HUB CITY BASSMASTERS

Monthly Newsletter

“LONG CASTS AND SHORT STRIKES”

AUGUST 2010

AUGUST CLUB MEETING – FRIDAY 6 AUGUST 2010, AZTECHAS MEXICAN RESTAURANT, AROUND 1730 OR 1800

    I am going to get this thing out on time this month if it is the last thing I do.  The “HOT” weather has turned me extremely lazy,, LOL,LOL,. To tell the truth I was born lazy, and it has been very difficult for me to get my grove on when it comes to getting this newsletter put together. Besides that, I have been putting in max hours on the water in preparation of getting to fish with Michael this next weekend at the county six man. No fishing to speak of but doing drills from the back of the boat down into the well to grab the net, dip, unhook, apply cull tag, drop in live well and then back to the rear deck and out of the way. I have it down pretty good for a fat boy. LOL,LOL,LOl.

    CONGRATULATIONS to our July Seminole winners. Other than being so dad blamed HOT the conditions were not bad at all. On occasion I even felt a slight breeze but not often. As usual in our club someone always finds them somehow as we had some really nice fish weighed in, just no large numbers. Here is how it all played out:

1^st Place – Kevin “SWEDE” Oleen - 15.42 Lbs.            2^nd Place – Tony “THE TIGER” Bigot – 9.50 Lbs

3^rd Place – Michael “KVD Jr.” Smith – 8.84 Lbs.          4^th Place – Bob “BROKEN” Miles – 8.31 Lbs

5^th Place – Ron “RANGER” Whitman – 7.02 Lbs.      6^th Place – Evan “WILLIAMS” Robbins – 5.15 Lbs

Big Bass – Tony Bigot – 6.84 Lbs

OK, sorry about the nick names guys. Just being funny. Anyway, great job by all that fished weather you caught anything or not. There was a lot of camaraderie shared and good fellowship. That’s what it is all about.

    It sure seems we have had a rash of boat problems this year. I am knocking on wood that mine holds up however I do need to figure out what the heck is wrong with my running lights. I am by no means an electrician but mine are blowing the fuze every time I plug them in. I will get it figured out this week. If you have boat mechanic experience, offer up some help to those that may need it or are asking for help. We all are trying to save what we can in this day and times and every penny helps, besides that, it may be you needing help some day and that is what we are supposed to be as a club.

    The club six man contestants are as follows: Greg Prince, Roy Barbour, Jack Bell, Michael Smith, Jeff Knight and Shannon Ard. We will be back at Seminole this Saturday fishing against the top 6 from the other county clubs. Wish us well and don’t be afraid to offer up some advice. This is for bragging rights and we want to bring it home to the Hub City Bass Masters.

WORDS FROM THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR- RODNEY BRACKET

     I regret to inform the club, but I am officially stepping down as the tournament director. I have been working in Albertville Al. since the end of November and my stay here keeps extending. I have not been able to complete my duties as tournament director and I need to step down. I believe that this is the best thing to do for the club. I have enjoyed being the tournament director and I hope that I can be elected again sometime in the future. I will continue to be a member and will fish every tournament that I can. I will be available to help the new tournament director any way that I can. I want to thank everyone that has helped me over the last 1.5 years.

     As we all know, Rodney works and lives out of town and he was just not able to put the time and effort into the club that he felt was fair to us. I myself along with a lot of others out there know the pain in the ass it is to be on the road all the time.  I hate losing Rodney as our director but I certainly understand and can appreciate his decision. I want to personally thank Rodney for all he has done not only as the tournament director but also for being one of my right hand guys in guiding me with advice in my endeavors as the president.

    With that being said, we are in the hunt for a new tournament director to finish out the year. Any volunteers will be greatly appreciated.  Now comes the bad news as you may expect. Our assistant TD is busy with school and cannot devote the time needed to step up as the full time TD.  I have been trying to President and TD at the same time and it’s not working out so very well for me. Trust me, there is a lot more to it than weighing the fish at the end of the tournament day. All tournament information, launch order drawing, entry fee collection, changes, weather etc. should be coming from the TD both at the monthly meeting and the tournament site. It is difficult for me to try and conduct the monthly meeting, find out who is fishing with who, do the launch draw, try and collect money, do the door prize, maybe try and eat, have a few cocktails myself and get you out of there at a reasonable time on a Friday night.  I have had a lot of you guys volunteer to help out in these endeavors and I certainly appreciate it.

    Here is the truth, blunt, but the truth, if you don’t have the forms, don’t want the forms, can’t get them made up prior to the meeting, are willing to finish them off after the meeting, take phone calls and e-mails for days after the meeting and days before the tournament keeping up with the changes on partners and who is coming/not coming and being ready to collect money etc. Then guys it’s really not a help at the meeting. What we need is a fulltime, dedicated Tournament Director willing to do what is necessary and what it takes to run our tournament program/schedule in a simple and organized manner and within the guidelines of our established Tournament rules and bylaws. Now guys I am not being ugly but I will not hesitate to tell it the way it is. The Seminole launch order changed over 10 times from the meeting night to the morning of the tournament, people coming and then people not coming, multiple launch numbers drawn and then pairing up. This all has to be cleaned up prior to launch. I fully understand that emergencies occur and things come up at the last minute, in knowing this, if we cannot find someone to step up to the plate as TD then I will make the recommendation that we do not draw for launch order at the monthly meeting and all drawings and pairings be conducted at the launch site the morning of the tournament. We have 45 members now and I know that there are more than just three of us with a little spare time. Nuff said.

    Yet another thing has arisen that I want to remind the Non-Boaters of; Operating, maintaining, pulling and fueling a bass boat is not “FREE”. It specifically states in our tournament rules that the Non-boater is obligated to pay the boater a fair share, minimum $25.00 for fuel and expenses for the day.  If you are not willing to share the expenses for being able to fish, this includes pre-fishing, then simply don’t fish. I’ll catch ya later or pay ya next time around doesn’t cut it either. Now if you offer up to pay and the boater elects not to charge you, that is his option.  You should offer from the very get go the morning of the tournament. Let me also say that $25.00 is a minimum. If you agree on a long run, do a lot of moving and searching during the day or it is a two day tournament, the boater should and can ask for more than the minimum. On the same note, it is only right and proper to assist the boater in launching and recovery of his boat. This includes tying down, stowing gear and wiping down the boat if that is what the boater wants done. It may sound ugly and it is not meant to be that way but, if you don’t want to pay, or can’t pay your fair share, buy your own boat.

    Man I hate to be that way guys but sometimes, you just have to get things out on the table. I do not like to receive reports that this may be occurring and hopefully the above will eliminate the issue.

    If you were able to dial in and follow the daily blog of the elite series this past Sunday you sure saw a perfect example of how important fish care is.  Aaron Martins lost by 4 ounces to Russ Lane by suffering a 1.8oz penalty for dead fish. Aaron put 18 pounds in the boat on his first 5 casts up at Lake Jordan and before 8 AM he was having to cull 3 to 5 pounders to keep them from dying. His aerator was working as normal and he used in excess of 30 to 40 pounds of ice and some other fish care chemicals in a gallant effort but it just didn’t work out for him. I felt sorry for him in a way but was glad to see that he was in fact worried and concerned over the care of his fish and was willing to release a 6 plus pounder and several in the 3 to 4 pound range instead of taking an 8 oz. penalty for each dead fish. And still ended up losing 3. Interesting also that at the end of the ESPN3 show he suggested that the problem may have been due to the long time he was taken to get the fish to the boat and possibly tiring them out to the point that they could not recover. That was my take of what he was saying anyway. A very costly mistake, $45,000.00 to start off with plus maybe Angler of the Year honors... Wow…   

    I will be discussing the fate of the county 6 Man Tournament for next year at this meeting. Your discussion and input will be very welcome over this matter and I want to ensure that I leave something in my turn over folder for our next Hub City Bass Master President.

    Hopefully you all received the e-mail that I sent out on the Louisiana Big Bass. Talk about a Catch of a life time. Wow, in a kayak and with a spin cast rod and reel. It had to have been the Seaguar 20lb test fluorocarbon that made it all come together for her. All I can say is, You go Girl...

    By the time I hit the send button on this newsletter I will have updated my annual tournament data for the club. If you are interested in what you have done this year or how the overall club has done, send me an e-mail or give me a call and I’ll send it out to ya. I will say that Michael has broken the 100Lb mark for weighed in fish this year. Shouldn’t be a surprise.

    FLARES/SIGNAL DEVICES:  If you’ll remember last month, Bill Spencer sent everyone an e-mail stating the fine for expired flares/signal devices on your boat. I checked mine and found them with an expiration date of 2007. We had some conversation Friday night over at Seminole over this and there were some that thought they were not required, some thought you had to be over 18 feet and so on.. I went on line to the coast guard requirements and I believe the law to specifically state that if you are operating a water craft 16 feet or longer in inland waters then you must have a minimum of three flares/signal devices on board that are not past there expiration date. I encourage you to go to the web site and read the laws and then you can make up your own mind or interpretation. I know one thing for sure, I can afford $22.00 to keep me from possibly being fined $1000.00.

    Hey guys I’m going to sign this thing off so that we can get it published and on the web site. Hope to see all of you Friday the 6^th for our meeting and some good fellowship. Bring the wives and kids. Don’t forget that we will be on the Apalachicola River next month below the dam, (NO lock thru to Seminole). Another long haul so please be careful on the road and river during your pre fishing adventures.

Bass Wishes,

Jack