Weather Conditions:

Low – 54

High – 77

Rainy/Cloudy/Sunny

Wind – South at 10-15mph

1/3 of the season is now in the books with the 3^rd tournament of the year on Black Lake being complete. Once again less than ideal weather conditions didn’t stop anyone in this club from showing up. We had our best showing of the year with 39 anglers. With stormy weather rolling in and multiple anglers having equipment issues, this tournament was both a test on the angler and his equipment.  The morning started off with rain, then clearing up a little before noon, and then clouds and wind rolling back in before weigh in. Nasty weather is just what you need to catch big sacks on Black Lake which was proven when the first sack brought to the scales by Barry Boothe weighed 15.53lbs with a 6.19lb kicker. This weight was quickly surpasses by AOY leader Russ White. He brought in 5 largemouth weighing 22.04lbs with a 7.99lb kicker to grab his 2^nd win of this early season. This is also Russ’s 2^nd 20lb + sack in the past 3 tournaments. A second 7lb + plus fish was also weighed in by Curt Chaudoir. Congratulations to both of these guys on their catches.

For anyone fishing Black Lake, fishing Cypress trees is a given. The key is finding the few key productive spots of trees out of thousands of trees on the lake. Russ was keying on post spawn fish on tress in 6-8 foot of water. He was alternating between a sweet beaver and a senko. His big fish came off of the senko. Rick Villemarette came in 2^nd place with 15.79lbs. Rick was fishing on the North end of the lake. During the rain, he was catching all his fish on a spinnerbait. Once the rain stopped, he slowed down and used a senko. 3^rd place went to Barry Boothe with 15.53lbs. All his fish came on a Black/Blue jig in 3-4ft of water after the rain had stopped. He was also fishing on the north end of the lake. Finishing out the top 5, 4^th place went to Wallace Woodson with 14.48lbs and 5^th to Todd Drury with 14.36lbs.

This was our best tournament of the year so far in all aspects. This was our largest turn out with 39 anglers that brought a total of 127 fish to the scales. 18 limits were weighed in at an average weight of 2.43lbs per fish. It looks like everyone has their work cut out for them if they want to catch Russ White in the AOY race. With 2 wins already this season Russ White is beginning to pull away from everyone else, but with 6 tournaments still remaining a lot can happen. The next tournament will be on Concordia Lake on April 27^th.

Also due to the accident that occurred last Saturday during the tournament a new rule has been put in place. Starting with the next tournament every time an angler is going to “net” a fish, he or she MUST put on a coast guard approve life preserver before attempting to “net” the fish. If anyone has a question or comment regarding this new rule please contact our President Curt Paul. You will have to contact him on his home phone since his cell phone is still “drying out.”

As KVD writes at the end of every blog “remember it’s all about the attitude.”

Sorry this article is late. I have been very busy since the last tournament.

Brandon Nugent