Schedule change

It's hard enough to talk my wife into letting me fish a tournament for eight hours on a Sunday but on Mothers Day? No way and when tourney director Bill Maurer stood back and looked at the tentative dates for next years' schedule he noticed that he had done just that. Bill quickly adjusted the schedule to have the Baw Beese event one week earlier and avoid any upset mothers. Good job Bill, and now the season is one week closer.

The club also welcomed two new members to it's ranks this month when Mike Mullaly and Scott Hartman signed up. I have not met Mike yet but I've heard that he was in the club several years ago and is a good fisherman and a great guy. Scott on the other hand has become a fishing buddy of mine over the past year or so and will be a great addition to the SCMBC as well. I have fished several small tournaments against him and he can catch em'. He is also responsible for turning me onto the flick-shake rig when one day I was stuck on one fish and he was culling with the technique. He then told me all he knew about it, after the tournament of course. I'm looking forward fishing with both of these guys this coming season as well as everyone else. And don't forget to adjust your May calendars.

Rule Changes for 2010

With the January meeting comes changes and this year is no different. Nothing drastic but a little tweeking went on and I think it was for the better. First of all the Vice President position of the club was eliminated. This was a position that has been filled but the club felt that the President and board could handle the duties without an extra hand and I believe everyone is fine with the decision.

A few tournament rules were also addressed, the most noteworthy being the start time of tournaments. All events were to start at 7am and run for 8 hours but now the Tournament Director will have full authority to change start and stop times due to certain circumstances such as DNR launches not opening until 8am. This rule will come into effect during the Wamplers Lake event and don't be suprised if you see a tournament that runs from 9 to 5pm.

One other change that should be noted involves the clubs "Classic" at the end of the year. The past couple years we have tried to accomodate all qualifiers' schedules and the result was having a classic that ran well into October. This year the date will be set prior to the tournament season by the TD but has not been selected as of yet.

January Meeting

The monthly club meeting will be held this coming Thursday at Art Moehn at 7pm for all of those interested. Usually we discuss tournament rules and other changes we would like to see for the coming year. Yeah this may not sound like the most interesting meeting but I believe it is one of the most important get-togethers of the year. There are several topics that will be discussed so all club members are encouraged to attend, hope to see everyone there.

2009 Revisited

The 2009 season had it's ups and downs for me as far as fishing goes. I got to travel to a few exotic locations and caught a few big fish like the two I'm holding from Burt Lake. It seems like everyone likes to review 2009 this time of year and I couldn't help sharing a few of my fishing experiences from the past year.

As far as the club went I had a pretty bad year, only fishing 6 of the 8 tournaments and only cashing one check. I missed the clubs Classic by finishing 10th in the AOY standings and usually I would have been satisfied with that but after winning the 2008 Angler of the Year title it was a little disappointing. I'm not sure if I thought I was better than I actually was or if it was just a bad season. Probably a little bit of both.

I usually take a few fishing trips each year and 09' was no different. I fished Hardy Dam twice and St. Clair five times but those were in preparation for club events. I did however make my annual Spring and fall trips to Burt and Mullett lakes. But weather put a damper on both trips and we fished about half as much as usual and when we did get on the water the fishing was quite slow for those lakes.

A few trips did work out however and I made my first cast on Mille Lacs which is a huge canadian shield lake in northern Minnesota. I got to fish with my brother who lives in Minneapolis and on fathers day we put a whuppin on some bedding smallies. It was cool to find fish on such a big lake as fast as we did and a lot came on topwaters. Probably my best outing of the year.

My brother and I also spent a week in Manistique which is in Michigans upper peninsula. Being so close to Big Bay DeNoc was too tempting and we made it out on the great lake on a calm July morning. After covering miles of nothing we finally stumbled onto some rock and weed and ended up catching about 20 good smallies. It was another good outing and we'll probably head up there again in 2010.

I did manage to learn a few new techniques as well last year, specifically cranking and throwing frogs. These became addicting and I will use them more often this coming year in tournament competition. The frog bite is such an awsome thing and the second outing I used it resulted in my biggest fish of 2009, a 5.4lb largemouth out of Center Lake. I can't wait to throw that thing again and I am also purchasing a new cranking stick so I think I may need a deck extension for my Crestliner.

Well that about sums it up, not a great year but I got to fish probably 50 days out of the 365 which is more than most can say. I hope 2010 brings more big fish and hopefully a tournament win or two. It'll just be nice to see open water again and try out some of that new gear. Guess I'll go back to pitching plastics at my kids in the basement for a few more months.