Fish River was the site for our February tournament. It is a small coastal river about 35 miles from Pensacola. The day was rainy with many small waves of wind and rain and also a lot of steady drizzle. This was in front of severe weather that was to arrive around 4 PM. The temperature remained steady most of the day in the mid 60's. Water temps in the main river was about 63, which is quite warm for this time of the year. We had an incoming tide for the day. We had 20 members fishing and two guests.

My partner for the day was Don Jahnke. Don and I had not fished together in over 10 years and I was really looking forward to fishing with him again. We started out early in the lower delta on main river sawgrass banks. Don managed one small bass on a buzz bait, and I never got a bite. We moved up river to a creek and neither of us found even a nibble. Then, we ran up river a shore ways to a deeper bank that I have found fish on the previous week. Immediately I hooked up with a nice red fish, then and nice speckled trout, then a crab, and then a flounder. While I am catching the saltwater stuff, Don put 2 nice keeper bass in the boat. We then moved up to a small cove, and Don put another keeper in the boat. We then fished several banks before returning to the deep bank. Finally at 11:45 I got my first for sure bite and boated a keeper. We continued to fish that bank and a couple of other banks nearby for the rest of the day, and I managed to find a small limit but Don could not get another keeper. All of our keepers came on red shad worms near the drop ledge usually in about 4 feet dropping to 7-20 feet. I really enjoyed fishing in Don's boat it was very roomy and comfortable and Don is a great partner. He is one of the best guys to fish with for sure. I really had a fun day sharing tales on the water and even caught a few fish.

At the weigh-in time the skies decided it was time to turn loose, and we had a downpour of flood proportions. The wind gusted over 25 mph, and even under a bridge it was difficult to stay dry. At least the fishing day was over and the severe weather held off long enough for us to end the tournament. We had a lot of fish, and a lot of rain soaked fishermen at the weigh-in. Mack Cramer took first place with a great bag weighing 13.86 lbs. Mack also reclaimed his former title of Mr. Booray by bringing a beautiful 6.18 lb hawg to the scales for the lunker. I took 2^nd place with 5 fish @ 8.40 lbs. 3^rd place went to Buddy Yates with 5 fish @ 7.59 lbs.
4^th place was Lee Brannon with 4 fish @ 5.85 lbs. Most fish were caught on worms in junebug watermelon seed, green pumpkin,
or red shad colors. Mack Cramer said he got most of his on a buzz bait early in the day.

There were no major mishaps except that Tony had some battery problems and could not make it back in time for the weigh-in.
Even though Tony and his partner did not make it back for the weigh-in we are thankful that they were safe and
returned before the severe weather hit.

Next month our tournament is a 2 day tournament. It will be at Lake Seminole, and it promises to be a great time for all who fish. Most guys will need a Georgia license to fish many areas of the lake so do not forget to get a Georgia license before you go.
We will have a cook out on Saturday which is provided by the club, and that is always fun too. For the past several years we have really have good tournaments in March on Seminole. Make your arrangements now to fish and enjoy the fun and fellowship!
The rooms are already reserved, and we will have a great time there.
Hope to see everyone at the meeting! Until next time....

Keep your hooks sharp!

John