Keith Lusher Jr To quote Mark Twain, “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.” 2014 Northshore Angler of the Year, Jason Pittman and his son Trenton, have won 1st place in NBS Tournaments so far this year. So if you had to pick a winner in the most recent FPBA Tournament in Manchac, the odds on favorites would have to be the team of Jason and Trenton Pittman. But theres one caveat - “The team” was reduced to “The kid,” due to his father being out of town on business. “Since Dad was out of town, it was my idea to fish the tournament solo. I had taken the safe boaters course back in January and have been fishing by myself a few times around our house so I was pretty comfortable making that decision,” he says. The morning of the tournament came and Trenton says he didn’t get a lot of sleep. “I was up two hours before my alarm was supposed to go off.” As far as expectations go, the Covington teen says he just wanted to to catch a limit. “I didn’t have high expectations for the tournament. I really didn’t think I had a shot at winning. I was just hoping to go out and catch five decent fish,” Trenton says. The numbers were called and Trenton drew #9 out of 19 boats. It didn’t take him long to realize that he actually had a shot at winning. Trenton was fishing top-water early, a technique commonly used by tournament anglers to entice large bass to strike during the morning hours. “The big fish hit on my 15th cast of the day. I pitched my topwater bait under a dock and when the fish first hit it, I didn't think it was that big. When I started to boat-flip it, I realized that it was a lot bigger than I thought it was, and I still boat-flipped it!” he says. Trenton “boat-flipped” a 4.11 lb. bass and started to shake with excitement, but he called to mind something that his father had taught him about tournament fishing. “The biggest thing that my dad has taught me is that no matter what happens, just keep my head down and keep fishing,” Pittman said.
Trenton Pittman Trenton texted his dad with the news and kept fishing. Trenton kept his nose down and fished hard through the day and weighed in an 8.98 lb. 5-fish limit that was good enough to win first place. Trenton’s father, Jason, recalls the moment when he found out his son had won. “Once he was on his way home after my dad Floyd picked him up, my phone rang. “The conversation started with a hello and then me asking if he was able to catch fish number four and five to complete a limit. He responded with a ‘yes sir and I was able to cull a couple times’ then he dropped the news like it was no big deal ‘had one over four pounds to win big bass and a limit weighing almost nine pounds to win the tournament.’ This was said in a humbled yet excited voice and I had nothing for about 10 seconds, just soaked it in and thought back six years when we started seriously tournament fishing together. It was like all the tournament days in the past rushed through my head in an instant and I realized he wasn't my ‘little fishing buddy’ but a stand alone competitor,” Jason says.
Wastehouse Slabs
Wastehouse Slabs
John Guillot The words “Sac-au-lait” and “August” are two words you’ll rarely see in the same sentence, but Mississippi resident John Gulliot has been catching 40-50 a day near the waste house on the East Pearl River. John says “ The crappie are starting to bunch up on structure, weed lines, and drop-offs. I Caught 175 in 3 trips. The size is not great but we caught several 1 lb. to 1.5 lb. slabs,” Gulliot says. John reminds anglers that it’s important to be patient when fishing them in the August heat. “The bite is very slow - they just mouth half of the shiner. You have to let the crappie swim off with the shiner then slowly load the pole or the hook just pulls out,” John says. John uses a 11’ BPS light jig pole with a tiny mini-spin reel. At the end of the line he rigs a #2 Aberdeen hook with a live shiner and adds “The East Pearl water is getting very clear so fishing should continue to improve.”
