Johnson, Dietrich claim BFLhonors on Toledo Bend
By DONALD GERVAIS

BOBBY TEMPLET, pictured left, of Baton Rouge, fishing in his first BFLtournament, took the Snickers big bass boater division honors at the opening tournament of the 2007 Walmart BFLLouisiana division season on Toledo Bend.The 6- pound and 14-ounce bass helped him earn 5th overall spot in the boaters division. Pictured right, Jimmie Johnson holds up part of the five-fish limit that earned him the victory in the boaters' division at the Louisiana Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League's 2007 opening tournament on Toledo Bend. See the story for details on how he bested all anglers.

Greenwell Springs, La. angler Jimmie Johnson took top honors in the boaters' division and Richard Dietrich of Port Allen, La. took the honors in the non-boaters division at the opening tournament of the Louisiana Bass Fishing League's 2007 season.

Chilly temperatures greeted the 91 boats at Saturday morning's dawn take off.

The air temperature of 23 degrees was near the coldest for the year on the vast Toledo Bend Lake area as anglers had to contend with frozen boat lids and locks in the early hours.

Water temperature at take off was 47 degrees with some anglers reported finding temperatures as high as 50 as the day progressed.

The early morning cloud cover burnt off by 10 a.m., to be replaced by blue bird skies and mild East winds.

The lake level was falling slightly from near full pool level at 171.85 feet.

Though the air temperature warmed to 44 degrees by the 3 p.m. weigh in, proof of the tough fishing conditions were evident as but 58 boaters brought one or more fish to the scales, only 12 limits-11 by boaters and one by a non-boater angler.

Johnson's five-fish limit weighing of 18-pounds and 7-ounces, anchored by a five-pound eight-ounce kicker fish, earned him $3,020.

"I had not caught a single fish in practice, but decided to stick with my fishing area," Johnson told the crowd gathered at the Frontier Park Marina at the awards ceremony. "I spent the whole day covering the same area."

Johnson targeted fish in 15-18 feet water adjacent to the creek channel with a Carolina rigged baby brush-hog, watermelon red colored.

Dusty Anders claimed the runner-up spot in the boater division with 17- pounds and 11 ounces.

The Pineville, La. Angler took his Ranger bass boat, powered by a Yamaha outboard to north lake areas where he targeted fish in eight-12 feet with a shad colored Rat-L-Trap.

He used Castaway rods and Shimano reels, spooled with 15-pound test P-Line. His first fish did not come until 9 a.m. and he caught eight keepers on way to taking home $1,777.

Bill England's, who claimed third place in the boaters' division, did not catch his first fish until 10:30 a.m.

The Dennam Springs angler, a member of the Bryan Chevrolet pro team, used a deep diving Little-N crank bait to catch 16 pounds of fish and take home $829.

England took his Bass Cat boat, powered by a Mercury outboard to Housen Bay to target fish in 8-12 feet of water.

He used his Falcon rods and Shimano reels, spooled with 17-pound test Stren line to get his fish to the boat.

Beckville angler Harley Wilson flipped a jig to claim fourth place with 15- pounds and nine-ounces.

Wilson also claimed an additional $500 incentive bonus for being the top Ranger boat angler who was registered for the Forrest Cup.

Bobby Templet of Baton Rouge, fishing in his first BFLtournament, took fifth place with a catch of 14- pounds and nine-ounces, which included the Snickers big bass of the day.

"I caught the big one at 3:05," said Templet. "I had to be in at 3:15 and caught it just around the corner from the weigh-in. Never give up."

Templet's bass fell for a hand painted Rat-L-trap in depths of 8-12 feet.

He took home checks of $455 for big bass and $711 for the fifth place finish.

Rounding out the top six in the boater division was Zwolle, La angler Wayne Ebarb with 13 pounds and eight-ounces.

"It's the first time I ever limited or culled in a tournament," said the 22-year tournament veteran Dietrick, the co-angler winner.

He was the only coangler to bring a limit to the scales.

"I fished with John Burns today and we fished deep," Dietrich said. "We fished in depths of 27-40 feet."

Dietrich's fish fell for Carolina rigged baby Brushhogs in areas close to the dam. The bait was brought to the depths with - and one-ounce sinkers, fished on All Star rods and Shimano reels, spooled with 20-pound test, green colored, Berkeley Big Game line.

Dietrich earned $1,700 for his day on the lake and the lead in the point lead in the 2007 season for the coanglers.

Morgan City angler Bill McCarthy used Lucky Craft crank bait in Tennessee Shad color to catch four fish weighing 10-pounds and four-ounces in Housen Bay and claim second place.

Kirby Hebert II of New Iberia, La. took home third place and a check for $564 with four fish weighing nine-pounds.

Rounding out the top six finishers in the co-anglers division were: Ricardo Benitez of Folsom, La. In fourth with three fish that weighed seven-pounds and 11-ounces; Kevin Boyd of Marrero, La.

In fifth with three fish that weighed seven-pounds and nine ounces and Edward Young Jr. of Walker, La. in sixth place, with two fish weighing sevenpounds and eight-ounces.

Young's biggest bass, five-pounds and nineounces was best in the coangler division and earned him $212.

Toledo Bend is the first of five events for the Louisiana Division of the BFL.

Other stops for the angers in 2007 include: Morgan City on March 10, Bayou Black on April 28, the Red River on May 19 and the divisional final in Morgan City on Sept. 22 and 23.