March 16, 2003 Kincaid Lake, IL
Barnett And Johnson Win 1st So. Illinois Tournament

Barnett And Johnson	Seiler And Olznoi
Results

The Southern IL. division kicked off the season on Kincaid Lake on March 16th. Teams were greeted with absolutely fantastic weather conditions with the exception of the morning fog, which delayed takeoff by one hour. The weigh-in was moved up one hour to compensate for the lost time. With temperatures in the upper sixties or low seventies, plenty of sun and only a light breeze everyone was eager to boat a few Largemouth. The bass however were not as excited as the anglers on this day and they left many high caliber fishermen scratching their heads. The colder than normal weeks leading up to the event had the lake running a couple of weeks behind where it should have been for this time of year and made for a tough bite. As always there was a few who were able to figure it out and brought respectable weights to the scales

The first place team of: Carl Johnson and Harlin Barnett both of Murphysboro, IL. started the day off badly by throwing the wrong baits for the first three hours. They did however correct their mistake and started pitching plastics around wood and near some drops and soon after started boating fish. The fish were caught in an average water depth of 5 ft. The team reported catching many short fish through out the day along with their four keeper fish that tipped the scales at 13.28lbs. This earned the team a check for $1,000.00 plus and additional $1,000.00 bonus bucks from Bass Cat boats. Their stringer was anchored by a healthy looking 5.45lb largemouth, which also claimed big bass honors for the day and earned them an additional $160.00. Total team earnings for the day $2160.00 Great Job Guys!!

Second place went to the team of Paul Seiler from Cambria, IL. and John Olznoi of Joliet, IL. The team concentrated on shallow water depths through out the day. They were flipping tubes, lizards and jigs around lay downs and stumps. The team reported catching eight bass during the day with two of them being keeper fish. Their total weight was 6.09lbs and earned the team $505.00 on this day. The team is sponsored by; Kerasotes Theaters, Advantage Jigs and BMC Custom Rods.

Third place went to the team of Jack Doan and Ben Doan from Desoto, IL. The team caught their first keeper fish of the day on about their fifth cast. It was fooled by a Competitive Edge, Little Big Man spinner bait. The team managed to boat one other keeper about 15 minutes prior to weigh in which came off of a tube and gave them a total weight of 5.31lbs and earned the team $245.00. The team is sponsored by: Competitive Edge Fishing.