Fellow Club Members:  

Wow!!!   After a shaky start with way too much confusion, we finally got the 2018 Kick Off  tournament in the books.  Most of the confusion was my fault.  I'm sorry and assure you that things will get better and go smoother.  If any member left angry because of the decision to fish, please don't give up on us yet, we will get better.  I was really surprised at the number of dedicated fishermen that showed up and wanted to fish and I believe it was the right call to go forward.  The biggest reason not to cancel a tournament on Clinton is because it is almost impossible to reschedule because all the dates are already taken.

Anyway, hats off to the very tough and determined group that stuck it out and survived the day.  Actually, there was a pretty good bite and most every team found the right pattern to catch fish.  As usual the Trudeau team and the team of Nugent/Zehr led the way.  They were tied with 4.57#.  If you hope to win any tournament on Clinton, you have to understand that you will need to beat these two teams.  Following close in 3rd and 4th place were two teams that spend a lot of time on the lake guiding and they were separated by only .01 of a pound.  Josh Nast and Dustin Reynolds were third with 4.03# and Terry Davis and Wilson were fourth with 4.02#.  These guys had been catching better fish earlier in the week but thought that the triple whammy of the extreme cold front, along with 15mph northeast winds and the power plant going on idle made catching the bigger fish a lot tougher.  Our own club president Greg Foley finished in 5th place with 3.99#   Mike Peck and McCullough finished out the top 6 with 3.88# along with big fish of the day at .88#. The rest of the field looked like this:  Perennial losers, Bud York and Andy Roberts were 7th with 3.77, the team of Garrett/Kaiser was 8th with 3.61#, the Schrader brothers are back and finished in 9th place with 2.38# and Tom Fermanian fishing by himself had 1.48# for 10th place.  New team David and Tina Thomas, the hard core team of Steve Peck and Jenni Price and the Goodbrake boys did not weigh.  Overall there were lots of fish caught and it surprised me that every team discovered the deep pattern of 18-22' in very small areas within the structure.  I would like to congratulate everybody that stuck it out and remind them of the Clinton Mega tournament on April 15th with a guaranteed payout of over $1500.00  The bite will  be better then, the fish will be bigger, the warm water area will be opened after April 1st, and hopefully we will have better weather. 

Also, please remember to check out or let someone know if you are leaving early.  We want to know that you are safe.  Additionally, don't forget to weigh in for Angler of the Year points, even small weights may make a difference.  

Lastly, don't forget to stick around for raffle prizes.  This tournament we awarded an assortment of Andy's handmade jigs, a product package that was donated by Jenko Fishing, and an Ozark Crappie Rod.  Thanks again to everybody that fished. Also, we have prizes for youth competitors for every club tournament. So please encourage the kids to join you!

 Bud York   Tournament Director