Robby and Eddie Roberts were raised by a father who was a farmer and Korean War Veteran.  Their father was also a fisherman, and as a result they have been fishing their whole life.  They learned the ins and outs of the sport from their dad, J.R. Roberts.  His love of fishing and the opportunity to continue his dad’s legacy is why Robby holds the J.R. Roberts Memorial Bass Challenge every year on Lake Bruin in St. Joseph, Louisiana.  

 

Eddie started the tournament in 1987 as a team or singles derby and is held every February; their dad’s favorite month to fish, and on his favorite lake.  With 100% payback, 1st place pays $4000 based on 100 entries and the $20 Big Bass yields another $1000. 

 

This will be the 33rd Annual J.R. Roberts Memorial Team Bass Challenge on Lake Bruin. A quick rundown of the February 1, 2020 event includes:  an entry fee of $100 and launch site can be anywhere on Lake Bruin with first cast at 6:30 a.m., weigh in is at 3 p.m. at the State Park campground, and the lake is off limits from Monday, January 27th through Friday, January 31st for all tournament anglers. 

 

I recently got the opportunity to sit and talk with Robby about the tournament, bass fishing, and his love of Jesus Christ.  Robby is a guy with a huge personality, as most bass fishermen are.  I asked, “How’d the idea to start the tournament come about?” and without missing a beat he jokingly replied, “Daddy died!”  I knew at that point the conversation would be anything but dull. 

 

As kids, his dad would take the boys out at night on Toledo Bend, where they had a cabin.  “We didn’t fish the banks like folks do today, we fished offshore.”  It was during this time, Robby learned a lot about reading the conditions of the lake and what produced fish.  “Dad taught us to look at the types of timber standing” whether it was standing on old creek channels or atop ridges with pine growing, the timber would indicate what landforms are under the water and that information is vital to finding fish.  “That was back when your depth finder was a ½ ounce jig you would cast and then count down to see how deep of water you were in”, Robby told me laughing but serious.  That was long before the electronics of today. 

 

As we sat and talked in the backyard, Robby and I discussed the changes in bass fishing over the years.  He talked about the early 1970s and the fact he wasn’t real fond of bass fishermen at that time.  The idea they ran up and down the lake “catching all of the fish” wasn’t a positive thing.  It wasn’t until the competitive side of the bass tournaments caught his eye that he began to compete in the tournaments in the late 1970s.  “I was in the Concordia Bass Club, Texas Bass Association and the old Redman Circuit”, Robby smiled as he told of the clubs of yesteryear. 

 

Being farmers, most of the winters the Roberts spent at Toledo Bend fishing.  Fishing in the pitch dark of night taught him to feel the subtle tug of a bass on his line.  “We fished a lot at night back then, that’s how I learned to work a worm!”  Robby went on to tell me the worm is the bait to catch the big bass, “Go on YouTube and find Glen Lau, he said a bass can’t learn a worm, he will hit it every time unlike a crankbait or spinnerbait.” 

 

The biggest thing to change bass fishing in our lakes according to Robby was the introduction of the Florida Bass.  He tells of a time even in his dad’s memorial tournament where a guy would come to the scales with 20 pounds and get maybe 10th place.  You didn’t have these big huge 8 to 10 pound fish but plenty of 5 to 6 pound native largemouth bass that you would catch.  “These Florida bass they tell me can maintain his body weight with one minnow a week in this cold water”, Robby laughing told me that they just do not like this cold water.  Eating just once a week is the last thing a tournament angler wants to hear about bass. 

 

He then began to tell me of a book, The Black Bass, by J.A. Henshall that described the bass and the respect people had back then for the bass.  He started a story, “They had so much respect for the species that they would kill the fish quickly when they’d catch them to keep them from suffering while they died.”  As a result, growing up he had been taught to kill the bass he caught quickly with an old screwdriver to the head before tossing the fish into the ice chest.  Robby went on to tell me about a fishing trip he went on with his Uncles Troy and Burl in the “new” Terry Bass Boats with the added feature of livewells.  “Burl had the new boat and he told Troy, when you catch a fish just throw him in the live well.  Soon Troy hooked one and wouldn’t you know it, as soon as Troy caught one he popped it in the head with the screwdriver and threw it in the livewell.”  Robby said enthusiastically, “That’s real man!”

 

Turning back to the tournament, Robby told me, “There are some people that have been following us from the start.  Some guys from Newellton, Lake Providence, even up to Monroe and West Monroe and some from around here (Concordia Parish area).”  Excitedly he told me, “We are seeing a lot of teams show up now that are father and son, that’s fantastic, some of them are little fellows too.” He fishes it with his son, Patrick “Bull” Hall.  He said it’s strictly for the fishermen, “we don’t put on much bells and whistles or anything like that - we just fish, weigh them in and I might preach to them a little bit.”       

 

Jumping back to his dad, Robby told me about his dad and a friend of his, Tommy Martin.  They got to be good buddies and they’d go fishing a lot.  There was a young man over there that was cutting grass and guiding on Toledo Bend.  Well J.R. and Tommy got that young angler in a boat and helped him fine tune his worming skills.  That young fisherman’s name was Larry Nixon!  After that Tommy and J.R. encouraged him to try to fish professionally.  The rest is history.

 

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