Holloway Wins BIG At Jackson

Mark Holloway fished up the South and Yellow rivers in his Round 5 event at Lake Jackson. He weighed in 14.25 pounds, beating Tim Vanegmond.

Mark Holloway of Madison had never fished Lake Jackson before Friday, three days before his Eliminator semi-final match. After his tournament day, he was wondering why — he loved the endless cover of blowdowns and overhanging branches that lines the rivers above Lake Jackson. And he loved the bass they produced.

Blast-off was at 6:06 a.m., and Mark started his morning with a run straight up the South River to a cut off the main river run above the Hwy 36 bridge, where he caught three keepers in the first 45 minutes. The shallow, narrow cut had overhanging branches and flooded grass, and the shad were spawning in the grass. Mark fished the area primarily with a buzzbait, which produced a 4.31-lb. bass at 6:25 a.m., his first fish of the day. He caught another small keeper on the buzzbait, then used a spinnerbait to boat his third keeper.

Mark stayed in the same cut up the South River until 7:49 a.m., when he made a long run back to the main lake and then up the Yellow River. There, he worked up the river run on his trolling motor, fishing the buzzbait, spinnerbait and occasionally a Super Fluke along the banks and overhanging branches. He also flipped every blowdown and log-jam with a Texas-rigged Senko or Ol Monster worm. His first Yellow River bite came 15 minutes after he started fishing there, and it was a 2-lb. bass that ate the buzzbait.

From 8 a.m. until 1: p.m., Mark caught six keepers up the Yellow River, and he culled two of the smaller bass caught first thing up the South River. His best five bass weighed 14.25 pounds.