Austin Christian Bass Club

April is a great month to catch lots of bass and perhaps even a monster that is up shallow due to the spawn. I hope to see all of you at next Thursday’s club meeting.

Austin Christian Bass Club-March Newsletter
Darryl Smith, Secretary

Tournament Overview

Our March Tournament at Decker Lake was challenging for many members. I don’t know if it was our later than usual start (7:30am), the strong north wind, the lack of grass, or the bright sky, but fishing was generally tough. Eight of 25 members caught a limit of 5 fish and not a single team caught a limit of 10 fish. Art Cruser and Gib Hoffman finished in first place with 18.77 pounds. Mike Wiles and Tom Clark finished in second place with 16.83 pounds. John Kirkland and Gary Burnham finished in third place with 16.40 pounds. Gib Hoffman caught the biggest bass, 21.5", and John Kirkland had the biggest stringer of 5 fish. It weighed 13.52 pounds.

Top Ten Standings

Art Cruser currently has the lead for Big Bass of the 1st Quarter. He caught a 24" bass (7.50#) at Lake Travis on 3/21/08.

T.V. Minner has the lead for the 2nd Quarter with a 25" beauty caught on 4/5/08 at Lake Bastrop.

April Meeting and Tournament

Our next meeting will be Thursday, April 17th, at 7:00pm. Our April tournament will be on Saturday, April 19, 2008. Mitch Shelton and Stan Evans have volunteered to bring refreshments to the next meeting.

Couples Club Tournament

The ACBC Couples Club held their second tournament of the year on April 5th at Lake Buchanan. They started the day with an early breakfast buffet at The Highlander Inn in Burnet. They launched at Thunderbird Lodge around 8:00am. Six couples participated and weighed in 17 bass that weighed 38.64 pounds. Although it was an absolutely beautiful day to be on the lake, the fishing was generally tough with only one couple catching a 5 fish limit. Jim and Nita took first place with 18.7 pounds (Nita’s day was made with the fat 20.5" bass she hauled in). The couples completed the day with lunch and weigh-in at Thunderbird Lodge. A big welcome is extended to a new couple, Ward and Sharon Preston. It was great having you join us. The next couples tournament is May 3rd on Decker Lake. Other fishing couples are encouraged to join in the fun and fellowship.

Reminders

At the upcoming meeting we will probably pick a date for the annual garage sale. Hope you have been saving your "old stuff" so we can once again have a great sale. Also, don’t forget the Amputee Fishing Day on Lake Bastrop on April 26th.

New Club Web Site

If you are reading this, you can see our club web site has a new look!  We intend to publish newsletters and fishing reports directly to the web site where you guys can read them.  If you refresh the screen a few times, you will see that the banner image at the top of the page changes randomly between about 6 different images.  You’ll notice that one of the 6 images is of Mikes Wiles’ boat on Lake Bastrop.  If you have any good landscape photos with bass boats in them (especially your own boat), send them to John Kirkland, and he can put them in the banner rotation.

Fishing Report

WOW! The fishing is great just about everywhere. Al and TV have reported good fishing on Lake Bastrop. I personally know that Lake Travis has been producing lots of fish and many of them are in the 14" to 17" range. I hope you will bring a good fishing report to the next meeting so we can pick the "hottest" lake around and catch some fish at our next tournament. See you at the meeting.