The recent talk around Toledo Bend lately has been how the bite has been tough for most and the results of our 2^nd tournament of the year show that. But this is still the #1 ranked lake in the nation and it can still kick out some big fish also like our results show. We had 26 anglers show up to fish our  2^nd tournament of the year and our first of 3 Toledo Bend tournaments. The day before brought in high 20-30 mph winds and a severe storm roll through that night dropping a couple inches of rain, but Saturday’s weather was really nice. The bite however for most anglers wasn’t very nice. When the scales closed only 9 limits were caught, however one of those limits was MONSTEROUS! Josh Sikes brought in a 5 fish limit weighing a very IMPRESSIVE 29.25lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only thing I can say about my day as compared to his day is it’s pretty obvious that I must have launched on the wrong lake! It’s the only logical explanation.

Josh’s big day was anchored by his 9.38lb bucket mouth which actually had a twin!!! As usual for Josh he was South out deep all day and caught all fish on a big crankbait. All his fish came on 2 spots. This breaks our old club record by 3lbs which was also held by Josh on Toledo Bend. Big bass however feel short of the record. Our 2^nd place finisher was James Corley with 16.16lbs with a 5.98lb kicker. His fish all came North on the bridge flipping a craw worm around cypress trees in REALLY shallow water. His kicker came from underneath a dock though. Just goes to show you on this lake everyone can fish their strengths and catch fish. Well except me! Third place went to Mike Barbat with 14.99lbs and he had a 7.11lb toad which was caught on a toad! Mike was about as far North as you could go and threw a frog in the grass all day. Finishing up the top 5 was Jeff Greuhl with 14.64 & Dean Sikes with 14.44. Dean had a 7.05 anchoring his bag. Congratulation to all our top 5 finishers and a special congratulations to Josh on his awesome day!

It doesn’t take many tournaments before the AOY starts taking shape and from the looks of it 3 former AOY champions/Old Timers are leading the way. Three time champion Mike Barbat leads two time champion Rick Villermarette by 1 point and former champion Kevin Woodson by 5. It’s a long season but always nice to get off to a good start. The old guys are not going to give up the reigns without a fight….. Well that is as long as they don’t lose their glasses while fishing or oversleep tournament morning!

Overall fish totals were pretty low but some big pigs were brought to the scales. The overall stats are at the end of article. Our 3^rd tournament is in 2 weeks (4/8) at Black Lake. I have the lodge booked for that Friday night. The lodge sleeps 20 people. Its first come first sleep so just let me know if you want a bed. Also if you tell me you want a bed and something comes up and you can’t make it you must notify me before 4 o’clock that Friday evening. If you do not notify me you are still responsible for your bed. We have had issues in the past where people have not showed up so the person who books the room ends up paying the extra cost. Thanks to everyone who showed up to fish and an extra thanks to anyone who helps with weigh in. As usual I will ask 2 members to be weigh masters at Black Lake. Hope to see everyone at Black Lake. If anyone has any questions or comments as always just contact me.

Brandon Nugent

TOURANMENT STATS

NUMBER OF ANGLERS – 26

NUMBER OF FISH CAUGHT – 57

NUMBER OF LIMITS – 9

TOTAL WEIGHT – 167.71lbs

RELEASE PERCENTAGE – 100%

AVERAGE WEIGHT PER FISH – 2.94LBS

AVERAGE WIEGHT PER ANLGER – 6.45LBS

AVERAGE FISH PER ANGLER – 2.19