March 2020 Newsletter

Minutes of the Meeting:

Despite the World spiraling into a pandemic the Pensacola Hawg Hunters conducted their March Meeting with 18 members present at Fournias Brother’s restaurant. Even Roger Helm made it all the way from Jacksonville. Kevin Simmons beat the gravel at 7:00pm to get the meeting started.

Old Business

Jeff Weaver got the floor rolling with a tale of two trees and got the punch line correct this time. The reading of the minutes can be found on the webpage Newsletter each month as our voted in Secretary does not show up at the meetings. Thank you for all those who fill him in so he can publish an award-winning newsletter. I’m not sure, which award we are winning but it sure sounds good.

Tony gave us the treasury report. Read and accepted by the membership I assume.

Buddy Yates says we have over $700 in the Booray pot. We are still looking for a 6-pound fish.

The 50/50 was won by Jeff Weaver!

Club Shirt Committee Report: Mack has all the details on how to get a shirt that has the club name on it. They are not official shirts to earn Hat/Shirt points but if you want one see Mack.

New Business:

No new business discussed at the meeting however at the tournament site a discussion was held on what to do about the April Tournament at Lake Jordan. The general opinion was to do nothing (ie make no changes) at this time and wait to see what transpires between now and then. The decision just may be out of our hands if the Government steps in and mandates things that would make it impossible to fish. Like they did with closing the beaches, bars and restaurants. As we get closer to the April tournament dates the E-board will let us know what their decision is.

Lee’s friend is still looking for a buyer for his 2007 Nitro. He is asking 17K.

From the Tournament Director:

:The payout for the February Tournament were handed out to the top four anglers last month. Congrats if you were one of the lucky ones.

The meeting was adjourned sometime after 7:00pm

March’s Tournament was a two-day tournament held up at Lake Mitchell. We had nine boats carrying 13 anglers. Just four Co-Anglers committed to the out of town trip. From the smiles on their faces at the weigh-ins, I know they really enjoyed themselves.

Okay so weather wise for the tournament we started out Saturday in the mid to high 60’s with the temperatures climbing up to the mid 70’s by weigh in time. Overcast most of the day with moderate wind. Actually a real nice fishing day. In fact, it was so good all 13 Hawg Hunters caught limits of fish. Unprecedented! No one in the club can remember when we as a club have limited out. Great job! Those 65 fish weighed in at 115.66 pounds for a 1.77-pound average. Co-Angler Terry Smith out of the back of Lee Brannon’s Skeeter caught the big fish. It weighed 4.45 pounds. Dave Bock who was the only one to bust over the 10-pound mark as he caught the heavy stringer for the day. His limit went 11.40 pounds anchored by a 3.74 pound spotted bass caught on a KVD red eye shad fan cast over an area of busting fish.

Saturday night at the motel every pitched in from a 6 foot distance to help Lee amaze us with another great Mullet fish fry. Them there mullet backs are the shit. Total red neck stuff there. Everything was superb from the mullet backs to the mullet fillets to the fries with coleslaw including the brownies donated by Jeff’s wife. Thanks! Great job Lee and your two fry cook helpers Terry Smith and Carlito. I believe everyone had more than enough food.

Thanks to the weather, also because it did not start raining until after we had a chance to put everything away from the cookout.

Sunday morning we woke up to a light drizzle with the temperature down to 53 degrees. It would not be a Hawg Hunter tournament without a cold front coming through and we got one. At the ramp, the drizzle went away a little before blast off. Around 10:00 am, the rain came through for about 2 hours. Not hard rain but enough to get wet and miserable. However, I keep reminding myself that my partner and I both had limits of fish in the live well so we were good to go.

As a Club at the 1:00pm weigh-in, we were two fish shy of equaling Saturday’s performance of 100% fish. Roger left early for his long drive and Terry Smith only managed three fish. Sunday was actually a better fishing day for almost everyone, as the 58 fish we did catch weighed 122.53 pounds for a 2.11-pound average. Carlito Silvania caught the big fish Sunday. A nice largemouth tipping the scales at 5.06 pounds. Good job Carlito! John Russell caught Sunday’s Heavy Stringer. They totaled 13.59 pounds. Carlito also had a 13-pound bag. Whereas Dave Bock was the only won to top 10 pounds on Saturday we had 7 out of 12 members catch over 10 pounds on Sunday.

Total fish caught for the weekend was 123 weighing 238.19 for the 13 members present. I shouldn’t say caught, those are just what we weighed in. Most of us were culling fish both days. It was a real good tournament. I myself caught my limit early on Sunday and then upgraded every one of them as the morning progressed. My partner Dave Hall was even culling for his second time since joining the Hawg Hunters.

Tournament Results:

Place	Hawg Hunter		Total Fish	Total Weight

Also Fished

Tournament Results:

1st Place

Dave led the tournament on Saturday with 11.40 pounds and managed to keep his shit together long enough to bring in another 11.51 pounds on Sunday. His 10 fish 22.91-pound total fell to a combination of crankbaits and worms. This is only Dave’s fourth time winning a Hawg Hunter Tournament in the 12 years he has been an active in the club. This was his first time winning a Two-day tournament. This also notches up his Heaviest Two Day Tournament Total Weight.

Congratulations Dave!

2nd Place

John Russell started out Saturday in 7th place with a limit weighing 8.92 pounds. On Sunday he weighed a monster bag of 13.59 pounds for a two day total just .4 pounds behind Dave to claim Second Place.

Great Job!

Congratulations John Russell!

Third Place

3rd Place

Carlito started out in 11th place on Saturday with 7.70 pounds but upgraded nicely on Sunday to a 13.39-pound bag. The Big Fish of the Tournament a 5.06-pound brute anchored Sunday’s bag for Carlito.

Great Job!

Congratulations Carlito!

Fourth Place

4th Place

Lee started out in 5th place on Saturday with a 9.48 limit. Then on Sunday he managed to go over 10 pounds with a 10.97 pound limit. His two day total put him over 20 pounds! To think…catching over 20 pounds of fish and barely making it into the money slots. Ask John Buck and Dave Dyess how that feels. The also had 20 pound plus bags and finished fifth and sixth.

Great Job!

Congratulations Lee!

AOY Analysis:

Place	Top Six Hawg Hunters		Points

In our Angler of the Year race, we still have Dave Dyess maintaining his First place position. This month he gained two more points so he now commands a 10-point lead.

Also holding his position from last month In Second place is Mack Cramer. However, his lead over third is shrinking. In fact, John Russell has managed to reach up and tie Mack for Second Place with 79 points.

10 points behind Mack and John Russell is Fourth Place Terry Ferdinandt.

Carlito jumps from 8th last month to 5th this month and joins the Top Six Anglers with 68 points. Just 1 point behind Terry.

Lee also makes a jump into the Top Six this month. Last month he was tied with John Buck for 9th and now he’s in Sixth for the AOY standings. Lee is just 3 points back.

We are almost halfway through the season and let us hope we still be able to fish in the upcoming months.

CO-AOY Analysis:

Place	CO-Angler of the Year Race	Points
Gold
Silver
Bronze

On the Co-Angler side of things, we have a little bit of change. Terry Ferdinandt still leads the pack with 69 points but is slowly losing ground to Carlito. Carlito now has 68 points to command the 2nd place Silver position. Dropping down one slot is Terry Smith who is now 5 points behind Carlito with 63 points. All three of these guys are 20 points ahead of Dave Hall our other Co-Angler brave enough to make the trip to Mitchell this month.

Big Fish Saturday!