CELINA-Five Thursday night smallmouth-only tournaments are in the books here at Dale Hollow Marina already this season and a smallmouth over 21 inches long has been needed to win all but the first two events so far.

“It’s been a good year for big fish already,” tournament co-director Jeff Smith said Monday, “and we are looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season is going to bring.”

Smith’s brother Steve got the big-fish parade started with a bang when he carried a five-pounder to the scales at the third weigh-in.  Then Joey Eads and a host of others accomplished the feat the following week, before Brandon Cross hit paydirt last week making it three tournaments in a row at least one smallmouth over 21 inches was needed to win.

On top of that, the night Eads caught his, three others were weighed in–adding up to total of six for the season.

Smith’s 5.02-pound giant now stands as the heaviest fish to date and is in the lead in the big fish of the year competition.

The details of each event are as follows:

May 5th

Joe Jones and Terry Spears opened the season right with a win using a pair of smallmouth under 16 inches long totaling 1.96 pounds to take home first place and $96, while Adam and Gary Militana claimed the runner-up spot and $64 to start their big run previously reported in last week’s HORIZON.

May 12th

The Militanas continued their good fortune with a pair of good “unders” weighing in at 3.48 pounds to win $108 from a nine-boat field, and Jerry Arms and Kenny Meadows took second with 1.58 pounds to win $72.

May 19th

Steve Smith teamed up with Kenny Meadows to take the event with a total of 6.22 pounds and win $120.  Smith’s five-pounder helped the team well outweigh Jeff Smith and Brandon Cross, who finished second with a pair of small fish weighing 2.69 pounds to win $72.

Junior and Dustin Wix took the final paid position worth $48 with 2.43 pounds.  Thanks to the 12-boat field the Wix team finished in the money.

May 26th

Joey Eads and Marty Maynard won $144 with a total of 6.13 pounds.  Eads’ big fish tipped the scales at 4.23 pounds and was the heaviest of four “overs” weighed in that night.

Runners-up Randy Roysden and Rick Crabtree used a total of 5.63 pounds to take second and $108 and their big fish weighed 4.13 pounds, while third place went to Chris Gore and Josh Deck–who won $72 with a total of 4.45 pounds (3.56-lb big fish).

Brothers and tournament co-directors Steve and Jeff Smith teamed up to take third place and $36 with a 21-incher weighing 3.82 pounds.

June 2nd

Brandon Cross and Jimmy White took the top spot in last week’s tournament with a total of 5.52 pounds.  They won $120 for the dozen-boat field thanks to their 3.95-pound smallmouth over 21 inches long.

Second place went to Justin White and Andrew Campbell.  They had two small fish totaling 2.96 pounds to win $72.

The final paid position was claimed by Randy Roysden and Mark Crabtree with 2.67 pounds.  They won $48.

The series continues this week and the tournaments start at 7 p.m. and continue to an 11 p.m. weigh-in each week.  The entry is $20 per boat.

Contact tournament directors Steve or Jeff Smith at 823-5746 or 823-4233 for more information.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  See next week’s outdoor notebook for results from last Saturday night’s Punisher Nite Bite Tournament, the Star Point event, and more news about fishing on Dale Hollow Lake.