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LET’S GO FISHIN’
by Andy Shands
Well, one more month to go and the 2007 Hawg
Hawlers season will be under way. This year’s first tournament and Memorial
tournament will be held at the ever popular Lake of the Ozarks.
Traditionally we have started the season at Clearwater Lake, but due to the
size our club has grown to, that lake is just too small.
Tournament Location
The tournament is coming out of Red Oak resort. Go to www.redoakresort.com
for directions. For those of you who haven’t been to Red Oak, it is located
at mile marker 78 on the Osage arm. Remember that this will be a two day
tournament, with Saturday’s hours being 8:00 am to 2:00 pm and Sunday 7:00
am to 1:00 pm.
Last year we fished LOZ in April. For those of us that were there you will
remember that JD and Darla Ketcherside walked away with all the money, first
place and big bass for both days. For all the results on spring LOZ
tournaments go to the archives page.
Tournament Directors
Tournament Directors for Lake of the Ozarks will be:
Stanek/Treadway on Saturday
Love/Landis on Sunday
We still have openings for tournament directors. If you are interested in
serving as a tournament director, please contact Ken or Mike.
Chili Supper:
Don’t forget that this tournament will also be our annual chili supper on
Saturday night. If anyone is interested in volunteering to cook or help out,
please contact Pam.
Tournament Entry
As a reminder, please make sure your tournament entry form arrives to Scott
no later than Wednesday, March 21st, 5:00 PM.
Bass Pro Shop
On the 24th of this month Hawg Hawlers will have a booth set up at Bass Pro
Shops Spring Fishing Classic in St. Charles. We will be handing out fliers
and talking with people about the club. Be sure to come out and support the
guys and gals who are working the booth.
 From
Cuz's Boat
By Greg Shands
Have you ever fished in a place that was better
off left to God’s wild life creatures than man? Well, let me tell you about
one of those places that I just happen to own. This lake, if you want to
call it that, is part of an old river channel that’s spring fed, covered
with lily pads, and has a beaver hut right in the middle of it. Did I
mention that it also has flooded timber throughout it? It’s located about a
quarter of a mile from the river so every time the river floods new fish get
dumped into it. Speaking of fish, this lake is choked full of big bass,
pike, and grinnel. Sounds like a fisherman’s dream place, right? Well, it
would be except for one thing. SNAKES, and I don’t mean cute little water
snakes, I’m talkin’ about gigantic cottonmouths the likes you have never
seen before. They guard the lake and try to devour any fishermen that get to
close.
The beavers that live in the lake are constantly
trying to expand the size of the lake so all the ground around is like a
swamp, perfect hiding places for cottonmouths. The only half way safe way to
get a john boat in is to come up the drainage ditch and cross the beaver
dam. If you haven’t been eaten alive by the snakes at this point and you
still have some ammo left, the fishin’ is great. The problem now is to keep
the snakes out of the boat. I used to buy 5/16 bullet weights to use as
plugs from where I would shoot a snake with my 22 pistol that had gotten in
the boat with me. A 12 ft boat gets real small when you are at one end and a
5 foot pissed off cottonmouth is at the other end. But the fishin’ was great
and so it was worth all the scary things that took place.
I remember one time I got the bright idea of
leaving the boat back there. Picture me with 2 rods and a tackle box in one
hand and my pistol in the other, nervously walking through knee high grass.
There was a barb wire fence you had to cross if you walked in, I had just
killed 2 snakes that were laying under the fence, so instead of going
through the fence I decided to climb over it. There I am, teetering on top
of this fence, hands full of stuff, surveying the spot where I was about to
jump. As I made my jump and was in mid air I suddenly saw a huge snake right
where my feet were about to land. Some how I managed to get my tackle box
under my feet and on top of the snake. As I tried to balance on top of the
box and keep the snake under it, I realized that there was another snake
right beside the first one. As I fired the pistol at point blank range at
the untrapped snake, the first snake managed to free its head from under the
box throwing me to the ground. As I was going down, I got off one shot,
which hit the snake squarely between the eyes. All this took place in a
matter of seconds but it took at least 10 years off my life.
I don’t go fishing back there any more, some
things are better left to nature.
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