Message From The President:



Jim is pushing out his new and improved webpage and he asked me to start writing a article similar to the Wally's World articles. Wally Cassiano used to write many many moons ago. I'll never fill the shoes that Wally wore, but I hope my articles provide some useful info and maybe a little entertainment.
I'll start off with a hearty welcome to our two guests at the March meeting. Danny Wright and Bill Myrick. Danny is being sponsored by Senior, so he starts out with one strike against him. Danny's strike two came when he won the "golf ball" draw at his guest tournament. I hope he doesn't do anything else to hurt his chances before the April meeting.
Bill is no stranger to many of the folks in the club. Bill has been fishing in this area for many years and is very active in promoting fishing in the community. He is being sponsored by Jere Jaillite. He hasn't fished his guest tournament yet, so we'll have to vote on him later. We had a great Fish Fry on Saturday night at Miller's Ferry. A special thanks to Dave Dyess and Lee Brannon for putting it together. Everyone pitched in with the cooking and clean-up. The Fish Fry was made possible due to your support of the Special Fund (individual donations and your support in the 50/50). Let's keep it going!!!
As many have already heard, my big motor went South while pre-fishing the March tourney. I want to pass a big THANK YOU to John Buck for giving me a tow. I owe you one John.
The hot summer months are coming. Check your livewell and aerator pumps. We want to keep those little green trout alive so we can catch them again another day.
Until next month, be safe.
Kevin

None.

New Buisness:

Pete discussed the excellent game warden services provided by the Mexican militia while he joined Mack, Dave Dyess and others there on a fishing trip. Both Pete and Dave discussed the excellent time they had in Mexico including the reasonable cost of room, food and drinks. John Buck brought in some more of his excess fishing gear to
sell at more than reasonable prices. Lee Brannon brought up the cost of rooms in Apalachicola again and stated the Best Western could give us a group rate of $85 a night as long as we rented a minimum number of 8 rooms otherwise the price would be $90 per room. The consensus was for Lee to make the best deal he could so long as we all stayed at the same hotel.
One of our guests Bill Myerrick announced he is a freshwater marine resource officer and provided some of the issues discussed at his last meeting
such as a big push on freshwater boat ramps, creek surveys to be done to determine population and need for stocking. Stone Lake is the most productive bass lake in the area, Hurricane Lake has recently dropped the minimum length from 18" to 14", also he mentioned some discussion of raising fishing license and boat registration fees.

March Tournament:

All indicators pointed toward a good weekend for fishing, no rain in the forecast, no sneaky cold fronts sliding in to give the bass lock jaw. So it was a great weekend for fishing with lots of fish biting activity and lots of bass brought in to be weighed…right??? Well, it was a great weekend for fishing but really a so so weekend for catchin. Some of the fellas did well on pre-fish day and the first day of the tournament. But the 2nd day was pretty tough all around. Dave Dyess and our guest, Danny Wright, got onto some good fish on both pre-fish day and day 1 but day 2 dudded out for them. In spite of a broken engine (sorry Kevin, hope it's not to costly) restricting Jere Jaillite and Kevin Simmons to their best trolling motor strategies, they both caught some pretty good fish on day 1, Jere landed the lunker for the day. There were 2 limits caught on day 1, Pete Potter and Dave Dyess. Some of the fellas reported having fish on but not able to get them to the boat. Unfortunately, that may provide a little adrenalin rush and some temporary excitement but doesn't tip the scales at weigh in. I think sometimes it would just be better in that case if the bass stayed deep so you couldn't see what you missed then you can swear it was just an annoying mud fish…(nothing lost). The temperature at launch time on both tournament days was just brisk enough to need a light jacket to make the morning run comfortable- in the high 40s but when the sun came up it warmed up quickly. There was a light breeze off an on both days so the mid 80s temperatures were not too painful.
Saturday night's fish fry really was a bonus to an enjoyable weekend. Plenty of fish and fries and with everyone pitching in to help out it was pretty much a trouble free event. A Big Thanks to some key people for making it happen, Dave Dyess, Lee Brannon, and Kevin Simmons. A great meal! This seems like a great idea for every 2 day tournament (weather conditions permitting).

1st Place
Pete Potter
"Old Pete" maintained his consistency and weighed in enough fish overall to win the 2 day tournament.

2nd Place
Jere Jaillite
Jere's good first day including the lunker along with a couple of good keepers on day 2 was enough for a solid 2nd place finish.

3rd Place
John Buck
John Buck is another one of those solid consistent fishermen that seems to find the fish and get them back to weigh in, and this weekend was no different he was nosed out of 2nd place by Jere by less than a tenth of a pound.

4th Place
Dave Dyess
Even though day 2 was tough on Dave Dyess his first day limit kept him in the money with a 4th place finish. Lee Brannon's lunker on day 2 was get well medicine for a pretty meager day one. Dewayne had a good couple of days of catchin' which makes not getting any sleep for 2 days a lot less painful (managing our fishing schedule around our personal lives gets a little tough sometimes…but sacrifices have to be made). All in all a good weekend, everyone was safe and caught fish…fortunately we all got in on the trailers before some pretty significant distractions showed up on day 2; otherwise we may have ended up with a couple of boats sharing a trailer.

Tournament Standings:

Miller's Ferry
Ellis Landing

1st Pete Potter- 7 fish- 8.44 lbs
2n Jere Jaillite- 5 fish- 7.96 lbs
3rd John Buck- 5 fish- 7.88lbs
4th Dave Dyess- 5 fish- 6.56 lbs
5th Dewayne Kimbro-5 fish-5.78 lbs
6th Lee Brannon- 3 fish- 4.45 lbs
7th Jim Bailey Sr- 4 fish- 4.33 lbs
8th Kevin Simmons- 2 fish- 3.27 lbs
9th Marc Churchwell-1 fish- 1.86 lbs

Also Fished:
Guest
Danny Wright
Did Not Fish:
Frank Kelly

For The Record:

Miller's Ferry
Ellis Landing

Total Fish Caught 37
Total Dead Fish 0
Total Fish Weight 50.53
Total Limits 2
Tournament Big Fish 4.16
(Jere Jaillite)

For the Year:

Total Fish Caught 154
Total Dead Fish 0
Total Fish Weight 201.24
Total Limits 11
Tournament Big Fish 4.16
(Jere Jaillite)

April Tournament:
2 Day

April 21 & 22, 2007

Tournament Site:

Apalachicola
End of the Road

From The Daily Planner:

Full Moon: April 2nd

Sunrise:

Sunrise: 6:16 a.m.

Tide Predictions:

High Tide: (21) 10:51 am
(21) 6:13 pm
Low Tide: (21) 2:25 am
(21) 12:43 pm

The Slammer Award:

Hawg Want A Be:

~Know Your Hawgs~ Say hello to Danny Wright. Danny is a U.S. Marine fresh back from a stay in Japan and is stationed at NAS Pensacola. He is sponsored by Jim Bailey Sr. Danny will be fishing as a nonboater but is looking real hard for a boat. I must say Danny has three strikes against him rite from the start. #1 He let it slip that Rich Renner was his boss. #2 He pulled the Green Ball out'a the golf ball bag at weigh-in Sunday. #3 That boy knows how ta catch fish. NOT GOOD - NOT GOOD AT ALL!! Hope he don't make anymore mistakes before we can get him voted in next month.

No Courtesy Bumps At The Scales
Period!!!