First light Saturday will find fishing competitors on river
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 23, 2001
[05/23/01] This weekend’s Mega-Bucks Bass Tournament, which could be the largest fishing event in the city’s history, will begin Saturday when the contestants leave City Front to fish on the Mississippi River and lakes connected to the river.
The tournament will end Sunday.
Ray Patterson, a spokesman for the organizers, said the fishermen, expected to number as many as 400, will leave at first light to make the runs to the fishing grounds they either know about from experience or from searches done since the tournament, held two years ago in Greenville, was announced.
The fishermen must return in time for the weigh-in planned for 3 p.m. both days. There was no word on the number of advance registrants.
Patterson said Tuesday he was uncertain of the location for the weigh-in because the tournament planners were trying to find a truck capable of carrying live fish.
“Right now, it will probably be at City Front,” he said, adding if a truck is located, the weigh-in could be at City Park. For that, the truck is essential. “We don’t want any dead fish around down there.”
The fishermen will be allowed to weigh the seven largest fish caught per boat each day. Any fish presented for weighing must be at least 12 inches long. The weight of fish caught by the fisherman Saturday and Sunday are added together to determine the winners.
The first place, two-person fishing team will win a pair of fully rigged Ranger fishing boats with 115-hp Yamaha engines, valued at more than $60,000. Other prizes range from $7,000 for second place to $250 for 25th place.
The tournament has sparked controversy because participants must have been members of the Sportsman’s Association of Black Bass Anglers for a year to participate and because the City of Vicksburg made a $40,000 donation as compared to $6,000 by Greenville two years ago, apparently with few questions asked. Mayor Robert Walker and Alderman Gertrude Young, both of whom have received campaign donations in past elections from Warren County residents who are SABBA members, have not said whether or how the money is spent will be reported back to them.
The Mega-Bucks contestants will be permitted to fish any part of the Mississippi River as well as any lakes that are connected to the Mississippi and can be reached by boat from the river. Since the Mississippi is rising and predicted to be between 28 and 29 feet on the Vicksburg gauge by this weekend, the list of lakes can be extensive.
With the boats the fishermen will be using, with outboard engines up to 175 to 225 hp and fuel capacities to nearly 60 gallons, they will be able to run as far north as Lake Ferguson at Greenville or as far south as Natchez. Some of the boats are capable of speeds up to 70 mph and will allow the fishermen to make these long runs and still have enough time to fish and make it back to Vicksburg in time for the 3 p.m. weigh-in.
In addition to Lake Ferguson, some of the waters that could be fished are the old river channel at American Cutoff, Matthews Bend, the Lake Chotard-Lake Albemarle complex, Lake Centennial and Old River that can be reached from the Yazoo River, Palmyra Chute, Lake Yucatan and an old Mississippi River bed across from Natchez.