2007 Big Bass To Date:
6.31 lbs
Andy Shands
Mark Twain Lake

Congratulations!

Mark Twain Sets New Records

With 27 boats competing this past weekend there were several new records set. Most notable was the Big Bass record for the year. Not one but two bass were bought to the scales that were bigger than the current record of 6.27 pounds.
Next there were two teams finishing with weights that place them in the top 10 for All Time Heavy Stringer. And yes we are still talking about Mark Twain Lake where a few years back you couldn’t buy a fish in this lake. With overcast skies and mild temperatures both days it was a great weekend to be fishing. 54 Anglers brought 90 fish to the scales for a total weight of 229.01pounds.

Taking 1st place honors was the team of Steve Carnal and Paul Boehme. They had 10 fish for 31.72 pounds. They said they used brush-hogs for their catch. Their weight puts them at second place for the All Time Heaviest Stringer.
2nd place goes to the team of Dave Sona and Tom Crockett with 11 fish that weighed 28.68 pounds. They used brush-hogs, chuggers and spinner baits. Their weight places them in sixth place for the All Time Heaviest Stringer.
3rd place was Ken Jones and Bob Thome.  They had 10 fish weighing in at 24.04 pounds.  They reported using 10 inch worms and spinner baits.

Finishing out the top 7 places were: 4th Charlie Beach and Mike DeArmon, 5th Greg Shands and Andy Shands, 6th Lori Luzynski and Craig Gravatte 7th Greg Hoch and Andrew Hoch.

Congratulations to all the winners.

And a special thanks to  Brian Jankowski, who collected boat numbers and ran fish back down to the lake for release. Jason Kennedy, this guy helps us at every tournament no matter what the task and we don’t even have to ask.

CLICK HERE for complete results

Big Bass for Saturday
A lot of big bass were bought to the scales on Saturday but were not weighed separately because Andy Shands had already weighed in a 6.31 pounder. Andy reported he caught the monster on a brush-hog.

Big Bass for Sunday
Sunday, like Saturday, gave up a lot of big bass but it was Steve Carnal’s black bag that caught everyone’s attention. The sneaky old fox (as I call him) pulled not one but two huge bass out of the bag. After determining which was the bigger of the two fish it was placed in the basket. As the scales bounced around the 6 pound mark all eyes were glued to the display screen as it finally came to rest at 6.28 pounds. Like Andy, Steve too said he caught his fish on a brush-hog.

Big Bass for the Year
First it was Jason Sportsman who weighed in a 6.25 pounder at Lake of the Ozark. Then it was Dan Ketterer two tournaments later at Pomme with a 6.27 pounder. Now two tournaments later it’s Andy Shands with a 6.31 pounder.

Anyone see a pattern forming here? Let’s see 2 tournaments from now we’ll be back at Mark Twain and big bass will be 6.39. Then 2 tournaments from then it will be Lake of the Ozarks where big bass should be 6.55 pounds.

Jason, Dan and now Andy have each got to sit in the hot seat. I think Andy has already had it worse with what happened on Sunday when Steve Carnal (Sneaky Fox) laid his bass on the scales. As the scales bounced around from 6.03 to 6.57 I looked back at Andy to see a look of horror, sorrow and disappointment on his face. When the scales locked at 6.28, in a flash Andy’s face went from pain to joy. Scott later said he had to slap Andy on the chest to get his heart beating again.


AOY
With the season now half over the race for Angler of the Year is really starting to heat up. Dave Sona and Brian Robinson are wrestling over first and second places with Dave on top right now. Right behind them and trying to close the gap is Bryan Walker. With Wappapello coming up next, a lot of points can be made real quick, so no one is safe. Here are the top 10 anglers as of this date: 1st Dave Sona, 2nd Brian Robinson , 3rd Bryan Walker, 4th Ken Jones, 5th Scott Hasty, 6th Greg Shands, 7th Terry Stanek, 8th Charlie Beach, 9th Dean Sullivan, and tied for 10th place is Andy Shands and Bob Treadway.

Club BBQ
For those who weren’t at this tournament, it was the annual club BBQ. The group who attended managed to sock away nearly 80 hamburgers and 40 brats. The big thing was watching all the boys play with the catfish in the kiddie’s pond. Scott, if your partner Jason Kennedy would bass fish as hard as he tired to get a catfish to eat out of his hand, you guys would win all the tournaments.
Thanks to all the people who helped make the BBQ a success.
Special thanks to:
Greg Shands, he got us a great price on the meat and buns.
Ken Jones and Mike Jankowski, they manned the grills.
Lori Luzynski, she brought her delicious dip, brownies and cupcakes.
South Fork Resort, for their hospitality, Hawg Hawlers discount and use of their marker board when we forgot the weigh in sheet. Yeah, I’m being nice and saying “we” forgot it.

Tournament Directors
We still need tournament directors for Saturday at Wappapello, Saturday at Mark Twain, both days at Pomme de Terrre and Lake of the Ozarks. Remember, when your team serves as tournament directors you can each receive an additional 3 points for the year and you get first take off position on the other day. Contact Ken Jones or Mike Jankowski if you would like to help us out by volunteering to be a tournament director.

Classic Eligibility
To qualify for the Classic Tournament which will be held at Truman Lake on October 6, you must fish at least 5 regular season tournaments. The following is a list of members who have already qualified to fish the Classic:

Next Tournament
The next tournament will be held at Lake Wappapello on July 21 – 22. Take off and weigh-in will be held at Sundowner Marina. We fish 6:00am to noon both days.
**Reminder** don’t forget about this rule change. The 2007 Tournament Rules state: “Where no length limit is in effect, the minimum length shall be ten (10) inches.” This 10 inch length limit will apply to the Lake Wappapello Tournament.


From the Presidents Boat
By Pam Wakim

I would like to bring an issue to everyone’s attention. When we sign our membership form each year, we are acknowledging that we have read and understand the tournament rules. I think it would be a good idea if we all occasionally review the rules throughout the tournament season. If any member witnesses a rule infraction, we encourage you to please come forward and bring it to the attention of one of your Officers. Infractions must be reported to an Officer prior to the end of weigh in. We cannot pursue an infraction based on hearsay or second hand information. If a rule infraction is not reported to an Officer, proper review and penalty assessment cannot be performed. Reporting rule infractions should not be viewed as a negative but a positive so please use the rules and your Officers to help clarify situations and clear up doubts. It is not fair to any one team if they cannot officially go on record to defend themselves against accusations and it is not fair to all members of the club if a team is guilty and not penalized. Thanks everyone.

From Cuz's Boat
By Greg Shands

Every fisherman alive can tell you a story about the Big one that got away. I wrote 2 stories this season making fun of “the Big one that got away”. But let’s look at the other side of the coin. Let’s look at the ones that didn’t get away. Is it just plain simple luck that allows us to hook and land a big fish? One could say its luck to place your line in the right spot at the right time when a big fish will be there. But from the point you hook that fish, it’s got to be skill that allows you land it, or is it? I once watched Andy hook and play a 15+ pound brown trout in swift water on an ultralight rod spooled up with 4lb line only to see the fish slide up in some moss. Though the fish was exhausted and no longer moving, the moss refused to let go of the fish. The line eventually broke and the trout sank out of sight, poor skills or bad luck? Who’s to say? All I know for sure is that there’s more stories told about the one that got away than about the one that got netted.

I tease Andy all the time about him catching fish. You see every time he hooks a 2 pounder he’ll yell, “Get the net I got a big one!” I’ve always told him if he ever catches a really big one he would die before he ever landed it. Well, it finally happened. When he hooked it all he said was, “Get the net.” I could tell by the way his rod was doubled over that he had something big but when the fish stayed down deep I thought it was a catfish. When the fish finally came up it was right beside the boat and guess who missed it with the net? Now that we had seen the beast it was dad who was all excited. As the fish ran under the boat it was dad who was yelling, “Don’t get excited! Don’t panic! Let the drag do the work. Keep the line away from the motor!” Andy was just as cool as a cucumber.