DBC Fall
Finale
Putting the
wraps on DBC’s Fall Season; 32 teams showed for what turned out to be a
wonderful day on beautiful Lake Sidney. And
it was undoubtely good for the handful of teams who found cooperating fish. It
appeared there was a pattern working to nearly everyone’s liking.
However,
it was Phil Gaddy and alternate
partner Eric Hoffman that impressed
the crowd with their December shallow water bite.
Working in harmony up the Hooch, they combined Bill Norman crank baits,
Husky jerk-baits, and green pumpkin creepy crawlers while combing the 3-5 ft
depths and culling through over 25 keepers to produce a mixed bag limit of
spots & LM weighing 16.25. Eric
had command of the creepy crawler and produced the tournament’s big
bass, a LIP weighing 4.35 lbs.
Grinning ear to ear, Phil noted that this one was a long time coming.
But he and his son Shane are no strangers to success on Lanier, for it
was this duo that captured our first St Jude “T” title in 2003.
Congratulations,
Phil and Eric on an excellent Lanier win!
Capturing
second on his own (with a tip from
Roger Landress), Steve Hicks culled through a few three-pound spots to produce a
limit pressing the scales to 15.42.
Steve relied on the late fall pattern of finding bait in the creek
channels and spooning them up. He
has a lot of confidence in the 1oz. Hopkins spoon and buys them by the case.
Steve noted that all his fish came out of 42’ of water, as he would
track them on the electronics by locating pods of bait that appeared to have
fish underneath them. His
showing left the club wondering what kind of spoon spanking they would have
received with the presence of partner Josh Petty….Steve was confident it
would have been significantly better.
Steve’s
solo effort propelled him and Josh from third to first in the season
standings, to gain them the honorary title as the fall season’s Point
Champions.
Hats
off to Steve and Josh on a fine performance this entire fall season!
Third
place went to Roger
Landress and Ken Stone, who
fished their way right into the Classic.
Their finish moved them all the way from 19th to 9th
in the standings and earned them their first Classic berth.
Roger and Ken worked one small creek all day on the south end, casting ½
& ¾ oz. spoons into schooling fish and working depths from 30-40 ft to
produce a limit weighing a respectable 14.95.
Roger noted that he and Ken saw much larger fish in the area, but the smaller
3-1/2 pound spots would always beat them to the bait.
And now that he and Ken fished the little ones out the way, they will
be back there to catch the magnums during the up-coming Classic.
The
forth position went to father and
son team Bill Booth and Bill
Booth Sr.; this duo produced a limit to weigh 12.59.
These guys started the day at a disadvantage as they had a flat and arrived
after the blast-off, however recovered nicely – one can only wonder what the
entire day’s fishing results would have produced.
Bill and his dad worked a drop-shot rig into 25 ft brush-piles early in
the day and then switched to shallow water jerk-baits later in the day.
Albert
Little and alternate William
Wilson took fifth place with 5
pressing club scales 11.19.
Albert’s regular partner David McAdams has been recovering from knee
surgery and everyone is wishing David a speedy return, as the club is lacking
someone to rag on…that’s another story.
Albert
and William’s pattern was no different, working a ¾ oz spoon in the 30-35
ft depths on the lower end of the lake.
Winning
Patterns:
As noted, the spoon bite appeared to be the predominate pattern.
No surprise --- located the bait and you have located the fish.
There are good fish yet to be caught shallow in the backs of deepwater
pockets. Look for those wind
blown pockets and again locate the bait.
This pattern should hold, as the weather remains steady.
Lanier is at its best this time of year, so get out and go play with
the magnums for the next several weeks.
Weather
Conditions: Perfect
fishing conditions, light southeasterly winds blew, with periods of sun and
clouds. The low in the morning
was 40 degrees and pleasant 55 later in the afternoon.
The water temps are holding 57 to 58 degrees north and south.
Creeks and rivers have light a stain with the lake at or near full
pool.
Looking
ahead:
DBC Org meeting is Tuesday December 7 at BPS @ 7:00 PM.
New teams interested in joining are encouraged to attend.
The next opportunity to join will be at our next regular meeting
Tuesday January 11th providing there are openings available at the
time.
April
2nd 2005,
the Southeastern Open Bass Tournament to Benefit the St Jude Children’s
Hospital promises to be bigger and better than ever. Entries are already being
received, don’t miss out.
Lake
Lanier Tournament Scenes
December 5, 2004
Professionally
printed and framed images available upon request.
8"
X 10" - $8.00 each
5"
X 7" - $6.00 each
4"
X 6" $1.00 Unframed
Profits
go into the club's general fund. Send request to: duluthbass@duluthbass.com
Click
images for larger view
Second - Steve Hicks aided by Art White.
Third - Ken Stone / Roger Landress
Forth - Bill Booth / Bill Booth Sr.
In case you missed it - mornings awesome sunrise.
