John Buck
jbuck@hook1.com

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Total Fish Caught
Escambia River
40

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Total Dead Fish
Escambia River
0

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Total Fish Weight
Escambia River
50.95lbs.

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Total Fish Caught
For Year
83

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Total Dead Fish
For Year
0

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Total Fish Weight
For Year
116.05 lbs.

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hook1.com

"John's Club Report"
Covering the Pensacola Hawg Hunters

Escambia River
Swamphouse Landing
December 18, 1999

With a cold front approaching and Christmas just around the corner, the Hawg Hunters set out on their search for the "one" bass that lives in the Escambia River. This proved to be quite easy for some and totally impossible for others.

Expectations were high to say the least for my partner, Fred Raby and myself as we launched the boat in the early morning darkness. Both of us were looking forward to this with a lot of excitement as we had not fished together in a tournament for a number of years. Adding to that was the fact that both of us had found quality fish while pre-fishing for the tournament. We soon found out that confidence, although great and really helpful, can get in your way.

Our plan was to fish our way up stream to the areas where we had found fish. We stopped at several spots on the way up river but only managed a few hits and a warmouth.
Looking back, we should have fished those places a little harder because the fish were probably there all along. We followed this pattern for most of the day and never boated a keeper fish. Finally we arrived at the "prime areas" only NOT to get the bites we expected. Around mid day the front arrived with tons of rain which kept the bilge pumping for most of the afternoon. At least we did have good rain suits...

About the only thing really positive about our trip was the fun that two good friends enjoy while fishing together. Both of us kept each other in good spirits with plenty of verbal jabs and jokes, and stories. Fishing was a bust for us but the day wasn’t. It’s always fun to go fishing with a close friend and fishing buddy.

While Fred and I fished in vain, other Hawg Hunters found the mark. In fact 20 others weighed in fish! From the stories at the weigh-in, fish were caught in the delta areas as well as up river in the creeks and sloughs. Coming to the scales in 1st place was Rich Cornelius with 5 fish that weighed 5.65 lbs. I think he caught most of his up river in sloughs and creeks. Mitch Gardner spent most of his time in the grass and rode in with 5 fish that weighed 5.30 lbs to take 2nd place honors, and Brian Metcalf (fished both up and down river) had 4 fish weighing 4.95 lbs to capture 3rd place. All total, 20 fishermen weighed in 40 bass for a total weight of 50.95 lbs. From the stories around the dock, most fish were caught on worms and a few were taken on spinner baits and crank baits.

Next month we will fish out of Mizells on the Tensaw delta.. Maybe we’ll catch some "millennium bass"!!!


Til next YEAR!!!.... Keep your hooks sharp.......

Creek Chub

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