Club Camping Weekend was a Success!

The Badlands Bass Bandits held their annual Club Camping Weekend at the Sakakawea State Park on June 29th and June 30th. This annual event has been one of the club’s premier features for the past few years, and this year we had 26 members in attendance which was a new record. This year’s club events included two tournaments, potluck dinner, and the ladder ball championships. Probably one of the best things that was provided for the bandits last weekend was that the good Lord provided great fishing and camping weather throughout the whole weekend!

  On Saturday morning the Bandits unloaded their boats at the state park boat ramp and marina. There was much anticipation amongst the club members because this weekend marked the half way point of our 2013 season. With the Angler of the Year race tightening up, this was going to be a pivoting point to see who will be finishing the season strong. It was a partly cloudy day with northerly winds of 15 mph, and on this massive lake it doesn’t take much to make some big waves. When the horn sounded the bandits took off. Some when north, west, south and east, there was no doubt that Lake Sakakawea had plenty of areas to provide fishing for the Bandits. As far as the fishing went it would have made a great walleye and northern pike tournament! Lots of club members found themselves fighting Sakakawea’s giant Pike and walleye. There were plenty of smallmouth bass to catch but catching ones that were worth any size was the biggest challenge.

  Beth Basinger had a great weekend of fishing, she placed a personal best 3rd place on Saturday’s event by weighing 3 smallmouth at 5.42 lbs. Congratulations to you Beth and way to show your husband how to catch bass! Weighing in with 6.34 lbs was Jeff Gibson of Minot, this was his first Bass Bandit tournament and certainly had a great day on the water as well. His 6.34 lbs of smallmouth gave him a 2nd place finish. Coming in with another strong day was Matt Sullivan of Bismarck. Matt had a strong showing of fish the last two tournaments and did so again this past weekend. Matt took home 1st place honors for Saturday’s event with 6.42 lbs. He also weighed in the largest smallmouth of the tournament which weighed 2.64 lbs. With the 6th tournament of the year in the books, the Angler of the Year Race was very close! Sunday’s event would help separate the top three anglers a little bit.

  But before we get into Sunday’s event were going to talk about the rest of the club’s camping weekend festivities. When the evening rolled around the all the club members gathered around a camp site, sparked the grill up and cooked some brats and hamburgers. Along with the brats and hamburgers there were a lot of salads, chips and deserts to go eat as well. Thanks to all who provided for this year’s potluck dinner. It was very very good! After we all stuffed ourselves with food and drink it was time to compete in one of the most prestigious events of all. The LADDER BALL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!  If your not familiar with this event, it is a very big deal. It’s probably more competitive than any of our bass fishing tournaments! There is certainly one member who looks forward to this event every year probably more than any other club member. Shawn Keena from Bismarck has been competing in this event for the past three years. Each year that he has competed in it he has lost in the championship round and placed 2nd each of those years.  Will this year be any different? No, he lost again! This year his partner was Paul Reinbold (me), he and Shawn went undefeated through the double elimination tournament bracket and they weren’t looking back. Many games were played by all nine teams participating. As usual there were lots of good and bad plays that gave the crowd a good showing. Ryan Vetter of Bismarck and Nicole Dirks of Minot made it to the championship round to face the undefeated team of Keena and Reinbold. The two teams met head to head, back and forth toss for toss it was a close match. Vetter and Dirks won the first match by 2 points. Then came the final match to decide the 2013 Ladder Ball Champions. Once again it was back and forth, toss for toss a close match that ended up with both teams going over 21 points. With both teams having to go back a few points it came down to the wire. Dirks and Keena both threw and weren’t able to get any points. With both teams deadlocked at 18 Reinbold threw his and each one missed the 3 point mark by a hair. Vetter stepped up and threw his first and missed but his second toss didn’t which gave them the Championship trophies! Congratulations to the 2013 Ladder Ball Champs Ryan Vetter and Nicole Dirks! Well Shawn, we’ve said it once, we’ve said it twice, we’ve said it three times and now we will all say it again for the fourth time “Better Luck Next Year!”

  Ok let’s get back to fishing. Sunday morning rolled around and the club launched the boats. It was going to be a bright sunny day with light winds. This made traveling a bit easier than the previous day and when you can get calmer waters the Bandits love to show off their speedy boats! Fishing was a bit tougher, the smallmouth bite wasn’t as aggressive as it was on Saturday. Nonetheless when you have 22 members fishing on the water, somebody somewhere is going to catch the fish. Having a great day on the water was Todd Keena of Bismarck. Todd found the largest bass of the day that weighed 2.39 lbs and his final total weight was 5.50 lbs that gave him a 3rd place finish. Way to go Todd! Having yet again another strong tournament was Matt Sullivan. Sullivan’s three fish weighed 6.19 lbs but due to a dead fish penalty it dropped him down to 5.69 lbs which gave him another 2nd place finish. This finish also gave him the points lead and with 5 tournaments to go the momentum is in his favor. Last but not least was Marty Mantz. Marty also had a good day on the water. His three fish weighed 5.73 lbs that gave him his first victory of the 2013 season. Judging by Mantz’s past record when July roll’s around this won’t be his last victory.  This win helped propel Marty to a third place spot on the Angler of the Year race.

  It certainly has been a back and forth points race this year. Beth Basinger and Nicole Dirks are at the top of the Rookie of the Year standings and it doesn’t look like anyone else is going to be contending for that. So it will be a battle for those two til the end! The Angler of the Year race has tightened up and the points leader has shifted from Chase Fernandez to Matt Sullivan. Chase was able to put together a fourth place finish on Sunday which helped keep it close amongst the top three.  With five tournaments to go it should be an exciting finish.  Stay tuned to this web site for further updates. We’ll see ya on the water.             
-Paul Reinbold