March 16th, 2019
The Central Arkansas Crappie Association, CACA, had it’s first tournament of the year and it was a good one. There were 32 teams fished Lake Overcup, Arkansas, and the lake produced two three pounders. Their weigh-in took place at the Conway Expo Center.
How They Fished
First place was Lamar Bunting and Greg London with 13.77 pounds for seven fish. “We found fish in five to eight feet of water with fish three to four feet deep. We started out with big 1/4-ounce jigs but kept missing a lot of bites. We switched to a 1/16-ounce on bottom and 1/32-ounce jig on top and started catching them. We were rigging eight, 16-foot poles out the front. Yellow-chartreuse, black-chartreuse and electric chicken were good colors. Once we found a pocket of fish we stayed with them. We went from one end of the lake to the other and only found two places where we could catch fish.”
Second Place Scott Black and John Williams had 13.17 pounds with a 3.10 huge slab to anchor their catch. “We caught fish from two to 15 feet deep. We had 14 bites all day. We had 12 fish on, lost two of them that were bigger than the big fish we caught. We just couldn’t get them into the net. There are some really big fish in the lake. We fished eight rods, spider rigging. Our fish moved so we started out by scanning to find some fish. Throughout the day the fish kept moving up into the water column and by the end of the day we were catching them two feet from the surface.”
3rd place was Monty Havens/Taylor Havens with 12.72. 4th place Jeff Handley/Chris Williams 12.56. 5th place Jason Koch/Gary Koch 12.54.
Central Ark Crappie Association
The CACA was formed in 2013. It’s president is Jason Westerberg jwesterberg@stephensgroup.com . (You can also visit CACA on their Facebook page). He says it’s been a great way for fishermen to learn and socialize. Also, it also provides a path for fishermen to learn at a local level and then move up to the national tournaments.
Member Dennis Bayles says, “I’ve been a member since the beginning. The part I like best about the club is that we’ve gotten a lot of new anglers out on the lakes. Our rules require the top three teams to tell their techniques, depths, type covers, what baits and tips to help our other fishermen catch crappie. That’s worked.”
Upcoming tournaments include: May 4th– Lake Daranelle; June 1st– Peckerwood, Stuttgart; July 13th– Lake Nimrod; Championship TBA.
Lake Overcup
Overcup is a 1025 acre lake near Morrilton Arkansas, with a maximum depth of 35 feet and average of 10 feet. It’s an Arkansas Game & Fish managed lake.
“The lake is similar to many other Arkansas lakes,” says Bayles. “It’s got some deep water channels and shallower flats and shallow water. It’s full of stumps and trees. The fish here are the healthiest you’ll find anywhere. It’s an outstanding fishery. When you catch a 12-incher it’s a chunk with a lot of weight.”
He says fishing here should start with Basics 101… find a channel ledge with wood on it. From there you can fish the ledge, the flats associated with the ledge or move up into shallow water when conditions are right for fish to be there.
