January 2007 Newsletter
Folsom Lake 1/13/2007 – Granite Bay   
DRAW INDIVIDUAL TOURNAMENT

The Bass Busters got the season started on Lake Folsom with 8 boats at launch and 16 anglers eager to catch some bass.  Mother Nature did her thing, greeting our members with record low temperatures making the launch frigid for most.  The club launched with 27 degree air temps, light wind, and mostly sunny conditions.  Water levels were around 51 feet below full pool which mandated launching from the low water ramp.  Lots of underwater obstacles were of concern with most of them well marked by buoys for the majority of the lake.  Surface water temperatures were approximately 48-49 degrees.  Water was clear to mostly clear with visibility in some places to 15 feet.  Would the fish cooperate on what most would consider tough conditions?
             First place went to Michael Chen (B) who dartheaded a 6” blue crawler Roboworm for a 9.53 lbs limit, the only limit of the day.  He found his success mainly in the north arm of the lake close to Rattlesnake Bar targeting rocky points and secondary points up shallow later in the day.  Mike fished close to the bank with fish coming in 2 to 15 feet of water and reported getting 7 bites all day and landing 5.  Congratulations!
    Second place honors went to Joe Heylen (NB).  He used a Zoom watermelon Baby Brush Hog on a darthead rig and oxblood straight tailed worm on a dropshot focusing in on 20-25 ft of water to weigh in 3 fish for 6.75 lbs.  He fished areas of rocky banks in the north arm.  2nd Big Fish pool money was earned too for a 2.75 lb spot he had in the bunch.  Way to go, Joe!
       Third trophy went to Glen Hayashimoto (NB) who dartheaded 4 1/2” Aarons Magic Fat Roboworms for 2 nice fish for 5.66 lbs.  Included in those 2 fish was a nice 3.40 lb largemouth that took Big Fish.  Unfortunately, Glenn didn’t opt for the Big Fish pool and handed the prize over to Ron’s 3.31 lb spot (see below).  Great job, Glenn!
Landing in fourth place was Ron Shikashio (B) with a nice fish for 3.31 lbs.  He found his success primarily with oxblood straight tailed worms on a darthead early in the day.  As mentioned before, Ron received Big Fish pool money for being in the option.  You never know.
In his maiden voyage with the boat, Britt Brittain (B) placed fifth with 2.63 lbs.  He threw a dartheaded MM roboworm in 35 feet in the South Arm of the lake early to catch his fish.  
Taking sixth place was Spiro Stamos (B) who employed a darthead in 20-25 feet weighed in 1.50 lbs.  
The rest of the anglers failed to weigh-in for the day.  Tied for seventh place were Adam Kern, John Fernandez, Jon Wagman, Marshall Smith, Mike Clark, Miguel Villavicencio (his first club outing with his boat), Mo Martinez, Rich Clark, Tyler Linscott, and Robert Nelson.  Despite the cold and tough conditions, they all reported having a great time being out on the water and enjoying the scenic backdrop.  All in all, a tough day to be out on Lake Folsom, a total of 13 fish weighed in for 29.38 lbs where bites were seldom and the catch was even slower.
Our next meeting will be Feb 1st at IHOP starting at 7:30pm.  Our next tournament is a draw individual on Lake Berryessa on Feb 24th.  As a reminder, if you can’t make it and you plan to fish our next tournament, let someone know ahead of time whether you plan to fish.  
Until next time, tight lines…