Its official, the 2012 club camping weekend is in the books. It was by far the largest turnout for this annual event in the club’s 7 year history. Lake Tschida was the location where the Bandits’ setup camp Friday night to prepare for the Sheep’s Creek Showdown on Saturday the 18th. Lake Tschida provided the Bandits with breathe taking view, wind protection, and perhaps most importantly electricity! Saturday morning rolled around and there were 22 club members were in attendance for the tournament. Stories and lies were told, boats were unloaded, chips were drawn and…..were off! Sheep’s Creek dam is a idle speed only lake due to its small size but make no mistake the size of the largemouth in there make up for it. The weather was calm and sunny which made it a great day for sun tanning but unfortunately it usually makes it a tough bite. The fishing was slow and over half the field didn’t even get to weigh a fish in. Despite the slow fishing some anglers were fortunate enough to bring in some nice largemouth. Rounding out the top 5 along with the big bass award was Chase Fernandez with a total weight of 5.54lbs. Chase’s big bass weighed 4.29lbs! Finishing in 4th place was Matt Sullivan with a total weight of 6.52lbs. Taking home the 3rd place trophy was Steve Basinger with a total weight of 7.08lbs. Second place went to Tony Reinbold with 7.38lbs and Marty Mantz took home the first place trophy by weighing in 10.33 lbs.
After the weigh in the Bandits headed back north to the camp site by Lake Tschida for some great food and the Ladder Ball Championship! There was enough food provided by the Bandits to feed an army but after a long day of fishing in the sun there were enough hungry anglers that gobbled it all up. Thanks a bunch to all of those who provided the food and cooking utensils. Once our bellies were full we setup the lawn chairs to watch one of the most anticipated events of the year - Ladder Ball Championship! (You’d think since we were a fishing club we would have a casting contest of something J) Once the teams were drawn and the location of the event was chosen the trash talking started. (Mostly by Shawn - all in good fun of course)Right out of the gates Shawn Keena and Tony Reinbold were hot and clearing the table with any team that faced them. Quietly, calmly and under the radar Janine Wetzel and Cody Arth took their time and defeated any opponent that faced them. Another team that was determined to get to the championship was Allison Gaw and Nate Keena. Gaw and Keena battled through many close games but remained undefeated throughout most of the competition. As the competition went on the sun started to get lower and lower in the sunset and the Keena/Reinbold team started to show weakness…was it the low light affecting them??? Nah couldn’t have been it was only 7 o’clock with plenty of sunshine! All three teams mentioned above made it to the winners’ bracket and faced each other for some crazy but fun rounds. After the dust settled there were two teams left; Gaw and Keena vs. Wetzel and Arth. They went toss for toss round for round with the final game going into overtime these two teams wanted those coveted trophies so badly they just wouldn’t give in to each other. But in the end a champion was crowned and Allison Gaw and Nate Keena were those champions. Way to go you two! Just remember to come back next year to defend your title!
Sunday morning rolled around and we launched our boats into Lake Tschida. Once again the Bandits had perfect weather for tanning, with clear skies and calm winds. This killed the hot bite on the lake that was happening for a 3 week stretch prior to the tournament. Many anglers took advantage of the early morning bite knowing that they needed to keep anything that qualified. Others opted to hold out for big fish hoping that somehow someway there would be a period in the day where the bass would turn on. Either way Lake Tschida didn’t cooperate with most of the anglers making it a very tough day. But, whenever you have a lot of anglers on the water there will be fish caught somewhere. Taking home a nice top 5 finish was Cody Arth with a final weight of 3.79lbs. Fourth place went to Robert Reinbold with a final weight of 4.13lbs. Third place went to Marty Mantz with 6.52 lbs. Curtis Wentz of Lemmon, SD took home a great 2nd place finish plus big bass honors with a final total weight of 6.67lbs. Wentz’s big bass weighed 4.08 lbs which set a new lake record for the Bandits record books. Congratulations Curtis! Eric Vossler of Bismarck was able to overcome a few boating issues and bring home the winning weight of 7.02lbs! This was Vossler’s first championship ever since becoming a new member in 2011. Way to go Eric, no better feeling than getting the first taste of success. It just goes to prove that hard work and practice pays off!
On September 15th the Bandits will return to Lake Sacajawea for the much anticipated Classic Championship. This will be a two day tournament that will crown a Bass Bandit with the largest two day total weight. Stay tuned for details and tournament results!
