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Part . 2 Qp 2 Have fun catching the big bass at Lake Blackshear with these proven tips (EDITOR'S NOTE: Thi» is the second of a two part series about fishing at Lake Blackshear.) After the sun has burned off the haze, the bass retreat deeper into the cypress root maze. The best way to entice them is to drop in a lightly weight ed Texas rigged worm. On cold mornings, hit the sunny side first, but if it's a warm day or the sun is high in the sky, pitch to the shady side of the tree. Where the cypress trees are bunched up, single out the trees, or a single tree which might lie closest to the creek channel. It’s like ly to have a bass or two within its’ root system. Where you find lots of cypress trees mixed with Lily pads, like in Parker’s Slough on the upper end of the lake, a floating rapala worked quietly in the open ings can be veiy produc tive. After you pull a few bass out of the open pockets, don’t forget to get out a trick worm or floating frog and slowly ease it across the Lily pads. The strikes will be explosive, and it’s a challenge to draw the bass out of the thick mat of veg etation; but it sure is fun! On many Georgia reser voirs, casting to docks is a productive strategy; but on Blackshear there are just more docks than the aver- Stratford, Athens Christian claim GISA track titles Westfield Hornets take 400-meter relay By PHIL CLARK Home Journal Sports ALBANY The Westfield Hornets didn’t have a chance to take the Georgia Independent School Association track champi onship. They couldn’t compete with the superior numbers of schools like Stratford, Tattnall, First Presbyterian and Southland. The Hornet 400-meter relay team put on an awe some display in taking the state championship in that event as Jared Shell. Gary Virden, Jacob Walker and Tate Parker dusted the field with a time of 43.93, their best time of the year in this event. Stratford had won the state qualifier a week earli er after the Hornets had captured the region lAAA top spot in the event. But the Hornets scored points in just three other events as Stratford took the state championship with 82 points. Brentwood finished sec ond and First Presbyterian won the final event of the Alltel surges to Junior League lead By CARY BAXTER Special to the Home Journal Alltel has jumped to a 2- 0 start in the second half of the Perry Junior League Major League standings for 11-12-year-old boys. The winner of the second half of the season race will face Tolleson, winner of the first half, in a three-game championship series dur ing June. To date, the best pitch ing record belongs to Josh O’Neal of Alltel. He is 4- 1 . Kiwanis pitcher Shane Ashley leads the league in strike outs with 54 in 27 innings pitched. Jordy Stokes of Alltel, Ashley and Brandon Doles of Baxter CPA, are tied for the home run title with four each. Stephen James of Alltel leads the league in batting average with a .545. Daniel Peake of MMM CPA, is sec ond with a .500 average. In close pursuit for the See LEAGUE, Page 8A John Trussed Home Journal Outdoors age lake. There are an esti mated 1,100 residences around the lake. Most have docks, or have lake access. That’s a lot of dock chunk ing to do in a day’s time. Realistically, the best course of action is just to pick an arm of the lake and cast to the docks until you can figure out which ones hold the bass. They may all look simi lar. but certain docks, usu ally those near creek chan nels or structure, will rou tinely produce bass while others are a waste of time. Normally it takes a peri od of several fishing trips to figure out the puzzle, but it’s worth the effort. Then you can concentrate just on the good docks and skip the rest. Many docks have been “sweetened” with limbs, Christmas trees and other debris around their perimeter, which can really improve the bass drawing potential of a dock. Bass around docks tend to be spooky so a quiet approach day, the mile relay, to break a three-team tie for third place. The Vikings picked up the 10 points for first place to finish third overall with 52 points, with Southland edging Tattnall for fourth with a fourth place finish in the final event. The Tattnall team gave up after the second leg, and their final runner never got to the finish line. The Trojans finished fifth. Southland scored 46 points, Tattnall 42. The Hornets finished with 18 team points, 10 of them in the relay race. Tate Parker had picked up four in the field events with a fourth place finish in the long jump while Shell got two points for his fifth place finish in the 100- meter dash and Will Sexton also picked up two by fin ishing fifth in the 300- meter intermediate hur dles. The girls’ title went to Athens Christian, also with 82 points. Stratford fin ished second ahead of John Milledge, First Presbyterian and Southland. Trinity Christian won both the girls’ and boys’ state titles, with the boys scoring 91 points and the girls team picked up a whopping 123 points. High point trophies went to Daniel Heldreth with 30 1/4 points in AAA boys. Lindsey Daniel with 28 1/2 in AAA girls, Jarrett Perry of Robert Toombs 29 3/4 in AA boys and Lisa Bloodworth of Trinity with 30 in AA girls. The meet was held at Hugh Mills Stadium and hosted by Deerfield- Windsor Academy. Clark Continued from page 6A sport performers, but Todd will be especially hard to replace as a student leader and supporter. He has been dubbed “super fan* by those who recognize what he means to the school. From the tennis team, Janice OToole will have to replace Brent Roper and Chad Bailey, who also ran track. and bait presentation is usually desired. When the bass are aggressively feeding at the crack of dawn a spinner bait just below the surface or a small buzz bait on top can get attacked with gusto. If the fish are finicky or it’s later in the day so that the bass have retreated to the inner security of the dock, then a lightly weight ed Texas-rigged worm is the ticket. Upon approaching a dock, make parallel casts down each side, then slow ly work the deepest water in front of the dock. This might produce a bass or two, however many times the most productive water lies far up under the dock and then a little finesse casting comes into play. The best anglers usually try an underhand cast to skip the worm back under the dock as far as possible. Then they let it slowly settle to the bottom. This is where the big boys hide out and it takes good equipment and often a little luck to be able to pull bass from this fortress of debris, posts and supporting timbers. For anglers desiring to fish the main lake, remem ber that the upper portion, north of the U.S. 280 bridge, is filled with stumps, logs and aban doned live cypress trees for you to explore. In 1973 the lake was lowered and most of the dead timber was removed from most of the lake south of the U.S. 280 bridge. Upstream of this point, only a navigational channel was cleared and it’s marked with buoys. In the main lake also try fishing the western shore where the 280 bridge cross es- Many loads of rubble were dumped in this aVea when the lake was down. According to Loska, bass is the number one sought after fish on Blackshear, closely followed by crappie, then bream. With the popu larity of pan fishing on Lake Blackshear, it’s fair to sav J^OMEOWNE^^^ * One Monthly Payment * Less Than Perfect Credit la OK * Borrow 100% of Equity • Consolidate All Your Bills * Refinance & Lower Payments * Purchase Auto - Keep Title * Make Home Improvements • 10-15-20-30 Year Loans *No Minimum Property Values •No Application Fees Up Front * P»y Out of Chapter 13 • Subject to Approval * County or City Properties • Rates Sutyect to Change B * Frame-Brick-Double Wides * Some Restrictions Apply EXAMPLE LOANS AT 8% RATE AMOUNT ISO months 360 months 10,000 $95.56 n /a 20,000 $191.13 $146 75 30,000 $286.70 $220.13 50,000 $477.83 $366 88 75,000 $716.74 $550.32 (LOANS FROM SIO,OOO TO $500,000) B GEORGIA RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LICENSEE H I I 5972 Zebulon Road PMB 367, Macon, Georgia 31210 '•H | Hjibfert Bennett ‘D'R'U# go. YOUR FAMILY PHARMACY We Provide Printouts For Insurance Records And Income Tax Records At No Extra Charge. Mon.-Fri. 8:30-6:00 Sat. 8:30-12:30 *036-A Macon Street, Perry, GA • 987-2114 — -- -- . that the bass may not be pressured as much on this lake as they are on many other Georgia reservoirs. Nearly all the bass on Blackshear are largemouth with a few shoal bass being taken from the moving river section north of the Ga. 27 bridge. Earlier it was noted that the average largemouth in Blackshear ran about a pound, but the percentage of 2 - 4 pound bass is grow ing every year and the lake still has some wall hangers in it. During August 1995 a young fisherman. Scott Schmitt of Albany, pulled in a 10-pounder right after the lake was refilled. Undoubtedly some tro phy fish came in from feed er streams or remained in the river channel when the lake was down. Don’t forget that in February 1997 the WRD changed the minimum size for largemouth bass on Blackshear to 14 inches. The limit for shoal bass remained at 12 inches. Also keep in mind that the three-striper springs (marked with buoys) are closed to all fishing from May 1 to Oct. 30 of each year. Anglers heading to Blackshear won’t have to search for a boat ramp, with 14 paved public boat ramps available as well as five privately owned mari nas. Probably the two most heavily used access points are located on Gum Creek (at the U.S. 280 crossing) and Swift Creek. The Gum Creek site has Georgia Veteran's State Park and three of the marinas (one on Gum Creek on the east side and two on the west side of the lake ). A marina and public boat ramps are also located along Ga. 300 at Smoak Bridge over Swift Creek at the southern end of the lake. For additional informa tion contact the WRD Fisheries Office at (912) 430-4256. • Senior Citizens Discount • Free In-Town Delivery • Durable Medical Equipment • Computer Medical Records • Emergency Service • Complete Line of Sundry Items FLEETWOOD. 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