Today the 3rd tournament of the season for the Santa Barbara Bass Club was held at Santa Margarita lake. 21 anglers competed and the bite overall was pretty good. 9 limits were brought in with a big fish of 4lbs 15oz taken on a spinnerbait, and a big limit of 16lbs and some change. <BR>I fished with Rex Pendergraft as a non-boater and we had a great day. We started out in the marnina cove flipping and casting worms. I got a small keeper on a 4" reaper, followed by another small keeper on a 5" swimbait, followed a bit later by a solid 3 pounder again on the swimbait. Rex borrowed one and sure enough he sticks a nice one about 2 and a half. A couple casts later I get another one 2-15. Wow, so the morning was going pretty good. We worked the rest of the marina cove and Rex picked up another small keeper on a 7" worm. After that we moved across the lake to some of my favorite little areas and Rex started getting them pretty good on the worm. He caught 3 with 2 keepers and a dink. Then we come up on this tullie patch and it was on, double hookup for 2 more keepers and next cast I stuck another one about 2 and a half and another one. Holy cow, it's 10:30 and we both had culled a fish. Well after that it slowed down for us. We fished white oak and I hooked a good one on the worm but lost it and then after that it was the doldrums for the rest of the day except for back in wildman cove where Rex culled one more on the worm. Water temps were from 59 to 61 depending on if you were in the wind or not and the fish we caught I think were mostly on beds although you couldn't see them. <BR>Rex had 8 something for his limit and I wound up with 11-3 for 5th place. It was a fun day out there. The gentleman who won (I'll learn everyone's name one of these days) reported getting his fish on mag rattle traps and big wigglewarts with the big fish on the spinnerbait. Other guys caught worm and split shot fish and some spinnerbait fish. The jig bite has really sucked lately, I don't know what happened. <BR>Took lots of photos at the weigh in so here they are.<P>The winner with his big fish 4lbs 15oz.<BR><img src="http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/sbbass_margarita00/big_fish4_15.jpg"><P>Second place, a nice limit including a 3-12 I believe<BR><img src="http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/sbbass_margarita00/2ndplace.jpg"><P>Dennis Wright with 3rd place, 12lbs total<BR><img src="http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/sbbass_margarita00/dennis.jpg"><P>Brian with his limit<BR><img src="http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/sbbass_margarita00/brian.jpg"><P>Dave Jochman with 4 good ones<BR><img src="http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/sbbass_margarita00/davej.jpg"><P>Pat found a couple to eat the spider jig<BR><img src="http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/sbbass_margarita00/pat.jpg"><P>Pat's son I believe with his first tournament bass<BR><img src="http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/sbbass_margarita00/pats_son.jpg"><P>Whitney with 2 nice fish<BR><img src="http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/sbbass_margarita00/whitney.jpg"><P>Wait a minute that's not the target species? A big trout caught on a worm at 20 feet. <BR><img src="http://www.calfishing.com/images/daily_reports/sbbass_margarita00/trout.jpg">

Just so he gets his due credit, the winner was Ray Stevens. It was Ray's second win in a row for the club. Second place was Bob "Don't Mention the Word Mail" Shust.

Hey man, what the fu ck? you should of won that thing. You fish it enough. Just kidding, Im sure its tough with all the competition. Just giving you a hard time, dont take me to serious. What new? The seabass have bit for limits over the weekend!

Well I won't make any excuses. I really needed that one big bite on the trout plug but I never got it! The big girls all spawned last month and I think they were hanging out in deeper water and not biting. Believe me I chucked the 12" slammer enough to find out if they were on the points. <BR>What's up with the seabass? Is it starting to bite or what?

Hey Pat,<BR>Thanks for posting the names of the winners. I feel bad for not knowing them by now. I have to say I was pretty pissed when I heard Ray got those fish on reaction baits and I was catching them little ones on worms. And I NEVER fish worms at Margarita =). Next time!

I had some reaction fish going pre-fishing, but most were on the small side. What really distresed me was when Ray told me he didn't get bit pre-fishing Saturday!

Rob: The confused guy holding the trout at a bass tournament is Dan Ellis. You might notice that he is wearing a University of Michigan tee shirt. That should explain the trout! Great coverage of the SB Bass Club tourney. Dave

That may explain why Dan caught a trout during the bass tournament. But what explanation can you give for catching 4 sight fish while wearing that bright orange shirt? You said you got them on plastics. Was that a plastic pitchfork? Fess up Dave!