‘keowee Limit’ Will Be Needed For First Fish The Fall Tournament Of Second Half Season
The second half of the Fish the Fall Team Trail kicks off Jan. 29 on Lake Keowee and points leaders Brian and Mike Tidwell have a bullseye on their backs, said tournament director Dennis Landrum.
“They are under the gun and they have quite a few chasing them,” said Landrum, “because they have won the points championship the last two years in a row.”
But it might take more than one tournament to chase them down because the best finish the Tidwells have had this season was also on Keowee – first place. They started the current season off with a fourth place finish in September on Lake Hartwell, took first on Keowee in October, and followed that with a seventh place finish in November on Lake Greenwood and 10th in December on Lake Russell.
After the Jan. 29 tournament on Lake Keowee, the second half of the season will include Feb. 25-26 on Lake Hartwell, March 26 on Lake Murray and April 23 on Lake Jocassee. The Fish the Fall Championship will be held May 20-21 on a lake to be selected by a drawing later in the season.
Landrum said the second half of the season is highlighted by the fact that Carolina Lunker Sauce and U.S. Reels have come aboard as sponsors of the trail.
He said he is planning to split the season next year so there will be a first half points champion, a second half champion and an overall points champion.
“We have 62 teams and we are averaging 50 to 55 boats per tournament with payouts running around $9,000 per tournament,” Landrum said. Each team pays a $200 membership fee and the entry fee is $200 per tournament.
“I look for it to take 13 to 14 pounds to win the Keowee tournament next week,” Landrum said. “It’s been tough up there the last couple of weeks with the temperature dropping. The water temperature is running from the high 30s to the low 40s. The temperature dropped 7 or 8 degrees with that cold spell that came through last week.”
Landrum said it will take a “Keowee Limit” to win the tournament.
“Whoever has four small fish will need a 3 1/2- to 5-pound kicker fish. That’s what we call a Keowee Limit. You have to have a kicker fish to win at Keowee.”
The name of the trail has an interesting history, said Landrum, who bought the trail three years ago.
“I think the name of the trail came from ‘Fish the Fall, Winter and Spring’,” he said. “The trail, which is the largest team trail in South Carolina, is not run in the summer when it is to hot, so it came up ‘Fish the Fall’ and that is what it is.”
Fish The Fall Team Trail
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Lake Keowee
South Cove
