~ Tournament Winner ~ Fred Raby 15.30 lbs

~ Tournament Big Fish ~ Fred Raby 3.20 lbs.

Also Fished
Cliff Armstrong , Jim Bailey Sr , Wally Cassiano

~ Miller's Ferry ~

The Hawg Hunters headed for Miller's Ferry for the annual "Fish-off" tournament and this year it really was a fish-off event as each of the "Top Six" spots for the year were up for grabs. The weather was absolutely great with water color ranging from medium clear to heavy stain depending on where you fished. The air temps were pleasant ranging from 50-70 each day. Water surface temp was in the upper 70's to mid 80's and the skies were partly cloudy.

Pistol Pete Potter was my partner for the weekend. I knew that Pete was one of the best guides in the club and with "the ferry" as one of his hot spots my confidence was riding high. Pete and I managed to find fish in numerous place on the practice day and Pete was the one who caught the most. However on the 1st day of the tourney, he let me have the catching honors and I was able to boat 4 small bass and he brought in 1. We found our best fish along deep banks on the main river with crank baits in shad colors. We fished really hard but could not put a good bite together.

At the weigh-in, we found that several hawgs had found god bites. Brian Metcalf and his partner Lee Brannon had locked through and found fish several miles below the dam. He had a nice limit and Lee had a nice bunch also. They caught most of their fish on crank baits and spinners. Not to be out done, Fred Raby and his partner "Big Fish" Bob Hanson brought some nice spots to the scales. They caught their fish in a creek just above the dam slow rolling spinner baits over laydowns. The lunker honors were shared between Terry Smith and Brian Metcalf as each had a fish that weighed 3.5 lbs. There were several others that brought nice fish to the scales making my small creel really tiny!

After the weigh in chief Fry Cook Mac Cramer showed off his professional cooking skills once again. This time he grilled steaks for everyone. Outback ain't got nothing on him!!!
Baked beans, potato salad, steak, your favorite beverage, and your fishing buddies….guys it don't get much better than that…..well you know what I mean.

Day 2 rolled around and I was snakebit all day. Where I caught 'em the day before, Pete caught Sunday. Hit after hit came up short or missed. It's really funny how things reverse sometimes from day to day. Pete was really a great partner and kept encouraging me, all the while he was catching fish! The final kicker came when I missed a heavy fish on a point near the end of the day only to have "Mad Dog" Raby to pull up behind us and catch the fish, a 3.85 lb. lunker for day two, and it was the kicker he needed to grab 1st place honors for the tournament. Still it beats being at work! Pete managed to pull out 3 keepers on crank bait and worms throughout the day. Each of us finished the tournament with 4 keepers. I managed 8th place and Pete was 9th. Brian Metcalf and Lee locked through again and once again brought nice spots to the scales. Jeff Weaver had a really nice spot about 3.5lbs for about 5 minutes at the scales but it didn't count because of the penalty assessed for bringing in a short fish…sorry Jeff. Brian Metcalf was chasing me for the club championship for the past several months. He came on strong by winning in September and by catching nice bags of fish each day in this event to overcome my lead and take Club Champion honors for the 3rd straight year, a feat that has never been done since the club was founded over 25 years ago. Congratulations to you Brian, you did what it took to get there in style!

Capturing 1st place in the "fish off" was Fred Raby with 7 fish weighing 14.65 lbs. Brian was 2nd with 9 fish weighing 14.35 lbs and Lee Brannon was 3rd with 6 fish weighing 8.85 lbs.

Congratulations to the "Top Six " fishermen of the year…1st Brian Metcalf, 2nd John Buck, 3rd Rich Cornelius, 4th Mac Cramer, 5th Fred Raby, and 6th Neil Springstead. These guys worked hard to get to these places.

I would like to say a special "thank you" to Jim Bailey Sr. for allowing me to write the monthly report and for all his efforts to help our club with the website. I know that I speak for all of us Jim....
"Thanks Again".

November starts the new fishing year for us. Make your plans to participate as much as possible to stay "in the hunt". Our November tournament will be on the Tensaw River out of Cliff's Landing. See ya'll there!

‘Til next time. *Keep your hooks sharp!

Creek Chub