Due to possible unsafe conditions on the Red River in Shreveport the board members voted to change our 6^th tournament to Saline/Larto Lake. We had 24 anglers show up for the tournament the lake did not disappoint. Even with near 100 degree temperatures, water temps hovering between 88-91 degrees, and hardly any wind, we had 3 sacks over 15lbs. Saline fish apparently love the heat! The anglers that love to flip shallow water structure really flourished in this tournament and the ones that don’t well we just stunk it up. When the scales closed the angler that flipped his way to the top was new comer to the club Josh Bordelon (apparently new boats catch big fish… Must be why I can’t catch em)!!!!!!

Josh brought an impressive 5 fish limit weighing 16.53lbs anchored by big bass of the tournament weighing 6.07lbs. Josh flipped mainly buck brush with a watermelon red speed craw. This is Josh’s first win in the SBBC with I’m sure more to come. Second place went to Anthony Bunting with 15.83lbs. Anthony had 2 twin 5lbers that really anchored his weight (5.44 & 5.72). He also flipped brush with a black/neon beaver. Third place to Aaron Belgard with 15.11lbs. He flipped a jig all day around brush and laydowns. Aaron has been on a roll lately with 3 top 3 finishes in a row! Finishing up the top 5 was Curt Paul with 13.98lbs with a 4.19lb bass as his anchor fish and Mike Barbat with 13.45 with a 4.29lb bass as his anchor fish. Congratulations to Josh Bordelon on his first win and all the top 5 finishers for some great catches on a really hot day. All top 5 finishers were flipping experts who know how to pick apart some structure.

With the season ¾ of the ways over AOY points are becoming more and more important. New comer Josh Bordelon retook the lead after his win but 2 time AOY Wallace Woodson won’t go down without a fight. Also 9-10 anglers have a legit shot to make the Best 6 next year once 2 tournaments are dropped. This should make for an exciting last 2 tournaments. With only 24 anglers showing up first place paid $270 put with the Caleb Stark Farm Bureau winners bonus he ended up with $370 plus his big bass winnings.

The next tournament will take place on August 13^th on the Red River out of St. Maurice. River should be in good shape by then. Hope to see everyone there! Thought it would be interesting to see big fish facts for year so see below stats for Saline/Larto Tournament and overall for the year.

TOURANMENT STATS

NUMBER OF ANGLERS – 24

NUMBER OF FISH CAUGHT – 79

NUMBER OF LIMITS – 14

TOTAL WEIGHT – 182.04LBS

RELEASE PERCENTAGE – 96%

AVERAGE WEIGHT PER FISH – 2.3LBS

AVERAGE WIEGHT PER ANLGER – 7.59LBS

AVERAGE FISH PER ANGLER – 4.15

OVERALL YEARLY STATS

NUMBER OF ANGLERS – 198 / 33 PER TOURNAMENT

TOTAL NUMBER OF FISH CAUGHT – 565 / 94 PER TOURNAMENT

TOTAL NUMBER OF LIMITS – 73 / 12 PER TOURNAMENT

AVERAGE TOTAL WEIGHT – 1,347.42 / 224.57 PER TOURNAMENT

TOTAL DEAD FISH – 8

AVERAGE WEIGHT PER FISH – 2.4LBS

AVERAGE WIEGHT PER ANLGER – 6.87LBS

AVERAGE FISH PER ANGLER – 2.85

OVERALL LARGEST WEIGHT – 20.01LBS JOSH SIKES TOLEDO BEND

OVERALL BIGGEST FISH – 7.95LBS MARK BARBAT TOLEDO BEND