Steel City Bassmasters 2005 Awards Banquet
Saturday, January 29 at 4:00pm
NEW LOCATION FOR 2005
Collinsville Knights of Columbus Hall
#1 Columbus Drive
On Highway 157, 1 mile south of I-55/70
Steel City Bassmasters Guest Policy
Explained
By Larry Heagy
I am constantly asked by potential new members and bass club veterans
alike to explain the details of our guest pass policy. The policy was adopted
three years ago to increase tournament participation and promote new membership.
The details are really very simple. All active members are given the
opportunity to bring a non-member guest to any chapter tournament. This
guest will have the right to participate in the tournament and win prize
money.
An individual guest is allowed to participate in ONE tournament per
year. If he or she would like to fish more with us, they must pay the annual
membership dues and become a full member. Our only exception to
this rule is the two Table Rock team events.
The guest policy does not apply here, since non-members are
allowed to participate whether they fish with a member or not.
As always, if you have any questions just ask one of our bass club
board members.
Identification of Black Bass Species
Once again we are faced with the new Missouri Department of Conservation
regulations for the catch of black bass species on the Lake of the Ozarks.
We have two tournaments a "Ozarks" this year and proper identification
of your catch could mean the difference between being within the law or
facing a citation.
The legal length for Largemouth and Small mouth Bass is 15-inches.
The new length limit for Spotted Bass is 12 inches. The proper method for
measurement of tournament fish is by placing the nose of the fish against
the end of the bump board and compressing the lobes of the tail. If any
part of the tail brushes the measurement line (12 or 15 inches), the fish
is legal length.
Keep in mind that a fish that barely brushes t line on your bump board
could measure differently after spending a day in the live well. These
fish should be remeasured prior to presentation at weigh-in. Members can
always ask for a "courtesy bump" by a bass club board member, realizing
the presenting a fish that close to legal length is still a gamble. It
could still fail to measure at the time of the official weigh-in.
Our tournament rules incur a 1-pound penalty for all short fish presented
at weigh in. This will be deducted from the total weight of the rest of
your catch and the short fish will be discarded. The penalty for a dead
fish is still 2-ounces, which calculates to 0.12-pounds.
Take the time to measure your catch carefully!
To help make Identification easier, we now have a
"Black Bass Identification Page"
New Web Site Award
from Steel City Bassmasters
Larry Sitton has developed an award for the "TOP BASS" web sites on
the internet. To be eligible for this award the submitted site must be
a "BASS" fishing or "BASS" related site. It must contain more than just
some vague, general information with a lot of pictures. Sites will be judged
on content as well as loading speed, navigation and aesthetics. If you
know of a site that you would like to nominate for this award, please check
the
"Steel City Bassmasters Top Bass Award Page"
for the criteria then e-mail the web master with the the address and
why you think the site is deserving of this award.
THANK YOU .... TOM & DONNA RAULS
The Steel City Bassmasters would like to extend our sincere
thanks and appreciation to Tom and Donna Rauls, owner operators of Lazy
Lees Resort on Table Rock Lake near Kimberling City, Missouri. Not
only are they the most gracious of hosts, they have become a couple of
our biggest supporters. To show our appreciation, at our fall tournament,
the Steel City Bassmasters presented them with a very large framed picture
of our club with a small brass plaque. We have a picture of them in our
"Scrap book".
Rumor has it that a couple of our members just happen
to be showing a "little bit of belly" in the photo. (one good .. one not
so good)
