April 14th and 15th 2012
2011 Classic Tournament
OK yes I know I am way late on writing the newsletter for the Classic and I truely aplogize for the delay. Hope you all will forgive me for the delay?
One of the best ways to start this newsletter is to call this Classic ” Opposite Year / Opposite Day Classic ” We all had fond memories of last year with all the heavy weights of bass being caught and hoping it would be the same this year. 7 teams showed up to fish and I believe all were able to pre-fish on Friday. Water was still low this year. Some said it was a little higher, some said it was a little lower. All I know is a few had to get out and push their boats off sand bars, etc. You still could not run most cuts and if you did you had better not shut down. We had a couple of skegs which were damaged, but nothing too serious. On pre-fish day lots of little bass were caught and a few nice ones as well. We were faced with some major weather coming our way for Saturdy, but we all seemed to have a game plan in place for Saturday. Saturday morning we all met at the meeting area to blast off and boy the wind was blowing like crazy. Then the rain came through but did not last too long. The wind blew all day long though and the sky was mostly overcast most of the day.
After day one only one team came in with a limit. Here are the results from day one:
1st place with 5 bass weighing 18.35 lbs goes to Joe and Greg
2nd place with 4 bass weighing 13.74 lbs goes to Godwin and Glenn
3rd place with 3 bass weighing 10.88 lbs goes to Keith and Justin
4th place with 4 bass weighing 9.90 lbs goes to Mike and Steve
5th place with 3 bass weighing 8.10 lbs goes to Josh and Malcolm
6th place with 2 bass weighing 3.18 lbs goes to Darrell and Brandon
7th place with 1 bass weighing 1.87 lbs goes to Matt and John
Big Bass for day 1 weighing 6.75 lbs goes to Godwin and Glenn
Oh, did I say there were no major problems besides a few banged up skegs? Seems Godwin and Glenn had motor issues and could not get on plane. They called me to check on the rules so they could get back on time. Lucky for them we found them in the rim canal putting along and Steve and I tried to tow them back, but were running out of time. So we put Glenn and their fish in Steve’s boat and made it to the weigh in on time.
Now it was time for the meeting and the raffle. I would like to thank all of the great members who helped with making our raffle a success in which we raised quite a bit of money to help the payouts. THANK YOU ALL!!!
At the meeting we discussed the date of the Classic and if we could possibly change to earlier in the year? Motion was to change to the second weekend in February and motion was passed. Guess the reasoning is to hopefully have more water in Okeechobee and to hopefully get on bigger fish? So as of right now our 2012 Classic will be February 9th and 1oth 2013 out of Clewiston. The only two issues we may be faced with is low water and other big tournaments that weekend? The second lake of choice for the Classic will be St. John’s. We will know more later this year when they publish the pro schedules.
Now for day two and the wind was still blowing, but not as bad and we had a nice blue sky instead of mostly overcast like Saturday. There were no limits brought to the scales? This is where opposite day comes into play. Only 12 bass were brought to the scales and all the teams were shocked that the fishing was as slow as it was. Two teams had no fish to weigh in and the leader after day one came in with 2 bass? The bite was not happening at all. Even the small fish were not biting like they were Saturday. Even the locals could not believe how slow the bite was?
Day 2:
First place goes to Joe and Greg with 2 bass weighing 8.41 lbs
Second place goes to Matt and John weighing 6.53 lbs
Third place goes to Keith and Justin weighing 5.71 lbs
Fourth place goes to Josh and Malcolm weighing 3.56 lbs
Fifth place goes to Godwin and Glenn weighing 3.36 lbs
Big Bass Day Two weighing 7.05 lbs goes to Joe and Greg
Now For The Grand Totals:
First Place with a total weight of 26.76 lbs goes to Joe and Greg
Second Place with a total weight of 17.10 lbs goes to Godwin and Glenn
Third Place with a total weight of 16.59 lbs goes to Keith and Justin
CONGRATS TO ALL THE WINNERS!!!!
Now you know why I named this Opposite Year / Opposite Day.
Two completely different years and days. Guess thats why they call it fishing and not catching? I know we all caught a bunch of small bass and the lucky few were able to get their keepers. Joe and Greg were really sweating out day two and near the end of the day they caught their big fish in the rim canal? You just never know! It was really nice to see Godwin and Glenn fish with us and they are welcome back any time. Hopefully sooner than later.
OK, for whoever is paying attention to the newsletters, I was asked to delete a paragraph in this edition. If you have any questions regarding this please ask Keith or Justin ( aka D&D or the Double ” D ” Team ).