Happy New Year

Friendship Bass Club

of Montgomery, AL

“Fishing for fun”

JANUARY 2009

SPRING TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Attached is your copy of the Spring Tournament schedule. I apologize for not getting the December bulletin out. Between shoulder surgery the middle of November and my computer crashing it was a BAD month. Hopefully this spring we can get a break on the weather. It seemed like every Saturday this fall was just after a front had come through. This was the worst Fall since 05 when we only had 8 tournaments and we had one were only 2 people fished and one with only 3. We only beat that year by 4 pounds!

ALABAMA RIVER TOURNAMENT RESULTS -- NOVEMBER 1-2

1ST PLACE               BRYAN COLLAR                   5 FISH             5 Lbs. 12 Ozs.

2ND PLACE               DOUG TESTERMAN            5 FISH             5 Lbs. 0 Ozs.

3RD PLACE               MIKE RAUSCH                      3 FISH             4 Lbs. 14 Ozs.

BIG BASS                  NORM McKINNEY                                                    3 Lbs. 2 Oz

Another tournament another cold front two days before. It seems like the last couple of years this river tournament has been slow. It seemed like everyone caught fish on a different lure except a Rat-L-Trap which is usually the lure of choice. I know I wore the finish off mine casting it, maybe that’s why I only had one fish? Can you believe we only had two limits? The 27 fish that were caught by 10 members weighed 35 Lbs. 6 Ozs.

LAY LAKE TOURNAMENT RESULTS -- NOVEMBER 8-9

1ST PLACE               DOUG TESTERMAN            5 FISH             8 Lbs. 14 Ozs.

2ND PLACE               BRYAN COLLAR                   5 FISH             7 Lbs. 8 Ozs.

3RD PLACE               RALPH TAYLOR                    4 FISH             5 Lbs. 14 Ozs.

BIG BASS                  RALPH TAYLOR                                                        2 Lbs. 9 Oz

This tournament was so long ago that I couldn’t remember what happened if someone did tell me. For some reason not many folks wanted to/ could fish this one? Of the few that did Doug and Bryan were the only ones that were able to get a limit. Only five members fished and they caught 17 fish that weighed 25 Lbs. 15 Ozs.

LAKE MITCHELL TOURNAMENT RESULTS -- NOVEMBER 15-16

1ST PLACE               DOUG TESTERMAN            4 FISH             6 Lbs. 5 Ozs.

2ND PLACE               MIKE RAUSCH                      5 FISH             5 Lbs. 0 Ozs.

3RD PLACE               JARED KENNINGTON         2 FISH             4 Lbs. 13 Ozs.

BIG BASS                  JARED KENNINGTON                                             2 Lbs. 13 Oz

I didn’t hear much about this tournament but was really surprised to see the low weights. Not what I expected from Mitchell in November. We also didn’t have a very big turn out. I seem to remember that it may have been REAL windy?? Anyway, only 13 fish were caught by the five folks that fish and they only weighed 18 Lbs 2 Ozs. That may be the all time FBC lowest total weight.

LAKE JORDAN TOURNAMENT RESULTS -- DECEMBER 6-7

1ST PLACE               DOUG TESTERMAN            5 FISH             13 Lbs. 6 Ozs.

2ND PLACE               NORM McKINNEY                4 FISH             7 Lbs. 0 Ozs.

3RD PLACE               JARED KENNINGTON         4 FISH             5 Lbs. 1 Ozs.

BIG BASS                  NORM McKINNEY                                                    3 Lbs. 10 Ozs

I think the word to describe this tournament was BRRRRRRR. I heard reports that some folks had ice forming in their rods eyelets and on their reels? I sure was glad I had a bad shoulder and had to stay at home. Congratulations to Doug for breaking the 10 pound mark. I was starting to think our scales wouldn’t weigh right. I just can’t believe we’ve fished all fall and only had two weights over 10 pounds! Norm had a good tournament considering his boat wouldn’t start and he had to grab a ride with Dan. Lucky for him Dan was a little late getting in the water. The few reports I heard said the fish were scattered but they were decent size wise. There were 17 fish caught by the five members that fished for a total weight of 31 Lbs. 7 Ozs. I think we had a lot of folks that didn’t want to brave the cold?

LAKE MARTIN TOURNAMENT RESULTS -- DECEMBER 13-14

1ST PLACE               MIKE RAUSCH                      3 FISH             3 Lbs. 3 Ozs.

2ND PLACE               JARED KENNINGTON         4 FISH             4 Lbs. 1 Oz.

3RD PLACE               NORM McKINNEY                3 FISH             3 Lbs. 0 Ozs.

BIG BASS                  MIKE RAUSCH                                                          2 Lbs. 7 Oz

I understand this was another COLD one! Supposedly the ramp to the dock was an icy ski slope and you didn’t have to walk to the dock? Of course when you got there you might be sitting on your rear end. Congratulations to Mike for winning this one and getting big fish. We’ve been seeing his name a lot in the top finishers lately. I believe he was fishing in the back of Doug’s boat? Norm eeked out third over Doug by virtue of a bigger fish as they both had the same weight. I missed this one as well but maybe I’ll be ready by this spring and can give ya’ll a few more details as to what happened at the tournaments. We had 6 members fish with 12 fish caught that weighed 19 Lbs 13 Ozs.