Tri-City Lunkers  

This was a tough tournament.  The bite was below average but much worse, the conditions were "Havasu like".  There were wind driven white caps and man driven four foot rollers.  On a local level I have never seen so many jet skies and wake boarders.  High gas prices must be diverting Havasu traffic to Lake Pyramid.  On a regular basis, the bad guys would come within twenty yards of our boats, even when they had room to be a quarter mile out.  People like that are either inherently evil; or at an early age, God underfunded their mental development.  In the latter case , I forgive them.   In any case we were all sore and cranky the next day.

The Tournament

Thirteen people averaged three fish and 5.82 pounds per rod.  If we could have felt the bite, it would have been higher on both metrics.  Bob Hardy beat Victor by a wide margin and he and Victor were the only two to cull fish.  Bob has now beaten Victor five of their last six outings.  At Clear Lake Bob was Vic's non-boater and topped him four out of five days.  Bob asked me to be sure to point this out in the newsletter. 

Mike Stern was third with four fish that weighed 7lbs 9oz.  Our new perspective member, Phil Haines, caught the Big Fish at 5lbs 7.5oz.  He caught two fish in total which is very good for someone relatively new to Bass Fishing; exceptional in these tough conditions.

Baits/Methods

To my knowledge only one reaction fish was caught.  Don Perez caught a blade fish.  Other than that it was all drop shots.

07/08 Final Standings

Victor won AOY for the fifth year in a row.  He fished eleven tournaments and weighed 53 fish for 102 pounds.  Last year he caught 59 fish for 112 pounds.  Victor is slipping fast.  Danny Payne was second with 49 fish for 94 plus pounds.  The top non-boater was James Lara with 81 pounds.  Mike Robinett had the heaviest stringer.  He caught 13lbs 15oz at Castaic in July.  More on Mike Robinett later.  Mike Stern had the biggest fish of the year, a 6lb 2oz Lopez lunker.

Overall we had a good year, not as good as last year but better than most.  Participation was slightly ahead of last year.  The following data tells the story.

                                                                       04/05                    05/06             06/07         07/08  

Total Weight                                            701lbs                  555lbs            906lbs        801lbs

Total Tournament-All Members       123                       100                  119            125

Avg Wt/Tournament/Member        5.69lbs                5.5lbs              7.61lbs       6.41lbs

# Fish Caught                                                 NA                     323                 521             478

Avg # Fish/Tournament/lMember      NA                     3.23               4.38             3.82

Top Eight Tournament

This tournament will be at a mystery lake to be announced a couple days before launch dates (9/20 & 9/21).  The club will add roughly $600 in prize money.  You can see by the attached standings who qualified.  If you qualified but can't participate, please notify Mike Robinett as soon as possible.

Mike Robinett Training Program

Mike Robinett is one of the few guys who could challenge Victor for AOY.  His problem is that he misses too many (5 this year) tournaments.  All of this because of very soft reasons (i.e. birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, etc).  Mike needs special training.  I propose that we send him to the Snell institute  of Selfishness and Self-Centeredness.  Tuition is $1000 per month; less than Harvard and you can learn so much more.  For those non members reading this on the Internet, don't be put off by the cost.  This school is designed for those with the highest moral standards.  If your moral compass is normal, you can learn enough just by being around me for a year.  If you don't believe me, you can ask Vic.  You will never be a great Bass Man without these skills.  For the average person, this is a much needed added benefit of joining our club.

See you at our next meeting on September 3 at Larry's Pizza in Fullerton, 7:00 PM-8:00 PM.  Join now to become a great Bass Man.  Your family will love you for it.  It will strengthen your marriage.

Ed Snell                           

Here is a real Black Bass.  This Bass was caught at Castaic in July.  The fish was intirely black except for a little white in the gill area.