish with a decent total weight. That is when my co-angler, David Powroznik, put his rod down and told me to concentrate on getting the win. I only got six bites all day, while in practice I had about twenty per day.”

1
5
20.62
6.40
0.00
20.62
200
$5195
2
5
14.73
4.56
0.00
14.73
199
$1036
3
5
14.70
4.67
0.00
14.70
198
$691
4
5
13.68
4.90
0.00
13.68
197
$483
5
5
12.26
0.00
0.00
12.26
196
$414
6
5
12.10
3.79
0.00
12.10
195
$380
7
5
12.05
0.00
0.00
12.05
194
$345
8
5
11.61
0.00
0.00
11.61
193
$0
9
5
11.57
5.21
0.00
11.57
192
$0
10
5
11.23
0.00
0.00
11.23
191
$0
11
5
10.39
0.00
0.00
10.39
190
$0
12
5
10.23
0.00
0.00
10.23
189
$0
13
5
10.44
0.00
0.25
10.19
188
$0
14
4
10.01
3.33
0.00
10.01
187
$0
15
5
9.91
0.00
0.00
9.91
186
$0
16
4
9.81
0.00
0.00
9.81
185
$0
17
5
9.68
0.00
0.00
9.68
184
$0
18
5
9.62
0.00
0.00
9.62
183
$0
19
5
9.35
0.00
0.00
9.35
182
$0
20
5
9.28
0.00
0.00
9.28
181
$0
21
5
9.22
0.00
0.00
9.22
180
$0
22
5
9.21
0.00
0.00
9.21
179
$0
23
5
9.17
0.00
0.00
9.17
178
$0
24
4
7.97
0.00
0.00
7.97
177
$0
25
5
7.68
0.00
0.00
7.68
176
$0
26
4
7.07
0.00
0.00
7.07
175
$0
27
4
7.05
0.00
0.00
7.05
174
$0
28
2
6.78
4.30
0.00
6.78
173
$0
29
4
6.39
0.00
0.00
6.39
172
$0
30
4
6.23
0.00
0.00
6.23
171
$0
31
3
5.97
0.00
0.00
5.97
170
$0
32
3
5.25
0.00
0.00
5.25
169
$0
33
2
4.00
0.00
0.00
4.00
168
$0
34
2
3.96
0.00
0.00
3.96
167
$0
35
1
1.86
1.86
0.00
1.86
166
$0
36
0
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
50
$0
36
0
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
50
$0
36
0
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
50
$0
36
0
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
50
$0