MCC Members Make Major Strides with American Crappie Trail By Bernard Williams, MCC Vice President

Jamie Roberson & Stephen Sullivan - ACT Grenada Lake Winners

On September 15th, the Magnolia Crappie Club Team of Stephen Sullivan and Jamie Roberson won the American Crappie Trail’s Grenada Lake National Qualifier and a Ranger RT188C Boat with a 115 Evinrude Engine. These guys lead the tournament both days, that’s right from start to finish. I can’t mention them
without mentioning the MCC Team of Terry and Cole Stewart. They’ve won the Quachita River ACT National Qualifier June 23rd. That made two National Qualifiers for the Stewart’s and two Ranger Boats.




MCC is so, so proud of our members competing on such a premier level, it shows we have some of the best crappie fishermen in the country. Most fishermen have no idea what it takes to compete at this level. The rules include a 10-day OFF LIMITS Period and a 4-day official practice period of Monday – Thursday of tournament week. This gives everyone the same advantage as local fishermen. ACT operates under a NO INFORMATION RULE. Once the 10-day off limit period starts, contestants cannot get information from any person who has fished the tournament lake. Wow, that’s pretty stringent rules.




The Clinton, MS team of Terry and Cole Stewart are dedicated spider-riggers, slow-trollers, and minnow fishermen. They make the necessary when the conditions change. They rely on their Humminbird Electronics, Minn Kota Ultrex Trolling Motor, and that big Ranger 522 to do the work.


Stephen and Jamie are also spider-riggers and minnow fishermen that rely on their new Garmin Electronics with the new Panoptix Live-Scope, Minn Kota Ultrex, and 22-foot War-Eagle Boat to get them on fish.


Both teams are MCC Tournament Winners with several big wins under their belt. Stephen, Jamie, Terry, and Cole have something that a lot of crappie fishermen don’t have, P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E and a sixth sense for finding and catching crappie. They can sit on a spot and make the necessary adjustments until the fish starts to bite or they know when to roll up and try another area. Both teams know how to work thru issues and problems as they arise. They have a game-plan and they’re not above making drastic changes during the tournament day.


“At the Quachita River between Friday and Saturday, the river rose nearly 2 feet. This caused our fish to go deeper and move. We made a move to the Bayou early and it paid off. Having knowledge of the area paid huge dividends. I grew up fishing around the Monroe LA area and it hadn’t changed much. The fish relate to cuts, creeks, and brush piles. We scanned and found decent fish in these areas.” According to Stewart, “We had a major storm came thru on Friday night and make the fish move out to the deeper open water. We had a pound lead on the rest of the field and with an 8.34-pound Saturday stringer it was enough for us to pull out the win.”


On Grenada Sullivan and Roberson found a 100 yard stretch of river that held quality fish. “We’ve fished that area for many years, we’ve placed brush-piles in several locations. When we arrived on tournament morning there sit 3 other teams. The fish didn’t bite early as we predicted. Our electronics showed fish coming up to our bait and turning around without biting. Other teams ended up moving after about 2 hours without a bite. We sit it out and then around 10:30 am the fish turned on. We were culling 14+ pounds in about 30 minutes.” Sullivan says, “Saturday we went back to the exact same spot and joined the crowd. 7 or 8 boats were lined up on our spots. It didn’t matter, we slow trolled back and forth all day till we caught our limits. It was a matter of having patience and sticking to our game-plan. It paid off with a big win for us.”


Both teams swear by their B’n’M Poles. The both use B’n’M BGJP 16’ poles. They say these poles allow them the see the light bite almost instantly. Terry says, “If a fish grabs minnow or jig and come up, I can instantly see the bend in the pole straighten out. Using a high-vis line allows me to see a forward, reverse, or sideways bite. The BGJP is lightweight and it doesn’t wear you out from fishing 8 to 10 hours of fishing.”
Roberson says, “We like the BGJP because of the feel, we keep our hands on the poles most of the times, the strike gets telegraphed all the way to the handle. We can feel that thump when we’re not looking at the tips. The backbone in the BGJP is great for controlling that huge Grenada crappie. It’s not as stiff as
other poles and that keep you from pulling the hook out of their paper mouths.”


In my interview with both teams I try to ask similar questions, what questions do you have for me, both teams responded with the same question, “Do you want to buy a new boat, we have a Ranger 188C with a 115 Evinrude?” My answer to both was, “No, I’ll wait till I win one”.


Finally, I say congratulations and keep up the great work. With the passion you guys have, I think we’ll be seeing you guys in the winner’s circle in a lot more crappie circuits including Magnolia Crappie Club.
Bernard.