2009 A Year To Remember!

The 2009 Bass Bandit season was a year to remember. There were new lakes added to the tournament scene, new members, closest ever Angler and Rookie of the Year races, and nice weather! Add all of those elements together and all the Bass Bandits would agree that it was a great year. The club membership is once again up from the years past, and once again the main attraction to our club is the friendly based atmosphere are club has to offer. The new members, or as well ol' vets like to call them 'rookies' just admired the way our club members help each other out during club events. That is something that will never change with this club.

 
The 2009 season had the most closest Angler of the Year and Rookie of the Year race ever in club history. Paul Reinbold of Dickinson took home the Angler of the Year award, this was Reinbold's second time capturing this award. The first time he had won this award was back in 2006 when the club was first established. Reinbold edged out former AOY winner Janine Wetzel and Robert Reinbold by a few points. Bringing home the bacon for the Rookies' was Marty Mantz of Center, who claimed the Rookie of the year title. Mantz edged out fellow club member Lance Hildebrandt of Faith, SD by a couple of points. Marty also took home an award no other Rookie has ever done in club history. Mantz also won the 2009 Classic Championship award back in September. He won it by catchin 8.88lbs of a three fish limit, convincingly beating out the rest of the pack by a 7.50 lbs 2nd place finish by Paul Reinbold. Other awards that were earned during the 2009 season was the Biggest Largemouth and Biggest Smallmouth awards. Which were both won by Janine Wetzel of Mandan. Wetzel caught the 5.50 lbs largemouth during the Lake Nelson tournament back in the spring of May, and she also caught this years biggest smallmouth at Indian Creek Dam back in June that weighed 3.90lbs. Wetzel also captured this year Bag Buster Award which awards the angler who caught the heaviest one day tournament for the year. Janine's one day total weight was 9.86lbs. Coming home with this years 2009 Horizon Award winners were Curtis Wentz of Lemmon, SD and Deryk Voller of Dickinson ND. The horizon award honors the club members who are the most improved over the course of their membership. Last but definetly not least is our 2009 Fish Hater Award winner. This year award went to Mike Wentz of Lemmon, SD. Mike earned this award by not weighing in a single fish all season long, but managed to weigh in a couple during the last event of the season but still edged out the competition to win this award. BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR MIKE! Of course this award is all in fun and is greatly appreciated by our members:)

 
Another event that was new this year was the Presidents Club Records. Club members used special club rulers to report their longest 3 largemouth and smallmouth for the year. There were two categories; smallmouth and largemouth each category winner received a $150 rod n reel combo from bass pro shops. This years winners were Dick Roland of Crosby, ND for the largemouth division and Geo Wentz of Lemmon, SD won the smallmouth division. Out of 3 bass Roland's total measurment was 58.5 inches and Geo total measurement was 53 inches. Congradulations to both of our winners!

 
After all of this years champions were crowned and the champaign bottles were empty there were some changes made for the 2010 season. Next year the Bass Bandits will be heading to the Missouri River in Bismarck to hold one of their tournament events! This will be exciting event because none of them have ever fished it for bass! I can't wait to see the results. There were also some changes in the club officer positions, our new Tournament Directors for 2010 will be Robert Reinbold and Janine Wetzel. Our new Secretary and website article author will be Marty Mantz, our youth directors will be John Campbell and Paul Reinbold and our new Vice President will be Jeff Wetzel and our new Club President will be Geo Wentz. This is a beginning of a new era for the club, never before has there been a change in Presidency, but I am very excited because the club picked a great club member to lead this club in the right direction. Geo has been a long time club member and has always show his love for the club day in and day out. We are all excited for the new things to come for the club in 2010 and can't wait for the first event! Thanks for stopping by and checking us out, if you are interested in our club please feel free to contact one of our club officers. Until then....GET THE NET!