MONROE, La. — For anglers in the Northern Division, fishing in Monroe, La., is no piece of cake.
“I’m just having to figure it out as I go,” said Hunter Colwell, 16.
Colwell is from Ohio, where cypress trees are nowhere to be found. But those trees are all over Bayou DeSiard, where competitors in the 2011 Bassmaster Junior World Championship (JWC) will be fishing Saturday, Nov. 5.
Colwell and his counterpart from the Northern Division, Adam Farner of South Dakota, are among the 13 teenagers who are picking apart the bayou — a fishery much different from their own.
“Here, the vegetation is underwater,” Farner said, “instead of on top like in South Dakota. And of course the cypress trees. It’s very different here.”
Tomorrow, the pair plan to toss soft plastics, crankbaits and spinnerbaits from their boat, piloted by University of Louisiana at Monroe angler Blake Darren.
“There are a lot of docks on the bayou, so we plan to fish some of those,” Farner said. “We’ll also fish any kind of brush and some of those cypress trees.”
Colwell and Farner are both representing the Northern Division, but Colwell is fishing the older age group (ages 15 to 18) and Farner is fishing the younger group (ages 11 to 14).
The pair are facing competitors from the Southern, Mid-Atlantic, Central, Western and Eastern divisions.
The young contenders will face temperatures around 40 degrees at launch, which is at 7:15 a.m. Central from Bayou DeSiard Country Club Ramp in Monroe. They’ll check in at 2:15 p.m., when it will be a much warmer 70 degrees outside.
“Bayou DeSiard is a unique fishery,” said Jon Stewart, B.A.S.S. Federation Nation senior manager. “It is a public fishery but has limited access and no public boat ramps. These Junior Bassmasters should have the time of their lives!”
Click to download and print a scorecard for the event, and click to see who’s competing in the JWC.