By Bella Kabe
COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Three of the top four semi-pro teams and the top two amateur teams competing in the 2009 Cabela's Crappie USA Classic championship tournament used Southern Pro jigs to land their prize-winning fish.
The 2008 defending champions, John Woods and Tracy McIntosh, both of Dyersburg, Tenn., took the 2009 Crappie USA Classic title by beating 47 other teams competing in the Semi-Pro Division on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway near Columbus, Miss. To do that, they ran spider rigs with Southern Pro jigs tipped with minnows. Catching more than 70 fish on the final day of the event, Woods and McIntosh finished with a two-day tournament limit of 14 crappie weighing 21.22 pounds.
"Both days, we were spider rigging double Southern Pro rigs tipped with minnows," Woods confided. "Our hot colors were black and chartreuse, red and chartreuse and yellow with chartreuse, but color didn't really seem to matter that much. If we put the bait in front of a crappie, it hit. We pulled the Southern Pro skirt over No. 1 Eagle Claw hooks for a little color and attached minnows to them."
Former champions and also professional anglers on the Southern Pro team, Ronny Capps and Steve Coleman of Tiptonville, Tenn., took third with a two-day total of 17.01 pounds. They slow trolled Southern Pro glow jigs on Aliceville Lake. Mike Walters of West Milton, Ohio, and Rick Solomon of Piqua, Ohio, took fourth place with 16.51 pounds by fishing Aliceville Lake with black and chartreuse Southern Pro jigs.
"Only one other team in the 14-year history of the Classic, Capps and Coleman, won more than one Cabela's Crappie USA Classic, but no other team has ever won back-to-back Classics -- until now," said Darrell Van Vactor, president of Crappie USA. "More organized crappie tournaments have been won by anglers using Southern Pro jigs than any other artificial bait."
In the Amateur Division, the father-son team of Duffy and Brian Cleland of Decatur, Ill., jumped from 14th place to first on the final day with a two-day total of 14 crappie weighing 17.23 pounds. Like Woods and McIntosh, the amateur champs used Southern Pro jigs tipped with minnows to beat 57 other teams in their division. A 2.38-pounder on Day 2, the biggest fish weighed during the tournament, anchored their winning stringer.
"When we caught the big fish, we were spider-rigging in five to 10 feet of water in Columbus Lake," Brian explained. "The fish hit a glow Southern Pro jig tipped with a minnow. We probably caught 12 to 15 keepers, but a lot of small fish."
Hometown favorites, Larry Baldridge and Willis Bonner of Columbus, Miss., took second in the Amateur Division with a two-day weight of 17.13 pounds. The Columbus team vertically jigged sparkly blue and orange Southern Pro jigs on Aliceville Lake, but also used live minnows.
"I was using just a straight Southern Pro blue with orange and sparkles jig and no bait, but my partner was using live minnows," Bonner said. "Southern Pro jigs are hard to beat. It was probably split about 50/50 on the minnow versus the jig. The action was steady. We'd just drop the bait next to structure and work it back to the boat."
Two teams tied for Day One big fish honors and both used Southern Pro jigs. The husband-wife combo of Randy and Cindy Turner of Belknap, Ill., and the team of Adam Mobbs and Carlton Teague of Gaylesville, Ala., each enticed a 1.90-pound crappie by slow-trolling Southern Pro jigs tipped with minnows.
Why do so many professional crappie anglers rely heavily upon Southern Pro jigs? Simply, the lures made by the Brookland, Ark.-based company catch fish. Southern Pro jigs helped many crappie pros cash countless checks during the past 30 years.
"We rely heavily upon our 25 teams of professional anglers who spend many days on the water," said Freddie Coggins, Southern Pro vice president. "Our pro team members keep us apprised of quality issues and what's hot in colors and sizes."
Made entirely in the United States from quality products, Southern Pro tube jigs come in 15 different configurations and 432 color combinations. Injected plastic baits come in 16 variations and 262 colors, offering anglers almost unlimited choices to entice fish on any given day.
"Southern Pro tube-style lures are hand-dipped by our master craftsmen who take considerable pride in manufacturing our baits," Coggins explained. "Our most popular tube lure is the Lit'l Hustler in black and chartreuse, red and chartreuse, red and pearl, blue and pearl or white and chartreuse. For injected-style lures, our most popular bait is the Hot Grub in Tennessee shad; chartreuse shad; black, blue and chartreuse; black, red and chartreuse or Kentucky Lake Killer."
Anglers can buy Southern Pro products from most retail tackle stories, catalogue companies and bait shops. For more information, see www.southernpro.com. For more information on Crappie USA and a complete list of tournament standings, see www.crappieusa.com.