Big crappie weren’t biting, but teams enjoyed Big Crappie Day tournament last weekend

Thirty-nine boats signed up for the Roland Cooper State Park Big Crappie Day Tournament May 27. Some were pros, some were families, some were friends, but all were out just to have fun. The problem is all of them reported that the big crappie were not biting. 

Most of the anglers on boats with depth finders reported seeing big crappie, two pounds or more, on the screen, but they could not get the big fish to bite. One of the professional anglers, Shane Jones, said since he could not get any of the big crappie to bite, he was just going to get what he could and fill his cooler and go home for a fish fry.  

James “Big Daddy” Lawler, outdoor guru and host of the Gettin Outdoors With BDL podcast, started the tournament a long time ago. Now the staff of Roland Cooper are running the tournament and holding it at the T pier. 

The Big Crappie Day is a one-day tournament held Memorial Day Weekend each year. The best part of this tournament is professionals and armatures fish side by side but have the same opportunity to win. “It’s not like any other tournament that I’m aware of that’s put on anywhere,” Big Daddy said. He explained that when so many professionals entered to fish, he had to figure out a way to level the playing field.  

To make it fair for all, Big Daddy implemented an unusual format. “It’s an individual competition crappie tournament,” Lawler said. “We have the scales open every hour on the hour from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.” There are three winners each hour. Each hour has a local sponsor that puts up the prize money. First place gets $75, second gets $50 and third gets $25.  

Anglers can weigh in each hour or choose not to. When scales close at 3 p.m., the angler in the adult category who has the biggest fish of the day wins a $500 check and a trophy from Community Neighbor Bank. The angler with biggest fish in the youth category wins a $250 check and a trophy from Town Country United Bank. 

Another first this year was the youth winner, 15-year-old Faith Hudson, had a fish bigger than the adult winner, Kenny Massengale. Since she was fishing in the youth category, she was not eligible for the No. 1 spot on the top ten. In true family tradition, Hudson’s parents were fishing too and also did well. The family did well in last year’s tournament as well.  

“It’s just a great fun day for everybody,” Big Daddy said. And all day was filled with smiles and talk of how the big ones were just not biting. But even so, there were a lot of laughs as the tales were shared around.

Winners were: