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Division Spotlight: St Johns River Fall Division
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Division Spotlight: St Johns River Fall Division December 15, 2012 Florida is a state known for great fishing throughout the year. Anglers in the Sunshine State are fortunate to fish each month of the year and on some world class bodies of water.
The Fall Division of the St. John’s is in full swing and the Angler of the Year race is heating up.
Assistant Tournament Director John Chatham gave us insight on the division, “The St. John’s Division is new and we keep getting more and more boats.” He explained that anglers come from areas from North Florida area and even attracts anglers from as far away as Georgia. He credits the schedule throughout the different sections of the river and attracting great caliber fisherman as the reason for the growth. Their most recent tournament was held on the St. John’s out of the Palatka City Docks on December 15th and featured 12 teams vying for the win. Their first few tournaments typically had 8 to 10 teams, but the word is getting out and more and more people are interested in seeing what U.S.A. Bassin can offer to tournament anglers.
Going into the tournament, anglers expected to see quality fishing and possible bedding fish. “We had a cold front that went through and then had a full moon so the fish are starting to get ready to spawn. They aren’t all spawning yet, but they are close,” shared Chatham. He expected the fishing to be better than it was during this event, but explained that the next tournament in two weeks should be excellent fishing.
Topping the field on the 15th was the team of Allan Hopper and Chad Willoughby who weighed in 14.12 anchored by a 3.09lb big bass. Reports were that they fished the main river instead of locking into one of the lakes like many other teams. Their big bass proved to be essential as they tied second place and won by having a slightly larger big bass.
In second was the team of Charlie Moody and Bobby McLane who also weighed 14.12 with a big bass of 3.03. Moody shared that they locked into Rodman and threw an Alabama Rig all day, “We must have caught 50 fish today all of the A-Rig. We caught 2 to 2.5lb fish all day long.”
As mentioned previously, the St. John’s River Division has a very close angler of the year race. Prior to the tournament on the 15th, the top five teams were all within eight points of each other and 1st, 2nd and 3rd were within two points of the top spot. The recent tournament made it more interesting with the top team falling with a tough tournament. The final tournament out of Shell Harbour on December 29th will be very important and multiple teams will be trying to win the points title.
The St. John’s River Division is sponsored by all of the U.S.A. Bassin national sponsors as well as Dobyns Rods and Navionics. If you live in the area, be sure to join this growing division for great competition and excellent fishing.
Tyler Brinks
National Sponsors
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