John Buck
jbuck@hook1.com




Total Fish Caught
Lake Seminole

43

Total Dead Fish
Lake Seminole

1

Total Fish Weight
Lake Seminole

87.65 lbs.

Total Fish Caught
For Year

290

Total Dead Fish
For Year

1

Total Fish Weight

For Year

457.60 lbs.

TOP 3
#1 Brian Metcalf
#2 Rich Cornelius
#3 Mike Tyson
Big Fish Saturday
Mike Tyson
4.15 lbs.
Big Fish
Sunday
Mike Tyson
4.55 lbs.



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"John's Club Report"
Covering the Pensacola Hawg Hunters
Lake Seminole
State Park Landing

March 18-19, 2000

March tournaments, the time for the Wind and the Lion. That pretty well says it for the fishing conditions the Hawg Hunters faced at Lake Seminole. We had 24 members fishing the tournament and Ol’ Lake Seminole show us all just how tough and rough it can get. Any time you fish a tournament on a large reservoir in the South in March, you are taking a big chance on the weather. Catch it right and you can load the boat, but catch it bad and the fishing’s tough and the weather dangerous.

My partner Dwayne "Gunney" Mills and I headed out on Saturday morning to a flat near the Coast Guard station to try or luck with top water lures early then move to the nearby ledges as the sun cam up. We were on of the first boats there as we started working our way toward the dam area. Before we could get that far, no less than 5 other boats from other tournaments jumped in ahead of us. We continued to try to make something bite until about 8 AM without any luck. From there we worked some spots up the Hooch but still didn’t manage anything. We returned around mid day to four-foot ditch and as the afternoon approached managed to catch a couple of bass and missed several others in the grass. We felt confident that we had something at least to start with on Sunday.

Now it was not too windy or rough in the "ditch", but when we ran out to the main lake it was choppy and rough. The wind had been blowing for several hours about 15-20 from the east. As we
rounded the point near the Indian mound we hit 3 foot waves and rollers coming down the Flint. We only had a mile or so to go to the launch at Chattahoochee so we just quartered them all the way in. It was rough, very rough, and you had to be careful not to get swamped or take a wave over the bow.

At the end of the first day, four or five guys came in with some nice fish. Brian Metcalf, Rich Cornelius, Little Rock Renner, Mike Tyson, and Jim Bailey Jr. Tyson did it again. He took the first day lunker honors. He caught the lunker last month also.
2 in a row....way to go Mike. No one was really saying much at the scales and lips were pretty tight around the rooms as fish were hard to come by and not too many guys had found anything to brag about.

The tournament chairman wisely decided to change our weigh-in and launch site for day 2 to the 3 Rivers area due to the forecast of severe thunderstorms and high winds 25+ mph from the south.

This move suited Gunney and me just fine as we were only a short run straight across from the ditch. The chop was rough as we took off on Sunday morning but in the ditch it was nice.
The fish we had the evening before had decided that the weather was too rough for them and they went on vacation. After a series of heavy rain squalls and high wind blasts, Ole Seminole showed its strength. Due to the storms between us and the shore we couldn’t even see the other side of the lake where we had to return for the weigh-in. So we decide to just keep on fishing where we were and wait for a break in the storm. About 11 am we found some fish on the outside of the ditch and they were hitting worms pretty good. We each caught several bass and several trash fish. Then we had a short break in the weather and decided to make a run for it. We did ok until we took a big one over the bow. Gortex rainsuits do work. Even with the wall of water I stayed dry., but the boat had about 8 inches of water in the bottom. After what seemed like an eternity of white Knuckled driving we made it back to the launch area where we had protection. We fished the grass areas there and ol’ Gunney
caught a nice 3 lber. I really enjoyed fishing with Gunney and if you guys haven’t had the chance to fish with him, give him a call. He’s an excellent fisherman and a great guy to have for a partner

Folks, that was about as rough of water as I have ever tried to fish in, and I won’t play that game again if I can avoid it. Fortunately all the Hawg Hunters returned safely from truly dangerous conditions. At the weigh-in it came down to Metcalf, "club-foot" Renner, Cornelius, and Tyson. Those four found the fish again on Sunday. Brian Metcalf finished in 1st place with 8 bass weighing 14 lbs. and Rich Cornelius finished in 2nd with 5 fish for 13.45 lbs. Mike Tyson was 3rd weighing in 3 bass for 9.7 lbs and -----yup, you guessed it the lunker AGAIN......3 times in a row!!!!
Somebody needs to break the worm gear in his reels and slow him down a bit. Way to go Mike!!!!!! Renner came up a few ounces short of 3rd place but easily captured the 4th spot with 7.7
lbs. Brian said that they caught most of their fish on worms while Rich Cornelius said that their fish came off pop R’s. No matter what they were caught on the fish sure looked great.
The tournament results are listed below.

The Five Flags Bass Club has re-started the "Tournament of Champions" and we have a 6 man team entered. They will be fishing out of Live Oak on the Tensaw River on April 15th. It’s nice to see the tournament revived. Good luck to the "Top Six" Hawg Hunters Team. This years members are Fred Raby, John Buck, Dave Dyess, Neil Springstead, Jere Jailette, and
Lee Brannon. Good Luck fellas!!!!

Our April tournament is a 2-day affair. It will be held at Lake Martin, out of Wind Creek State Park, near Alexander City , Alabama. Martin is a beautiful lake and in past years we have done well there. Until next month.....

Keep Your Hooks Sharp....

Creek Chub

Angler Fish Caught Weight
Brian Metcalf 8 14.00
Rich Cornelius 5 13.45
Mike Tyson 3 9.70
Rich Renner 4 7.70
Jim Bailey Jr. 4 6.75
Dwayne Mills 2 5.45
John Buck 3 4.45
Mack Cramer 2 4.00
Lee Brannon 2 3.75
Dave Dyess 2 3.05
Neil Springstead 1 2.75
Cliff Armstrong 1 2.50
Paul Sullivan 1 2.20
Randy Cole 1 1.90
Wally Cassiano 1 1.60
Bob Hanson 1 1.55
Jack Maher 1 1.55
Jim Bailey Sr. 1 1.30
Fred Raby 0 0
John Schaeff 0 0
Kevin Simmons 0 0
Jeff Weaver 0 0


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