Ivan Changes Club
Plans
On Sunday September 19th
Duluth Bass Club slated Weiss for
the first time in club history, but instead fished Sinclair.
Tournament officials elected to move the venue, due to threats/remnants
of Hurricane Ivan. The decision was made mid-week prior in order to give anglers
plenty of time to prepare. So,
not only did Ivan wreck havoc the eastern United States but washed away
significant pre-fishing efforts. Anglers
seemed pleasantly content with the decision, as conditions on Weiss rapidly
deteriorated from receiving massive amounts of rains in a short period.
According to Club President, Jay Donohue, also a member of the safety
committee; “trading the unfamiliar for the familiar was the right move and
made for a more enjoyable tournament.”
The
decision actually improved club participation. Three extra teams decided to
come along including one guest team, for a total of 35 two-man teams tied to
the docks Little River Ramp prior to the blast off.
As a whole, tournament results were below average as high pressure
settled on the region. The club
weighed and released 75 bass with an average weight of 1.51, for total creel
weight of 113.73 pounds. And of
the 35 teams, seven limits were caught.
Two guys on roll, Bert
Nagy and Art Harris took Sunday’s Tournament
Honors, giving them impressive back-to-back wins. Bert and Art’s five fish limit pressed the scales to 11.09.
Bert solidified their catch by capturing the tournament’s big bass
weighing 4.43 on a Bandit 300, white/purple back. In addition, a large portion of their catch was caught on a
jointed Shadrap in the murky waters up Little River.
Congratulations
Bert and Art
on another fine tournament win --- two out of three is pretty darn good!
Second
place finishers were Steve Hicks
and Josh Petty with a solid limit
of Sinclair keeper weighing 9.55
Steve and Josh reveled how they quickly caught several keepers early in the
day on ¼ and ½ oz rattle traps in blue back color.
Steve noted they culled 4 fish during the days outing.
Third
place went to Gene
Hacker and James Eason with
their limit of 8.34. For a
change-up; Gene noted a buzz-bait was their early morning producer; however
the SB came through for a few keepers by days end.
The forth place position went out to Eddie Krauth and Bryan
Ashworth with a limit of keepers weighing 6.94. Eddie & Bryan
were adamant explaining their single bait pattern, a finesse GP worm working
the shallow cover depths. These guys recently joined the club and have shown
consistent improving results. A
new team to watch.
Father and son team Michael
and Brandon Thomas rode home with the fifth place honors with their limit of 6.50. Brandon shared a
hodge-podge of baits for their patterns, a finesse worm in June Bug,
crank-baits, and a jig bite working the tight/heavy cover in the shallow
depths.
Weather
Conditions: Beautiful late summer’s day, clear blue skies, high around
78, with NE winds 10 to 15 mph. Water
surface temps ranged from 78 to 81 degrees.
The lower lake was moderately stained, while Oconee and Little River
arms of Sinclair were heavily stained to muddy.
Special
Thanks: To everyone for help make the transition from Weiss to
Sinclair smooth with out hitch. And,
once again big special thanks to Tom’s Foods for making readily available
plenty of crackers, peanuts, and other various snacks to get anglers energy
levels up.
Looking
Ahead:
DBC’s forth tournament of the 2004 Fall Season is on Eufaula, a two-day
event. Being held October 16th and 17th. The
club meeting is the Tuesday before, October 12th.
Team registration begins at 6:15 PM, meeting starts promptly at 7:00
PM.
