Leo Torres
Gadsden County News Service
Eighty-two boats departed from Ingram’s Marina Saturday for a chance to win the 47th annual Lake Talquin Open Bass Tournament. The winning bag weighed in at 33.70 pounds, the largest since 2010.
Check-in for the event, hosted by the Liberty County Anglers, started at 5 a.m. with lines hitting the water at safe light. The weigh-in began at 4 p.m. with the prize presentation at 4:30 p.m. The first-place winner received $1,000 for their efforts.
The event’s largest catch of the day weighed in at more than 10 pounds. Attendees also got to enjoy a raffle that featured fishing rods, a shotgun, and a $300 prize.
Preston Williams, a Leon County resident, participated in the tournament for the first time with his friend Hagan Womble. Williams’ strategy was to catch five fish as quickly as possible, and then hunt for bigger bass. It’s a common approach at tournaments such as this — his and Womble’s final weight was 17.74 pounds.
Williams said he will not miss another one, saying he really liked the lake.
“It’s a beautiful lake,” he said.
He appreciated the friendly competitiveness present at the lake — everyone felt like a friend, cousin, or brother — and he couldn’t pass up a sunny Saturday on the water. Despite a bit of gloominess in Quincy earlier that day, the winds “kept the clouds away” for most of the tournament.
The winds may have kept it sunny, but they contributed to choppy water around 10 a.m. The anglers were sturdy, riding it out until it subsided, but it made it difficult to stay on spots and the fish were constantly pushed around. These conditions played a factor in the final weigh-ins.
“It seemed like everybody was having a tough day,” Williams said.
Womble, who lives in Tallahassee but is originally from the Lake Talquin area, said the challenge is just getting the bass to bite. In terms of getting a large fish, he suggested finding a concentration of fish, increasing one’s chances of finding a big one.
“You just have to have the eye for it,” he said.
Womble spoke about the necessity of graphs, saying they’ve “changed the way he’s fished.” Graphs are advanced, screen-based electronics used to identify underwater structures, vegetation, and fish. He also utilizes forward-facing sonar, which gives him a real-time view of the fish up to 200 feet.
“That helps a lot because I can drop it down, scan a spot, and if there’s no fish, I can leave just like that,” Womble said. “It saves me a lot of time.”
Womble said technology is crucial at tournaments where it’s not banned, and it gets better and better each year. He said the tournament’s winner was definitely taking full advantage of his technology to secure his victory. Like Williams, he also praised the community aspect of the tournament.
“It’s kind of like a family reunion in a way,” Womble said. “Everybody wants to come out and compete and get bragging rights.”
