Mantz Strikes Again!

Marty Mantz

Marty Mantz with 3 nice bass

Club camping weekend was a success mother nature blessed us with a weekend of nice weather and low winds, that in itself was a minor miracle as hot sunny days and low winds do not usually lend them self to success full fishing days.

Audubon was a tough tournament with sunny skies and low winds and big water to cover to try and find some fish, Audubon is covered with hundreds of islands and rock piles and weedbeds galore unfortunatly some anglers found those rockpiles with the propellers! while searching for the elusive Smallmouth Bass and were not happy with the results! thats fishing, always be aware of how fast you are going on Audubon it will take you out in a heartbeat. Fishing was tough with the sunny skies and hardly any wind the samllies were hard to locate but a few managed to find some.

Janine Wetzel was the champion angler and also the Big Bass award winner for the day with one fish at 2.82 pounds. Deryk Voller came in a close second and Eric Ehn was third, full results and weights can be found on the results page. It was a tough grind em out all day kinda tournament with only 5 fish weighed in at the close of the day!

Everyone relocated to New Johns Lake that night in hopes of some better fishing, people settled in and set up tents and campsites and started cooking food and relaxing and enjoying the rest of the night. After a wonderfull meal provided by the Wentz's it was time to get on with the annual

lawn golf competetion it was a fun time with the sun setting in the background as we played right beside the lake. Curtis and Mike Wentz once again stole the crown second year in a row champions of the universe! maybe next year someone will step up and beat them, soon enough it was dark and when the fish stories ran dry everyone turned in for the night.

Sunday morning was a day of anticipation you could see it in the eyes of the anglers as they apced around fixing poles and getting ready for battle. Which way are you going? east or west? was the popular question of the morning, seems every year people that go west always win the tournament but not this time! I drew the last number so I was the starter as I launched all the boats I watched and most went west and a few went east and i sat there for 5 minutes still undecided where to start just watching everyone else speed away, i finally decided to go against the grain and go east, it was a wise descision, I passed Deryk exactly where I knew he would be I arrived at my spot and saw Tony and Eric there and thought oh crap I made the wrong descision but my second cast wham a 4.22 pound smallie confirmed I was in the correct spot. As I advanced down the bank i was greeted with one big fish after another till I had 3 keepers in the livewell, I looked around and not another boat in sight so I went exploring ran into Jeff and janine and Deryk again farther down the water fishing hard, Jeff had a big smile and also a big fish!

The anglers down to west were having quite a day also I ran into Jonathan and partner fishing away in the canal and catching fish meanwhile way far west the batlle was heating up with the Wentz brothers all trying to out do each other, and Matt and Curt trying to out duel them lots of fish were caught and it was a great day with some big fish coming in and some new club records set.

Champion angler of the day was Marty Mantz with a record breaking 10.81 pounds for 3 smallies the most ever weighed in club history! and a smallie that went 4.22 pounds for my biggest fish! Jeff Wetzel however nailed a 4.47 pound smallie to take big fish honors for the day! congrats! also a club record for biggest smallie ever caught in a tourney! Second place went to Mike Wentz with 8.31 pounds and third to curtis Wentz with 6.86 pounds!

Full results can be found on the tournament results page on the site, the wentz's are becoming dangerous at New Johns! congrats to you guys and your improved fishing you must have learned well last year as you are bringing it this year! It was quite the successfull weekend and a lot of fun was had and a lot of good food was consumed too! thanks Geo and Mike as usual for all the good food. Soon we will be returning to new Johns for the team tournament better buckle up for this one as it will probably be a exciting tournament with a lot of 3 pound plus smallies hitting the scale! who knows maybe some more records will be broken again! thanks to everyone that came and fished I had a good time and enjoy the company to me the best time is the night before as we sit around the camp and tell fish stories!