This Saturday 8/17/13 is the eight Tournament of the year. This is a trailer Tournament. You can fish in the Ouachita River out of the Harrisonburg Landing or the Bayou Louie Landing. You can’t use the Jonesville Landing. The weigh in will be at 2:00 pm at the Ouachita Landing. We will leave each landing by points. The official start time for this Tournament is 6:00 am. All entries will be paid at the weigh in. If you are not planning on getting in the jack pot I need to be told before the Tournament. Call, text, or email me and let me know that you are not getting in the jack pot. Anyone that does not let me know ahead of the Tournament date will not receive points. Directions to the Ouachita River Landing is 84 east to Jonesville. Turn Left at the 1st red light on Hwy 124 go to is runs into Hwy 8 Turn right. Cross over the Ouachita River Bridge in Harrisonburg. Just the other side of the bridge you will see a landing sign. Turn left and this will take you down to the Landing. I have never been to Bayou Landing, but I have been told that after you cross the bridge in Harrisonburg it is a couple of miles on the right. If anyone has any questions give me a call.
Thanks, Curt
Weather Conditions:
Low – 74
High – 92
Sunny and HOT!!!
Wind – Southwest 5-15
The 7th tournament of the year took place out of Red River South Marina in Bossier City. This was our last travel tournament and as usual it was a good time for everyone. It’s July in Louisiana so the weather is HOT and HUMID! We did have some relief with a little wind throughout the day. We had a good turnout even though it was July and a long drive. We had 27 anglers show up to fish.
Anyone that has been up to pool 5 in the Red River knows that you have endless choices of what and where to fish. There are backwaters everywhere with wood, stumps, grass and lily pads to fish or you could just fish the main river itself with both rocks and wood. And all these options seemed to have produced fish because out of 27 anglers, 19 had 5 fish limits. Most anglers claimed to have caught between 15-35 fish threw out the day. The problem was catching 2lbers and bigger. That is except for our top 4 anglers. Two time angler of the year Rick Villemarette brought in the biggest sack weighing in at 12.43lbs with a 5.14lb kicker which was also big fish of the tournament. This was Rick’s first win of the year. Rick was focusing on stumps in the backwaters in 4-6 foot of water. He caught fish early on a spinnerbait and once the sun got up he caught fish on a bream colored squarebill crankbait. 2nd place went to Josh Sikes with 12.16lbs. He began his morning also in the back waters catching a few fish on a frog. Once the sun came out, he caught the remainder of his limit in the main river flipping a craw worm into the reeds. 3rd and 4th place went to the White brothers (Ray & Russ) with 10.98lbs & 10.35lbs. Ray (nonmember) got 3rd while current AOY leader Russ White got 4th fishing out of the same boat. These guys caught all their fish in the lily pads on frogs and senkos. Finishing up the top 5 was Curt Paul with 9.85lbs anchored by a 4.71lb toad that was caught on a shad colored 3xd crankbait.
As I mentioned earlier catching fish was not a problem, a total of 112 fish with an average weight of 1.88lbs. This was our most successful tournament ever for limits (19) of fish brought to the scales.
With only 2 tournaments remaining the AOY race and Best Six entries are becoming very interesting. If you go ahead a drop the 2 lowest tournaments for every angler the standings are as follows (I didn’t do every angler on the ones in contention) :
Russ White – 495
Rick Villemarette – 493
Josh Sikes – 491
Aaron Belgard – 478
Brandon Nugent – 478
Wallace Woodson – 476
Kevin Woodson – 467
Mike Barbat – 463
Every point will count in the next 2 tournaments!
I noticed we had a lot of dead fish penalities in this tournament. With the water temps in the 90’s, I know it’s difficult to keep fish alive and sometimes they swallow the hook or just die, but we need to do a better job at this. By putting ice, something, and keeping our recirculators/aerators on high we can do a better job of this. Our next tournament is a trailer tournament at either Bayou Louie or the Quatchita River. Hope to see everyone there. I’m sure it will be another scorcher!!
Brandon Nugent
This Saturday is the 7th Club Tournament of the year. It will be held at the Red River South Marina in Bossier City, La. We will start at safe daylight with a 2:00 weigh in. This is the 1st 2:00 weigh in of the year so make a note of it. We will leave in the order of the points standings. There are Cabins available at the marina. If anyone needs to book one call (310)747-9545. Hope to see everyone there. If you have any questions give me a call.
Weather Conditions:
Low – 69
High – 92
Sunny and HOT!!!
Wind – Southeast 5-7mph
The 6th tournament of the year took place at Saline/Larto Lake and man it was a scorcher! The summer has officially arrived!! Even with it being a very hot and long day, we had a total of 34 anglers show up for the tournament. This goes to show you how awesome this club is. Most clubs don’t have that many anglers show up at the beginning of the year let alone by the time summer gets here.
The morning started off with a haze over most of the lake but by 9 o’clock the sun was out, the temperature was rising, and everyone was reaching for the water jugs and sunscreen. To make matters a little tougher two other bass club tournaments were going on at the same time so the lake got crowded at times. With so many veteran anglers in our club that call Saline their home water you would figure one of them would come in with the winning sack, but that didn’t happen. In the last article, I predicted that Aaron Belgard would have more victories to come, but no one figured it would be the very next tournament. Aaron was the last one to weigh in for a reason. He brought in a sack weighing 12.84lbs anchored by two 4lb toads the biggest weighing 4.8lbs.
Aaron caught all his fish in Larto Lake using either a chartreuse and black back square bill crankbait or a trick worm. He focused mainly on the docks. The 2 big fish were caught on a chartreuse and black back square bill crankbait. I came in 2nd place with 10.60lbs. All of my fish were caught on some type of crankbait either a square bill, a medium diver, or a deep diver in shad or bream colors. Some came off of docks, some off of trees, and some off of wood. As you can tell I had no pattern. I just kept moving and trying different things. Third place went to Rick Villeramette with 10.30lbs. In his own words, his pattern consisted of “JUNK FISHING(which was very similar to my pattern).” He caught some in Larto on a buzzbait around the island, some around the weir on a trick worm, and others just moving around the lake. Finishing out the top 5 were, Jeff Gruehl with 8.99lbs and Josh Sikes with 8.91lbs.
Overall the fishing was tough; only 6 limits were caught. A total of 70 bass were brought to the scales with an average weight of 1.979lbs per fish. That is the lowest total and average weight of the season.
After 6 tournaments Rick Villeramette is leading the AOY race, but if you go ahead and drop 2 tournaments the AOY race gets real interesting. By dropping 2 tournaments, Russ White is your leader with Rick Villeramette and Josh Sikes not far behind. Also the top 6 spots are starting to take shape, but with 3 tournaments left there is a lot of fishing still left. The next tournament will be at Red River South in Bossier City. Most people are booking cabins at the marina so if you plan on going you better book your room.
Brandon Nugent
This Saturday is our 6th Club Tournament of the year. It will be held on Saline at Woodson’s Landing. We will leave out at safe daylight with a 3:00 weigh in. Everyone should get there early because it gets daylight around 5:30 and there is another Club Tournament going on as well. We will leave in the order of the standings. There will be no passing in the Creek. If anyone has any questions give me a call.
Thanks, Curt Paul
Weather Conditions:
Low – 66
High – 85
Cloudy Morning/Sunny Afternoon
Wind – Southeast at 3-5mph
I want to apologize for this article being so late but I was on vacation in Disney World last week, but anyways no one cares about that!
Well half the season is officially in the books now and once again the men of the Southern Boyz Bass Club had less than ideal fishing conditions on Black River Lake. Recent rains had the lakes high and muddy. Cocodrie Lake and Horseshoe Lake were pretty much unfishable unless you like fishing in the mud. This had almost everyone fishing in Black River Lake which was less than ideal also. It was Memorial Day weekend and the boat traffic was terrible. There were skiers and boats running around everywhere. The waves were so bad I thought I was back on Toledo Bend. We had a total of 30 anglers show up for the tournament on this fun filled Memorial Day Weekend. With all these tough conditions most people expected the bite to be tough, but you should never doubt the guys of Southern Boyz Bass Club. A total of 7 limits were brought in over 10lbs with our youngest member Aaron Belgard bringing in the winning sack at 12.2lbs. Congratulations to Aaron for his first SBBC victory and I’m sure there will be more to come.
Well as it has been with almost every tournament this year, it takes someone doing something different from everyone else to produce a victory. Aaron was able to catch his fish early by fishing a frog in Workinger bayou. He was able to start culling by 6:20. He also mentioned something to me about a pink fluke, but this I can’t be sure of! 2nd place went to James Miller with 11.31lbs. He caught all his fish on a brush hog. He was flipping the reed lines and brush that was in the water due to the high water level. James also said that he did not get a bite on a baby brush hog that all his bites were on the big brush hog. 3rd place went to Josh Sikes who caught an early limit on a jerkbait, but then culled through every one of those fish to bring in a weight of 11.07lbs. He caught all of his bigger fish on a football headed jig. Rounding out of the top 5 was Kevin Woodson with 11.02lbs and Curt Chaudior with 10.6lbs. Four out of top five finishers were fishing in Black River Lake. Big bass honors went to Wallace Woodson with a 4.59lb stud! This fish was caught on a football headed jig.
There were 11 limits and a total of 93 bass brought to the scales for a total weight of 185.98lbs (1.99lb/fish). This was our smallest average so far this season. With half the season over now, the top 6 spots are becoming very tight. If everyone was to go ahead and drop one tournament there are about 9-10 people in good shape. With Russ White missing the tournament, Rick Villamerette is now the AOY leader with Wallace Woodson 9 points behind.
As KVD says at the end of every article, “Remember it’s all about the attitude.”
Fishing Tip #2: Always make sure your hooks are in good shape before you fish with them!!!!!!!
Brandon Nugent
This Saturday is the fifth Tournament of the year at Black River Lake in Monterey, La. The Tournament will start at safe daylight which is around 5:40 am. The weigh in will be at 3:oo pm. We will launch out of Joe’s Horseshoe Marina. If anyone needs directions email me or call. Hope to see everyone Saturday.
Thanks, Curt (318)201-3059
This weekend was the Best 6 Tournament on Toledo Bend Reservoir and what a weekend it was! Our club was represented by 3 teams from last year’s top six finishers: Wallace Woodson and Kevin Woodson, Mike Barbat and Jamie Dubroc, Josh Sikes and myself. Changing weather conditions had our teams on its toes. Thursday started out cloudy and warm, then Friday the temperature dropped and a howling North wind blew in, Saturday consisted of high skies, mid-30 degree temperature and 20mph south winds, and finally Sunday once again had high skies with a 15mph North wind. No two days were the same. After two days of practicing, our teams had figured out a solid pattern and were ready to put our game plan into action.
Day one’s plan was very simple FISH HARD and SMART! Our day one weigh in time was 4p.m. which gave us plenty of time to catch our limit and hunt for a kicker, but the kicker bite didn’t take very long. Wallace Woodson caught a 6.5-7lb toad first thing that morning on a jerkbait. Quality bites eluded the other 2 teams early that morning, but keeper fish didn’t. We had our 12 fish limit by 9a.m. As the day went on all 3 teams were able to catch some better fish. Josh Sikes and I had a big upgrade around 1p.m. when I caught a 4lber on an Alabama Rig. When weigh in time arrived, we brought in a 12 fish limit weighing in at 35.29lbs. This put us in 5th place. All of our fish weighed in were either caught on a jerkbait or Alabama Rig. Day two’s plan was pretty much the same except for now we had a 1:30p.m. weigh in time. All 3 teams returned to the same spots they fished on the 1st day. Wallace and Kevin Woodson began day 2 just like day 1, with (2) 4lb fish in the boat first thing that morning once again on a jerkbait. Jamie Dubroc and Mike Barbat had some unexpected company come and sit right on top of their honey hole. This hindered their game plan, but didn’t stop them from catching fish. The fish that myself and Josh Sikes were fishing had moved and it took us a while to relocate them, but once we did it didn’t take long for us to finish out a limit. Three times we caught 2 fish in one cast. Our team had a decent limit by 8:30a.m., but the kicker fish was missing. The bite got really tough for the teams after 10a.m. and everyone was scrambling trying to figure out what to do, but our luck changed at 12:15p.m. with a last minute kicker caught by Josh Sikes on the A-Rig. When it was all said and done we weighed in 33.6lbs on day two. This sack was anchored by Josh’s 5.94lb slounch donkey. This gave us a total weight of 68.89lbs which gave us 4th place overall (out of 73 clubs)!!!! This was the best showing ever by a SBBC team.
All our fish that were weighed in were either caught on a jerkbait or an A-Rig. Our teams focused on grassy points or flats in the 8-14ft range. Except on the 2nd day when Josh and I stayed in 18-25 foot of water with A-Rigs. The jerkbait bite was all reaction. You had to really snap the bait to get bites. You had to really slow roll the A-Rig to get a bite, but when you did they slammed it.
This was an awesome weekend for us and our club! Everyone should know that our club was represented very well!
Thanks,
Brandon Nugent
Weather Conditions:
Low – 66
High – 83
Cloudy Morning/Sunny Afternoon
Wind – South at 10-20mph
With wind and lots of cloud cover the members of the Southern Boyz Bass Club fishing the 4th tournament of the year on Lake Concordia had high hopes of a good largemouth bass bite. Well it didn’t take long for most of the anglers to figure out that the bite just wasn’t happening. This was by far our toughest tournament of the year. Out of 28 entries only 4 limits were brought to the scales, but remember someone always catches them. And in the Southern Boyz Bass Club that someone here lately is AOY leader Russ White. He brought in the winning sack of 12.20lbs with a 5.24lb kicker. This is his 3rd win in 4 tournaments this year. Congratulations Russ on the awesome start to the season. Everyone else is watching in awe wondering what to do.
Lake Concordia consists of 2 things: docks and cypress trees or so we thought. Russ caught his winning sack flipping isolated cat tails with a sweet beaver. One thing that I have noticed about Russ is that he is always doing something different then everyone else around him and this has given him a commanding lead in the AOY race. Second place went to Josh Sikes with 10.49lbs. Josh was using a ghost minnow jerk bait around docks and cypress trees. He caught around 15 keepers though out the day. Rick Villermarette brought only 3 fish to the scales, but they were all quality fish. He ended up 3rd with 8.47lbs. Rick was crashing a ghost minnow square bill crankbait into wood. Rounding out the top 5 were Paul Woodson with 7.88lbs and Wallace Woodson with 7.75lbs. Big bass honors went to Jamie Dubroc. Jamie brought in a toad weighing in at 5.71lbs. This fish was caught using a “SPINNERBAIT.” Jamie had some really bad luck at the end of the day which probably cost him a win. As a friend and fellow angler I’d like to say that my sympathy goes out to you buddy. I wouldn’t wish that upon any tournament angler.
Overall only 50 bass were brought to the scales with an average weight of 2.193lbs. This was by far our toughest tournament of the year. The post spawn bite turned out to be real slow. In the AOY race, Russ White now has an 11 point lead over second place Rick Villermarette. Everyone has their work cut out for them if they plan on caching Russ. Our next tournament will be at Black River Lake on 5/25. Also next weekend our club will be represented at the Best 6 Tournament on Toledo Bend. Below are the 6 anglers and 3 teams that will be fishing. Wish us luck!!!
Wallace Woodson Brandon Nugent Jamie Dubroc
Kevin Woodson Josh Sikes Mike Barbat
Considering how tough the last tournament was I figured this would be appropriate: In the works of Ike “Never Give Up!”
Also I am considering renaming this article from “Winning Ways” to “Russ White’s Monthly Tournament Winning Tactics.” Let me know what you all think!
Brandon Nugent
This Saturday is our fourth Tournament of the year. The year is flying buy. We are almost half way through with the 2013 season. The Tournament will be held at Lake Concorida out of the Sportsman’s Lodge Landing. We will leave at safe daylight in the order of the points standings. The weigh in will be at 3:00 pm. If anyone needs Directions to the landing give me a call. Anyone still interested in sponsoring the club T shirt bring the money to the tournament. I will try to have them done in time for our May Tournament.
Thanks Curt (318) 201-3059