MSC held its monthly team tournament on June 15th out of Dreher Island. It was a Beautiful and GREAT fishing day on the lake. Over 66 anglers representing 20 teams participated in the event bringing 73 Striped Bass to the scales in our club tournament! We had Great food Too!
Taking the First Place honors was Team Rocky Bottom with their 4 fish creel of 23.15 lbs.
Second Place was awarded to Team Laid Back with their 4 fish creel of 22.69 lbs.
Third Place was secured by Team Catchall with their 4 fish creel of 22.42 lbs
Eleventh place was secured by Team Reel Guys with their 4 fish creel of 17.32 lbs
Eighteenth place was secured by Team Fintastic with their 4 fish creel of 12.20 lbs
The events smallest creel award went to Team Reel N Pull
Team Catchall captured the Nichols Store of Rock Hill Big Fish award with their Striper tipping the scales at 8.53 lbs
The Youth trophies go to Matthew Mature, Jacob Harmon, and Georgia Smith of Team Rocky Bottom with Their First Place finish.
Kelsey Barnes of Team Shad up & Fish wins the top finishing Lady Angler with 5th place finish.
MSC June Results…
1 Team Rocky Bottom 23.15 lbs
2 Team Laid Back 22.69 lbs
3 Team Catchall 22.42 lbs
4 Team Overtime 22.42 lbs
5 Team Shad up & Fish 20.99 lbs
6 Team Striper Redemption 20.81 lbs
7 Team Landlocked 20.23 lbs
8 Team Red Fin 19.59 lbs
9 Team Hammer Head 17.33 lbs
10 Team Hard Core 17.27 lbs
11 Team Reel Guys 17.13 lbs
12 Team Cut Bait & Wait 16.98 lbs
13 Team Wildman 16.80 lbs
14 Team Pittcrew 16.01 lbs
15 Team Reel Broke 15.55 lbs
16 Team Let 'em Live 14.26 lbs
17 Team Cassell Brothers 12.82 lbs
18 Team Fintastic 12.20 lbs
19 Team Striper Hyper 6.54 lbs
20 Team Reel N Pull 2.43 lbs
MSC 2013 TOTY Standings…
1 Team Catchall 780
2 Team Landlocked 750
3 Team Laid Back 695
4 Team Shad up & fish 680
5 Team Striper Redemption 660
6 Team Rocky Bottom 590
7 Team Red Fi
Indeed! Congrats to all the podium finishers!.. Jonboy, it was fun with good food and fellowship, but we would have rather been fishing a tournament elsewhere. By 7:30, we were trying harder not to catch fish than we were to catch them! Not knowing about water levels in the other lake we fish, I do understand the previous tournament directors’ decision when making the schedule back in November.
Good job, Townsend! Also congrats to team Laid Back and Catchall. Looking at the weight ranges, it was fairly tight…I’m sure everyone was trying to test the waters and dodge the squealer summertime stripers due to 5 and done. I agree with Fogman on the “not catching”/avoiding fish part. We had 3 anglers on our boat and were fairly happy with what we caught given the personal fish count racked up quickly.
We bounced around trying to find that one elusive 7-8lb fish that we would’ve helped us out while trying hard to avoid the smaller fish. Caught fish everywhere we went, which I guess is a positive thin. 3 of our 4 fish creel were 22.0 - 23.75"…I thought we weighed in one that was just short of 21" , but I measured/weighed each fish we kept last night (for my log book) while cleaning them and the smallest in our 4 fish creel scratched the 21" mark, so I feel a little better about it. We just didn’t find the bigger fish that make a difference this time. With the 5 and done rule, there’s only so much you can do…it’s going to be whatever its going to be. It did make the tournament more challenging/interesting.
Still, very fun day on the water. God is good!
Thanks to those who cooked afterwards…really hit the spot and greatly appreciated!
I understand the frustration with not being able to try and catch more fish to upgrade. That is the down side to having a tournament on Lake Murray in June. However, the upside to having this tournament and cookout was huge! There were a lot more kids fishing this tournament than we normally have. The five and done rule encourages us to bring more people fishing with us and who better to take than a kid(or four, lol). Promoting fishing and spending time with family and friends is what this club is all about and I for one think the mission was accomplished!
Thank you Tommy, David and Lee for putting it together. Congratulations to all the top finishers as well.
Congrats to all the top finishers…I concur with Shawn that 5 and done does not necessarily make for an ideal tx but it sure got my wife and two kids out early and they had a great time catching fish on tx day which has not happened in years. Kudos to Alex Gregory on the outstanding spread of food!
Richy
“My biggest worry is that my wife (when I’m dead) will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it.”
Shawn/Richy: All good points - I actually found this tournament to be pretty fun due to the additional wrinkle/challenge. I think we all know that the bottom line is that the 5 and done rule will benefit the fishery in the long run with fewer floating fish - something none of us likes to see. If that means it’s tough to for us to upgrade during a summertime tournament, then so be it. I look forward to the days when we routinely catch 10-15lb fish because they weren’t floating dead in prior years when they were 18" in length.
Would the club consider Hartwell as a possibility during these months next year? It has the same fish consumption advisories as Clarks Hill and about the same distance. Just throwing it out there as another option during these 5 and done months.
There are no advisories for Clarks Hill/Lake Thurmond for striped bass, only Largemouth…and not for PCB’s as in Hartwell. Here is a consumption advisory publication from DHEC for waters of South Carolina:
The photos sure look great from the June tournament. Lots of smiles, families, kids catching fish and eating good…I’ve shared with lots of people what a great event it turned out to be…I had my doubts about the tournaments during the “5 and done” summer but the club adapted really well with this event.
Team Shad Up & Fish
If you’ve had fun catching fish on the transom bait, you are welcome…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…