"Fred's Club Report"
Covering The Panhandle Bass Club
Email fpraby@cox.net

Panhandle bass club fished Saturday out of Fort Stoddard on the Tombigbee River. We found the water high and muddy, however it had fallen a good six feet last week. We had thirteen members looking for mister BASS.

Blast off was about 5:20 a. m. and boats headed in all directions, reports came from the Tombigbee, Middle River, Tensaw Lake, Alabama River and Mifflin along with otheres.

I fished with Walter McCartney and we went to Tensaw Lake along with several otheres. We found fish early on jigs in 8-12 feet of water, unfortunately most of them were small. We continued to work areas of the upper Tensaw and found only small bass, we did see several other club members and their luck was no different. About noon we decided to go north up the Alabama. It was a long run from Tensaw Lake but we needed some fish in the boat. As we approached my secret spot we saw a boat from one of the numerous other tournaments sitting on it. We continued up the Alabama to hole #2 and started fishing. Walter immediately hooked up with a nice 2 ½ pounder. We worked on up the river and caught some more small fish then I hooked up on a jig with my only keeper for the day. We saw Wayne Cox up there, he only had one also but had traveled further than we had. After the long run and a 2:00 p. m. weigh in we were out of time and headed to the landing.

We found a lot of long faces and not many fish. There were many 1 and 2 fish stringers, and one limit. Rich Cornelius brought in a limit weighing in at 14.76. Billy Blackwell had 4 for 5.79 pounds and second place, and Wayne Thomley finished third with 2 at 5.26 including a 4.08 lunker.

Our June tournament held out of Hubbards Landing on the Upper Tensaw river included 16 members and 5 guests. We found the water moving in as high tide was just after midday. I ran south passing two other tournaments all looking for the same spots to catch fish. We found fish in shallow water on buzz baits and continued that pattern all day. Keepers were few and far between, at least the ones I could put in the boat. I lost several fish in heavy cover.

At weigh in we found 19 fishermen with fish, most with one or two but as usual a few found their limit. Tony Boyette was third with 6 fish 9.40 #, Richie Cornelius was second 7 fish 11.8 # and Larry Foshee won with 7 fish 12.74 # and lunker at 4.84#.

Keep Your Line Wet!!
Fred