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| Sports - Louisburg | |
| Written by Doug Carder | |
| Tuesday, 09 December 2008 13:51 | |
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It may be a bridge to nowhere, but the concrete structure on the bottom of La Cygne Lake is a port of call for two Louisburg fishermen. Greg Graham and Brendan Mick are no ordinary fishermen. This fall, the pair of 1985 Louisburg High School graduates were named Kansas Crappie Busters Anglers of the Year after reeling in the most points on the tournament circuit — taking first or second at nearly every tournament on the tour of regional lakes to claim the title in October.  On a Sunday morning in November, Greg Graham cut the throttle on the 115 horsepower Mercury engine, and his Lund boat coasted to a stop over the bridge that wound up under more than 20 feet of water when the area was flooded to create the lake in the early 1970s. The boat’s Garmin Fishfinder sonar soon located a school of crappie in about 18 feet of water, hovering around the bridge’s guard- rails.
Graham and Mick cast the braided lines of their 10-foot fishing poles over the side and let their colorful Gone Fishing Jigs work their magic. “We like to use braided lines because they are more sensitive, and it’s easier to tell when a crappie is biting,” Graham said. Mick nodded. “And you can’t go wrong with a chartreuse-colored jig. Crappie like chartreuse.” Not more than a minute later, Mick’s line tightened like a guitar string and he jerked a 12-inch crappie out of the water with one swift motion. Graham and Mick have participated in crappie tournaments for the past three years, but the pair have been hunting and fishing together since their youth. The longtime friends learned they have a knack for tournament fishing after posting some impressive wins, including winning one tournament by about eight pounds. At most tournaments, the combined weight of the team’s largest fish determines the winning team and the prize money or fishing gear that goes along with the trophy. The number of fish used to determine the total weight will vary from tournament to tournament, from seven to 15 fish. Crappie tournaments do not pay as well as the big bass tournaments, but the pair have picked up a few hundred dollars along the way to cover expenses. Both men are quick to say the enjoyment, not the money, fuels their drive to compete. “We are both competitive, and this is about the only sport left that we can still do without getting hurt,” Graham joked. Mick pulled open several trays of brightly colored jigs. “We have enough plastic in this boat to build a Saturn.” The pair spend hours mapping out lakes and fishing the lakes on the tour ahead of the tournaments, looking for sunken brush piles, pilings and trees where crappie like to congregate. Standing in the boat for hours on end can be grueling work, but Graham and Mick relish the chance to face off against the best crappie fishermen the area has to offer. “We like to fish Truman Lake,” Graham said. “There’s a lot of tough competition there. Probably 15 of the top teams in the nation go to Truman.” Like the top teams, the pair hope to pick up some sponsors of their own. They already have one. Rob Hollingsworth, of Gone Fishing Crappie Jigs, makes custom jigs for the duo. A rod company may also endorse the Louisburg team. Graham and Mick caught, clean and fried 554 fillets this fall. Mick served some of those fillets to families who trick-or-treated in his Summerfield Farm neighborhood this Halloween. “I saw some people come back for more fish after they had already been through the neighborhood,” Mick said, laughing. “We had a good time.” Graham and Mick also made 300 fillets for seniors at a Louisburg Senior Center fish fry on Halloween. The duo stood in the bow of Graham’s boat, silhouetted in the sunlight. “We know each other well, and we joke around, but we’re a little more serious when we’re fishing in a tournament,” Graham said. “We work pretty well as a team.” Crappie hit on both men’s lines, and they jerked the fish out of the water in unison.
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