Clear Lake Blows!
Ferndale CA- Serially, about three times a year according to the locals, a sudden squall turns Clear Lake into a washing machine with violent winds and foaming white caps. This tempest greeted the Bass Busters Friday evening as they converged on the dock at the Ferndale Resort. Located on the southwest edge of Clear Lake's north end the open-water docks exposed boats to the full brunt of the storm. The Bass Busters on hand risked life and limb to rescue the heaving boats. Within the hour as quickly as it appeared, the freak storm ended. Though some boat damage and injuries did occur the true nature of the club shined through as everyone stepped up throughout this unforseen event.
After the intense events of the previous evening the lake was relatively calm as we launched at safe-light on the first day of this two day individual tournament. By the end of the second day Jon Hagan had claimed the top spot for the third time this year, Robert Paris claimed his first plaque as a Bass Buster and Nelson Hilger performed the equivalent of non-boater acrobatics to adapt to his most extenuating of circumstances.
Jon Hagan, current top dog at the Bass Busters kennel, put on a great display of consistancy by finishing in 2nd place with 16.85 lbs on day one and in 5th place with 14.16 lbs on day two. When added together they make 31.01 lbs and first place. Jon mostly threw a hitch colored Basstrix into shallow tules.
Coming in second overall Robert Paris enjoyed an outstanding day two, weighing in 16.49 lbs, the second biggest sack of the day to bring his total weight to 30.59 lbs. This was only .42 lbs shy of the top spot. Senkos, Swamp Crawlers and drop-shotted Chompers worms in watermelon-red flake were Robert's tools of choice.
Staring down adversity Nelson Hilger secured third place. With no trolling motor Nelson managed to ride the wind to the 4th best sack on day one, 15.75 lbs. Day two saw his ride fail again and he found himself finishing up the day on Mikey V's party barge with three other refugees. Mikey's big motor then took ill but Nelson managed to weigh in the forth best sack of day two too, 14.19 lbs. His total weight of 29.94 lbs was mainly lured in with a Smallie Beaver fished on a drop-shot.
The big fish of the tournament was brought in by Spiro Stamos, a 7.17 lb beauty who slurped down a Senko under a dock. Moe Martinez caught the second biggest fish, a 6.15 lb'r that Moe just sweet talked her into giving herself up.
Tournament of Champions
An annual ritual of the Bass Busters also took place at Clear Lake, the TOC which pits the top twelve anglers from last year against one another. The weights are taken from the first day of the current tournament and honors are award at the evenings dinner. This year Spiro Stamos brought 20.58 lbs to the scales to win top honors as well as a new rod.
