By: Jim Hebert
“Bubba Rossi & Tim Guillaume dominate
everyone with win from the “Ditch”
left to right, Bubba Rossi & Tim Guillaume, Ed Hernandez & Donald Braud, Ryan & Murray Alexander
Rod Saylor with 4.35 lb. Big Bass
Bubba and Tim left no doubt about who would win this Tournament when they put their fish on the scale. Once again a big stringer takes it all.
Tournament week began with our meeting at the Gonzales Fire Department on Tuesday night to plan the event. Before the meeting began we all enjoyed a meal of Chicken Stew, rice, potato salad, french bread, drinks and cookies for dessert. I prepared this meal and judging from how much was left, I think everyone enjoyed it for sure.
Eddie signed up 13 boats to fish this Tournament. We then took nominations for locations for the event. We had two locations nominated and the members voted to fish out of the “Ditch”. We then voted to have a 3:00 PM weigh in. The weigh masters chosen were Terry Molea and Ken Villeneuve.
The October meeting is the month where we choose the location for the Classic Tournament. This is the only time we pick a location a month in advance. We nominated three locations; the Ditch, Lake Bruin, and Des Allemands. After the vote, we had a run-off vote between the Ditch and Des Allemands. The Ditch won out to be the Location for the Classic Tournament.
With all business complete, the meeting was adjourned and everyone joined in on the clean up before heading to the house.
Saturday morning everyone had to figure out how to get to the Launch location via the Gramercy Bridge. I’m lucky that Warren was with me because he knew the route so we arrived safely with plenty of time to get ready. Everyone finally got their boats launched on a very foggy morning and then we sat around waiting for the fog to lift enough for a safe take off. Terry let everyone go at safe daylight. I think most boats went toward the Marsh. We went toward the North.
I didn’t get a chance to scout, so we didn’t have a clue on where to start. The water was very muddy at the launch so we had to go North and look for some better water. I was counting on the weather reports to be correct about a mild wind from the north east but that wasn’t happening at all. In fact, the wind was from the south east and the water started coming in at about 8:00 AM with the wind.
We did find some better water and caught two keepers early. When that location went dry we moved north from there. By this time the water was no doubt moving in so we were able to catch our limit by 11:00. We continued catching fish throughout the day and we were able to upgrade our catch 3 different times. At least we wouldn’t be embarrassed at the weigh in.
We picked up early because we were tired of fishing in the down pouring rain. By 3:00 everyone was weighing their fish and trying to get on the road before the rain got any heavier. We weighed fish in the rain under umbrellas. Most everyone had decent stringers of fish, so it looked like it had been a good fishing day. When the weigh in was complete, Terry announced the winners.
First place went to Bubba Rossi & Tim Guillaume with their limit that weighed in at 13.59 lbs.
Second place was won by Donald Braud and Ed Hernandez with 5 fish that weighed 10.72 lbs.
Third place was the Father-Son team of Murray & Ryan Alexander with 5 fish that weighed 9.71 lbs.
Big Bass of the Tournament weighed in at 4.35 lbs. It was caught by Rod Saylor who also won the “side pot” with his lunker.
Congratulations to the winners of the October Tournament. Our next event will be the Classic Tournament on November 17th. For more information on the EASL Bass Club you can visit the website www.easlonline.org.
