By the title of this article I am sure it wouldn’t take you long to figure out who won the points tournament on July 20th’s event. Matt Sullivan of Bismarck has been putting the tight squeeze on the Angler of the Year race all season long. But it is far from over folks, Chase Fernandez and Marty Mantz are still very well in the hunt. Let’s not forget how some other Bandits are still in the hunt but they will need some help from the top contenders to even have a chance at this year’s AOY title. The Rookie of the Year title hasn’t changed much at all. Beth Basinger is still comfortably in the lead even though new rookie member John Hill joined a few weeks ago. If Basinger can show up and weigh some fish in for the final 5 events of the 2013 season she will have no worries in regards to who will win the rookie of the year .  But, if she misses a couple of those events and Hill turns in some fish during her absence then there will be a battle on the final event!  This is the pivoting point of the year, we are just over being half ways done for the 2013 season and this is when you want to fish your best. Even if you are not in contention for any awards you still want to finish strong showing that you have improved since the first cast of the season.

  For Saturday’s event it was a cloudy morning with cool temps. Certainly not a typical day for the month of July, but when you live in North Dakota anything is possible with the weather. The boats were launched and they headed every which way that they possibly could. Some spots took 30 seconds to get to others fishing holes took 20 minutes to get to. There was one fishing hole that held some big fish and that fishing hole belonged to Matt Sullivan. Sullivan boated three smallmouth that weighed 10.94 lbs, he also took big bass honors with a smallmouth that weighed 4.42 lbs. Good job Matt! Weighing in at a close second place was Marty Mantz. Mantz’s biggest three bass for the tournament weighed in at 10.15 lbs, he also weighed in a 4lb smallmouth that helped capture 2nd place. Another consistent angler this year (right along with Sullivan) is Chase Fernandez. Fernandez weighed in at 9.79 lbs which helped him capture another 3rd place finish for the year. Keep it up Chase and you might be holding that Angler of the Year trophy at the end of the season!

  Sunday rolled around and the Bandits held another tournament on New Johns lake. This was just a cash pot tourney so no points were accounted for the Angler of the Year race. It was a beautiful day all throughout the tournament.  Lots of fish were caught, some spots that paid off the day before still provided while other fishing holes went dry. One angler who has been dealing with the nickname of “ Number two”  (because he has placed 2nd many times in many different categories) was finally able to put it all together for one day. Shawn  Keena of Bismarck was your tournament winner for Sunday’s event. Keena weighed in a three fish limit that tipped the scales at 10.47 lbs Keena’s biggest fish was 4.04 lbs. Yes sir folks apparently the Moon and Stars all aligned perfectly for Mr. Keena to capture his first ever Bass Bandit tournament. From all of us at the club house Congratulations Shawn Keena! Coming in for his second straight 2nd place finish at New Johns was Marty Mantz with 9.55 lbs. This weight edged out Paul Reinbold who finished 3rd with a final weight of 9.45 lbs. Reinbold also weighed in the biggest bass of the tournament which smashed the scales at 4.18 lbs.  There were a lot of good weights brought to the scales that weekend, but that was expected because of the fishing this lake has to offer.

  The next tournament will be held on August 10th and 11th. On the 10th the bandits will be fishing Lake Audobon. This lake was featured in the Bassmaster’s magazine last year for the nations top 100 bass lakes to fish. We will be docking out of the Three Mile Corner ramp. This ramp has a very small parking area so be sure to park in tight quarters so we can fit everyone. If you’d like you can dock over at Totten Trail and boat your way over to Three mile for tournament entry and weigh in to help provide space in the three mile corner ramp. On the 11th the Bandits will be heading to North Audobon. This will be an interesting tournament because this will be the first time the Bandits will have ever fished this lake. Good luck to all and stay tuned to see who takes the AOY and ROY lead!