SAN DIEGO BASSMASTERS Page 1 January 2013

June 2013

SAN DIEGO BASSMASTERS Page 8 MAY 2013

Presidents Corner:

Good Grief people, it’s the middle of the year already. June means Night Fishing is beginning and the Gardner/Putney SDBM picnic, oh yeah and Otay. The picnic crew has put together another fun event. Hoping to see you all there for the good food, the National annual washer toss championship, the casting accuracy demonstration, the (almost everyone wins) Raffle (almost), seeing your friends without their boat on a Sunday and the gggggggggreat food.

I had a great time great time at Havasu, always look forward to going, however sometimes are easier than others, should have seen it coming. It all started normal like, with my having visions of monster bass eagerly doing their best to get into my live well and going to the weigh-in to show their off to the disbelievers, those that think I am no longer a threat, Well Rats, as it turns out, I am no longer a threat. I will keep at it however; I must be chipping away at the old odds thing by now.

Absolutely great weather, light boat traffic and some super friends, just a great week at Havasu, but it didn’t start out so great. I had a pre-opt appointment with a knee surgeon at 9:30 the morning I planned on leaving. I left from Gilda’s in plenty of time for my appointment after hurrying the packing of the truck and checking it all twice. About 9:00, while waiting at the Doctor’s, I get a call from Gilda, ‘your suit case is still here’ she says with a little smile in her voice. I wasn’t going to give that to her, I said ‘Oh yeah, I was going to swing by when I leave here. The truth is I would have gone shopping in Havasu. Back to Gilda’s, pick up my stuff and I’m finally off. My boat was at the Seabergs where we had been getting both boats ready for the trip. When I got there Dave helped me hook up, check tire pressures, and did everything a boat puller should do and I’m finally off. About 10 miles down the road I reached for my phone, that’s right, it was back at Dave’s. Back to Dave’s to pick up my phone and finally I’m off.

The nose of the boat rests on the rubber roller when on the trailer and snugged down by a strap to secure it to the trailer. About 5 miles after I’m finally off, in the side mirror I see the rubber roller fall apart and go bouncing down the Freeway. To keep the boat from banging on the unprotected tie down I had to jack the front of the boat up off the trailer with a truck bottle jack and MacGyver an adequate support out of wire, rags, tape and an old flip flop, and then finally I’m off. At day break I was at the launch ready to get going, unhooked the boat from the trailer, backed into the water, got in the boat ready to go,………dead battery. Having charged all 4 batteries for 24 hours I didn’t expect that kick in the rear.

While waiting for the Interstate Battery store to open I went back to the house just to work on my gear. Time grew near so off to battery place, bought the battery, but being short handed they couldn’t install it. Back to the house to give it a shot, I swear, there is no way a battery would fit in that little space. After a bit, and honestly having my hand stuck under the old battery for a anxious minute, I put the tools away, wrapped a rag around the spots that were bleeding and beat feet to Gibbs Prop Service and with-in 10 minutes I was off and att’em. A fun rest of the day fishing, then back to the house only to find the garage door had only closed ½ way, I knew I had been robbed, it has happened before, but the cloud was gone and all was good. At least I thought the cloud had gone until last day weigh-in but that’s another story.

The 2nd annual Kids Fishing Camp is going to take place Sunday morning June the 2nd at Chollas Lake Park, 6350 College Grove Dr, San Diego, and Ca 92115. SDBM supports this program along with SD Road Rangers our two clubs have been the muscle to pull this off. The San Diego Council of Bass Clubs has helped financially and will be referred to as the host. We offer this fishing camp to the kids in Crisis House programs. Breakfast rolls and juice then BBQ Hot Dogs, Chips and a soda. We start sign ins at 7am with BBQ at 11:30. Could sure use your help, hope to see you there. Drop an E-Mail if you can be there, or just come.

Just swing, it doesn’t cost a thing!


Vice President ~ Ryan Test

It’s finally here...our picnic at Santee Lakes! It's going to be held at Lake 5 on the Island. Signups for the washer toss will begin at 10 am and the games will begin at 11 am. We have the island to ourselves with plenty of shade trees. BBQ's will be fired up cooking some burgers and dogs with plenty of refreshments. There will be raffles, games for everyone and a casting contest. I will be helping any kids that want to go fishing. We will have bobbers and night crawlers so we will catch anything that will bite. From the buzz we are going to have a BIG turnout!! Please sign up on the sign in sheet at the next meeting so we can accurately buy food for everyone.

There is a $4 parking fee at the entrance to the lakes and if you want to fish, a day use permit is $9.00. YOU DO NOT NEED A CA FISHING LICENSE. The bluegills are spawning with plenty charging the shore. So bring bluegill rods for the kids.

Special thanks to Jim Putney who has taken the lead on organizing the picnic.

If you have any questions on how to get to Santee Lakes or anything else please feel free to contact me (858)-692-1309

Treasurer ~ Joe DeSalvo

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend. I enjoyed my pre-fish at Otay and was glad to see Lynn Brown and Mike Baird back-out on the water. Looks like I missed a great trip to Lake Havasu and unfortunately had to work in Mexico for the last 6 weeks. Congratulations Jason Wilson, Cheryl Byrd and Ed Byrd for heavy weights at Lake Havasu.

Treasury Report as of May 26, 2013
Big Fish Fund / Fund Raising / Expense’s
$1475 / $40.00 / $390.23
Progressive Big Fish Fund / April Raffle TBD$ / SDBM Hats $117.45
Trophies $136.25
Family Tournament 136.53
(Major expenses listed, not all)
Projected 2013 Balance based on Income and Expenses to date is $7569.61
(Excludes Big Fish Fund of $1475 )

I was so happy when I got the call from Ron Overman’ for the change in Lake from Hodges to Otay for this Saturday Tournament. I must admit I love fishing in my backyard and so do all the other local Chula Vista members. If you cannot make the meeting, please send your checks to SDBM and mail to my address 1958 Alderbrook Pl., Chula Vista, CA 91913.


TOURNAMENT NEWS – Ed Byrd

What a great tournament last month! Over half the people fishing had double limits that went over twenty pounds. There were ten fish caught that were over four pounds. The weather was great…not too hot or windy. Now if we could just do something about the noise and wave pollution from all the big boats on Saturday…

Congratulations to Jason Wilson for taking first place. His double limit was just one hundredth of a pound short of thirty-seven pounds. His first day limit included a 5.38 pound fish, the big fish for Friday. He decided to take the big fish money for the first day as he was concerned that someone would beat that weight for big fish of the tournament…and he was right. On Saturday, there was a 6.22 pound big fish weighed…by Jason! Congratulations!

The big stringer of the tournament, and the year so far, went to Cheryl Byrd. Her second day weight was over twenty pounds - 20.66 pounds and included a 5.61 big fish. This gave her 32.33 pounds for the tournament and second place. Go Girl!

Third place went to Cheryl’s partner both on and off the water, me! My total weight went 31.67 pounds.

One other note: Also on Saturday, there was another tournament. The Weekend Warrior tournament “money” tournament was sponsored by a local car dealer and had around 25 boats. This was a team tournament so they weighed the best five fish two people. Cheryl’s limit would have beaten their best limit by over two pounds! Actually, I think several of our boats would have outdone the locals. Great job everyone!

Now on to more recent news. Due to lowering water levels which caused the City of San Diego to warn boaters that ramp at Hodges was hazardous, the June tournament was moved to Otay. I checked with the city and no other tournaments are scheduled for Otay on the June 1st. I emphasized scheduled because several clubs do not notify the city they’re having a tournament, so there may be other clubs fishing that day.

The next item is our scheduled fun night tournament on June 21st – 22nd. This will be a two man team tournament…best THREE fish at or over 15 inches per team, with a $100 entry fee per boat. Please bring your entry fee to club meeting. The entry fee will cover the launch fee and permits, the lake rental, big fish, prizes for first, second and third, and some money for the club. One team member MUST A SD BASSMASTER.Sign up a next meeting or call me BEFORE the meeting. If there aren’t enough entries (10), the tournament will be canceled. If history is an indication, getting enough participants shouldn’t be a problem. If you sign up and must cancel, please let me know as soon as possible.

MEMBERSHIP NEWS – Cheryl Byrd

I would like to start out by thanking the Club for voting me in as Membership Chairman for the remainder of the year. I will do my best to see that prospective members feel welcome, B.A.S.S. memberships are kept up-to-date and the roster is current and posted on the web page. I will also be reviewing and updating the membership application and information booklet, and creating new member packets for future use.

I hope that you are enjoying the member profiles that I have been writing. This month you will be learning about Jeff Manning and Matt Barksdale. Next month, Ed Byrd and Ken Wall are slated to be profiled. At the current rate, I will finish writing profiles sometime in early 2015.

The membership count stands at 48 active, 3 family members, 1 in-active, 4 lifetime and 1 prospective. Lynn Brown is still waiting to be tournament pre-fished. Also, Spencer Davidson will be returning in July.

All B.A.S.S. memberships are current.

I hope you all have a good tournament at Otay.

Member Profiles

by Cheryl Byrd

Jeff Manning

Jeff was born February 27, 1958 in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in L.A. until age 15, when his parents moved to San Diego and has lived here for the past 40 years.

Jeff started bass fishing at Lake Murray after having been trout fishing and saltwater fishing with his dad. He met a guy at high school named Greg Vasquez, who also enjoyed bass fishing. Jeff and Greg become fishing buddies. One day at Lake Murray, Greg met some members of the San Diego Bassmasters, who invited him to a club meeting. He and Jeff attended a couple of meetings and both joined the club in late 1976 (while still in high school!). Jeff's fishing skills greatly improved after joining the Club and in 1978 he purchased his first boat. He also fished his very first Top 6 Tournament in 1978, which the San Diego Bassmasters won.

Jeff graduated from Patrick Henry High School in 1977. He continued his education at Mesa College and then San Diego State for a short time. Jeff dropped out of the club in 1981, and returned in 1989. During his time away, he started his gardening business, got married and had a son, Kevin, who is now 26. Since 1982, Jeff has been self employed. He and his wife, Susan, have a daughter, Brandie, who is 13.

Jeff says that in his younger days, he enjoyed martial arts. Nowadays, he enjoys watching sports on TV and spending time with his daughter, Brandi, playing sports or going to her activities as an observer.

The largest fish Jeff has ever caught is a 25 pound yellow-fin tuna. He has also caught two 8 lb 7 oz bass, both out of Lake Murray. Being known as "Mr. Otay" in the club, he says that Otay should be his favorite lake, but the Colorado River and Havasu are very high on his list He enjoys flipping with jigs and ikas, but loves spinner baits, frogs, and dart heads. Basically, Jeff enjoys catching fish any way he can catch them. Currently, Jeff has a Ranger boat with a 150hp motor, and also a 16 ft Fisher Marine with a 50 hp mercury (which is for sale, and is available for viewing at Ken Louis’ house).

Jeff has been one of our more consistent fishermen over the years, with 17 Top 12 finishes: his personal best being 3rd place in 1992. He has had 10 tournament wins (4 at Otay), 9 seconds (3 at Otay & 3 at Havasu), 8 thirds (3 at LCR) and has taken Big Fish in Tournament honors 3 times. Jeff has represented the club in the Council's Top 6 event 7 times and qualified for our own T of C 9 times, winning the event in 1992. He has served on the Board as Newsletter Editor, Tournament Director and Secretary, plus he handled the raffle a couple of times.