John Buck John's Club Report
Covering The Pensacola Hawg Hunters
2010 Season

 Email: John Buck
Founded In 1975
April Tournament
Total Number Fished Tournament 16
Total Fish Caught 133
Total Dead Fish 8
Total Limits 21
Big Fish 3.10
Total Fish Weight 167.97 lbs

Total Year Standings
Total Number Fished Tournament 113
Total Fish Caught 349
Total Dead Fish 8
Total Limits 38
Big Fish 5.11
Total Fish Weight 524.26 lbs

*** Tournament Big Fish ***
Donnie Lewis
3.10 lbs

Lake Martin
Wind Creek State Park
*** Big Fish Of The Year ***
Jeff Weaver
5.11 lbs
1st Place
John Buck
10 Fish 16.43 lbs		 2nd Place
Jeff Weaver
10 Fish 14.77 lbs		 3rd Place
Lee Brannon
10 Fish 14.67 lbs		 4th Place
Buddy Yates
10 Fish 14.04 lbs

Place Name Fish Weight
1. John Buck 10 16.43
2. Jeff Weaver 10 14.77
3. Lee Brannon 10 14.67
4. Buddy Yates 10 14.04
5. Donnie Lewis 10 12.63
6. Dan Nash 10 12.51
7. Mack Cramer 10 11.57
8. Dave Dyess 9 10.39

Tournament Results


Also Fished:
Frank Dodge

Place Name Fish Weight
9. Dave Bock 10 10.28
10. Brian Nall 9 9.97
11. Pete Mistich 7 9.26
12. Ron Bridges 7 8.48
13. Bob Jones 8 8.15
14. Frank Kelly 7 7.94
15. Don Jahnke 6 7.08

TOURNAMENT REPORT

Lake Martin

 April 17-18, 2010

Wind Creek State Park

The Hawg Hunters fished The April tournament at Lake Martin. Located on the Tallapoosa River near Alexander City, Alabama, it is the southern most TVA lake. With high rocky hills and bluffs and very deep water it is a beautiful lake. We launched out of Wind Creek State Park. Water conditions were basically very clear in the upper lake and cloudy to clear in the lower portion due to the enormous amounts of pollen in the water. Water temps ranged from the upper 60's to the mid 70's. We had a high pressure dome in place on Saturday with high blues and a small cold front blew through on Saturday night dropping temps about 8-10 degrees and north winds and again high blues by Sunday morning.

I fished as a non-boater this month and drew out behind Jeff Weaver. We had a great time, and I could not have asked for a better partner. We went up on Thursday afternoon and checked some places Jeff and I liked in the lower lake around Kowligia Creek. While the banks I liked were bare, Jeff's banks were loaded up with nice fish. We left them and started looking for similar places in the area. Soon we found about 4-5 places that had fish. On Friday we fished the upper lake and then went to check our fish in Kowligia and they were still there. Saturday we immediately ran to the banks and started catching fish by 9-10 AM each of us had a limit. We caught fish all day and found some other spots to save for Sunday. We caught almost all of our fish on deep rocky banks and sloping points in 10-15 feet of water. Usually the boat was in 25-30 feet of water. The majority of our fish came on trick worms fished with a lead head jig. Green pumpkin was our most productive color.

At the weigh-in Lee Brannon was in first place with a limit @ 9.42 lbs. Jeff Weaver was in 2nd with a limit @ 9.23 lbs. John Buck was in 3rd with a limit @ 9.21 lbs and Buddy Yates was in 4th with a limit @8.51 lbs. There were 13 limits weighed in from 16 fishermen. Fish were fairly easy to come by but most of them were small. Donnie Lewis had the lunker for the first day at 3.10 lbs.

Dave Dyess, as usual, really had it together and we had a great chicken dinner Saturday night courtesy of the "special fund". Everyone had a great time sitting around and telling lies, fishing tales, and jokes and enjoying the food and fellowship. Special "Thank You" Dave for the outstanding job you are doing. Once again we were also treated to a special dessert from Brenda Weaver, (Jeff's main boss and caretaker). She fixed some great brownies and we all ate our fill of them again. (She did this also last month for us) Wow!!! What a treat BRENDA… AND VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!!

Day 2 arrived with stiff north winds and cooler temps and another high pressure dome. Jeff and I knew that this would really hurt the largemouth bite as it did the previous day, and we were very content to chase our spotted bass on the deep banks. Our fish were there again. They had positioned a little different, but they would still bite and by 8:15 am, I had a limit in the boat. Jeff got his limit about 10 am. Again we caught them on trick worms with jig heads but also caught a few on crank baits on the ends of points. Once again we each had a great time catching fish and wow, we must have had 50 bites each day that did not connect. Many were panfish or very small spots but they keep you alert and kept the day busy.

At the scales there were not so many limits on Sunday (8) and the fish were smaller than the day before. John Buck managed another limit to take the win with a total of 16.43 lbs and he also had the Sunday lunker @ 1.85 lbs. Jeff Weaver moved to 2nd place with a total of 14.77 lbs. Lee Brannon took 3rd with a total of 14.67 lbs and Buddy Yates took 4th with a total of 14.04 lbs.

Overall it was a really good tournament and everyone seemed to have a really good time. I really appreciate all the eboard does to make these things go a smoothly as they do. Dave, great job with the meal and Frank, you did a great job at the weigh in, and yes even you Jeff, you did a great job getting the stats all tallied and I really enjoyed fishing with you.

Jeff and I felt good that we made the right choices in our fishing style this weekend. We knew that there was a high pressure dome in place for Saturday and that the front would bring another one on top for Sunday. We also knew that spots are not usually affected as much by this as large mouths are. We fished on small leadhead jigs on deep banks and ledges and deep points. We maybe got lucky, but we found fish on that pattern almost every place we tried. We even caught several keepers each day when we ran back up to Wind Creek just before the weigh in each day. In fact Jeff culled at least one fish each day in the last 30 minutes in Wind Creek each day. In my opinion there were many more aggressive fish in the lower portion this time than in the upper half of the lake. We really had a lot of bites all day long each day no matter where we fished down low as long as we stayed with the pattern.

Next month we will be fishing at Millers Ferry on the Alabama River. It will be a one day event out of Ellis Landing. May is a great time on the Ferry, and we should have a good tournament. This lake is full of good large mouth bass and also full of good spotted bass. Make you plans now to attend the meeting and the tournament.

Until next time….Keep your Hooks Sharp!

John