By PEGGY KING

peggy.king@gaflnews.com



CORDELE — Tony Outlaw and the Georgia Slab Masters are bringing competitive crappie fishing to Lake Blackshear.

The fifth tournament in this year’s trail, the local event is open to any fisherman with a boat, Outlaw says. Saturday, May 9 is the date, and participants should sign in between 5 and 7 a.m. at the main ramp in Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park.

Boats will get out on the lake at 7 a.m., and must be back in by 4 p.m.

Outlaw who serves as president of the Georgia Slab Masters Tournament Trail, LLC says he and his group wanted to provide an opportunity for Georgia fishermen to win good prizes without having to pay high entry fees and without having to travel great distances.

Slab Masters started the 2009 trail on Feb. 14 at Lake Oconee. Since then they have sponsored tournaments at Lake Eufaula, West Point Lake and Clarks Hill Lake.

After the tourney at Lake Blackshear, another one will be conducted at Lake Sinclair on May 16. To complete the season, a two-day classic is planned for Lake Talquin near Quincy, Fla., on June 6-7.

Teams must compete in at least two regular tournaments to qualify for the classic.

Later in June, there will be a youth tourney at the Ocmulgee public fishing area in Bleckley County.

National fishing tournaments have pretty much left Georgia, Outlaw explained. “With the economy like it is, it’s just not feasible for people to travel great distances. Fishermen still are fishing, but they’re doing it closer to home.”

Since Slab Masters started their trail, he said, the events have steadily grown and more sponsors have been secured which means the purse is getting bigger.

He anticipates at least 30 two-person teams will participate in the Lake Blackshear event, and the total purse will be about $1,900.

Fishing teams receive extra points, Outlaw said, for including women and youth in their numbers. As a result, he added, “we have a lot of female competitors.

“We allow boats to carry up to four people, only two of which can be adults, so we’ve also attracted lots of kids to our events.”

Participants are coming from all over the state, and many of them are spending two and three days in the areas of the tournaments.

“We are trying to help local businesses by attracting visitors to the area. Also, if tournament participants like the lake and the community, they’ll come back on their own,” Outlaw says.

Outlaw calls Lake Blackshear his home lake since he lives in Worth County. He is excited about the possibilities here if Slab Masters can convince the state to “polish the diamond.”

Right now he calls Blackshear a “diamond in the rough.” It has a lot of the same qualities as Lake Talquin in Florida, he says, but it’s not as well managed.

Lake Talquin, he points out, attracts fishermen from everywhere, and they always catch big fish. That lake has a 10” limit on crappie along with an aggressive restocking program.

He thinks Georgia DNR personnel should talk to Florida wildlife people and find out exactly what they are doing that makes the lake such a popular place.

“We could be bringing those people to our lake, and the local area businesses would benefit.”

Additional dollars spent in Crisp County also means more local option sales tax for the community.

As far as the May 9 tournament is concerned, Outlaw said there will be novices in the competition, and there will be professionals who have been fishing in tournaments for years.

“When they get out on the lake, however, everyone has an equal chance to win a prize.” There will be cash awards for the first five finishers. Also, the team with the largest fish will win a prize.

Outlaw encourages spectators to come for the weigh-in that begins at 2 p.m. and continues until 5 p.m.

He says in his 30 plus years of fishing, he’s been in tournaments with some of the best in the country, and he’s learned something from all of them.

One of the best things about tournaments, he says, is talking with other anglers and learning what they do to catch fish.

“There is a science to crappie fishing,” Outlaw contends. Knowing the best technique and bait to use in any given situation is important, he says.

Other information about Slab Masters and its tournament trail is available at the website, — www.gaslabmasters.com.