Only 10 of the 11 qualifying teams made the trip to West Lake Toho to participate in this year’s SCBF Classic. Unfortunately one team made a fatal error when they got the tournament date mixed up and were on the Classic waters during the off limit period, therefore being DQ’d. Kudos to Fred Reid for self reporting this. We appreciate your integrity and honesty, Fred. Not only did they lose the chance to win, but also the chance for the coveted “Triple Crown”.
On arrival at the ramp the ten teams were met with the usual clouds of mosquitoes and later with the clouds of 25 teams participating in the Extreme Team series which caused a little congestion at take off. Little did we know but there was also another club with 10 teams that we would encounter at weighin. The Wild Card team of Matt Byrd and Shawn Callahan sent the boats out after the Extreme teams were gone with everyone wondering if there would be someone at their first stop when they arrived. Some experienced this situation with others finding their first stop all to themselves.
Eight of the 10 teams reported back to weigh in with 5 fish limits and the other two teams found 4 fish each to bring to the scales. One of those teams, Dwayne Haga and Alt David Fitts actually had a 5 fish limit, but unfortunately one escaped when Dwayne was bagging the fish at the ramp. On another sad note, of the 48 fish brought to the scales 4 were deceased for a 91.67% survival rate. This is not good and I would remind everyone to try harder to help these fish survive. I also realize that sometimes you do all you can do and you still lose some. As a club for the year we have lost 34 of 836 fish weighed for a 95.93% survival rate. Congratulations to the club members for this stat, but let’s try to do better next year.
After the smoke cleared, the team of Karl Kearcher and Brian Davidson found the “right spot” to bring in a limit weighing 17.32 lbs after a dead fish penalty for 1st place and $850. In 2nd place, also with a limit, was the team of Alan Elder and Daville Williams weighing 13.57 lbs and collecting $510. In 3rd place with a limit totaling 12.64 lbs after a 1 lb dead fish penalty was the team of Mike Calloway and William Flood pocketing $340. That dead fish penalty cost them 2nd place and an additional $170 proving it pays to take care of your fish. Big Bass of the tournament 4.89 lbs and $250 went to Dwayne Haga. Hopefully that took some of the sting out of losing his fifth fish at the ramp. At least it wasn’t the big one Dwayne. The rest of the field, 4th thru 10th, took home $50 each.
Strike Zone Fishing donated two $25 gift cards for the Classic which was won in a drawing by the Wild Card team of Matt Byrd and Shawn Callahan. Congratulations Matt and Shawn. And a special thanks to Shawn Mecchella at Strike Zone for all he has done for the club the last several years. Be sure when you go by the store to drop in and say thanks to Shawn and all his employees.
Thank you to all club members for a great year that saw a lot of changes….hopefully for the better. For instance we established new weigh in procedures including a bump tank and a new scale. It took some time for members to get used to it, but it seems to be working better now. We now have a frame for the club banner so we don’t have to look for a couple of trees to tie it to. Also a big thanks to Daville Williams for his hard work and efforts in taking pictures for the club. As for pictures, please take a few minutes and take a photo before releasing your fish. And we can’t forget all the behind the scenes work of Tony Ciavarella who spends countless hours building, maintaining and updating the club’s website. Thank you Tony. For the coming year you may see more changes for the betterment of the club, thanks to the new officers. Some of those changes will be outlined at the September tournament including a social media presence and a new sponsor. We are looking for new club members. If anyone knows of someone looking to join the club, they can contact any club officer. Officers phone numbers will be on each months flyer.
