Going into this tournament I was just hoping to scratch out a limit of fish and secure myself for Angler of the Year as I had a good lead. Admittedly I was longing for a victory to end the season as this had been my first year without a first place finish but knew a lot of guys had a chance to pre-fish and had a better idea of what was going on at the lake.

I ended up bring most of the arsenal of rods and tackle (11 rod/reel combos) but, like most of the time when you bring this much gear, only ended up needing two. Started off by throwing the Lucky Craft LVR D-10 in char/blu but did not manage a touch. Was just trying to cover a ton of water quickly and hope to get a fish or two. Ended up throwing my Specialty Tackle Big Bite (red craw) and finally got my first keeper around 6:30am. Continued fishing around with both the Big Bite, D-10 and dropshot but could not get anything else to go for about ½ hour. Finally, after finding a nice looking isolated weed patch, picked up a 1 ¾ on the drop shot.

I then made the best decision of the day and switched colors on the D-10 to the “mad craw”. I had just gone over the same flat I had fished twice already and started to talk to Terry Yeh. On my next cast I got slammed by a nice 4 ½ lber! Sweet! Figured with the way I was struggling I might already have wrapped up AOY! Yes! To top this off, two casts later while still hanging with Terry, WHAM! Felt like my bait got hit by a mack truck! Thought it was bigger but ended up weighing in at 4.8 lbs. Oh, yeah. I’m now thinking I have a chance for victory. Hmm, what to do now! Shortly after this I get my limit off the same weed patch I caught my dropshot fish earlier. Very nice. Then gave Terry some advice as to what I thought the fish were holding on and told him to go get ‘em.

So, in my head by this point I was thinking I had to have nearly 15 lbs and it was only 8:30! Since it was getting warm and I had already shed my jacket, thought I would lighten the load and go back to the truck to drop off some gear.

After departing with about 20 lbs of gear I knew what I was going to do for the rest of the day. ‘Trap and swimbait. Worked that same flat that I had caught 4 of my first 5 fish and started to throw. On my next pass a nice 2 ½. Another pass and I get one about 2 and another a 1lb 15oz, both culling. My following pass a nice 3 ½. I then got another couple that did not cull but were both right close to 2lbs. Sweet. In between this time I started to throw my swimbait a little more but did not get anything to go.

I did end up getting a little nervous as Terry had caught two hogs right when I dropped off my gear. Great for him but if he caught a couple more nice fish I might have to worry! Also found out Dave S had some nice ones along with Deren slaying the fish. Bill also was finally onto fish and catching one after another! Yikes, this might closer than I had originally thought.

At the end, with my arms about ready to fall off (I calculated I had to have made more than 1000 casts), I realized it was probably mine but still wanted to go out with an explanation point. Never got that huge one but had a terrific time and a big congrats goes out to all the guys for catching some nice fish along with the all the people showing up and bringing non-perishable foods for the Redwood Empire Food Bank. Thanks guys!

What a great year for SCBBBC with an average of over 30 people per tournament (NOT including the Invite or May Open)! Great job to all the officers along with members for making the club great!

Todd