Minutes of the Meeting:
The September meeting of the Pensacola Hawg Hunters was brought to
order
at 7:00 P.M on Wednesday the 16th of September by our President John
Buck. We
had 23 members present and 1 guest Elania Silvania daughter of club
member Carlito.
Old Business:
Minutes from last meeting was waived in hopes of speeding up the
meeting.
The
treasury report was read by Buddy Yates and accepted by the membership.
Booray Report: Rolled over from last month with 21 members
participating. See Bill Myrick for details.
50/50 draw was conducted and won by Kevin Simmons for the second month
in a row.
Reservations for Lake Point at Eufula was paid by the club. Anyone
going to Eufula needs to pony up $75 for their lodging expense as soon
as possible. Stop by and see Buddy Yates to pay...maybe he'll even talk
you into a new tow vehicle while your at it.
Contact Mack if you are going up Thursday for an additional room
charge Thursday night. But regardless please
keep Mack
informed on any changes of your plans.
Perdido Boat Ramp - Looking for an October ribbon cutting ceremony.
See Bill Myrick for more details and be sure to wear you
shirt to represent if you go there.
Boat Insurance, Boat Insurance, Boat Insurance...
Club Officers will be voted on at the October Meeting. These
are the nominations so far. Not to late to get a
job if you are interested.
President - John Buck
VP/Treasurer - Buddy Yates
Tournament Director - Mack Cramer
Asst. Tournament Director - Matt Brown
Secretary/Web Master - Dave Bock
New Business:
A very lively discussion was conducted concerning the
proposed
rule changes brought before the club by various members. Here
they are again for you to refresh your memory.
Proposed Rule Changes:
2016
Proposed
Hawg Hunter Rule Changes
Click
Here
Hopefully you had the chance during the tournament to discuss with your
partner their opinions. Remember...at the October meeting the
changes will only be read then voted on by the 17 eligible members.
It takes 2/3 vote to pass. To be eligible you had
to have fished 6 tournaments prior to the October meeting.
Check the
Standings
Page "Tournaments Fished in 2015 Season" column to see if you
qualify.
The E-Board met on Friday night before the September tournament to
discuss changing the lake order based on newly acquired information.
Seems on Saturday a very big tournament (67 boats plus) was
going to be conducted at Lake Mitchell with limited parking and ramp
space. The E-board voted unanimously to swap the lakes then
presented it to the club during a special meeting of club members.
So we fished Lay on Saturday and Mitchell on Sunday.
Fish Fry - Our Annual Fish Fry during the September tournament was a
great success! Great job to all involved in the preparing,
cooking and clean up. The food was outstanding as well as the
camaraderie! In fact the fish was so good....we decided to
forgo the "mullet toss" games this year.
From the Treasurer
Annual Dues
Per our Constitution Section 4a. Dues are due and payable at the
October Meeting for the following year.
Any member that hasn't paid his dues by the November meeting
will be removed from membership and must re-apply and fish a guest
tournament." Active member dues are $40.
October Fish Off Money
If you didn't already know, $5 of your tournament entry fee each month
goes toward the annual fish off payouts. That means if you
are eligible to win fish off money you are actually paying $60
to enter the tournament. For you mathmaticians....$5 times 12
months = $60. Per our rules, to be eligible you
must fish at least 6 tournaments in a season. The
October tournament can and will be counted as your sixth tournament.
So Buddy, Frank, and Randy you still have a chance to be
included.
If you made it to all the tournaments, Great Job, you are paid up.
But, if you missed any touranments then you will owe an
additional $5 for each tournament missed if you want to get in on Fish
Off money. This will be due at the October meeting
in addition to the normal $30 entry fee charged for two day
tournaments. Check the club's
Standing Page
"Tournament Fished in 2015 Season" column to see how many you've
attended.
From the Tournament Director:
We always talk about life jackets, flares and other safe boating items.
But when is the last time you looked at your fire
extinguisher in your boat? Maybe, the game warden checked it
for you up at Lake Mitchell. Luckily he was a nice guy and
just wrote a couple of warning tickets. Learn from
others...CHECK your FIRE EXTINGUISHER!
Lake Eufula size limits are different. Large mouth bass have
a 14" minimum where as the spotted bass have our club rule of 12"
minimum. Be sure to know your species of the fish you catch.
Our fish mortatility rate sharply increased this tournament.
If fact we just doubled our annual count from the whole year
during the September tournament. Our fish fry was Mullet not
bass. We had 22 dead fish, 11 each day, to add to our yearly
count of 23 prior to the tournament to bring us to a total of 45 dead
fish after 11 tournaments. Not a number to be proud of.
Let's get them livewells fixed and turning them on would help
a great deal too!
Payouts were given for last month and the draw was conducted for the
August Tensaw River Tournament.
Meeting adjourned at 8:43pm.
Mack Cramer's "From the Tackle Box for October"
Hey everybody, fall is in the air and its Fish Off time. Yep
we will be headed to Eufaula Alabama to fish Lake Eufaula. As most of
you know we will be staying in the cabins at Lake Point Marina.
Remember those of you going up Thursday make sure you get with me, if
you don’t you are subject to arrive with nowhere to sleep. We
have all 5 cabins on the hill just as you turn into the park on your
right. Our treasurer Buddy Yates will be handling the final payment so
remember to bring your room payment of $75.00 to the meeting in
October. Let’s all of us make an effort to have the room payments go
smoothly.
Lake Walter F. George, also known as Lake Eufaula occupies 85 miles of
the Chattahoochee River, separating Alabama and Georgia. The lake is
perfect for all types of recreation and spans 640 miles of shoreline.
The Walter F. George Lock and Dam generates enough electricity to serve
up to 56,000.00 homes. The lock itself is the second highest east of
the Mississippi with a lift of 88 feet. Construction on the lock and
dam, and powerhouse was completed in 1962. Now that we know a
little history and facts about Eufaula lets discuss fishing it.
First
there is a 14 inch size limit on Largemouth Bass, I say again there is
a 14 inch size limit on Largemouth Bass, I
hope that I have made it clear on Largemouth, however on spotted bass
it is 12 inches. Fishing Eufaula can be challenging and enjoyable at
the same time, it offers river fishing where one can fish the banks
with lay downs and grass and at the same time fish the mouths of the
creeks, it also offers lake fishing where one can fish the drop offs,
humps and sunken structure. Electronics can play a huge role in
locating fish so read your owner’s manual.
Last tournament we unfortunately had 22 dead fish which is totally
unacceptable. It is obvious that we as a club are not doing our part to
insure that the fish are returned to the water alive, in fact I cannot
recall any other time in the clubs history that we had this many dead
fish. There are several things that we as club members can do to help
solve this problem, merely turning on your live wells isn’t enough, we
have to continuously check the fish, there are chemicals that can be
added to the water to increase the oxygen levels, there are Cool Well
systems that can be installed to maintain a cooler temperature of the
water in the live well. Whichever one works for you needs to be done.
As tournament director I can’t tell you that you can’t take your boat,
however there is a tournament rule that requires all boaters to have
their boats in good working order to include your live well.
Remember if you put live well on recycle you are merely recycling the
water that is in the live well and the water will eventually get
hotter and loose oxygen thus the fish will die,
continuously run fresh water into your system. The bottom line is this
we simply have to do a better job. On another note some of
you were given warning tickets for fire extinguisher issues, please get
this resolved before the next tournament, I would hate to see someone
disqualified for getting a ticket.
No birthday boys for October
Remember respect where others are fishing and be safe on the water.
By the way I have never liked Guntersville.
Tournament:
The
September Tournament was a two day split tournament. After
the unanimous e-board change we fished Lay Lake on Saturday and Lake
Mitchell on Sunday. Half the club went up on Thursday while
the working class members of the club went up Friday. We had
19 fishermen originally however Marion returned home before the start
of the tournament. To fill his spot Neil Springstead joined
us as a guest. We need to start charging him dues like the
rest of us. Anyway we put 10 boats on the two bodies of
water. The weather was nice...cooler than Pensacola...but
still bright sunny and warm with minimual wind. Some battled
the early morning Fog along the main river channel to get to their
first spot especially at Lay on Saturday.
Tournament Results:
1st Place
Roger Helm
Our long distance member, Roger Helm, showed us how to catch fish in
our backyard. His 2 day total of 10 fish exceeded the 20
pound mark coming it at 20.82 pounds. This is Roger's 2nd
tournament this season and so far he's taken money from us both times.
He had a 3rd place at the March Seminole tournament.
Great Job!
Congrats Roger!
2nd Place
Tony Boyett
Tony drew out the blank chip but he refused to let that stop him from
finding some nice fish. Tony also brought limits to the
scales both days. His 10 fish totaled 17.68 pounds
to earn 2nd place honors. This is Tony's 3rd trip to the
money spots this year.
Great Job!
Congratulations Tony!
3rd Place
Lee Brannon
Lee showed us what it takes to stay in competition with our AOY points
leader by gaining 2 points on Mack. Lee bought in
the heaviest stringer of the tournament with a 11.99 pound
limit on Saturday. Add that to another limit of
Sunday and Lee's two day 10 fish total tipped the scales
at 17.52 pounds. Can this guy fish under pressure or
what? Lee's 6th trip to the money spots.....any more we may
have to call the IRS.
Great Job!
Congratulations Lee!
4th Place
Jeff Weaver
Jeff rounds out our top 4, also catching a double limit for
the two days of fishing. His 10 fish weighed 16.08 pounds.
Even after testing his safety strap on his boat to make sure
it worked properly he was still able to find the right fish to
take some money home. 5th time this year in fact.
Great Job!
Congratulations Jeff!
AOY Analysis
This month we had 7 members advance their positions while 9 declined.
Still not a lot of big moves as the season is almost over.
Kevin moved the most jumping 4 spots. Not to take
away from Kevin but way down on the standings most of the
hurdles to jump over are no different then the armadillo's laying on
the roads with their feet up in the air. Roger Helm jumped 3
himself with his win at the tournament.
Mack was lucky enough to find some fish to keep his AOY 1st place
standing but Lee managed to close the gap to within 3 points leading up
to our Annual Fish Off in October. It's gonna be a nail
biter! Just for that reason alone you should come to the Fish
Off to witness first hand who takes home the coveted Angler of the Year
Trohpy.
Jeff Weaver maintains his 3rd place position but opens the gap up to 6
points ahead of 4th place. It's impossible for Jeff to climb
any higher up the leader board this year as 1st and 2nd are over 30
points ahead but a 3rd place finish is still very respectable in our
club. Will he hold on?
Bill Myrick manages to jump ahead on the leader board to the 4th place
spot while Jere also jumps up to grab 5th.
Falling from grace a wee bit is John who drops 2 spots down to 6th.
Last month 4th, 5th and 6th were only seperated by 1.5 points
now they are spread out a little more. Still room to move
around if they find the right fish at Lake Eufula.
CO-AOY Analysis:
Looks like we have a winner already! Hooyah! Matt
has sewn it all up in the CO-AOY race. He's a whopping 25
points ahead of second place Bob Jones. With that
much of a lead Matt could stay home and sleep in even if Bob won the
tournament at the fish-off. Great job Matt! On the
other hand if Matt shows up and fishes he has a chance of breaking into
the top 6 as he's only 8.5 points behind. Bob moved up to
the 2nd place silver position mainly because Dave Dyess drew out as a
boater disqualifying him in the category. (Bob when you
prefished with Dave last week how much did you pay him to drop out?)
In the 3rd place Bronze position we now see Jim Bailey Sr. moving up.
Just 8 points behind Jim is Marion.
Booray Winner!
"Big Fish" Bob as he now wants to be called caught a 6.58 pound Hawg on
Saturday at Lay Lake to win the Booray pot. The
pot has been rolling over since May.
Back then he was the co-runner up for the Booray pot with a
5.3 pound brute. Last month on Tensaw he also took
big fish money as well as back in February on Fish River.
"Big Fish" Bob formally known as "The Bob Jones" has been on
fire this season catching them big fish Tell us your secrets
to your success! Great Job!
Sunday's Big Fish Winner
Sunday's
big fish winner was Dave Bock
with a 4.97 pound beauty he caught on a
shakey head worm in 2 feet of water. A milestone for Dave as
this
is his biggest tournament fish caught in over 30 years of tournament
fishing from coast to coast.
Tournament Standings:
Lay Lake @ Beeswax Landing
- Saturday
Lake Mitchell @ Higgin's -
Sunday
1st – Roger Helm - 10 fish – 20.82 lbs
2nd – Tony Boyett - 10 fish – 17.68 lbs
3rd – Lee Brannon - 10 fish – 17.52 lbs
4th – Jeff Weaver - 10 fish – 16.08 lbs
5th – Mack Cramer - 9 fish – 15.75 lbs
6th – Dave Dyess - 10 fish – 15.24 lbs
7th – Kevin Simmons - 8 fish – 13.78 lbs
8th – Bill Myrick - 10 fish – 12.75 lbs
9th - Matt Brown - 5 fish – 10.40 lbs
10th - Bob Jones - 4 fish - 10.38 lbs
11th - Jere Jaillite -7 fish - 8.33 lbs
12th - Ron Bridges - 5 fish - 8.12 lbs
13th - Dave Bock - 3 fish - 7.61 lbs
14th - John Schaeff - 3 fish - 6.35 lbs
15th - Carlito Silvania - 5 fish - 5.88 lbs
16th - John Buck - 5 fish - 5.43 lbs
17th - Pete Potter - 3 fish - 3.95 lbs
18th - Cliff Armstrong - 2 fish - 2.14 lbs
Also Fished:
Hooyah! Everyone caught fish one day or the other.
A Little Humor
From
the fish's prospective
Good Samaritain Award of the
Month
This month I'd like to Award the Good Samaritain of the Month to Jeff
Weaver as he was kind enough to let Dave Bock borrow his spare trolling
motor after his crapped out. Thanks Jeff! Your a
gentleman and a scholar!
Slammer Nominations:
This month I'm self reporting. Seems I got a little wet
getting my boat on the trailer at Lake Mitchell on Sunday. I
was doing what I always do....step down out of the boat onto the
trailer to hook up the bow strap before towing the boat out of the
water. Well I missed the trailer by a couple of inches with
my foot and ended us ass-planting on the ramp in about a foot and a
half of water. Real good thing I didn't have my wallet and
phone with me. (I have you know....I'm only saying so because
there were witnesses.....)
For the Record:
Lay Lake / Lake Mitchell
Beeswax / Higgin's Ferry Landing
Total Number Fished Tournament 18
Total Fish Caught 119
Total Dead Fish 22
Total Limits 15
Total Fish Weight 198.21 lbs
Big Fish: Bob Jones 6.58 lbs
For the Year:
Total Number Fished For Year 195
Total Fish Caught 685
Total Dead Fish 43
Total Limits 74
Total Fish Weight 1261.57
Big Fish 7.85
Buddy Yates
Lake Seminole - March
October Meeting
Location: Founaris Bros.
October 21, 2015
Time: 7:00 pm
October Tournament
October 24 & 25, 2015
Tournament Site:
Lake Eufalua
Lake Point
From the Daily Planner:
Sunrise: 6:35am
Full Moon:
10/27/15
Any questions should be addressed to:
Dave Bock
E-Mail
the Secretary