July Meeting
We spent more time on the August, Santa Margarita tournament then we did on the July tournament at Castaic that was coming up in just 3 days. Oh well, we all know Castaic SO well, I guess we just didn’t need to spend time on it. We are booked in with more then enough campsites and a couple of the members are sharing cabins. These cabins are very well equipped and limited so if you are just learning about them, you maybe too late. The club is not making any of the arrangements for the cabins so you are on your own. We are fortunate in that John Barron will be the guest speaker at out August meeting. Not only is John an accomplished angler but he was virtually raise on Lake Santa Margarita and maintains a residence in the area still.
On a personal note, September is likely to be my last meeting. That means the club will be needing a Treasurer and someone to write the newsletter. Think it over. If you want to help the club let Mike Iljin or one of the other board members know.
Tournament Results
Again, great weather. What a drag. It makes it difficult to complain or have excuses for not finding fish. Oh well, it’s just the burden we have to live with here in Southern California. Anyway, lots of boats and lots of fish and good conditions made for a good tournament. First place when to J&J Fishing, Jeff Jue and Jessie Benavidez with a Langer Limit of 11.82 pounds and Jeff again had to tournament Big Fish at 4.86 pounds. Mark Poulson and Chuck Valenzuela also had 4 fish. Theirs weighed 9.35 pounds and was good enough for Second place. In Third were Nick Langer (creator of the world famous Langer Limit) and Tony Franks with another limit, this one was 8.97 pounds.
Mike’s
As you know, Mike is currently vanquished to the beaches of Maui being forced to endure the beautiful surf and snorkeling conditions. I, therefore, took it upon myself to step up and write something profound in his place. Actually I think it is important to say something about the Mike Hart situation. If you are unaware, Mike Hart, a local angler, was Banned for Life From all WON Bass Tournaments. A few of our members have suggested possible consequences of this occurrence to me with regard to Mr. Hart’s future and the residual fallout to tournament fishing at large and to our club specifically. As far as Mr. Hart is concerned, he baited his own hook so to speak. The legal system will do whatever it does. As to tournament fishing, this is not the first, nor unfortunately will it be the last episode of cheating here in California or anywhere else for that matter. With regard to our club the answer is easy. We play by the rules, we always have, we always will. We have nothing to hide. If the D.F.G. or any other enforcement agency wants to see what we have in our live wells, all they have to do is ask. Frankly, speculation is fruitless at the time. For me, I am going to just keep on fishing.
