Castaic Bass Club Blog

January Meeting

Our meeting got off to a slow start last month due to it being the first one of the New Year. Lots of paper work to update, names addresses, phone numbers, emails ect ect. Mike made his announcements. Eddie and I circled around and did the pairings for Piru. We had to have 2 boaters with 3 in the boat. It’s important that we get our boaters out on the water. Right now we only have a total of 15 active boaters we have a couple that are in repair mode or paperwork issues. We had a nice raffle to close out the meeting. Hope to see ya all at the February 9th Meeting 7pm.

Tournament Results

Well ole Piru Lake had it out for some of us last month. With reports of a tough bite or no bite at all the light threat of rain looming over us. It turned out to be a very nice day to be on the water. All in all if you look at the over all results we as a club had an impressive weigh in. We had 38 fish weighed in for a whopping 94.87 pounds. That’s a 2.50 pound average. I for one couldn’t believe what the lake was kicking out for a January tournament with 53-degree water temp. I was of the mindset that we were going to be fishing deep water all day but that was not the case.  Anyhow with only 2–5 fish limits being brought to the scales. Here is how it went down. In first place Ron L. and Gary P. with a 5 fish total weight of 13.74 #’s and with 2nd big fish of the day @ 4.32 #’s. Second place goes to Lenden R. & Tony F. with a 5 fish limit for 12.47 #’s. Sitting in third is Mark P. & Eddie C. with a 4 fish limit of 9.53 #’s. Taking Big fish Honors this tournament is Orin T. with a big fish weight of 4.67 #’s. Congratulations to everyone nice job!
February finds us in our very own back yard fishing Castaic Lake on the 12th of February. Non-Boater fee for this will be $35 we will be launching from the west ramp. Please remember to have your boat retagged after you go out pre fishing. Write a note and place it on your dashboard the tagging area for Castaic is easy to drive past.

Be safe and I’ll see ya on the water.
Ron Licari
VP/TD

Mike’s Place

The year started out great and it is shaping up to be another fun time out on the water. The weather may be a little warmer than usual, but the water temps are still quite cold. The past few weeks the temps have been hovering around the low to mid 50 degree mark. Water levels are up and the fish are showing signs of life. Please remember to take care of your deep caught fish by needling them as quickly as possible. Some fish are caught shallow but show the symptoms of deep caught fish, mainly floating. These fish also need to be needled immediately. Remember to leave a small amount of air in the bladder otherwise the fish will sink to the bottom and lay on their sides. Make sure that there are still a few bubbles still coming out when you remove the needle. If in doubt, call over to another club member for help with this procedure. Please take care at all times when handling our most valued prize, from catching to weigh-in to final release. Help protect and preserve.

Thanks and see you soon.
Be safe,
Mike Iljin

The Meeting

The meeting was a bit shorter than usual.  Nick Langer was scheduled to make a presentation on boating safety but due to a personal emergency he was unable to make it.  Mike Iljin brought the box of remaining Logo wear.  He is getting ready to put together an order so if you have a request, bring it to the meeting on Thursday or email it to Mike or me.  Tony Franks is checking into the KOA campgrounds for our Santa Margarita tournament.

Tournament Results

The difference between the boaters’s meeting and the actual start of the tournament was that it was dark at the meeting.  Other than that it was windy and cold at both.  Later in the day it was colder and windier.  Finally at the weigh-in it was only cold and windy.  I can say this much for Pyramid Lake, it is consistent.  Cashing in for his third tournament in a row, this time in first place was Kevin Miner and his partner, Gary Priddy with only 4 fish but a total weight of 11.02 pounds.  In second place with the only 5 fish limit of the day were Ron Licari and Calvin Matsui at 10.96 pounds.  Fishing alone was Mike Iljin who got third place with 3 fish at 7.23 pounds.  There was a rare occurrence where 2 fish came in at the same weight to split Big Fish money.  Both Mark Poulson and Kevin Miner landed 3.64 pounders.  April we are back to Pyramid again, bring a heavy jacket.

Mike’s

First off I would like to thank the club for the surprise birthday cake that was made by Shelley’s daughter Marni.  It was enjoyed by all at the Angler’s Choice tournament.

This month’s meeting will have guest speakers Steve and DeLynn Davies. This father and son team has spoken to the club on numerous occasions and they are always eager to share valuable information and tips.

I may have found another embroiderer for our club jackets, so if you are interested in buying one please let me know at the meeting.

Our 2 day event at Cachuma is fast approaching so be sure to set aside that weekend.

January Meeting

Before I move on to the meeting notes let’s take a moment to reflect on what we did last year.  Ok, I’m done, how about you?  No, no, really, we did some cool stuff last year.  We had two 2-Day tournaments, one at Cachuma and the other at Lake Lopez for the first time. Mike Iljin caught that beautiful 12.76 pounder that may turn out to be a lake record for Pyramid.  Overall I think we had a great time. This year it looks like we maybe going to Lake Isabella in Kern County for the second 2-day tournament.

The January meeting will be at El Torito on the Old Road in Valencia at 7:00 P.M. We are starting over so let me remind you.  Membership is $25, Monthly Dues are $10, Tournament Fees are $10 and the Big Fish option is $5.  If you want to fish on Sunday the 17th and are unable to be at the meeting you have to let one of the officers know by Thursday before the meeting.  If you call later you won’t be fishing on Sunday.  The new board is Mike Iljin, President, Ron Licari, Vice-President, Eddie (Van Winkle) Carr, Presidents Assistant, Tony Franks, Secretary and Shelley Singer, Treasurer.  After the tournament on Sunday we will have a better handle on the makeup of the club for this year and I will edit the on-line Phone List to reflect the changes.  If you do not have the link to the list, just send me an email request.

Mike’s

Happy New Year to Everyone!!!  This year’s fishing schedule looks to be another great one with some diversity thrown in with the 2nd 2 day tourney at either Naciamento or possibly Lake Isabella. We are always looking for new ideas to improve our club, so please e-mail the suggestion box with any new thoughts.

November Meeting

First of all Yes Virginia there is going to be a December Meeting at the usual time and Place on the 10th.  There are no club dues or tournament fees at this meeting.   The T.O.C. will be on the 13th and the Holiday Party at El Chaparral on the 20th.  The restaurant is located at 19132 Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country.  Their phone number is 661/252-5599.  The fiesta starts at 11:00 AM.

As you know the November meeting marks the election of officers for the coming year.  This year it was a simple confirmation as there were no contested positions.  The board for 2010 will be Mike Iljin, President, Ron Licari, Vice President, Eddie Carr, Presidents Assistant, Nick Langer, Weigh Master, Tony Franks, Secretary and me, the Treasurer.  With the grueling business of the election out of the way the pairings for Pyramid were done and then we had a pretty good raffle.

Tournament Results

How many ways can you say windy and Lake Pyramid in the same sentence?  You have to admit that this time it was different.  This time it was cold and windy and also it was windy from the get go, we didn’t have to wait until the sun came up before it started blowing.  Given these conditions the results were not a great surprise.  Finishing in First Place with an incredible 2 fish that weighed a total of 4.56 pounds were Roger Larocque and George Reed.  They also had a 3.07 pounder for the tournament Big Fish.  Wes Carpenter and Adam Boyd also caught 2 fish that totaled 4.47 pounds and was good for Second Place.  In Third Place were Mike Iljin and Eddie Carr with one 2.05 pound fish.  Forth Place went to Nick Langer and Tony Franks who also caught 1.  This one fish is significant for two reasons.  1) it was the only other fish caught in the tournament and 2) it gave Tony just enough point to squeak into First Place for Angler of the Year ahead of Mike Iljin by a mere 3 points.  It was a close race at the end and our congratulations go out to Tony.

Mike’s

First and foremost, I want to thank the club members for their support during my family’s scare last month. Cassie loved the flowers that the Club delivered to her and they are a constant reminder to us of the well wishes from our extended fishing family.

Since this will be the last news letter of the year I would like to thank all of the Board members: Bo, Mark, Shelley, Eddie and Nick for all of their help and support this last year. They have made the Castaic Bass Club one of the finest clubs that has ever fished a lake.

We will have our last tournament of the year at Castaic on December 13th, so if you plan on fishing and can not make the meeting on Thursday, please be sure to call and or e-mail a board member before the start of the meeting at 7:00.

There is a special event going to be held at the Sports Complex in Castaic called The Celebration of Life. This event is to honor the life of fellow fisherman Ron Smith who passed away suddenly just a few months ago. The event will be held on December 20th, the same day as our banquet. We are hoping to wrap up our banquet between 1 to 2p.m. so that club members could still have a chance to drive over to the lake and participate in the event. There will be plenty of things for the kids to do and see, so bring them along. Below is a list of the day’s activities.

Take care,

Mike

Ron Smith “ Celebration of Life” Family Festival

Event and Volunteers Schedule: