2005 Clarks Hill Easter Seals Won By Gibbs, Thomas

For the May 14, 2005 Easter Seals tournament at Clarks Hill Lake, catching big sacks of largemouths compliments of the blueback-herring spawn was hit or miss. For those who found schooling activity, they had to weed through the hybrids and stripers to fill their livewell with largemouths.

By 1 p.m., the team of Dale Gibbs and Thomas N. Thomas were having about the same luck most of the 178 teams were having. They only had three fish in the boat, and they caught those from some sporadic schooling.

Dale Gibbs tells the crowd at Easter Seals how he and Thomas N. Thomas caught 26.78 pounds of fish to win the Clarks Hill Easter Seals tournament.

Those fish came on a Buckeye Super Spook and some Zoom Super Flukes. Knowing the 10 pounds of fish they had wasn’t going to even get them a check, they took a chance.

“We went into a little flat back in a pocket where we’d seen some buck bass up the day before,” said Dale, a member of the Outcast B/C.

Lester Clark (left) holds the 7.96-lb. Big Fish that won him and his partner, Wally Taylor, $890.

Pitching a 3/8-oz. Buckeye Lures jig in black/blue, Dale boated a 5.08-lb. sow that had pulled up on a bed overnight. Over the course of the next 60 minutes, the team was able to catch 16 pounds of spawning fish. With a total weight of 26.78 pounds, the team won $5,000 for first place.

Big fish of the tournament was caught by Lester Clark, of Martinez. Lester, who fishes with the Suburban B/M, was fishing with Wally Taylor, of Grovetown, when he caught the 7.96-pounder. Lester was fishing around an island in the Little River. Lester wasn’t sure if the fish was bedded, but the big sow was in two feet of water. He caught it on a 3/8-oz. green pumpkin Buckeye Lures jig.

Easter Seals raised $5,001.50 from the tournament.