Hi all,

I spoke to Phil and he told me Kirk Holmes in in the lead with 13 plus pounds.  Go Get Um...

All I can say is I really wish I was fishing the PotHoles right now but I've been in Clarks Hill Georgia fishing the WBT event.  

I'll tell you Clarks Hill was tough fishing and mental fishing, the water levels are down and the Blue Herron are in low numbers so the Bass are confused and not in normal paterns.  

Overall I have to say this is one of the best experiences I've ever been involved with and I cannot wait to do it again.

But I really have to say thanks to WBC for the support and I really miss Pot Holes and if I could have been there I would have.

Best of luck to all and next year well .........  

Hi Keri -
We were all sending you good wishes and vibes.  Hope you had a great time.  A great September turn-out, we had 16 boats on some of the lowest water any of us had ever seen.  I was lucky enough to hang on as Henry D made a mad dog rush on Sunday.  20+ lbs to win, Henry had 18+ and the third place finish had around 16 lbs I believe.  Not sure of his name, sorry,  but he caught a 5.2 lb smallie on Saturday.  Huge fish! 

The highlight of the trip was Smitty's run for glory up Crab Creek!  He spent the whole day up there stuck on a dune on Saturday.  He told those that found him to leave him, but come back after the 3pm weigh-in.  Four boats went on the rescue mission after the weigh-in and got him off by walking a couple of hundred yards from where we could drive our boats.  He was a LONG way in.  Good natured about it though, it was really something that we should have gotten photos of, rats.  Quite the Potholes event!

My hat off to Smitty, who has the dedication and fortitude to continue a club tradition that has been around since the first tournament on Pot Holes.  "Dune hopping" may at first appear (to the naive observer) to be a mistake in judgement by the boat operator, but in reality it is intentional exercise in testing the cohesiveness and ethical fortitude of the club members. 

It does in fact, take true leadership and selfish sacrifice to place an expensive boat stratically on a dune, to test the moral fiber of fellow anglers in the challenge of retrieving it as a group.  There is an evaluation curve known only to a few of us older members - and according to the forumla, the fact that 4 boats went on the rescue misson earns the club an impressive grade of B+.  Personally I am please with the results and proud to be a part of a club whose compassion and caring for one another has clearly been demonstrated.

I salute Smitty, and am proud to see his name added to the "Dune hoppers" hall of fame!  I only hope, that when another need to retest the club occurs in the years to come, that our future leaders will be as willing to put boat and body as selfishly on the line for the sake of the rest of the club!  Tonight I raise my glass and drink to you Smitty - or as future members may proudly address you... "Dune Hopper."

Don't feel too bad Smitty.  You weren't the first WBC member to do that. You pulled a D ick McElhinney.

They used to draw Potholes down that far every year in the 80's and early 90's.  D ick shoved his boat WAAAAAY back up Crab Creek one year - most likely the exact same spot you did! (I presume you turned that bend and it got shallow real fast, didn't it?)

Would've loved to be there guys.  Fishing Potholes when it's that low brings back great memories.  It really concentrates the fish and makes it super fun!  I hope there were many limits brought in.  That makes it a great tournament!

The WBT tournament was a blast, but very, very tough fishing.  There wasn't much I could do, as the rules prohibited me from helping her.  However, I did go out with a buddy to do some striper and hybrid fishing.  Really different kind of fishing than what we see here, with fish breaking all over the place as they school up on the shad.  It's exciting to see them doing it, but really frustrating to try to get them to bite.  

I also got to go out fishing on a differerent lake, catching bass in the hydrilla as you skipped a frog across the surface.  What a blast!

But the tournament - really cool.  Well organized.  Lot's of wrapped boats and trucks.  Exciting to be a part of it.

Just too bad it was the same weekend as Potholes.  Would've loved to be there and see the best anglers of the state duke it out.  Congrats to not only the top 5, but to everyone who brought fish to the weigh-in.  I know most, if not all of you, haven't seen Potholes like that, so it's a victory to have figured it out and caught a few.

way to go kirk and nice new ride. well i blasted off 12 and smitty was 13. we had the same game plan crab creek. when i saw the dunes i let up on the gas and smitty went flying by. so i said to myself " he knows what he is doing? right?". so i hammered it back down. by this time smitty was gone. ba and i came around this one dune and i saw smittys boat. i thought to myself again " why is he fishing that sand point"? well then i heard my engine sputter and i knew he was not fishing. he was stuck. then we stopped and this wall of water came over the back of the boat. it drenched us with water and sand all the way to the trolling motor. we were stuck 200 yards behind smitty and ba walked up to see if he was ok. smitty said he was fine i told us to go fishing and make some phone calls because he was only in about 3-4 inches of water. there was no way to move that boat at that time. it took us about an hour to get my tub boat out of there.

BassAholic – thanks for the hilarious visual... I'm still recovering from reading that.  I pictured it with a crankbait or two hanging off various places as he waves off the rescuers.

Smitty - hope everything is ok with the boat

Crab creek made me nervous about a month ago... I'd hate to see it now.

I guess I should have been there! Sounds like it was a lot of fun.

Congrats to Kirk, HD and the third place finisher with a 5lber.

Mike

That is right!  Thanks for the reminder, great sand bug!  Haha!!!

Everyone received a shined up skeg this week-end!  What fun, let's do it again!