NEWSLETTER

MAY 1, 2006

 

Hello Rodbenders and welcome to the “real” fishing season. For as slow as things were at Bull Shoals, we certainly turned everything around in April at Lake O. All 16 boats finally managed to answer the question “Where the hell is Sun Dance Resort?” and the take off went much better than the Bull Shoals parking lot debacle of the previous month. All 16 boats also weighed fish and the weight brought to the scales by the 15th place boat would have given them 1st place in April.

 

The “Top Gun” in the club this month was Matt Nagle, who single handedly caught one of the two full bags and weighed a total of 14 lbs 9.5 oz, including a giant 6 lb 6 oz Hawg that took Big Bass for the day. Fortunately Matt brought along his partner, Mr Lowery, to drive the boat and net his fish for him, or he would have had to do all the work himself. Unfortunately Matt neglected to enter himself and his Big Bass into the Big Bass of the Year before take off, so all of you guys who plan to catch a 5 pounder this year are still in the running.

 

Second place went to the 2 Toms, Bohannon and King, (with Tommy Bo doing the lions share of the catching), who weighed a total of 13 lbs 11 oz.  Yours truly managed to bring in just enough to give us a 4 oz margin of victory over the 3rd place father and son team of B. Bay and B. Bay who weighed 13 lbs 7 oz.

The last boat in the money was the Schilds boys, Tyler and Devin, with a total of 13 lbs 6.5 oz. (Yeah, that’s right! Only ½ oz difference between 3rd and 4th.)

 

For the 22 of us who have signed up for the Big Bass of the Year competition, the new guy to beat is Keith Marchesi, who boated a 4 lb 12 oz largemouth at Lake O to take the lead. For those of you who have not yet signed up (ATTENTION MATT NAGLE!!) you can still get into it by putting your $10 in the pot at the next meeting.

 

At the April meeting, the club voted to alter the 2006 Tournament trail by changing the format of the July 15th tournament at Pomme de Terre from a split take off 1 day tournament to a 2 day morning/morning format on the 15th and 16th.   We will take off both days at 5:30 am, with the Saturday weigh in at 1PM and the Sunday weigh in at 11AM. Check the club website, stlrodbenders.com, for additional details and followup.

 

The next event coming up is the annual Rodbenders Reunion tournament at Kentucky Lake. We will go out of the KenOak Resort, which you can contact at 1-800-580-0682. It will be a day and ½ event and we will sign up and draw takeoff positions at the next club meeting, at Yesterday’s on Woodson Road on May 11. This tournament is open to all members and also to all former members who may want to join us from wherever they might be. Looking forward to seeing all of you at KenOak.

 

Obviously the 76 fish weighed at Lake O have changed the standings in the races for Angler of the Year and the clubs State Team. The latest standings in both races are attached for your information. Please let me know if there is any part of the standings that you don’t agree with or if you think I have made a mistake. But be ready to back up your argument with facts, evidence and a really big bribe if you expect me to change anything.

 

See you at Yesterdays and/or at the lake.