Tournament Results

Lake Russell

May 15, 2005

Typical Russell Sunrise

Rise and Fall

For the fifth tournament of the Spring Season, DBC elected to test angling skills on the clear spring like waters of Lake Russell, where a tight race for the Season’s Point Championship hangs in the balance.  Many teams had high hopes of securing a slot for June’s Club Classic.  After all was tallied, none of the top-eight teams lost their contention but only changed positions in the point’s race.  The single item worth noting was Hacker and Eason overtaking a faltering Hicks and Petty who have slid from their extremely comfortable early season lead.  With one tournament remaining; it will be interesting to see if team Rogaine can mount a comeback or be relegated to a sub par bridesmaid finish.

 

Taking top honors for the tournament, Bobby Lee Anderson and alternate partner Jerry Etheridge won with an impressive sack of three and a half pounders benching the scales to 17.24.  It was two years ago to the day Bobby Lee took top honors on Russell and appears that he was victorious on the exact same pattern once again, with the deadly combo of spooks and flukes.  Bobby would not divulge much but did note that he and Jerry were always within site of the ramp, culled thru 3 limits and never burned more than a couple gallons of gas and who can blame them at today’s prices.  Just goes to show that you don’t have to burn a tank of gas to get a good sack.

 

It was Gene Hacker and James Eason’s second place finish of 13.59 that propelled them to the top of the club standings overthrowing Steve and Josh. Their sack included the second biggest bass of the day weighing 4.37 caught by Gene on his favorite SB.  Like Bobby Lee; Gene and James found a deadly combination, caught nearly twenty keepers throughout the day, working ½ once white spinnerbaits and Norman’s Deep Little N crankbaits.

 

Grabbing third place was Justin Still and William Wilson with a decent five fish limit of 12.43.  Justin and William professed to have caught theirs Sammy 100 dressed in black and silver in depths 2 to 3 feet of water. These guys have a good history on Russell and made a move to 3^rd place in the season standings.

 

Forth place went Jay Donohue and Brian Music with another limit with a net weight of 10.90.   Norman Deep Little N’s also helped them bring home a check which included the third biggest bass of the day weighing 4.13. 

 

Fifth place honors were taken by brothers Rusty and Matt Thomas with their five fish limit of 10.13.  Their sack was anchored by the tournament’s big bass, a whopper Matt caught on a C-rig GP trick worm which pressed the scales to 5.58

 

Rounding out the tournament stats, the club had 29 teams participate.  A total 126 bass consisting of a near even number of Largemouth, Spots, and Coosa’s presented at the scales for a total creel of 226 pounds to render an average weight of 1.80 pounds per fish.

 

Winning Patterns:  Majorities of the fish are heading to their summer homes and were found near deep water.  Better catches came from main lake stuff.  The first several hours were critical as the fish came up to feed.  Top water baits and reaction bait like flukes and spinners produce well. Bedding fish remained the point of interest for a few teams, however the cloud cover hampered success.

 

Weather Condition:  Lake temps have come up considerably over the last two weeks from the low 60’s to the mid 70’s.  Russell was mainly clear with the exception of the backs of the main creeks.   Winds light and variable, the morning low was a comfortable 55 degrees and the high reached 74.   Rain and thunder threatened in morning but was never a factor as the day was mostly cloudy.          

        

Looking ahead:  Next month DBC completes the regular Spring Season with the final tournament stop on Lake Clark Hill. Verbal approval has been received from the CORP to use Cherokee Ramp, which is approximately 8-1/2 mile outside of Lincolnton on HWY 47.  The club has negotiated a special room rate with the Cullar’s Inn in Lincolnton (See Website for details)    

 

Immediately after the weigh-in at Clark Hill is completed; all will be tallied and the top-eight teams and regular qualifying classic contenders will vote on the classic lake to be held the following Sunday. 

 

Teams interested in joining for the Fall Season are encouraged to join us and fish as a guest at Clark Hill to see what we are about.

Complete Tournament Results