This Saturday 2/15/2014 is the first club tournament of 2014. We will blast off at safe daylight from Grand Ecore in Natchitoches, La in the order of last years final standings. New members will leave after in order of horse power. All new members that have not paid, need to get there early to sign up. The weigh in will be at 3:00. If anyone needs information give me a call. Hope to see everyone there. Good luck.

Thanks Curt Paul

318-201-3059

The new location for our annual club meeting is 3444 Masonic Drive at the Mid State Orthopedic Building. We will eat at 5:00 and the meeting will start at 6:00.  The date is still January 18, 2014. If anyone has any questions give me a call.

Thanks Curt

(318)201-3059

Woodson’s Landing Lodge is booked on the 18th of January. We will still have the meeting on this date. I am working on a new location at the present time. I will post the location for the meeting in the next few days. I will also send out a email on the location. Sorry for the inconvenience. If anyone has any questions give me a call.

Thanks. Curt Paul (318)201-3059

I’ve had 2 people volunteer to help with an open tournament. The plan is to have it on Saline the 19th of October. The more club members that could show up the better. If anyone has any questions feel free to give me a call.

Brandon

664-2024

Weather Conditions:

Low – 66

High – 89

Mostly Sunny

Wind – Southeast 5-12mph

The 2013 season is officially over!! The 9^th and final tournament of the season took place in the Red River at the Ben Routh landing and as expected this was our lowest turnout of the year. We had 17 anlgers show up to fish. Recent rains had a little current flowing in the river, but this really didn’t help the bite. Most anglers caught fish but keeper fish were hard to get.

I must apologize because I forgot to interview the top 3 anglers to find out their “Winning Ways,” but I will go on with the article anyways. Just like most years when we fish out of Ben Routh we have anglers all up and down the river. All top 3 anglers came out of a different Pool. Jamie Dubroc was able to bring in the winning sack despite being penalized for being late after he got hung up in the lock. Jamie’s winning weight was 10.89lbs. Jamie locked south and went into the Atchafayala River. Second place went to our young star Aaron Belgard with 10.19lbs. Aaron stayed in Pool 1, but from what I understand he ran from one lock to the other throughout the day. Third place with 8.2lbs went to Mark Barbat who locked north into pool 2. There was probably a 60-70 mile distance between where Jamie and Mark fished. Burning gas is not a problem for the Southern Boyz Bass Club. There was a total of 49 fish brought to the scales for an average weight of 1.57lbs. Kinda pitiful guys!!!

With the season officially over another congratulations needs to go out to Russ White who had a remarkable season. He started out the season on fire and never stumbled not once throughout the year. All the rest of us could do was sit back and watch! Russ will be the team captain for the Best Six team next year. The rest of the Best Six members are as follows:

2) Josh Sikes

3) Rick Villermarette

4) Brandon Nugent

5) Aaron Belgard

6) Wallace Woodson

I hate to see the season end, but can’t wait till next year. Curt and I would like to thank everyone for another great year and for their help and input throughout the season. Once again we had another season with no issues or problems between any members. That just goes to show you the kinds of members we have!

A couple of members asked if we were going to have our fall open tournament. If some members are willing to help me work the tournament both that morning for registration and that evening for the weigh inn, we can have the tournament. We usually have it the 2^nd weekend of October, but with that being less than 2 weeks away, I was thinking of having it Oct. 19. If you are interested in helping me, please let me know ASAP so I can get some flyers out. Once again thanks to every member for another GREAT season and hopefully we will see you at the meeting in January.

Brandon Nugent

318-664-2024

The last tournament of the year will be this Saturday the 28th at the Ben Routh landing in the red River. Weigh in will be at 3pm. If anyone has any questions just give me a call.

Brandon Nugent

Weather Conditions:

Low – 67

High – 88

Mostly Sunny

Wind – North/Northeast 5-10

The 8^th tournament of the year took place at Quachita River/Bayou Louie. This was a trailer tournament members could either fish the river or in Bayou Louie. Two weeks ago no one would have thought that we would be getting a cool front in August, but it was a welcome surprise. The 67 degree start off was an awesome feeling. Recent rains and cooler weather really helped the fishing in both areas. The Quachita River had some current and color and Bayou Louie water temp had dropped. This was our lowest turnout of the year with 21 entries, but as the year is ending this is expected.

With the season winding down and angler of the year and best 6 qualifiers all on the line this makes every decision and point mean that much more. For anglers fishing in Bayou Louie, you had lots of laydowns, brush piles, and trees to fish, but you had to slow down and really pick this structure apart. Anglers fishing the Quachita River had laydowns, sandbars, and run outs which was more suited to your power fisherman. Out of the Top 5 finishers, 3 came from the Quachita and 2 from Bayou Louie. While the Quachita produced more fish, the average weight per fish was better from Bayou Louie. When it was all said and done, I was able to pull out the winning weight with 12.72lbs. This sack was anchored by the big fish of the day with a weight of 5.23lbs. I was able to catch all my fish on the bridge pylons in the Black River. All my fish were either caught on some type of crankbait or a jerkbait in a shad color except the big fish which was caught on a football jig. Second place went to Jeremy Sonnier with 12.13lbs. Jeremy was fishing in Bayou Louie. His fish were caught on either a worm or brush hog in the laydowns and brush on the edges of the banks. His big fish (4.94lbs) was caught on the brush hog. Third place went to Russ White with 11.92lbs.  Russ started the morning in Little River catching a solid limit of fish on a spinnerbait. He had a little encounter with a barge and decided to head back up river to the Quachita. With 10 minutes to go, he was able to catch a 5.03lb Quachita River toad on a tube. That fish clinched his AOY title. Rounding out the top 5 were Kevin Woodson (Quatchita River) with 10.3lbs and Wallace Woodson (Bayou Louie) with 8.85lbs.

There were a total of 58 fish caught with an average weight of 1.84lbs and an average fish per angler of 2.7. This was by far our lowest fish count and size of the year, but this is kind of expected in August. One thing that really brought down our average weight was our President Curt Paul’s 0.47lb (7.52 ounces) SLOUNCH DONKEY that he brought to the scales. This is our smallest fish on record that was ever brought to the scales.

With only one tournament remaining the current standings for the top 10 are shown below. These standings include the 2 drop tournaments.

1) Russ White – 593

2) Rick Villemarette – 584

2) Josh Sikes – 584

4) Brandon Nugent – 578

5) Aaron Belgard – 573

6) Wallace Woodson – 572

7) Kevin Woodson – 564

8) Mike Barbat – 550

9) Mark Barbat – 535

10) Michael Watts – 531

If my calculations are correct, we have a new AOY. Congrates to Russ White! Somone has finally ended the 4 year run of Rick and Wallace. He had an awesome year with 3 wins and his lowest finish was a 6^th place.

I copied this quote from Michael Iaconelli’s last article thought it was a good quote for when things aren’t going your way. “The thing not to do is feel sorry for yourself or blame your equipment. Especially don’t blame other anglers and never, not ever, blame luck. Luck is something you can’t do anything about. If you blame luck, you’re done. If you can’t change things, why even try?”

Once again Congrates to Russ for his title! Our last tournament of the year will be in the Red River at Ben Routh. Hope to see everyone there.

Brandon Nugent