This
past weekend’s trip to Lake Russell
for the Duluth Bass Club became
more than a fishing tournament, but rather more like major R&R and a
social event, as some club anglers poured into Elbert County Friday to settle
in at the Lazy L Hunting and Fishing Lodge.
Ultimately, 17 of the 39 teams competing called the Lazy-L home
this weekend, for some by design pre-fishing fun and club camaraderie.
Over the years, the club has found the Lazy L a perfect place to
kickback and relax with it’s feel at home rustic setting that’s just a
hop, skip and a jump to the pond. There you can find many of the comforts of home, minus the
distractions, such as a phone. There
are no mints on your pillow however; Jerry
& Becky owners are excellent hosts when it comes providing the perfect
setting for the medium sized gathering.
When
the things are favorable a tournament becomes a good example of the club’s
core values, where fishing becomes the icing on the cake. Sharing food, drink, stories, and or ajust right out lie
telling makes laughter among friends to spell out “relaxing weekend.”
Saturday morning found some opting out of pre-fishing, just to sit on a
porch with a second cup of coffee. Saturday
afternoon found Benny Arrowood joining the club to fire off the big grill and
cook Rib-eye steaks to everyone’s perfection.
Everyone got more than their fill with all the trimmings and dessert.
After dinner, the front porch easy chair ramblings continued into the
night, despite the early morning wake up call.
Two
big conversation pieces this weekend were the Bassmaster Classic boats,
brought by Gene Hacker and David McAdams.
Certainly, a Triton TR21X
with a massive Mercury 250 Verado
hanging off the back is a true topic of discussion; motors standing 7’ tall
from keel to cowl makes the 21X’s look small.
Standing next to your standard 200 outboard, the Verado makes it look
like a 25 HP. Needless to say;
Too numerous to mention, the weekend events left memories to be remembered
long afterwards.
What
really helped set this weekend apart was the non-typical weather that
sanctified the weekend. No dog
days this August weekend, felt more like early October. Windbreakers, sweatpants were the morning blast-off attire.
Seldom do you ever talk about a cold front affecting August fishing,
but one did Sunday. While Atlanta
basked in sunshine, Lake Russell was shocked from the remnants of Hurricane
Charlie and the passing of a severe cold front. Winds blew east, northeast 10
to 15 mph all day and the results were evident at the weigh-in.
Everything
fell into place with the exception of the fishing, for it was less than
spectacular. For those that made
a weekend out it, they didn’t care. However,
here is meat of the matter and the tournament results.
The tournament saw six limits brought to the scales.
With a mix of largemouth, spotted, and Coosa bass, the club as a whole
weighed 96 fish. The average
weight per fish was 1.384 pounds each for tournament total of 132.87 pounds.
Of the 39 teams, only two bass exceeded the 3-pound mark.
Blame it on the weather, LOL.
Overcoming
the obstacles and the conditions; Bert
Nagy and Art Harris laid claim
to tournament honors with 4 fish
that pressed the scales to 9.21.
Bert noted their fish fell victim to crank-baits and GP worms on a T-Rig.
Bert – Art have been solid performers during the past year and this
win punctuates all the recent hard work and effort.
Great Job guys!
Second
Place:
Joe Yurina and alternate Benny
Arrowood brought 4 keepers to the scales weighing 7.80.
Joe noted; “we had an early morning spook jr. bite and a late day C-rig bite
on GP finesse to garner the catch”. “Making
the normal milk-run produced a keeper fish about every 10-12 miles over the
course of the day” said Joe, “Guess we needed to run more”.
Third
Place:
Gene Hacker – James
Eason fishing out of Gene’s new Triton “Classic
Rig” with the 250-HP 4-stroke Verado garnered 3rd place with
a 5 bass limit weighing 7.28.
Gene noted all their fish came off spinnerbaits and crank-baits
covering a lot of water. In
addition he noted, “James was playing with all the gadgets and switches on
the boat throughout the day which minimized his fishing time and probably cost
us a better finish and I didn’t help the situation by losing a big fish
right beside the boat early in the morning”.
Fourth
Place: Rick Morris – Michael
Thornton caught 3rd place weight, however a dead fish penalty
bumped them to 4th with their 4 bass sack weighing 7.25.
Rick also caught the Big Bass
of the tourney, a 3.74 lb’er
which was caught on a Chrome/Blue Chug Bug. The remainder of their catch came
off a C-Rig on watermelon candy 6” lizard probing the brush-piles in deeper
water
Fifth
Place: David “Mac” McAdams – Albert
Little squeaked out a 5 bass limit weighing 6.53 caught early on buzz-bait and flukes. “Mac” - not to be outdone by Gene also was sporting a new Triton
“Classic Rig” with the huge
4-stroke Merc attached. Mac
noted; “I have to be real careful because I get confused in the dark as the
only difference between these classic rigs is the color and Gene don’t like
me getting into his boat”.
Fish
Patterns – Friday
and Saturday fishing was excellent. Reports
echoed of quantities of fish being caught on every pattern imaginable.
However, predominate pattern was fish holding very tight to cover in
depths from 15 to 20 feet on main lake points and humps.
Carolina Rig worms were the bait of choice for numbers but generally
smaller fish. Better
quality fish could be caught in the shallows around lay-downs and brush with
spinners and cranks.
Weather
Conditions –
As noted earlier, very comfort for mid August, High of 73 degrees. Winds ENE
were at a constant 10 to 15 through the day.
Friday the water surface temps were around 85 degrees, but by Sunday
the surface temps cooled to 80 degrees. The
lake was mostly clear, with the exception the back of major creeks they were
only lightly stained.
Sponsors:
Again, many thanks to Tom’s
Foods for supplying all the morning snacks and goodies for everyone
fishing. Great way to start the
day.
Next
Month: A
new stop on the DBC trail, heading to Lake Weiss in September for a club
first. Ought to be interesting – stay tuned…
