Our 2nd tournament of the year will take place this Saturday (3/24) at Black Lake at Chandlers Landing. The lake is currently a little over 3ft high and falling 6-7 inches a day so it should be very close to pool by tournament day. We currently still have 11 spots open in the cabin so call or text if you would like a spot. Daylight is around 7 so it will be a late takeoff. Hope to see everyone there.
Thanks,
Brandon
Everyone,
The 2018 Annual meeting will be January 27th at Longview Baptist Church in Deville at 5 p.m. Dinner will be served (It will be either chilli or gumbo). All current members and anyone interested in joining are encouraged to join us. We will be handing out awards for the 2017 season, voting on lakes for the 2018 season, and discussing any possible rule changes. Proposed dates for the 2018 season are below. If anyone has any questions or needs directions feel free to give me a call.
Thanks,
Brandon
2/24 – 1st
3/24 – 2nd
4/21 – 3rd
5/19 – 4th
6/16 – 5th
7/14 – 6th
8/11 – 7th
9/22 – 8th or Championship
Optional days for extra tournaments
4/7
6/2
7/28
Everyone due to an 8ft rise in the past 4 days and tremendous amounts of current and debris coming down the river the board has voted to cancel the tournament. We do not want to put anyone in an unsafe situation and with less than a week before the tournament we do not have time to change locations, therefor the next tournament will be 8/12 at Toledo Bend. For the Best Six and AOY we will now take the best 6 out of 8 tournament. I will be contacting all members that may not see the news on the internet. If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to give me a call.
Thanks,
Brandon Nugent
Everyone our next tournament will be this Saturday on Black River Lake out of Joe’s Horseshoe Marina. The store is closed down but you can still use the launch. It gets daylight very early so be ready to take off. Sorry this is so late I forgot about it. Hope to see everyone there. If anyone has any questions just give me a call.
Thanks,
Brandon Nugent
We are now 4 tournaments into the season with our 2nd Toledo Bend tournament being over. I would like to start out by talking about our 3rd tournament that took place at Black Lake 2 weeks ago. Congratulations to new comer Brett Kimble for his first win in the SBBC. It was a great day at Black Lake with 5 sacks over 15lbs brought to the scales. Brett had won with 19lbs. The Sylvania had gotten really bad and limited where you could fish but the fish were still biting. There is one thing to note though as fisherman we need to do a really good job of cleaning our trailers to make sure we don’t transport that stuff to different lakes. No one wants to see a lake lost to this stuff. Now back to the Toledo Bend tournament. We had 21 members show up to fish the tournament. With a front blowing through tournament day and another big tournament going on, everyone was going to have to adjust quickly to the conditions. The morning started out cloudy with a southwest wind at around 5mph and by the end of the day the temperature dropped 15 degrees and had a 20mph Northwest wind. These conditions seem to have really affected the bite for most everyone with only 5 limits being caught. As I have said many times before no matter how tough somebody is going to catch them, this time it happen to be me.
I was able to catch 5 fish for 18.31lbs anchored by a 6.06lb bucket head. I caught a limit fairly quickly on a couple of different baits but was able to cull all but one of those flipping a jig around bushes (Everyone knows how much I love doing that). I caught 15 or so fish throughout the day and was fishing north of the bridge. Second place went to the “scrapper” himself James Corley. James brought in a limit weighing 14.52lbs. You can always count on James to catch some fish and but himself in position for a good finish. James caught his limit very quickly focusing on a shad spawn. He then was able to cull all his fish with a jig as well. James said he was north of the bridge as well. Third place went to Scott Roszell with 11.79lbs. Even though he wasn’t able to catch a limit he was able to catch a 5.61lb largemouth to anchor his bag. Scott caught his fish flipping a beaver and a pocket rocket. Scott was fishing south of the bridge. Rounding out the top 5 was Mike Barbat with 10.35lbs and Jason Brown with 10.05lbs.
With 4 tournaments complete, Mike Barbat is beginning to distance himself in the AOY standings with 3 top 3 finishes in a row. Mike is a 3 time AOY champion so he knows what needs to be done to get another under his belt! Our next tournament will be at Black River Lake out of Joe’s Horseshoe Marina. Hope to see everyone there!
In 2 weeks the top 6 finishers will be representing your club at the Best Six Tournament on Toledo Bend. Those six anglers are Will Walker, Wallace Woodson, Josh Bordelon, Aaron Belgard, Brandon Nugent, and Mark Barbat. Let’s wish these guys good luck while they are out there representing our club. I will be contacting all these guys this week to discuss everyone’s plan.
We are having some issues with the website and that’s the reason that the standings and results are not working. The issue is being worked on.
Brandon Nugent
The recent talk around Toledo Bend lately has been how the bite has been tough for most and the results of our 2nd 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 2nd 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 2nd 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 3rd 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
Our 2nd tournament of the year is this Saturday (3/25) at Toledo Bend. This is a trailer tournament and official take off time is 6:55. You cannot leave the landing until this time and you must take off from a public landing (no leaving from docs or camps) and if multiple members are at one landing take off will be by point standings. Weigh time is at 3:30 at the Pendleton Bridge Marina on the Texas Side. If anyone is NOT getting into the side pot you must let me know before takeoff time Saturday or it will be assumed that you are entering into the side pot. Also is anyone has any guests you must notify me before the tournament. If anyone has any questions just give me a call or text.
Thanks,
Brandon
The 2017 season has officially started. A chance to redeem the previous year’s struggles for some and a chance to continue the previous year’s dominance for others! We began our season on the Saline/Larto complex, the home water of many of our club anglers. We had 41 anglers show up to fish the first tournament including 3 guests. Unusually warm weather the past couple of weeks has pushed the bass ahead of normal spawning periods, but to throw a few kinks into the day Mother Nature pushed through a cold front on Friday night. Cold north winds, 20 degree drop in temperature, and the parametric pressure steadily rising made the fishing much tougher a complete 180 from the previous days.
Some guys reported quick flurries of bites first thing that morning and then again not until later in day, while others reported not getting bites to later in the day. Overall, most seemed to be able to put together a good many bites with 16 limits being brought to the scales and 2 bass over 7lbs! When the scales were finally closed, I topped the scales with 16.78lbs. I caught all my fish in my typical pattern in 3 different areas on 2 different ends of the lake on 3 different baits. I caught fish flipping a beaver, on a chatterbait, and my biggest fish came on a square bill. I had a flurry of bites first thing that morning and then again later in the day. Coming in a close 2nd place was Aaron Belgard with 16.18lbs. Arod also stuck to his strengths with catching most of his fish flipping a beaver. He stayed on the Larto/Shad Lake side of the lake catching a good many fish throughout the day. Third place went to Rick Villermarette with 14.24lbs. This was Rick’s first trip to Saline this year. Not too bad for an ole man with no practice! What was even more surprising is that he said he caught them on a senko on cypress trees in Larto. For those of us that know Rick that seems very farfetched! His trolling motor is usually set to 90 and he is falling out the boat! Kinda hard to catch fish on a senko from behind the boat but that is what I was told! Rounding out the top 5 was Michael Watts with 13.93lbs and Austin Greuhl with 13.70lbs. Just to add to Austin’s day he caught them from the back of the boat! Big fish went to new comer Al Roe with 7.7lbs. He caught this fish in Larto on a jig! Another 7lber was also caught by new comer Brett Kimble which weighed 7.26lbs. Had some really nice fish weighed in for a tough day of fishing. Overall tournament stats are at the end.
I would like to thank everyone that helps with the weigh in process. I always assign 2 official weigh masters for each tournament, but then someone must help and take over at the end so they can weigh their fish. Things went very well. Thanks to all!
The next tournament will take place on Toledo Bend. This will be a trailer tournament. I will announce official take off time the weekend before the tournament on Facebook and the website. Weigh in time will be at 3:30 at the Pendleton Bridge Marina on the Texas Side. One thing to note is yes this is a trailer tournament but you MUST take off from a public landing. You CANNOT take off from your camp or a private launch. If anyone has any questions regarding this let me know.
TOURANMENT STATS
NUMBER OF ANGLERS – 41
NUMBER OF FISH CAUGHT – 127
NUMBER OF LIMITS – 16
TOTAL WEIGHT – 296.22lbs
RELEASE PERCENTAGE – 98.4%
AVERAGE WEIGHT PER FISH – 2.3LBS
AVERAGE WIEGHT PER ANLGER – 7.22LBS
AVERAGE FISH PER ANGLER – 3