“Lake Wylie has been producing 15- to 17-pound limits lately,” Collins said. “South Fork is popular now with the warmer temperatures there and the jerkbait bite should kick in pretty soon.”

Lake Wylie has two hot holes, the Allen Steam Station, located on the North Carolina side of the lake east of the South Fork Catawba River, and the Catawba Nuclear Station, located on the South Carolina side of the lake near Big Allison Creek. Because of the heated water discharge from the nuclear power plants, Lake Wylie is known as a particularly good bass lake in the winter.

“The water level is where it usually is this time of year so we look to see some good limits caught,” Collins said.

The Greene Boat & Motor Trail schedule includes the trial opener Jan. 29 out of South Point Access on Lake Wylie; Feb. 19 out of Pinnacle Landing on Lake Norman; March 5 out of Buster Boyd Bridge on Lake Wylie; April 23 out of Pinnacle Landing on Lake Norman; May 21 out of Dutchman Creek Marina on Lake Wateree; and June 4 out of Whittenburg Access on Lake Hickory. The 2011 Greene Boat & Motor Championship will be held Oct. 8-9 out of Pinnacle Landing on Lake Norman.

“We dropped lake Murray and added a qualifier at Hickory hoping to add local teams who would want to enter the championship on Lake Norman in October,” Collins said.

“The Greene Trail will consist of six qualifiers this year instead of seven and a team only has to fish four qualifiers to be eligible to enter the championship,” said Collins, adding that a team can use a sub and count the sub toward the four qualifiers to be eligible for the championship.

“This will make it a little easier to qualify,” Collins said.

The points champions will win $1,000 and second place in points will win a Minn Kota trolling motor. Membership is $15 per angler and entry fee is $120 per team in advance, $130 the morning of the event. Payback will be one in every six places. There will also be an optional $20 entry fee for big fish, with 100 percent payback for first and second big fish.

Collins pointed out that there will be several contingency opportunities, including Stratos 2X, Bass Cat Quest program and the Nitro Tournament Rewards program.

Collins said the trail paid out more than $40,000 in 2010, the first year of the trail, and hopes to increase the total payout with more entries this year.

“We averaged between 35 and 40 teams in 2010 and look for more new teams to join up this year. First Place at the Championship last year took home over $6,000 with only 25 teams entered in the Championship,” Collins said.

 

Greene Boat & Motor Tournament Trail

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Lake Wylie

South Point Access

http://www.greeneboats.com