THE YEAR OF JANINE... 

    It wasn't enough for 'Hurricane Janine' to dominate the Bass Bandit tour scene and win her first Angler of the Year title. Janine Wetzel of Mandan took a clean sweep at the two top honors of the Bass Bandit Club awards. On September 15th at Lake Nelson Janine not only received her trophy for Angler of the Year title but she also received the Championship Title as well. Janine's three fish limit that weighed 8lbs 1oz was good enough to beat her husband by 4oz who also captured the 2nd place Classic trophy. Janine also caught the Biggest Bass of the tournament as well as of the year, the big bass tipped the scales as 5lbs 1oz. Lyle Weber of Dickinson also brought in a big bass that weighed 4lbs 7oz. Weber also captured the third place spot with a three fish limit that weighed 7lbs 7oz. Lyle was pretty happy with a strong finish at the end of the year but was a little disappointed about the two other big fish that got off that would have easily put him in the first place drivers seat. "It was just one of those deals that I wish I could get back, if I would have checked my dull hook earlier I think I would have boated those two other big bass but, thats why they call it fishing and not catching."  Weber not only brought home a third place classic trophy but he also received one of the two Horizon Awards. This award recognizes the club members that have greatly improved their bass fishing skills from the previous year. Matt Jahner also of Dickinson received the other Horizon Award. Jahner greatly improved his bass fishing skills from last year. A year ago Matt hardly weighed a fish in at a lot of tournaments, which wasn't the case this year. Jahner was a contender at each tournament this year and looks like he will be for a very long time.

   Curt Manley of Bismarck won the first ever Badlands Bass Bandits Rookie of the Year Title. Curt's second place finish at Lake Tschida back in May catapulted him to the top of the points list to help edge out Dick Roland of Crosby by a mere 6 points. Curt also won the Biggest Smallmouth Bass Award with a 3.50lb smallmouth that he caught at Lake Tschida. The Bag Buster Award went to Minot's Terry Piper. Terry held the heaviest one day tournament weight since the 16th of June at Sheeps Creek Dam. Terry's winning weight was 8.93lbs. The Classic Team Award went to Robert Reinbold of Timber Lake South Dakota and Jeff Wetzel of Mandan North Dakota. The two anglers combined weight weighed 15lbs 2oz that helped them win the Team Award. The Fish Hater Award went to Amanda Reinbold of Bismarck. This is a special award that a club member recieves when something out of the ordinary happens to them during a tournament or through the tour season. Amanda captured this award on June 16th at Sheeps Creek Dam when she set the hook on a big bass and she dislocated her wrist when the big bass hit her spinnerbait so hard. Reinbold dropped the rod to pop her wrist back in place and the picked it up to see if the big bass was still on, but the giant got the best of her that day as it swam away. Sorry Sparks! Congradulations to all of the club members on a job well done and a special congradulations to the anglers that received awards or placed in the top three spots in any of our tournaments!