TOURNAMENT REPORT

The Hawg Hunters held the July tournament on the Perdido River out of Seminole Landing. We had 17 members trying to find the always elusive bass on Perdido. The weather was HOT and the skies were clear blue. The water was very clear in the lower parts of the river and creeks but if you went up river a ways then you found the heavy stain and mud from recent thunderstorms. The surface temps ranged from about 85.5 to about 87 as the day progressed.

My partner for the tournament was Mark Churchwell. It was great to see him back participating again, and we had a great day fishing together. We started out on a small grass line that Mark likes near the launch, and in a short time I had 3 small keepers in the boat. Mark had 5-6 hits but failed to hook up any. They were hitting horny toads and dark worms. I caught several short fish also, but I think Mark was a bit rusty and maybe setting the hook a bit fast. He did set the hook strong, and I knew soon he would find his pace again.

We left there and headed south to the lower delta and fished some backwaters and we both caught a few small fish there . Then we headed back up and went to a spot in Reeder lake that I liked, and Mark caught a “football” bass but he was 1/16 to short. I missed a nice fish on a horny toad, and that was it from there. We then decided to go up Blackwater Creek to a place I liked, and we were lucky that others were not there when we arrived. The sun was high and bright, and we started flipping worms tight and under overhanging trees on sunken logs and the fish were there, and they would bite. I finished my limit and then culled one, and Mark caught 3 nice fish too. We both caught several short fish. If we had just gone there sooner maybe we both would have had better bags for the scales. We found fish on Watermelon, Watermelon/red, and Green pumpkin trick worms. Over the day we probably caught about 35 fish between the two of us. Needless to say for fishing July and on the Perdido, we both were more than happy.

At the scales Lee Brannon had that silly grin on his face so we knew he had a bag of fish, and we were right. He brought in a nice limit @ 8.74 lbs, and he also had the lunker @ 4.63 lbs. Congratulations Lee great bag and for grabbing a solid hold on FOY standings. My small limit managed to take 2nd place @ 6.16 lbs. and it edged me to a half point lead for 3rd place in FOY standings. Third place went to my partner Mark Churchwell with 3 fish @ 4.59 lbs. Great job Mark! Tony Boyette took 4th place with a limit of 5 fish @ 4.24 lbs. That may be a new record for us for the smallest limit ever weighed in. Congratulations Tony.

Almost all the fish were caught on worms or frogs. Most fish were caught on darker colors, junebug, black, black grape, watermelon, and green pumpkin. Amazingly we had no dead fish, and that was great. Special thanks for all those who kept the fish in good condition in the severe hot weather. Thanks again to all those who help make this club fun and for the camaraderie that exist among the members. Also a special thanks to Tournament Director Mack Cramer for the great job at the weigh-in every tournament, and also to Secretary Dave Bock for his extra efforts to provide us with prompt tournament results and stats and for keeping the website in great order.

Next month we will fish on the Tensaw River out of Hubbards Landing. Make your plan to attend the meeting and fish the tournament. It will be the last “short day” tournament for the year.


Until next time “Keep Your Hooks Sharp!”
John