The unusually warm month of February found the Hawg Hunters chompin' at the bits to get those pre-spawners and early spawners. With high hopes of success 26 Hawg Hunters and 1 guest took to the waters at the Tenasw River. Upon arrival we were met with bad news. The parking lot where we would normally launch was under water. We had to use a secondary launch on higher ground.

The weather conditions were not the best. We had winds from the SE at 10-25 mph for most of the day. The air temp was in the 60's and the water temps ranged from the low 50's to near 60. Skies were overcast with occasional showers and the water was out of the banks and back in the woods. Tensaw lake area was reasonably clear but the main river areas were chocolate milk.

My partner for this outing was Terry Smith. Terry and I had only fished once together but not on a tournament. Knowing his skills and knowledge of bassing,
I was looking forward to fishing with him. We had as good a time as was possible considering we each had only one hit all day....and that was from the same fish! We fished in the Tallapoosa area early in a clear creek but not a hit. That's the way it was for us through out Tensaw Lake until around 3:30 PM. We had decided to follow a small creek back into the woods and try our luck with floating worms and shad puppies. We were several miles it seemed back in this creek when we came to a submerged beaver dam. I threw at the left side and Terry took the right. As my shad puppy came across the dam a nice largemouth came up and
grabbed it. I hesitated and then set the hook only to feel the fish spit it out at the same time. Terry had stopped working his lure when I set the hook.
He then resumed working his lure and the fish grabbed it for real this time.
It turned out to be a nice 2.9 pounder. By then we had to scramble to get back to the launch site. That was our day folks.

At the weigh-in we found that most of the guys had few or no bites also.
Eleven guys weighed in fish and 16 of us had only a sad story to tell.
However, as always, someone manages to find at least a few. Neil Springstead took advantage of Jere Jaillite's guide service and brought in a 3 fish stringer that weighed 9.10 lbs. including 5.5 lb beauty to take not only 1st place but also the lunker for the day. Charging into 2nd place was Brian Metcalf with 4 fish for 7.75 lbs. Finishing in 3rd was Wally Casiano with 2 fish weighing 3.30 lbs.

Most of the fish came from down river areas and were caught on a variety of lures ranging from plastic worms, to crank baits, to spinners and soft jerk baits.
I think all the fish were caught in creeks and lakes off the main river and bit sporadically throughout the day.

Before signing off, I would like to express a congratulations for a job well done to Wally Casiano and those guys who did the work to put together our end of the year banquet. It was really a nice evening. I think everyone including the wives, enjoyed the evenings events and program. Congratulations to the "Top Six" !!! Let's go win it all again this year!!!

Our March tournament will take place at Lake Seminole in Chattahoochee,
Florida. For those of you not familiar with the lake, you can get up-to-date fishing reports and lake condition reports from Jack Wingate's site. You can find him linked in the Bainbridge Bass Club site which can be found in the "Bass Club" links on "Blue Angels Basspage"....hook1.com. Keep your fingers crossed for some good weather and light breezes because on windy days ole Seminole can be dangerous. If the temps hold in the 60's like we've seen of late, there should be some very good fishing there. Til next time........

Keep your hooks sharp....
Creek Chub