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.

Stress Relief

Well I just finished tabulating the damages from Christmas and I needed a little stress relief exercise so I figured writing about fishing would ease the pain. Well I had a few items on the wish list for santa including a cranking stick, a cranking reel, an assortment of crankbaits, a few spro bronzeye frogs and some fluorocarbon fishing line. Now I understand santa not wanting to damage the fuji guides on a new cranking stick but there is no reason he couldn't deliver on the rest of the goods.

The good news is I did get a BPS gift card so the buying season will officially be under way in a few days. I guess I have no one to blame but myself at Christmas because I am very picky about what gear I'll use and everyone is afraid to buy me the wrong thing. My wife tried a few years back but when she came home with a mister twister gift pack, a spawn bag assortment and a flying lure kit, I think I let her know my disgust.

I have buddies that each year get awsome combos, new electronics and high dollar rain gear but then they have nothing to buy for themselves, where's the fun in that? Well I'd like to hear from others and see if I'm the only one left to fend for myself or if I'm in the majority.

By the way, I will be updating the site here pretty soon so look for that to happen within the next few weeks. I have a new computer and am still learning my way around so be patient. I would also like to start analyzing next years' scheldule in the coming weeks, as well as discussing possible rule changes at the next club meeting.

Dates announced for 2010

With Bill Maurer calling the shots as tournament director this year he did not waste any time taking care of his first order of business. These dates are tenative but unless something big comes up then plan on them. They are as follows:

May 9th Baw Beese

May 23rd Hardy Dam

June 13th Michigan Center

June 19/20 Cadillac and Mitchell

July 18th St. Clair

July 25th Muskegon

August 8th Wamplers

August 22nd Devils

September 12th Lake Ovid

A couple of back to back tournament weekends this year jumped out at me right away. I'm not sure how that will impact the participation but it is a little different from last year when we had decent sized layoffs between events. And the St. Clair - Muskegon weekends being so close will definitely be interesting considering they are vastly different fisheries.

The Hardy Dam event seems like it will be held a week later then we have been there in the past but I think that's due to Memorial Day being late this year, May 31st. They should still be on their beds up there and we may even see a little spawning on Baw Beese the first of the month.

Overall I think Bill did a good job and it is a good start to the 2010 season. I know it seems a long way away but it always seems to sneak up on me anyway. Hope everyone has a good holiday and start thinking about the January meeting which will cover tourney and club rules.

2010 Schedule

After much debate we have a tournament schedule for 2010 set in stone. There is one new lake on the docket and a few we havn't been to in a while. The format is also different than the 09' version in that there will be 10 total events, two being pre-season catch and release, six locals and a two day out of towner. The dates of these tournaments will probably be released sometime in January after the tournament director puts the schedule together but at least we know where we're going. So here are the lakes:

Pre-Season:

Hardy Dam

Baw Beese

Locals:

Michigan Center

St Clair

Devils

Wamplers

Sleepy Hollow

Muskegon

Out of towner:

Cadillac / Mitchell