4-F Bass Club Tournament Tails
Tattle Tales
Bastrop
Jan 14, 2012
Well, the first T of the year is in the books! I kinda think we were all surprised that it was such an awesome day for January and Bastrop! If you look back thru the Tattle Tales you will see that this is not always the case! In fact, I don’t remember ever having this nice a day on Bastrop!
Not many limits caught but we did bring in some nice fish. Congrats to Phil G for his 172 point 1st place. Wayne took 2nd with 157 points and 3rd goes to Pres Joe with 155 points and BIG BASS – 19.75”.
Once again Ye Ol Tattler had another boat situation! Fished all morning with no difficulty and then decided that it was time to head home. Sitting in the discharge and went to crank up….NOTHING!!!! Ok, checked connections…NOTHING! Called Joe to see if he had a set of jumper cables. Of course he didn’t but it took a couple of minutes for him to quit laughing before he told us! Well no real trouble, had enough trolling battery left, I was hoping, to make it back to the ramp…hopefully before dark! J Passed by a guy in a really old boat, even older than Randal’s! He asked if all was ok and I told him of the dilema. Well lo and behold, he had some jumper cables! Thank you Lord! Hooked em up and the motor started right up! AWESOME! Got the boat on the trailer and hit the starter to see and sho nuf…nothing. Ok, another bad Walmart battery! Anyway, went to the boat later in the week to take the battery to get tested and while starting to loosen the nuts I looked at the “security” shut off tab!!!!!! It had gotten turned off!!!!!!! No battery problem. Did spend $12 on a set of cables to carry. BTW Joe, if you need me to jump your rig just call! J The moral of the story is – Learn your friggen boat systems!!!!!! J
Next month we are at Fayette! Pray for NO WIND or RAIN!!!!
Don’t; forget to thank the ONE that created this wonderful resource we enjoy so much!
See y’all at the meeting at Fudrucker’s on Feb 2 - 7PM.
Ye Ol Tatler
November 2011
Fayette County
Well, the last T of the year is now behind us. What a day, huh? Started out so nice and then someone mad Ma Nature really mad!!!! Sure was fun getting the inside of the boat cleaned and washed. J
Looks like everybody, almost, caught some fish. Sure wasn’t the normal November Fayette tho!
Congrats to Phil for his 1st place finish. Was good to have Kyle back and awesome to see him kick dad’s butt! Congrats on 2nd Kyle and Bill for 3rd. Ben caught the hawg at 20.5!
The only bad news item for the day that I know of, other than the wind and waves, happened on Ye Ol Tattlers boat…of course! I have a standing rule that my partner must catch the first fish, sure, so I waited until Paul caught a nice 16.5. Well, he got so excited that he measured the fish and then tossed it back. I turned back around to run the trolling motor and heard a second splash! Hmmmmm, says I, what did he throw overboard????? After a not so nice word, he confessed that we would be having a problem measuring fish the rest of the day! Yep, my chek-it is now on the bottom of Fayette in the second cove from the ramp! Oh well, at least it wasn’t one of his rods!
Looking forward to the new season and some new tails to tattle on. See y’all at the December mtg. Don’t forget we are electing a new President for 2012! A very special thanks to Wayne for his service as President all the past years. You did an outstanding job sir! J
Don’t forget to give thanks to the One that created this wonderful resource that we enjoy!
Ye Ol Tattler
Tattle Tails
October T
Coleto Creek
Well, were we surprised when we found that the lake was in such awesome shape! Definitly low but nonetheless, great water conditions!
It was so good that one of our illustrious members decided to check it out for himself. Seems the boater Bill asked non-boater how low the water was at the ramp so non-boater (Fred) jumped overboard to see! Yep it was a tad low but not too bad was his report! J. Fred tried to say he simply slipped and fell…yeah, sure Fred J
The really good news was the fish were biting despite the rolling storm fronts. All teams caught fish, some more than others and almost all teams caught the 10 fish limit. Phil and new member Ben caught the big sack and Phil edged me out of the Big Bass with a hawg of 23.25” at 6.5lbs! Very nice Phil. Ye Ol Tattler boated a 21.25 and was thrilled with that one also! Not often Coleto gives up 2 hawgs in one of our T’s!
As usual a large number of dinks were caught. Maybe small but they are still fun to catch.
The downside to this T was the decision of the CCC folks to cancel all of the reservations at the last minute! As Bill says they will get none of my business in the future! Short term profits sometimes ends up costing a lot of future business!!!!
Anyways, we all had fun and came back to the ramp safe and sound. Be sure to take the time to give thanks to the ONE that created this resource for us!
See y’all in November for the last T.
Ye Ol’ Tattler
TATTLE TAILS
August Scatter
HOT HOT HOT !!!! Gotta say it was a little warm this trip! Topped out somewhere short of boiling J Thank the Lord for a little breeze.
Not a great trip overall, but some were lucky to catch a limit and some were not! Ye’ Ol Tattle Tailer was not!
Congrats to Bo for his 1st Place! Good job Bo. Mark Molsberry caught the Big Bass with a very nice hawg measuring in at 22”.
No interesting tails to tell this month. The game warden was out Friday and Saturday doing his thing. Always get a little nervous when they pull up, what with my Irish luck and all. J.
Looking forward to the Bastrop T next month. Hope our normal thing happens and we get a lot of rain!
Don’t forget to renew your license before the T. Due Sept 1.
Always remember to thank the One that created this awesome resource for our enjoyment!
See y’all at the meeting Sept. 1.
Ye’ Ol Tattler
TATTLE TAILS
SCATTER #1
(mainly Fayette)
July 8-9 2011
This was the 1st scatter for the year and it was a good-un. The weather cooperated with us for both days. It was HOT but a slight breeze kept it bearable until about 1PM Sat. A couple of guys stayed on the water til later in the day………must have been a good thing cause they ended up taking 1st and 2nd! By 1PM my partner, Randal, had his limit and a few extra. He said it was ok if I wanted to go in! I only had 3 fish so it took about 3 seconds for me to agree! Can’t take the heat like those young turks!
Gotta continue the saga of the experience of being a boater! Launched with no problem…motor kicked on and all was great….oops, forgot to put the lights in! Got them in and, crap, not working!!! Ok, so I learned that the switch in the bow console has to be on also…duh! Got to the first spot and dropped the newly renovated trolling motor…..it wouldn’t go all the way down…L After considerable searching I found that some dummy didn’t put the brace back in properly…(me). Went back to the launch and took the bracket pin out, swapped the bracket around and replaced the pin! Worked great…so back out to the first spot and dropped the motor…looked down at the Lowrance and the screen was now blank! Popped the power button but nothing!!!!! Oh well, used to fish without a sonar for years so no big deal…not. Took the unit off and plugged it into the console plugs…came right on…figured I had blown a fuse or something. Put it back on the front bracket again and sure nuff it kicked right on! Yes, I had unplugged and re-plugged the unit before, so it wasn’t a loose wire! Another boater mystery. All that and it didn’t put any fish in the boat. L
Another short but funny story: Randal and I had a room at the Best Western in LAGrange. We got to the room about midnight. There was a big wedding the next day and the entire motel except for us was booked to the wedding folks. About 1AM a party started at the pool area located just outside of our room! :-( After awhile I told Randal that someone needed to get that group quieted down! I was suggesting maybe a call to the front desk…..Randal gets up and leaves the room. I figured he went to the desk to complain! He comes back and says it was handled. He then tells me he went out and confronted some 50 drunks! Course Randal is not a small guy so he made an impression as he told them, this was not a bar but a motel and some folks needed their sleep! Gotta respect a guy like that…But????????
Any way it was a good T and a lot of fish were caught. Joe took 1st place, Tom was 2nd with Big Bass and my partner Randal was 3rd. Congrats to all.
Remember to give thanks to the ONE that created this wonderful resource for us to enjoy. See y’all next month.
Ye Ol’ Tattler
TATTLE TAILS
FAYETTE COUNTY
JUNE 2011
HOT – HOT – HOT – WINDY – WINDY – WINDY!!!!
Guess that about describes the conditions for the day! Seems that most of the lake was under hurricane force winds and white caps! Took a lot of water over the bow.
The biggest story of the day comes from Steve Hamm finding out that hooks are sharp and they are hard to get back out when they imbed themselves in your hand! His partner did a good job of running the hook thru and getting it out of Steve’s finger! Too bad he couldn’t measure J
Ron Orlando had his trolling motor cable break so he and Mark were anchored for the day over Wayne’s Rock. Ron states that it was a learning experience as he and Mark had to really concentrate on catching fish with a limited amount of mobility. Looks like they had some success.
Congrats to the winners! Joe G -1st and Big Bass (22”); Wayne – 2nd; Phil G – 3rd. A lot of fish caught and a lot of fish lost!
Everyone came back safe and sound, maybe a little wet, so it was a successful day! Don’t forget to give thanks to The One that created this wonderful resource for us to enjoy!
See ya in July for the first scatter of the season.
Ye Ol’ Tattle Tailer
TATTLE TAILS
Gibbons Creek
May 2011
Well, it looks like the lake we love to hate showed her true colors this T! Gibbons Creek gave up her best to our club on Saturday May 21! For some reason, several members seem to be reluctant to fish this lake when it has been one of the best producers over the past several years!
We actually experienced the true 4F weather conditions for this T that we used to face month in and month out in the past. We had some wind…then we had some rain…then we had some more wind and then we had some more wind!!!! It seems we had 2 separate fronts blow thru during the day! Overall it wasn’t all that bad!
The only good story comes via the club president…..Mr Wayne found a place to drop shot and was really showing some good numbers of quality fish. Ye ‘Ol Tattle Tailer watched him almost boat a nice bass, but he decided to practice his “early release” form when the bass came to the boat. Sorry Wayne, but then to add salt to the wound, Mr. Pres. decided to kick his best drop shot rig overboard into 18 feet of water!!!!:-( Hey Wayne, ya shoulda called the club rod retriever, Bill, to find that rig!) He has a special rod finding DD21 that seems to never fail!
Oh, BTW, my boat ran great and had no problems at all!!!!!! Scary huh?
The results for this T: Steve Hamm with a personal best 244 points and 1st place! Awesome Steve! Joe was second with 210 points and Mark was 3rd. Ye Ol Tattle Tailer tied into a really nice 7 lbr at 23.75 inches for Big Bass.
Overall a great T and other than a lost rig, all was well. We all came back safe and happy. Please remember to thank the ONE that created this wonderful resource for us!
See ya in June,
Ye ‘Ol Tattle Tailer
Choke Canyon
April 2011
What a day!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder if the wind ever stops blowing here? Friday the wind gusts were at least 40mph if not more and the same for Saturday. Sure used up some trolling motor battery power.
Most of the gang hit the water Friday for some much needed pre-fishing. After seeing and hearing about the size of the fish being caught on Friday, it was suggested that we schedule the next year for Saturday but really hold it on Friday. J
Brian Beardon boated a really nice 8lbr Friday but couldn’t find it again the next day! I’ll tell ya who found it later. Ye Ol Tattler lost one at the boat that would have pushed 7lbs really hard and nothing near that size the next day!
Had a great Brat ‘n Beer dinner at the Choke Lodge Friday night. We all stuffed down a lot of Brats, all except for Bill and Bo! Those uppity dudes had to have steak!! Brats were better! Thanks for putting that together Mark.
Saturday morning started with a lot of WIND!!!! As the day wore on it didn’t get any worse but it made fishing difficult to say the least. The really fun story for this T is that Bill and Bo decided to fish the levee at the ramp. Randal and I dropped in on them about 9 and they said they had caught a bunch on spinners and flukes. We moved down to the other end of the levee area and Randal immediately hooked a nice fish on a shakey head. I caught one and as Bo stated, “looks like the shakey head bite is on”! Between the two boats we landed 33+ fish in an area about 30 yards long! Lost a bunch too! That was fun and we really appreciated Bill and Bo allowing us to share the water! J
About 11 a bunch of bank fishers showed up and decided to wade fish! They stepped out into the area that was holding all the fish!!!!! Told them they were standing where all the fish were being caught……the adult in the group starts looking in the water for the fish! He says he caught a 21” bass there last week. Told him he wasn’t gonna catch anything now!!! Fish never came back!
Now for the closing News!!!! Mr. Byron wound up in First Place with 200 points! Big Bass at estimated 8lbs!!! Way to go Byron. However, it is known that he has his very own PFA (personal fishing assistant) with Glenn! His PFA spent a couple of hours Friday night setting all Byron’s fishing gear up correctly for the very first time and that seems to have made the difference. I am waiting to see if PFA Glenn starts hiring his services out at the T’s! J With all that….Congratulations Byron on an awesome T!
Bill Gibson came in 2nd while there was a tie for 3rd between my partner Randal and Bill’s partner Bo! Oh yeah, my partner Randal caught his biggest ever bass and biggest ever limit! Gotta say he must have had a super guide! J Ye Ol Tattler tied for 4th with Phil G.
Almost everyone caught fish, (sorry Steve) and seemed to have had a great time. Don’t forget to give thanks to the ONE that created this wonderful resource that we enjoy so much!
See y’all in May at the meeting and at Gibbons Creek.
Ye ‘OL Tattle Tailer
Tattle Tails
March 2011
Conroe Team Tourn.
Wow, what a day!!!!!! Conroe lived up to it’s normal conditions!!!! Between all the ski boats, scooters and various other watercraft, along with Mother Natures winds, this lake was beyond crazy! I don’t know about all the other club members but when I got home Saturday night I was stiff and sore! I hurt so bad Sunday morning I skipped church and that just sucks!
Congratulations to the winners of this event: Joe and Bo took 1st Place with a ton of fish, Bill and his (no fish) partner Mark took 2nd with 6 good fish and Bill had Big Bass with an 18.25 chunk. Phil and Brian took 3rd with 4 bass, Ye Ol Tattle Tailer and Steve took 4th with 3 bass and Dwayne and Fred came in 5th with 1 bass. Three other teams skunked, they know who they are so I won’t list them. J
Well, once again the thrill of being a boater reared it’s ugly head when my trolling motor decided to quit running! L Saw Bill across the cove so I chugged over and asked for his help after taking the plugs all apart, etc. Figured he would have the answer…he says :have you checked the shut off switch in the back compartment”? Well no, duh, didn’t know there was such a thing. Well, there is and that was the problem…Thanks again Bill.
Speaking of Bill, he and Mark saw a guy hauling in some really big fish and kinda let the boat drift closer to see what was happening. This guy was catching the heck out of Hybrid Stripers and was so nice he gave Bill and Mark a couple of his special baits along with some instructions on how to use them. They proceeded to catch a bunch of 5+ lb stripers. Bill said it was the most fun he has had in a long while fishing. They didn’t count towards the T but a lot of fun anyway.
That’s it for this month. Don’t forget to thank the ONE that created this wonderful resource that we so much enjoy.
See ya at the April meeting and at Choke Canyon on the 9th.
Ye Ol Tattle Tailer
February T
Somerville
2/12/11
Whooooopie…….we are all so durn happy to have experienced this awesome fishery!!!! No stories to tell…..oh yeah, guess there is one. Ye ‘Ol Tattler once again found out that owning a boat is a joyful experience….NOT! Brought the boat home Friday night to get it ready for early Saturday morning. Plugged in the charger and all other preps done by the book. Got up Saturday and the charger showed 3 green lights..good to go…..NOT!
Got to the lake and my partner Tom was getting ready to back me in when I decided to give the key a bump to check the motor…..NOTHING!!!!!! Dead! Checked the connections and even called the club mechanic and previous owner over. Bill checks it out and says he thinks the main battery is bad even tho it was just one year old! Well we pulled the rig up to a camp site and plugged it in and sure enough the charger turned green…then red….then green. Decided to head back to Walmart in LaGrange to get it replaced. No problem in getting it replaced, but couldn’t find anyone that knew how to ring up an exchange@@@@@@@%(&%($(^{_*(.. 45 minutes later we finally went to the front of the store to customer service and found a cashier that knew how to handle the transaction. Installed and launched so we could at least get a few hours of fishing.
We finally decided to head to the dam with an hour left and sure nuff my partner hooked a nice 18+. I told him he probably would win the T and the Big Bass. Very prophetic of the Tattle Taler, huh?
That is how the day ended….Tom – one fish for First Place and Big Bass and 11 others tied for 2nd! We are all really anxious to go back to this lake sometime in the future…like maybe 2020!
It was a very nice day, cool in the morning and slightly warmer in the afternoon. Better than we thought it was going to be.
As always, don’t forget to say a big THANKS to the ONE that created this wonderful resource so we could enjoy our hobby!
See y’all next month at Conroe.
Ye ‘Ol Tattle Taler
Tattle Tails
January 2011
Bastrop
Well howdy friends and fishermen, Happy New Year to y’all! Ye Ol Tattle Tailer has made a resolution for this year: Have a Tail for all T’s for this year! I am going to ask that the members please let me know of any good bits of gossip, (true or not…this is a fishing site) so I can get it in the Tattle Tails.
Well the first T of the year was held at Bastrop with some great concerns due to past conditions at this lake! What a pleasant surprise to arrive at the lake and have the temps in a fairly comfortable level above freezing!!! Winds were a bit strong but NO RAIN!!!!!
5 boats entered the T and 4 of the 5 actually caught fish!!!! Ye Ol Tattler and his non-boater – boater Byron came in dead last 9th and 10th with 0 fish! Now there is an underlying cause for this calamity: We were definitely doomed from the outset! #1 – we were not sure of how to get to the North Ramp so I cued up my faithful Boat Ramps app on the I-phone for directions……found a short cut by using the South Ramp road. Only 3.3 miles that way rather than the lengthy 7.5 miles around the long way! Well folks, don’t always believe your GPS!!! The road ended up being fenced off about a mile past the South Ramp….GRRRRRRRRRRR. Found a turnaround and retraced our path back to the main road and took the long way!! Ended up launching 20 minutes after the start time. #2 - Byron almost speeds across the lake to his “secret place” and we fished for 15 minutes or so without a bite!!!! I am ready to move to another spot when Byron, very quietly, asks me if I had put the plug in? UH, no Byron I didn’t know it was my job! I look down and he is standing in several inches of very cold water! Gotta tell you that Mr. McNeal is very calm in emergency situations!!! He sits down and decides it is a good thing to start the bilge! We motor back to the ramp, not able to get on plane due to extra weight of 1000 gallons of water! Got the boat on the trailer and waited some 10 minutes for the water to drain, put the plug in and launched once again! I think it is a law of nature that if you do one really dumb thing, you are not allowed to catch any fish!!! For the rest of the day we had 2 break off fish and two not hook up! Lesson learned?????? (maybe).
Mr. Petru had an experience with the TPWD folks: He learned that it is not acceptable to remove tags from your license without filling in the needed data! Got off with a warning!
This next one is from the guy that “DOMINATED” J the club with his 1st place finish:
“One for your notes. Paul got hung up in the discharge and while trying to free his line, so not to lose his last shaky head, he dropped his rod and to the bottom of the lake it went. Luckily for him it was only 4 feet of water. He used another rod to try to fish the rod out and at one point had it the surface but didn't grab it before it sunk back to the bottom. Since lady luck was on my side this day, I took my worm rod and removed the worm and made a cast. One cast, one rod hooked and returned to its owner. Glenn”
I think that is about all the news for this T. Oh yeah, the winners are:
1. Glen Royal ( 10 fish) 194 pts
2. Bo Petru ( 7 fish) 156 pts Big Bass 19.5
3. Scott Moran ( 5 fish) 147 pts
Congrats to all.
Remember to give thanks to he ONE that created this wonderful resource and for bringing us all back safe. See ya on Tuesday Feb 1 at the meeting and will have my ears open at the T on Somerville on Feb 12.
Ye Ol’ Tattle Tailer
TATTLE TAILS
NON-FAYETTE SCATTER
JULY 2010
This was the scatter that causes some members to drive by Fayette and shed a few tears as they journey to the lake of choice for this T. Conroe, Bastrop, Rayburn and maybe Choke were the lakes for this T. I know three teams that made bad decisions and went to Conroe to try and catch fish! The winners went to Bastrop and loaded the boats. Congrats to Phil and Bo for the 1st place finish.
They say that they caught most of the fish on Friday evening as the bass were schooling really closed to the ramp! That sounds like a bunch of fun. J
Well, I guess I get the “Tail of the month” award this time! First time out with the new/old boat. Partnered with Paul Sharko….sorry Paul! Went out Friday evening and got to our spot when I realized that I had left my clear glasses in the truck. Oh well, don’t need them to fish. After we found that our honey hole had disappeared we decided to move to the dam. I also realized that for safety sake I really did need my glasses to see so we went back to the ramp. Got my specs and then couldn’t get the motor to turn over! After several attempts I called the previous owner for suggestions. Bill says that it sounds like the motor is flooded and to give it full gas and hit the starter! Hey, he is pretty smart! By this time Paul is looking like he really made a bad choice for a partner. J
Bill had made arrangements with a neighbor to use their condo at Walden!!! WOW!!! We arrived at the condos at midnite to find that they don’t allow boats and trailers in the parking lot L BUMMER! We finally ended up at the Walden Marina and found that we could leave our boats parked there with security! Got to use the floor at the condo for a few hours. Nice place!
Arrived at the April Plaza ramp about 5:15am. Bill and Fred launched and took off. I was still setting up the boat and now had a new problem! The rear running lite would not come on! GRRRRRRRRR. Paul is for certain that he was really not with the right partner! Couldn’t find a bulb so we had to wait until safe lite to launch. Overall had a great time. BTW, after putting the boat away I tried the lite and it worked!!!!
I guess the moral of this story is that a boat is a pain in the a$$!!!!!! Also, don’t see going to Conroe in the future ! Too many BIG Boats with NO_BRAIN drivers!
As always don’t forget to give thanks to the ONE that created the resources that we enjoy! See y’all in August.
Ye Ol’ Tattler
Tattle Tails
Rayburn
June 2010
Howdy from somewhere in the Great Nation of Texas! We had a really fun day at Rayburn on Saturday June 12. Not a drop of rain in sight!!!!! Actually any rain would have dehydrated before it hit the ground in that heat! It is not often that we beg for some gentle cooling breezes but I was practically on my knees asking Him for a breath of air a couple of times! Be careful of what you ask for as He would answer with a small gale force for a few minutes! Geez, we can never be satisfied. J
Had a really good dinner at Carlina’s Friday evening. The buffet was in some bad shape after we got through with it. Finished off a big pile of fried catfish and shrimp with an awesome bowl of banana pudding!!! The sound of grown men licking the bowls was strange to say the least.
As with all gatherings of fishermen, a time is set aside to tell some really wild stories about some of the members of this illustrious bass club. The 4F Bass Club has always carried a fine reputation of being socially skilled and having nothing but kind words to say of each other. Well that is until the truth of why Kris W. was not at this tournament! The scuttlebutt is that at a recent Federation T Kris was having some difficulty with his digestive system and had a strong need to evacuate his bowels! (you know- take a dump!). Of course the Fed rules are that you cannot leave your boat for any reason or be DQ’d so he had to find an immediate resolution. He looked in the live wells and saw that they were empty but his partner had an idea that they would catch some fish so he didn’t want the wells fouled! Looking around the boat he saw that there was nothing that would hold the load! Word is that he stripped down to his naked self..(eeewwwww) and then lowered himself overboard. Now, this is where the waters get a little muddy, no pun intended, but we are all wondering how one holds onto a boat, takes a dump, cleans up and then gets back in the boat without gathering a crowd! I have this vision of his partner laying on the deck in hysterical glee! J We will be waiting for Kris to make a full dissertation on this at the next club meeting he attends. BTW, I have heard that several 4F members have asked that Choke be off limits for a year until the water has a chance to turnover! Heehee.
Ya know, it’s getting kinda bad when the lead story of my Tattle Tails has to be so crappy! (ouch). On to fishing stuff now.
The T was very successful and several fish were caught. I think there was only one 10 fish limit which is strange for Rayburn. You know the fishing is kinda slow when the Rayburn Man Moran has a tough day! Regardless, it was fun. The 1st place team was Garrod/Beardon; 2nd place was Gibson/Kincaid and third was Moran/Petru. Big Bass was Kincaid with a 20.5”. Congrats to y’all.
Oh yeah, one more member story! Our accountant member, Ron Orlando, has a reputation for being a little frugal ( you know- cheap) and he got caught this trip with bad batteries!!!! His trolling motor was not giving any power so they had to drift fish. Bill worked with him and determined that he might have a bad battery. After a lengthy discussion Ron finally confessed that the batteries were at least 4 years old. He went to town Friday night and found one bad unit. Again, being frugal, he replaced the ONE battery. Well he found out that it is best to change all batteries at the same time. Saturday found them with the same condition! The other battery was also bad! Some lessons are hard learned! J Hey, maybe we all need to check the code dates on our batteries!
Next month is the infamous NO FAYETTE Scatter L Ye Ol’ Tattler is going to make his first trip with his new-old boat so it ought to be a lot of fun! I have a partner already but he has plenty of time to back outJ BTW, Bill’s new RED Skeeter is a beaut! Fished pretty good from the 1st class back seat too. Thanks for the ride Bill.
Once again we had the joy of fishing on a great lake surrounded by awesome sights of wild life. Be sure to thank Him for His creation. See ya in July.
Ye Ol’ Tattler
TATTLE TAILS
CHOKE CANYON
MAY 2010
Howdy to all the 4F folks. Been a while since my last tails story. This month was a really fun T at Choke Canyon.
It all started with an awesome time of 4F Food, Fun, Fellowship and Farting around at the lodge Friday night. Glenn Royal cooked up some really good hamburgers and sausage. Anybody that left hungry had no excuse! Thanx to all that contributed to the cookout and to the cook team! Bill G. brought several bottles of his first batch of Blackberry wine to share. I noticed that the bottles were all about ½ full so I guess he and Kyle were checking the quality before letting the club try it out! J
Speaking of Kyle, this was his last T before reporting for duty with the US NAVY! Kyle, we wish you well and pray that this will be a great experience for you. I’m sure your stash of baits will be greatly reduced by the time you get back!
The weather was pretty good all around except for the gale force winds that kicked up on Saturday morning!!!! No wind on Friday of course. L Glenn and his partner elected to stay around the ramp area most of the day…(SMART). My partner, Byron, and I tried to fish the area around the ramp but the bank trash kept us from the prime area. We finally decided to trailer to the South ramp and found the conditions much more to our liking.
I lost my camera somewhere between the weigh in and home so I lost the pics of the winners. My senior brain doesn’t remember the names either but congratulation to whoever you are. I’m sure you will speak out at the meeting in June. I do know that Mark M. caught the big fish – congrats. A lot of fish caught and everyone seemed to have a good time. Can hardly wait til next year.
No strange stories to tell about anybody….oh wait!!!!! Bill Gibson finally broke down and spent some money for a decent room!!! I really think that Kyle refused to sleep in the Bug Lodge this year! Congrats Bill, we knew you had it in you!!!! J
Remember to give thanks to the ONE that created the resource that we enjoy so much! See y’all next month.
Ye Ol’ Tattle Tailer
NOVEMBER 2009
COLETTO CREEK
Hey, I see y’all are still around and waiting for me to post a report on the 4F club T’s. Sorry about the past several months being missed but since I wasn’t fishing I wasn’t given any information to write about. Seems strange that the members are so quiet about things that happen.
Is it me or has the Global Warming had an effect on the club’s reputation for having bad weather when we fish a T???????? I can’t remember the last T that caused us any problems…oh yeah; it was Gibbons Creek 2 years ago! Been kinda nice huh?
Not much to tail about this trip. I did draw the club
president as my boater for the first time. Shoulda known that was a bad sign.
This guy has some really great equipment! He just needs to invest in a better
grade of trailer tires! Made it 20 miles short of Victoria, out in the middle
of nowhere, and all of a sudden the truck started shaking like crazy! Looked
out at the side mirror and saw smoke billowing off the trailer tire!!!! Looked
like a major fire getting ready to start! Pres pulled off the side of the road
– kinda. He said, “Man I don’t believe this, I just had thought about what we
would do if we blew a tire out here?” Well, no problem, just pull the jack and
replace the tire with the spare….10 minutes tops!!! NOT. First, we had to hunt
down the jack. Couldn’t locate it so we finally looked at the truck
manual…there it was – under the passenger front seat. Of course that is where
all jacks are stored J The next
thing was to pull out the lug wrench. NOT. Left it at home!!!!!!! Found a
spark plug ratchet and by golly it almost fit. Finally got all the lugs off
without stripping them and got the spare on. No 
problem…..wanna
bet? What is the one main habit boaters are supposed to develop before they go
on a long haul? Yep, check the spare for AIR!!!!!!! Well, I gotta admit there
was enough air to allow the tire to work until we found somewhere to add 30lbs
or so. That happened to be at the WalMart in Victoria! BTW, Goodyear Marathon
trailer tires are not readily available. Glad we didn’t have any further
blowouts!
Well, the Coletto Creek Fish Hatchery upheld its reputation by providing the club with a lot of 10 – 12” fish. Everyone caught fish and several limits were boated. This lake doesn’t record many big fish but it always has a ton of little buggers. Congratulations to Steve Hamm for his 1st Place finish! I think this is his first win! Seems like everyone had a good time.
The gang of rowdy looking guys pictured below are the winners of the T:
Oh yeah, almost forgot! It seems that Glenn has a problem picking good boat mechanics. He just spent good money to have his trolling motor fixed. Well, seems like he really wants his Christmas present early as he overworked the t-motor again and broke it! His partner Kevin is claiming a foul and wants his T money back! Something about not being able to catch fish! Sounds like a lame excuse to me. J.. I really think he should make Glenn pay the money.
Well, that is all the news that is the news from the last T of the year! We had a great year and the problems were few. Be sure to take a minute and give thanks to the ONE that created this awesome resource for us to enjoy!
Remember to mark your calendars for the annual club awards banquet. I have scheduled the dinner at El Jarritos on January 3, 2010. We will start at 6PM with a drawing for a really great door prize so be on time. The club will pick up half the members dinner tab (including spouse) but NOT the alcohol bill. I have asked them to provide a Fajita buffet.
See y’all soon,
Ye ‘OL Tattle Tailer
Coleto Creek
April 4, 2009
The club had their April T at Coleto Creek and overall it was a good day. Of course the weather was a factor….winds supposed to be 10-20 were really 20-hurricane!!!! Partly cloudy with no rain!!!!
Actually there is little to report other than a couple of unusual events. Really kinda boring as there were no breakdowns and Byron didn’t run aground, as far as I know!
Let’s see, I guess it is worth noting that the youngest member of the club, Dallas Smith, was fishing with the resident Queen’s subject at the discharge. We heard a bit of a commotion and looked over to see Dallas in a big fight with a “hook-up”! After a 2 or 3 minute battle Phil netted a rather impressive tree branch! Gotta tell ya the form was excellent Dallas! BTW, Dallas ended up in 3rd place with a limit! Good job, young man!
Now for the second reportable event….. at the discharge we observed our illustrious president Wayne was busy fishing, but, something was really different!!! He seemed to be heaving a rather large bait and then cranking at a faster than normal retrieve rate! When mentioned Wayne tried to use his vast power as club president to quash the Tattler’s inquisitive reporters tendency by stating something like…’Nobody needs to hear that I am throwing a CRANK BAIT” Of course I would honor his position…NOT! WAYNE THREW A CRANK BAIT!!!!! Mr. WORM changed tactics! Well, I am reporting that he also caught his first crank bait bass……congrats Wayne. Sorry about the VanDam Sexy Shad that you lost on a hangup! J
Lots of small fish and a few good size for the day. Congrats to Scott ”I’m RETIRED” Moran for his first place finish! Big Bass was a nice 22.5” by Bill Gibson with the help of his netman, Tattle Tailer”!
As always don’t forget to thank Him for His creation that we enjoy!
See ya in May,
Ye Ol’ Tattle Tailer
2008 in Review
+
Bastrop
Jan 2008
Well, another year in the life of the 4F Bass Club has come to an end. It was a year that was filled with a great deal of fun and fellowship. We lost some old time members and gained some new ones. Maybe the old ones will decide there ain’t nothing better than the 4F Bass Club in Katy and will return.
As usual we had some really bad weather during the T’s but in most cases it was ok and tolerable. Maybe global warming has something to do with the changes. Seems we used to pride ourselves on bringing rain to the local areas that we held a T.
Held the first T for 2009 at Bastrop Jan 17th. The forcast was for really cold, rainy weather and that kept some members from making the day. Turned out a little different than that!!! Maybe this is a glimpse into the rest of the year? Not going to hold my breath. J
Guys said it was a good day, not great but good. The newly retired guy – Scott Moran took 1st place with 172 pts and Big Bass @ 19.5”. 2nd was Phil Garrod – 146; 3rd Wayne, “Mr. President to you”, McLaughlin with 125 pts and Kris, “where am I this week” Wernecke with 101 pts. Congrats to all.
Didn’t hear of any tales so guess everything went well.
We held the annual club dinner last night at El Jarrito. Food, Fun and fellowship was excellent. Had 11 members and some family and guests attend. We gave out the trophies for the year from 1st to 4th.
1st – Dwayne Grisbee (surprise) – 888 points
2nd Place – Wayne McLaughlin – 886 points
3rd Place – Scott Moran – 884 points
4th Place – Phil Garrod – 867 points
A total of 6 points separated the 1st and 3rd place for the year!!!! That is some exciting fishing! Hope to see that kind of competition this year.
Mr. Grisbee was awarded a special plaque for catching the club record hawg at the Choke Canyon T in October. Most likely will be the record for some looooonnnnnnnggggggg time! Congrats Dwayne.
The Ol’ Tattle Taler would really appreciate any help in developing stories and pics for the 4F website. We especially need some current pics when y’all go fishing, etc.
Once again, we need to express our thanks to the ONE who created the great outdoors that we so fully enjoy! See ya on the water or at a meeting.
Ye Ol’ Tattler
4-F Bass Club Tournament Tails
2008
Stories and other untruths (We are fishermen) as told by Mike Kincaid or other Members.
Tournament Tails
Gibbons Creek
April 5, 2008
Well howdy neighbors! Been a spell since I’ve written the news about the 4F Bass Club tournaments. Actually, it’s been so quiet and uneventful this year that there was little or nothing to report. That is now changed! J
The club selected Gibbons as the go to lake for April amid some questioning about the sanity of our members. Some still think this lake is a small fish lake and provides few opportunities to catch a decent largemouth. Well I think that may have changed after this trip.
A few of the members made the correct choice to start the day at the intake. Some of the boaters didn’t agree and went to other “fishy” places instead. Guess which group Ye Ol Tattle Tailer was in???? Within about 5 minutes my boater realized he had made a tactical error when we went to the dam and other really fishy areas that ALWAYS provide for some measurable fish. One blowup and narry a bite for the most part! We gave it a really good try tho.
Finally moved to the intake after we heard that the first fish caught was 22” and several boats had some good limits. Can’t say we don’t learn anyway! J
It was truly amazing that after the beating that the intake took all morning the area still was producing some decent fish. I boated 2 while may partner put 4 in the boat and then added one kicker after I had to leave early.
Weather was really kinda nice with it being cool and a bit breezy for the day! Hey, we’ve had a lot worse folks!!!!!
Now, in time honored tradition, it is time to tell the tail of the vastly experienced boater that showed us that mistakes can and will be made! Although the boater really attempted to cover up his somewhat costly error, enough folks saw the incident and the boater cannot deny the situation!
It seems that Bill Gibson, club mechanic, and his partner Wayne McLaughlin decided that they had enough fish on the sheet that they would leave the intake and move to a more productive area. Actually Wayne says that Bill decided that he had enough of his back seater catching the big ones that he got in a real hurry to leave. It seems that Bill became really concerned when his beloved Hydra Sport would not go on plane for some reason……… My guess is that his partner pointed out that the trolling motor was still in the down position and was causing a bit of drag! (hee-hee). BG found out that he is getting older and a little more forgetful…not to mention the $75 he has spent on repairing the motor! Sorry Bill. L
BTW, for many of you, Bill’s Hydra Sport and Gibbons have a history of costly damage. Many years ago, Bill and his brand new club member, me, fished out of his BRAND NEW Hydra Sport at Gibbons. After I caught the first fish on his new boat, Bill caught a fence post, and gouged out about $1300 worth of Gel Coat! Then a couple of years ago, Bill hung his $12 Lucky Craft crank on the beach next to the ramp and in the attempt to get the lure back, which he did, he chewed the hull up on a piece of concrete hidden under the water! Now the $12 lure is his favorite $3000 lure and a new hull. Never a dull moment with Bill and Gibbons!
Whew, that is a long story and is told only because Bill asked why he wasn’t written about this month yet! Lesson to be learned. J
As always, we are so thankful that we all came back safely and had a wonderful time enjoying the creation that He has given us. Don’t forget to say thanks!
See y’all at the May meeting.
Ye ‘Ol Tattle Tailer
4-F Bass Club Tournament Tails
2007
Stories and other untruths (We are fishermen) as told by Mike Kincaid or other Members.
Tattle Tails
Coleto Creek
November 10, 2007
Well the last T for 2007 is now in the books and we can now start planning the 2008 agenda. Let’s not forget to make Fayette off limits during one of the better months! J
Guess I gotta talk about a small problem that occurred to my boater and I on this trip. First let me state that my boater, better know as DK, Pizza Man, Dingle String or Pres, asked me to meet him at 3AM so we could get a good start on the trip and to insure sufficient time to stop at the Exxon station to fill up his boat and to get some kolaches. I am soooooo happy that we actually got started at 2:50 AM which gave us an additional 10 minutes!!!
Well, on the way my boater was explaining all the new techno gadgets on his wife’s brand new Tahoe. Man, what a machine! It has the latest in sound systems, temp gauges, back up camera (wow) and a really neat GPS program that tells you a whole bunch of stuff that should keep a normal person out of trouble while on the road. J Well, as we drove along, passing Victoria, that neat little computer thing comes on and says ‘LOW FUEL” do you want to locate the nearest gas station?…..Yes or Cancel! Well, clicking cancel seemed like the thing not to do but what the heck do I know? The same LOW FUEL computer also tells the driver that he has 60 miles range left! Well, a quick check in the rear view confirms that a boat is being towed so that must mean that we only have about 30 miles left. Plenty to get us the remaining 20 miles or so to the Exxon near the lake. Well, after we passed the last of 3 open gas stations and were some 5 miles down the road my boater makes a comment about losing power! I look and sure enough the RPM’s are at 0! My partner’s first comment is “I think we may be out of gas!” DUH! J Second comment is “oh crap, I’ve got the “Tattle Tailer” with me!!!!! I replied “no problem dude, I won’t say a word…sure. :-)
Well, to make a long sad story shorter, we called Triple A, Chevrolet Roadside Assistance, Bill Gibson and finally Hamilton to see if we could get a little help. The first 2 tell us maybe an hour! Bill says he is 40 minutes out of Victoria but will bring gas if we can’t get any other help. The call to Phil brings success of sorts. Phil brings us 2.5 gals of gas, or he says 4 liters of Petrol in the world’s most expensive gas can! We cancel all other calls and we are on our way. BTW, Phil is parked in the cross over lane on 59 with his trailer in the traffic lane when I ask him if he knows that he has not trailer lights! He didn’t and he decided that he could make the rest of the trip ok, with any luck! He has luck! J
We made the Exxon and DK puts 26 gals in the 28 gal tank! (remember the 2.5 gals) It was dry.
Bills tip of the day!
We tried to siphon some gas from the boat but the hose wouldn’t make the bend into the tank! Bill says “why not take the hose loose at the motor and pump the bulb? DUH! Great advice for the future. Thanks Bill.
Now, the fishing was absolutely fantastic…for most of the club! Darrell, Mr. First Place, caught the most and the biggest (22”) for the win. Bill G was second and Kyle 3rd. Congrats guys. For the second T in a row, all members caught fish. The fish are either getting dumber or our members are improving?
Weather was really nice for awhile until the front came in and brought some pretty high winds. Kept the temp down so wasn’t all that bad.
Guess there is no more to talk about this year so will close the 2007 season with a great big thanks to all the members and guests that made for a truly fun year! Hope y’all come back and do it again in 2008.
Remember the ONE that gave this resource to us for our enjoyment. Give thanks to Him and we’ll see y’all at the December meeting. BTW, remember, we are railroading, er, electing our 2008 Pres and Treasurer at this meeting so don’t take any chances…be there!
Ye ‘Ol Tattle Tailer
Kids Unlimited Tattle Tails
As usual, the 4F guys made sure everyone new we were there. 4 of us fished the October 2007 Kids Unlimited Tournament for Children recovering from Cancer. This was (as usual) an awesome event. A great time was had by all. But like I said, everyone new we were there. The day started off like this: I had set my alarm for 3:50 am, at 4:39 am I awoke to realize the alarm did not go off, oh great. Fortunately everything was ready to go and Kyle and I just had to jump in the truck and leave. We made it there on time only to discover that we had forgotten (of all things) our life jackets. OH well, thank goodness Randy Stack and Darrell Kees were more prepared than we were. Darrell had two adults and several child sizes and Randy had one adult, we were good to go, or so we thought. Kyle was launching the boat while I was checking in, my phone rings and it's Kyle. "Dad, the cranking battery is dead". I ran over to the boat and tried tightening the cables, after all it is a brand new (3 month old) battery, it had to just be the cables, no such luck. We jump started and were able to take off. A few more jump starts during the day and we were ok. After the tournament Kyle and I trailered our boat and I was about to pull Phil out when my cell rang. It was Darrell Kees, he was sitting at the end of the Dike with a dead battery. That'll teach him to laugh at me. I should also mention that he don't carry jumper cables. He will now. So Phil takes off to get him and in about 20 minutes they return. DK gives Phil his keys so that he can back his trailer in. Phil gets to the parking lot and forgets about DK. Poor guy is just sitting in the water waiting. When I realized what the English Gentleman had done I asked him for Kee's keys. He gives me a set of keys and points out DK's new Tahoe. I try the clicker, no luck, I try the key, no luck, I return the Phil and swap his keys for Kee's keys, hey now, that works. The whole day sort of reminds me of the Keystone Cops going fishing.
With all the mishaps, it was still a great day, DK and his partner Kaitlyn took 10th (he thinks), oh yes, she out fished him, Phil and his partner Tarson took 11th place with 15 fish, Bill (me) and his partner Charles took 17th, and Glenn Royal and his patner caught some fish too. It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of fish caught, I can't wait till next year. Please keep these kids in your prayers, they have been through some tough times and have come through like champions, there all winners in my heart.
God Bless
TATTLE TAILS
SEPT 9-10 SCATTER
(NON FAYETTE L)
Well, this was a great idea, huh? Maybe next year we will move the “hands off” T to a different time of the summer. J
The only good thing was that nothing happened that was worthy of tattle tailing on. At least nothing was reported to me so all I can report on was the weather, Conroe was not too bad after the usual big thunder and lightening storm passed over. It was bad enough to run us off the lake for an hour or so. We spent the time enjoying the hospitality of the Anchorage Marina store!
The other thing would be that the “hotspots” that my partner took us to were “coldspots” for us. It was a good try in any case. I also seem to remember Dwayne peppering Darrell with a long list of invectives about his ability to find fish. I think the end result was another episode of DK showing his pizzabutt to him! It was really gross! J
Congrats to the winner, Phil Hamilton-Smith-Jones-Garrod for his decision to go to Bastrop where the fish were. He also took Big Bass. Mr. Hamm took 2nd place but I’m not sure where he fished. Prolly in his backyard pond! 3rd place went to Dwayne Grisbee. Not quite sure where he was on Conroe after we fished the Lighthouse and the dam. He tried to tell us that he caught his fish on the dam, but when we were there with him, there were no fish! Hmmmmmmm? J
At least we all enjoyed the time on the water and came back safe. As always, give thanks to the ONE that created this resource for our enjoyment.
Won’t be at the October mtg or T so someone will have to keep notes for me.
Ye Ol Tattler
TATTLE TAILS
FAYETTE COUNTY
TEAM TOURNEY
AUGUST 10 – 11 2007
Excuse me while I wipe the sweat off the computer screen! Was it hot enough for you guys? As the club blabber mouth I’ve waited a long time for the opportunity to tell a tournament story like this one. Not sure if any one gets away without a mention this month! J
Let’s start with my partner Bill G. He insists on buying cheap equipment and expects to get the same results as with the top of the line stuff. For instance, he buys Wal-Mart tires for his boat trailer. Not only that but he buys bottom of the line..on sale! Well it caught him Friday as we were traveling along the road leading into Fayetteville. Yep, a minor air leak in one tire causes the truck to shimmy a bit!!!! The entire sidewall had blown out! Then as we are working in 98 degree heat to change the tire, his really expensive, sure L, lug wrench breaks! Now in all my years, a lot, I’ve never seen a lug wrench break! After digging around amongst all the rest of the top of the line tools we found a wrench that worked and got the tire changed. HOT!
We made it to the ramp without any additional difficulty. Prepped for launch and Bill finds that all his switches have been left on and sure enough the battery is dead! Great, looks like another run to Wal-Mart for another new battery. But nope, Bill says I have cables and will jump the battery. Ok, we hit the ramp and Bill turns the key….nothing! Checks all the connections and again…nothing!! 3 times, 4 times and nothing!!!!! Ok, he checks the ground and…loose ground terminal! Finally we launch….no more trouble…right.
Now it’s my turn L. We are in the intake fishing when a mass of flying insects decide to visit! Didn’t dare open your mouth to talk cause the result would be a large dose of unwanted protein. Anyway, a really BIG bug lands on my face and I do the normal thing…I swat it off. Well in the process I also swat my new glasses into the lake! Oh well, only $375 lost and some considerable blindness. I suffer from one eye farsighted and the other nearsighted so without my glasses I have zero depth perception! Makes for an interesting night of casting to say the least. I was able to put my bait within 30 yards of any target. Bill said it was my best casting he has seen in years. Thanks partner!
Next in line: Guy!!!! Before the news, thanks for bringing your young ladies for another event. It is always a pleasure to see a dad get his kids involved in this sport. Now, it is launch time this morning about 5:30 and several of us are in line waiting to launch. We watch this dude back his boat into the water, no wait…he pulls the boat back out….he puts in the plug…can you believe it??? He backs back in….pulls back out again!!!!! Gets out of the truck..checks the back of the boat…gets back in the truck and pulls the boat off the ramp! What happened? We all ask while trying not to laugh too loud! Seems he forgot the plug the first time…No way, no 4F member has ever forgotten the plug! J Second time, the plug has fallen out and is missing! Now Guy, I’ve got to give you credit in that you came prepared as you had spare plugs. The question now “is this the first time you have forgotten the plug”?
Continuing on with the saga. We go to Orsaks for lunch. While swapping the normal stories amongst the group our president informs us that he had a couple of fun events. First, he decides that it is time for his employer to replace his company cell phone so he conveniently drops it over board! We’re all waiting to hear the story he gives the boss about this one. J Next he informs us that he has perfected the art of hook setting combined with rod snapping resulting in having the end piece fly into the right ear canal, all ending with his ability to hand line a 21” bass into the boat. The amazing thing is that Dwayne actually observed this event so, as absurd as it may sound, it is true. Oh, bye the way, our sophisticated and suave president has developed an uncontrollable urge to show us his dirty undies! Two T’s in a row he has dropped his trousers and mooned his membership! Last month I didn’t report this event as I thought it was a passing thing, but now I’m not so sure. This time he showed his stuff to Randy, Randabugman, who stated that it was obvious that Darrell had eaten pizza last nite!!!! Now that is funny J J. Next month he probably has his “sights” set on the Game Warden. (heehee).
Actually, with all the crud happening the T was pretty successful. Congrats to Team Grisbee/Herbig with 476 points and Big Bass. BTW, this is the second biggest point total for a team event for 4F. Grisbee also holds the 1st record with 504 points – Brian Bearden was his partner back in July ‘03 at Fayette. 2nd place goes to Moran/Royal and 3rd to Kees/K. Gibson. Some nice fish caught.
Everyone had a good time regardless and came back safe and healthy. Please give thanks to Him that provides us with this wonderful resource.
See y’all in September. Remember that September is a Pik ur Partner Scatter with Fayette “OFF LIMITS”!!!!
Ye ‘Ol Tattler
TATTLE TAILS
FAYETTE COUNTY
JULY 13/14, 2007
First scatter T of the year and it was a very good one. Started at 5PM Friday and weigh in was at 5PM Saturday. Weather was rather nice for this time of the year in that it was partly cloudy which kept the heat down and we only had a slight drizzle towards the end.
For those that wonder if the weather affects the fishing we can say for sure that it does. There were 4 club boats working the Three Fingers area looking for schoolies, none existed, and realized that when the sun went behind the clouds the top water bite was on and immediately off when the sun reappeared. That happened several times.
Several nice fish were brought to the net: Big Bass was caught by Dwayne, MY PARTNER, and measured 23 ¼”. Good healthy fish. Three other fish over 20” were caught. Bill G had second big bass at 22”. It was not a normal Fayette T as only 3 or 4 limits were boated. 1st was Bill G, 2nd President (dingle string?) Kees, 3rd and Big Bass was Dwayne Grisbee. Congrats guys. I believe only 4 points separated the 1st and 2nd guys.
I had more fun than I should as Dwayne’s back- seater. I have now realized that we have a very serious competition going between Dwayne and Darrel –l! The cell phone pics, text messaging and calls are hilarious. I thought Hamilton's phone was busy…no comparison. J And such name calling….made me blush. ‘-). I think I got the name right..dingle string???? Ask Darrel-l.
The only bad incident was with Hamilton's beloved Skeeter. It seems that the starter wouldn’t kick over. Of course that happened at the dam in the middle of the night!!!! Lucky for Phil that “Outagas” Randy Stack was on hand with the Texas Team Tin boat to tow him in. Sad that the problem could have been resolved if they had woke the club tech up. Bill knows where a plug-in is located and the main battery could have been recharged. Phil probably would have won the T! BTW, Thanks Bugman for your help. Hope ya come back in August.
We ended the day by gathering at Orsaks in Fayetteville for lunch. Now, I’ve had some really great burgers and some really big burgers in my time but this was AWESOME! Actually it was embarrassing when the burger was delivered. It had to be 8” tall. Guy also had a double meat burger! No way to eat that thing with out taking it apart. Got a bunch of good natured ribbing from a motorcycle club that was sitting behind us. I suggested to the waitress that a warning be placed on the menu about this!!!
Well, we really did have a great time and all came back safe. Please don’t forget to thank the ONE that created this resource for our enjoyment. See y’all in August.
TATTLE TAILS
SAM RAYBURN
JUNE 16, 2007
Ok now, what can I say about this tournament? Not much happened….Right!
Let’s see, about the weather….glub, glub! Got run off the water both Friday and Saturday. Nice cool mornings followed by a bit of heat..90+, and then after praying for a cool breeze, which got answered, the rain came. It was something worse than the normal 4F weather conditions. The picture is of some of the gang sitting on the porch watching the rain.
As you can tell, they were truly happy with the conditions.
Seems most everybody had a good time and didn’t really have any serious problems. Dwayne’s boat made the whole T without a breakdown! The only situation worth discussion was with my boater….:-)
Starting Friday during the pre fish time Phil decided to have numerous professional over runs….I mean several! He even got so good at this that he could tie up 2 reels at a time! That was a neat trick! He kept saying he was getting his bad luck out of the way on Friday so Saturday would be trouble free. RIGHT…read on!
After having a pretty successful morning with the catching part of the trip we were back at the Harvey Creek ramp getting ready to load up the trailer. We decided to spend a few minutes fishing the pilings along the bank before the heavy rain hit. BIG MISTAKE! Phil was in the process of pulling up the trolling motor when he decided to take a Big Sam bath! Such graceful movements I have not seen in a long time. The look on his face as he was going in was classic….I asked him if he was panicked or just aware of the “oh s**t” situation? He said it was the “oh s**t”. J Of course he had his wallet in his pocket and when he had hauled his sorry wet self back on board he said his wallet was a little wet….well says I, you also gave your blackberry a good washing! I was impressed by Phil’s typical British reaction! He said, it’s insured! Good news is that the blackberry dried out and continued to work! Irish luck I guess.
Well the final results for the T are that Dwane G. and his imaginary partner took 1st place. Congrats Dwayne. Team Gibson, Bill and Kyle, took second and Phil and I took a distant 3rd. Ye Ol’ Tattle Tailer was blessed to capture the Big Bass, again!
Following the T we congregated at a local hamburger place in Zavala and had a pretty good burger and onion rings. Some of the guys ate the buffet bar and said the fried catfish was really good. No telling good taste I guess. J
Again, everyone had a good time and came back safe and healthy. Be sure to thank Him for the creation of the resources that we enjoy. See y’all in July.
Ye Ol’ Tattle Tailer
Tattle Tails
Choke Canyon
May 5, 2007
UNBELIEVABLE! That’s about all one can say about this tournament! The ‘OL Tattler has a creel full of good stuff to report on this month. J
Let’s see, I guess I should start with the fact that we have one of the most persistent club presidents of any club anywhere! It all started with a phone call on Friday to Dwayne from Darrell that he was a bit under the weather but he was going to go to the doc for some meds and would be at Choke a little later that day. We knew a little cough wouldn’t keep him away. The next call came a while later and DK informed Dwayne that the situation was a little more serious than first thought. In fact, DK had a “small” problem in a very unfortunate area of his male anatomy. He said he was going to get an ultrasound and if possible he would be there! Well we all were very concerned for DK and some prayers were said. Of course, as sensitive as this club is, we started putting together some applicable comments for dinner and for the next few days or weeks.
Well, as it turned out, DK didn’t have to give his left side to make the T after all! He showed up in the afternoon and only showed a little discomfort and a slight walking tilt to the left! We kinda thought DK would go a little “nuts” when the comments began but he accepted the kidding with his natural demeanor. So far the best comment came from Bill G. with the Almond Joy ad – “Sometimes you feel like a nut…sometimes you don’t”. In all seriousness Darrell, we are truly happy that it turned out to be a simple infection! OF course that also started a new round of bawdy comments that I will not post here as we are a family site!
Scott Moran’s brother joined the T as his partner. We talked with them on Friday afternoon at the ramp area and they were doing well. Scott was complaining about his brother being late that morning. Little brother says, “we still caught a lot of fish today”. Big brother says, “yep, but we could of caught a lot more if we were here early”. Tough love?
The really sad story of the T is about Dwayne’s broken boat! See picture insert.
That’s the way the boat stayed all day Saturday! Bill and I were running the lake with DG on Friday. We ran to 3 fingers and DG trolls over and says he is hearing some strange noises from the engine. Some sort of knocking noise. Bill, being the club mechanic, began his investigation. He grabbed the prop and gave it a good spin and sure enough there was a knocking noise! Oh Good! Lower unit!!!!! Well Bill was not satisfied so he gave the prop another spin and ran his finger over a sharp edge and lacerated the tip of his finger about a ¼ inch deep! OUCH!!!! The finger bled like it had been amputated. We dug out the first aid box and found some gauze and tape to bind the wound. That thing bled for 2 days!!!! Back to the lower unit……. After we had fished the cove we decided to run back to the ramp. Bill followed DG to be sure that he didn’t break down on the way. DG had just enough power to put the boat on the trailer. It was really noisy by this time. Thank God for warranties! Doesn’t it seem that he has trouble with all of his boats when he goes on a 4F T???? HHHMMMMMMM? J
BTW, as usual DG lost his 9lbr at the boat…..again!!!!! :-(
Pictured above are the teams that took first thru third. Ye ‘OL Tattler and Bill G took 1st, Glenn and (?) sorry, took 2nd and Team Moran took 3rd. I got very lucky and landed a 21 ¼ for Big Bass. A lot of quality fish were caught on this trip. All but one member, sorry Fred, caught fish. Fred fished as a third on our boat and I gotta tell ya, he did have chances to catch fish. He lost a couple on the hook set. I am only making this point so that he doesn’t tell false tales that his boater didn’t put him on fish! Hee-hee.
We had a fun dinner at Nolan Ryan’s place Friday night and again met there on the way out for a late lunch. Good food and great company. No shortage of fish stories at that table!
Oh BTW, the weather was really quite nice! The wind blew a bit on Saturday and it was mostly cloudy and warm. Couldn’t complain. Wonder what happened????
Other than some physical and mechanical difficulties we had a great time enjoying His creation and all came back safe. Be sure to thank Him for all of this! See ya in June.
Ye ‘Ol Tattle Tailer
Tattle Tails for
Gibbons Creek
April 14, 2007
WOW!!!! That was really fun huh? Why is it that the Monday thru Friday weather is so nice and the weekends fall apart? This T was probably the windiest we have ever had. It was informally called off at about 1PM due to the dangerous conditions, except for Mr. Grisbee, who wouldn’t quit until he had a 3rd keeper in the boat! He finally came in about 2:30.
The only real bad happening was that Mr. Gibson had a blowout on his trailer on the way home. That tire was truly destroyed! Several members were in the caravan so we stopped to give Bill a bunch of supervision while he had Kyle change the tire only to find the spare was below safe air level. Bill, being the organized person that he is, carries an air pump so it only took about 10 minutes to put enough air in the tire to get him to a place that has a commercial pump. Of course the first 2 places didn’t have working pumps! Anyway, he made it home safe. A quick tip…check your spare tire pressure before leaving home!
The good news is that Ye ‘Ol Tattler finally caught some fish! Yipppeeeeeee. The winners are #1 Scott M, #2 Dwayne G and 3rd goes to Sandy C with Big Bass also. 22 ½ inches. Congrats to all.
Remember that the May meeting is going to be held on April 26 so plans can be made for the Choke Canyon trip on May 7th.
Everyone came back safe and sound after enjoying the Creators gift to us. Please remember to give thanks to Him.
Ye ‘Ol Tattle Tailer
Tattle Tails
Coleto Creek
March 10, 2007
Wow!!!!! What a really nice Tournament. Something went terribly wrong cause the weather was too good to be true! Light winds, partly cloudy, about 78 degrees. The worst was the fog that delayed launch for a short while.
One of the nicest parts of this T is the number of kids that came out. Sandy brought his grandson Kyle with him and spent the day teaching him how to hang worms in trees. Kyle learned a bit more than that as he caught 3 fish and one was over 18”. Way to go young man. Guy brought his daughters Emily and Whitney out and they seemed to have had a fun time. Way to go Sandy and Guy, teaching the youngsters to fish will bring nothing but positives in the future.
Now for the Tattlers stuff. Let’s see, oh yeah, I CAUGHT FISH!!!! Thank you for the applause!!!!! J Mr. Pres, Darrell K. attempted to create some real trouble by posting a sign in Mr. Moran’s private cove. It was a great idea but someone took the sign down before Scott got to see it.
Again, Mr. Pres is in the sights of the Tattler as he was the loser to Dwayne in the Fantasy Fishing contest so Mr. Pres was obligated to clean Mr. Grisbee’s boat after the T. As you can see by the picture Dwayne was ready for this one!
The guys got together for dinner Friday night at La Hacienda in Victoria. I don’t know if we will be allowed to return next year! Everybody was well behaved except for “Hamilton” who decided that he didn’t like what David Williams ordered so he (ahem) accidentally threw the plate on the floor. I’m not sure if David made Phil pay for his dinner or not?
Mr. Pres did make the decision to allow the members to launch and begin fishing at “safe light” which we all determined to be about 6:00AM. Of course we were all at the ramp at 5:30 and couldn’t see more than 15 feet with the fog. Everyone used their heads and stayed close to the ramp when we began fishing at 6:30 until the fog lifted enough to see.
The results of the day came as a big surprise! The nearly always winner D. Grisbee came in 11th place with a total of 4 (!) fish. He kept mumbling about having bad luck from the back seater because Kyle Gibson lost 3 big fish and it rubbed off on him. (sure Dwayne). J The 1st place went to Heinz with 181 points and the Big Bass of 23.5 inches and 8.9lbs! Great job Heinz. Sandy Cain came in 2nd with 136 points. There was a 3 way tie for 3rd between Bill Gibson, David Williams (guest from Seven Coves Bass Club and Mr. Nice guy from the BFW) and the Tattler with 129 points. A total of 113 fish were caught and as with normal Coleto Creek they were mostly small sized. Still a good day for 4F!
We were honored with the guests visiting with us for this T. David Williams and Randy Stack from the Seven Coves club, Jim Brockman, founder of the Ignition Bass Trail joined us and seemed to have a good time. At least Randabugman was on good behavior. I sent an email to his wife attesting to the fact that he was there and that he was very nice to everybody and paid for the dinner! She returned it to me as being so obviously sent to the wrong Mrs. Stack! J Thanks for joining us for the day guys. Hope y’all come back.
Again we all came back safe and happy after experiencing the Creators gift to us. Be sure to give your thanks to Him.
See ya’ll at the April meeting.
Ye ‘Ol Tattle Tailer
TATTLE TAILS
FAYETTE COUNTY
FEBRUARY 10 2007
Well another typical 4F tournament has come and gone. The weather was, as expected, cold and windy! Temps ranged in the high 30’s with the chill factor around -20 degrees! Overall not too bad. NO RAIN! J
Nothing out of the ordinary to report on…..Oh yeah, almost forgot! We were all launched and getting ready to leave the ramp area when Darrell asked where Bill and Kyle were. There was some concern that they were not with the rest of us. Someone said not to worry that Bill had taken off half hour ago. Darrell said something about DQ due to leaving the ramp before safe light! Everyone agreed that this would be the only fair thing to do, but as it turned out Bill didn’t win anyway. To really make things bad, Bill was bragging about culling before 7 AM! Would have been the first DQ in club history so we were really disappointed that he didn’t win. L (only kidding about the DQ, Bill)
The happy faces you see in the picture above are the winners for the first three places. Dwayne was 1st, Randy Stack, guest, was 2nd ands Scott Moran was third. Darrell Kees was 4th. Figured with the huge number of fish that Darrell and Dwayne caught while prefishing there would have been a bigger difference in the overall standings.
Seems everyone caught fish, some more than others! Oh-Oh, everyone but yours truly! L My partner caught a bunch and lost several, but the back of the boat was only good for one fish that was seen before it shook off the lure!
It was a really good day on the water and we enjoyed having Randy, Randabugman, Stack as our guest for the 2nd time. Maybe he will join the club one of these days.
Everyone finished the day in good health and we really must remember to thank our Creator for the ability to enjoy His creation. See ya’ll on March 1 for the meeting.
Ye Ol’ Tattle Tailer
TATTLE TAILS
BASTROP
JANUARY 13, 2007
Well, the good new is that this T is over with and no one died! The above picture kind of tells the story of the conditions for the day. This was taken at 6:45AM. As you can tell Brian is the newest model for top notch foul weather gear! It always pays to come prepared huh, Brian.:-) The guy showing the most optimism for better weather by wearing sunglasses is Randabugman from BFW. He was our honored guest today. Randy, it was a pleasure to have you join us.
My partner, Byron, and I may not have caught any fish but we were the smartest in the bunch ‘cause we were the first to return to the ramp. This T may not have been the coldest, that goes to Bastrop for January 2006, but I think it takes the honors for the overall worst weather T in club history! Let’s see…..windy (10 -20mph), rainy ( 2 to 3 feet per hour) foggy ( no visibility for 2 feet) and cold ( somewhere between frozen and no feeling left). Typical 4F Tournament conditions.
My only tattle is on my partner because he decided to begin replacing his fishing rod inventory. He does this in a very unique way. He breaks his rod tips off. Not on 1 but on 2 of his remaining 4 rods! He is so cool about this cause I didn’t realize he had broken a rod until I was sitting on the bank of the discharge. I turned around to see if he was in trouble and all I could see was him holding 2 pieces of rod in his hands and a strange look on his face. He told me he didn’t know what he had done. Well, that was sad and understandable until, not 5 minutes later, I was again in a position to not be able to cast and so I looked around and sure enough, Byron is again holding 2 pieces of another rod. I could only empathize with him. He says no problem, still got 2 rods left! Another 5 minutes and the weather turned bad enough for us to leave the lake and so we saved the remaining rods from danger.
Got wind that Bill Gibson decided to stick around and took the boat back out. He says he went to the discharge, made one cast and caught his fish. He then listened to the begging and pleading of his partner and came back to the ramp for the day.
Somebody told me that they thought they heard Fred screaming and beating his partner about the head and shoulders with his fishing rod trying to convince Dwayne that enough was enough. Dwayne kept repeating something about his reputation and was gonna stay until he knew he had 1st place in the bag! I really think this was only a rumor tho. J
Glenn Royal took 1st place and Big Bass honors. Pres. Kees took second and Dwayne G. took 3rd place with additional honor of having the newest and prettiest boat! Congrats to these guys and to all for braving the conditions.
Even though the weather was bad, we were still able to enjoy that which the Creator has given us. Please don’t forget to give thanks. See y’all at El-Jarritos and then in February for our meeting at BPS and T at Coletto Creek.
Ye Ol’ Tattler