January 2022 Newsletter

Minutes of the Meeting:

The January meeting of the Hawg Hunters was brought to order at Fournias Brothers restaurant by our President John Buck. We had only 14 members present. Official start time was 7:00 pm.

Old Business

The minutes from last meeting were read and accepted.

The treasury report was also read and accepted by the membership.

The Booray is getting bigger and now stands at $1386 while the hurdle to win it has been lowed this season to just 5.5 pounds.

The 50/50 was won by Randy Cole.

The Sixth Place Angler Award for last year’s 2021 season was presented to Mack Cramer.

Congrats Mack!

Slammer Award

The coveted Slammer Award was also presented. Being a new member in your first year doesn’t get you out of it but it sure helps get you the attention.

The 2021 Season Slammer Award went to Lee Ferrell! He ended the season with the most goof-ups during our tournaments. It seems Lee has issues with always being tied down like to the trailer and the boat dock. I wouldn’t be surprised if he even started wearing slip on shoes to avoid the laces of regular shoes. Lee at least you didn’t weigh in 6 fish. Or did you….?

Shout out’s go to Dave Dyess. Hang in their buddy you can get through this. Dave is doing his communicating through text or e-mail as things get better. Give him a shout.

If you are wondering why you can’t get ahold of Terry Ferdinandt here’s a picture why.

New Business

We got new shirts so now it’s time to get new hats. Actually we can’t get the old hats anymore so John Russell is going to do some research and get back with us on what the local manufacturers can offer us. Maybe we can go Pink this time.

A discussion about the rules for Florida tournament fishing permits was conducted. John Russell reminded everyone that not only are you allowed to keep more than one fish over 16” but there are other rules too. Like you cannot release a dead fish and a dead fish penalty is .25 pounds compared to our club rule of .2 pounds. Also you must have a bubbler in your fish carry bag.

Okay thanks for the reminder but I don’t intend on catching a dead fish….I wonder what a dead fish bite feels like?

Jeff brought another idea to the club. This time he asked us to consider a 3pm weigh-in during the winter months so we could get home before dark during daylight savings.

Once again rule changes can be submitted any time to an E-board member but no later than the August meeting.

From the Tournament Director:

Payouts for the December Escambia River tournament were handed out. It was a Great job for those who made it in the Top four to receive a check/cash.

The draw was conducted for the January Tensaw River tournament. At the meeting we only had 8 boaters brave enough to test the weather man’s report of freezing temperatures for Saturday. Everyone declared to be a solo boater and brave the President’s gas prices too. I found $2.99 gas in Alabama and still spent $42 in boat gas alone. My diesel truck a whole other story. Thanks Joe!

Meeting was adjourned 7:39 pm

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January’s tournament found us running over to Tensaw launching at Cliff’s landing. The water was still in its banks no spring flood yet. Good job E-board by not waiting until February to go there. Anyway we had 8 boaters and one Co-angler who decided to go after he saw who he would fish with. The weatherman was wrong….it didn’t get down to 26 like he was saying.

We saw temps right at 32 degrees with little to no wind at the start. Some of us did experience a little ice on the eyes of our rods while fishing early but not near as cold as everyone was thinking. As a club we only caught 13 fish that weighed 22 pounds. 8 out of 9 members managed to find a fish with the winner catching 30% of the fish. Big fish honors goes out to Jeff Weaver with a nice 2.58 pound fish. However, it was about 3 pounds short of the Booray. Good job anyway Jeff! Big fish of the year is still tied by Mack Cramer and Dave Bock with a 3.03 pound monster. Oh! Did anyone catch a fish after 3 pm?

Tournament Results:

Place	Hawg Hunter		Total Fish	Total Weight

Also Fished

Tournament Results:

1st Place

Lee Brannon once again proves why he was last season’s Angler of the Year. He waxes us again with 4 fish weighing in 5.51 pounds. Back to Back wins for Lee. You know it seems like Lee has changed his luck around every since that time we fished Spring Creek and he put his boat into the ditch back at the motel. Don't remember?
Click here to see picture and click here for Different View

Great Job!

Congratulations Lee!

2nd Place

John Buck is also back in Second Place this month. His 2 fish weighing 3.25 turned out to be good enough for Second just like last month.

Great Job!

Congratulations John!

3rd Place

Mack was the only other angler to catch more than one fish and that puts him in Third Place. He is also a repeat of last month. Where did we fish again Escambia or Tensaw? If you were to bet on a trifecta would you believe our Top 3 last month are the same Top 3 this month. Can these guys do it again next month?

Great Job!

Congratulations Mack!

4th Place

Fourth Place is Jeff Weaver with his Tournament wining Big Fish of 2.58 pounds.

Great Job!

Congratulations Jeff!

AOY Analysis:

Place	Top Six Hawg Hunters		Points

Looking at the numbers we have Lee Brannon still in the First Place spot for Angler of the Year with 58 points just 2 points ahead of the pack. He broke out of the tie with Mack by placing 2 places ahead of him.

Mack settles into Second Place but increases the gap to 8 points now ahead of Third Place.

Maintaining Third place is “Wild” Bill Armstrong now with 48 points.

Jeff Weaver jumps up to take over Fourth Place and is just 1 point away from Third with 47 points.

John Russell drops down one to claim Fifth Place with 46 points. Only down 1 point from Fourth so I wouldn’t count him out yet. There’s’ still lots of fishing yet to go this season. He almost won the title last year.

Dave Bock also breaks the tie from last month and drops down to settle in at 6th place with 43 points. Can we end the season now before I drop any further?

CO-AOY Analysis:

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

We have a change in the leader this month. Carlito steps up and takes over the First Place Gold position of the Co-Angler of the year race. Seeing how he was the only Co-angler to brave the cold weather this month he deserves it. He’s now 12 points ahead whereas last one he was 1 point behind. It really pays to participate!

Terry drops to Second while John Schaeff remains in Third.

A Fish Story

Normally at the meeting we listen to the Top Four guys to see how they caught their fish but no one ever asks how the last guy caught his. Well let me tell you since it was me for two tournaments in a row now. Well I made the run from Cliff’s down to McVay or McVoy and got to my spot in no time. If you don’t have a helmet you should think about one. Anyway I pull up on my spot (community I’m sure) and start fishing with a worm. On about the fourth or fifth cast I thought I felt a bite and set the hook. Well tried to anyway since the line broke right at the rod tip with about 30 feet of line out. I’m using a spinning rod with 12 pound test.

I take a couple of minutes to retie a new Shakey head hook on and commence fishing again. About 20 minutes later and 20 yards down the bank I feel some weight on my line and when I pull it up I find I’m wrapped around a piece of fishing line. In fact my hook was knotted on the fishing line I just caught. So cussing the guy who left the line in the water I hand pull it up and find a keeper fish hooked to it.

Low and behold the fish has my first Shakey head and worm stuck in the roof of his mouth. Can you say Golf Ball Fish? That was my only action all day. I burned 15 gallons of gas looking for more fishing line. So that my friends is how you manage to get lucky and finish last place. But this time 8th place points are better than nothing right Lee #2?

No Yellow Ball winners, No Hero to Zero, and no Slammer Nominees this month. Maybe next month!