Lake Lanier Tournament Results

Duluth Bass Club closed out the Fall Season with 27 teams taking on Lake Lanier this past Sunday. On what was really a lack luster day with a less than a perfect bite the club witnessed some pretty decent catches. A total of 52 club anglers weighed 98 bass that averaged 2.45 pounds in size, stats that are only seen on a few choice lakes.

If one were look back through club stats for fishing Lanier, several conclusions could be drawn. One - have the anglers or the fishing dramatically improved? Going back more than ten years (when seven fish limits were weighed) little better than 14 pound per sack were the average winning weights. After 1995 (when the five fish limit was instituted) the average sack was only about 11 pounds and remained so until about 2003, then roof was blown off. Today with any given tournament a five fish limit of 14 pounds will likely not place you in the money. Today anglers set there goal at 20 plus pounds, knowing that this is what will likely ensure their place at the top. During the 80’s and early 90’s four pound spots were considered trophies, now they’re common place. Stats don’t just reflect improvements in the leaders but it’s all the way through the ranks. The average size bass has increased from 1.6 pounds to nearly 2.5 pounds per fish. There are not just this club’s stats but there is a lot of other documentation that coincides.

Therefore, one could conclude the fishing on Lanier has definitely improved. But you can’t take anything away from the anglers. The level of competition is now stronger. And anglers today have a lot more information at their disposal. Many advances and improvements in equipment help aid angler’s understanding and knowledge is power. Either way, yes Lanier has definitely become one of the premier fishing lakes in this country.

When all was said, Bryan Phillips and David McGrew captured Sunday’s tournament honors and would be the first to admit their dislike of Lanier, for it’s too deep and not dirty enough for their liking. But after weighing their 17.88 five fish limit, they could be starting to form a new opinion. Just speculating, but this change of mind might be brought on by a new found bait; one that has a spinner and can be fished deep. Anyhow, these guys are on fire, winning their last two tournaments and have now captured the 2005 Fall Season Points Championship. David shared they caught two fish on a spinnerbait and two on a Fish-head spin and one a plain ole’ jig.

Congratulations Bryan and David on fabulous tournament win and the taking of points championship!

The club’s second place finishers are the odd couple, name rightly so because these guys are like night and day. One rides the Clydesdales on a regular basis and the other one jockeys race horses, we think. Bobby Lee Anderson and Jay Donohue’s limit pressed the scales with 15.03. Bobby shared they caught all their fish working creepy crawler grubs from 12 to 38 ft depths covering many areas of the lake.

Third place finishers were father and son Randy and Albert Little who brought in five to weigh 14.19. Randy shared, they caught their entire sack all on fish-head spins in the 25+ ft depths.

Fourth place, fishing solo Brian Robinson only possessed three nice spots that pressed the scales to 13.64. Worth noting Brain had the tournament’s second big fish a massive spot of 5.67 just missing big fish by two one hundreds of a pound. Brain noted catching his fish on CP Yamamoto creepy crawlers, spoons, and S/B.

Fifth place also fishing solo was Michael Thomas with a five fish limit of 12.32. Michael claimed he caught his fish on a drop-shot in the 40+ depth range.

Sixth Place was Ken Sponsler – Jack Smith with another nice limit weighing 11.92. Ken shared they caught every one on a C-Rig with GP Trick-worms in the 8-10’ depths.

Winning Patterns: The bite was fairly strong and multiple patterns were working. However the strongest bite seemed to be main lake points in 35 to 45 feet of water. Lots of fish were taken on creepy crawlers.

Weather Conditions: A line of thunderstorms roared through one hour before blastoff and steady rain followed for the next two hours. The blastoff temp was 46 degrees and quickly warmed to 62 degree after the rain moved out. At weigh-in we greeted once again with showers. Surface temps ranged from 55 to 57 degrees.

Tournament Record		Lake Lanier - 12/04/05
TEAM		Meet Points	Tourn Points	No. of Fish	Big Fish	Total Lb./0.01	PNLTY 0.25	Tour Total	Grand Total
1	David McGrew - Brian Phillips	50	100	5	4.37	17.88		286.08	436.08
2	Bobby Anderson - Jay Donohue	50	100	5	4.06	15.03		240.48	390.48
3	Randy - Albert Little	50	100	5	3.51	14.19		227.04	377.04
4	Brian - Julie Robinson	50	100	3	5.67	13.64		218.24	368.24
5	Michael - Brandon Thomas	50	100	5	4.05	12.32		197.12	347.12
6	Ken Sponsler - Jack Smith	50	100	5	3.09	11.92		190.72	340.72
7	Gene Hacker - James Eason	50	100	4	4.47	11.71		187.36	337.36
8	Joe Yurina - Mike Haddad	50	100	5	3.36	11.06		176.96	326.96
9	Bill Booth - Bill Booth Sr.	50	100	5		10.59		169.44	319.44
10	Royce - Dale Ingle	50	100	5	3.89	10.58		169.28	319.28
11	Steve Nalder - Jerry Adams	50	100	5		10.54		168.64	318.64
12	Mark Riehle - Steve Garland	50	100	3	5.69	10.19		163.04	313.04
13	Rick Cotten - Eric Holmes	50	100	5	3.22	9.86		157.76	307.76
14	Jim Blanchette - Ron Thomas	50	100	5		9.85		157.60	307.60
15	David McAdams - Chip Oliver	50	100	5	3.05	9.68		154.88	304.88
16	Gary - Matt Henry	50	100	5	2.80	9.44		151.04	301.04
17	Ted Richards - Bill Davis	50	100	4	3.14	9.36		149.76	299.76
18	Howard Bentley - Kelton Peels	50	100	4	2.86	8.86		141.76	291.76
19	Matt - Rusty Thomas	50	100	4	3.08	7.70		123.20	273.20
20	Shane - Phil Gaddy	50	100	4		7.34		117.44	267.44
21	Roger Landress - Rick Morris	50	100	3		6.99		111.84	261.84
22	Dick - Michael Childs	50	100	2	4.46	5.79		92.64	242.64
23	Bert Nagy - Art Harris	50	100	2	3.86	5.37		85.92	235.92
24	Josh Petty - Steve Hicks	50	100					0.00	150.00
25	Tony Combs - Carl Gessner	50	100					0.00	150.00
26	Wayne Craft - J Kettles	50	100					0.00	150.00
27	Brian Music - Mark Perkins	50	100					0.00	150.00