The
October tournament was held on the Apalachicola River. We had 18
members fishing. This was a special tournament in that it was also the
end of the year fish-off tournament. The standings were tight
in the top six and this tournament would determine the final places,
and also the fisherman of the year. We had blue bird skies and
cool temps and the water temp varied from mid 60s to around 72
depending on where you fished. Heavy rains a few days earlier made for
strong currents in places and some muddy water in the main river.
Clear water could be found in many creeks and in Wimico.
Roger
Helm and I drew out as partners. We had never fished together
before and both of us looked forward to a fun weekend. Roger had
been scouting there for a few days and so he had some ideas when we
started practicing on Friday. We found fish in 3 or 4 different
places and we just had to decide which would be best for us.
On
Saturday we started out in the lower delta and fished some runs that
were ripping with current. We needed at least a ½ ounce sinker to
get the baits down. We managed several fish there but not what we
wanted, so around 8 am we headed to our second spot. At that time
he had 3 keepers and I had 2. We ran to a small creek off the St.
Marks River and we found them stacked up really good. The only
problem was that they were mostly small. Over the day Roger must
have boated over 45 fish and I probably boated over 25. We
each culled several and had a great day fishing together. Near
the time to leave we found a bank that was stacked with 2-3 lb
fish. We knew that would be our starting place for Sunday.
We caught fish on mostly worms (junebug) with heavy weights cause the
current was strong everywhere we fished.
At the Saturday weigh
in Don Jahnke came in with a nice limit @ 11.21 lbs for 1st place day
one, Terry Smith was 2nd with a limit @ 10.60, Mack Cramer was 3rd @
9.57, Roger Helm was 4th @ 9.40, Dan Nash was 5th @ 8.81, John Buck was
6th @8.58, Dave Dyess was 7th @ 8.23, 8th was Lee Brannon @ 7.50, Jeff
Weaver was 9th @ 7.05, and Kevin Simmons was 10th @ 5.93.
Everyone had fish to weigh in and all had a good day on the
water. The fish really bit well for all but mostly the bite
was small fish. Terry Smith brought in the lunker @4.29
lbs. Most fish were caught on worms and spinner baits and top
water lures. The stage was set for a showdown for the fisherman
of the year honors and with one day left it was still a toss up.
Back
at the motel we had our annual Presidents Dinner and as usual Dave
really did it right! We had great porterhouse steaks, baked
potatoes, salad, and dessert. Wow what a feast!!! The
steaks were really great and all ate their fill. We had a great
time sitting around together and telling lies and stories. I want to
say a special Thank You to Dave for putting it all together again and
also a special Thank You to everyone there because when it came time
for set up and clean up EVERYONE pitched in and helped get it done.
As
the sun rose on Sunday, everyone was poised to chase the bass again in
hopes of that great bite we had on Saturday. Roger and I really
thought we had the ticket because we had found quality fish stacked in
creek bends late Saturday afternoon. We headed straight there
only to find that overnight the creek had turned to chocolate milk and
the bite was gone. We then headed for our back up spot and we
started catching fish immediately but not like the day before. We
caught maybe 30 fish on Sunday and, as before, Roger caught 3 to my
one. Each of us wound up with only 4 keepers to show for our
efforts. Even though we were disappointed with the results we
found we had a great time again fishing together. He really taught me
several lessons in flipping the grass.
At the weigh in on Sunday
there were some long faces and only a few smiles too. Most of the
guys did not do as well as the day before but several still held strong
and finished well. The second day order was as follows. Dave
Dyess @ 8.80 lbs, 2nd Don Jahnke @ 8.35 lbs, 3rd Dan Nash @ 4.60
lbs, 4th Roger Helm @ 4.57 lbs, 5th John Buck @ 4.45 lbs, 6th Dave Bock
@ 4.41 lbs, 7th Steve Meadows @ 3.79 lbs, 8th Kevin Simmons @3.75 lbs,
9th Terry Smith @ 3.69 lbs, 10th Ron Bridges @3.30 lbs. Then
lunker was caught by Don Jahnke @ 2.34 lbs. Once again most of
the fish came on spinner baits, worms and top water baits. A quick look
at the two days shows how much the bite stopped on the second day.
The
final results for the tournament (monthly) are: 1st Place Don Jahnke
@19.56 lbs, 2nd Dave Dyess 2 17.03 lbs, 3rd Terry Smith @14.29 lbs, and
4th Roger Helm @13.97 lbs. Congratulations guys!!!
The finals for the Fish-Off are as follows:
1. Don Jahnke 19.56
2. Dave Dyess 17.03
3. Terry Smith 14.29
4. Dan Nash 13.41
5. John Buck 13.03
6. Mack Cramer 11.97
7. Kevin Simmons 9.6
8. Lee Brannon 9.39
9. Jeff Weaver 9.09
10. Steve Meadows 7.85
After
all was totaled Mack Cramer won the Fisherman of the Year title.
Congratulations Mack of a great tournament year!! The top six
are as follows:
1. Mack Cramer 207 pts.
2. John Buck 204 pts.
3. Jeff Weaver 199 pts
4. Dave Dyess 198 pts.
5. Buddy Yates 184 pts.
6. Lee Brannon 180 pts.
Congratulations to the Top Six!
November
starts our new tournament season so now is the time to get a good
start. Make your plans to attend the meeting and fish the
tournament. It will be at Millers Ferry and that is a great place
for November!
As we end the tournament season I want to
say a special THANK YOU to Jim Bailey for all of his efforts to make
this website available and for his efforts to make it such a good site
to visit. Thank You to all the out-going members of the eboard
for a job well done. And of course a thanks to all the members of the
Hawg Hunters Bass Club who make this such a great club!
Until next
time. Keep your hooks sharp!
John
|