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Boot'Legg Chronicle
Boot'Legg Open Tournament Trail | Volume III | May 2004 |
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Where we cater towards the Weekend Angler! |
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 The 1st Tournament of the year for Bethel of which the Bethel Staff has finally decided to begin running their Tournaments again for the year and like always, will be held on the first Saturday of every month. For most of us that fish Bethel Lake on a regular, the "Backyard Brawl" is back on again. It has already been posted on the Marquee there at Bethel Park, the next event is to be held on June 5th 2004. The cost for the Tournament goes as follows: $25 Entry Fee, $5 Ramp Fee and a "Big Fish" Optional Pot for an additional $5; basically, $35. Also, for those that do not know, the Park takes out 30% of the Entry Fees as well. So only $17.50 of your Entry Fees will be accounted for as the Pot. The Rec Staff is working something out with the Base to try and waive the cost because it has prevented folks from wanting to fish tournaments there, but they can't bet on it at this time. So, should you enter their tournament and wonder what happen to the money, that is how it works out there. The "Big Fish" pot is 100% payout though. |
May Events
There will be another two Boot'Legg Events scheduled for the month of May; also Bethel Lake will be holding their 1st tournament event of the year. The 1st Boot'Legg Event for May will be held on Waller Mill Reservoir May 8th and the 2nd Boot'Legg Event will be on Little Creek Reservoir May 22nd.
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ATTN: Little Creek Angler's
Anyone reading this from the Little Creek Anglers in Toana, VA please get in touch with Neal Robinson at (757) 870-5431. We have been trying to get the Tournament Results from the Little Creek Angler Trail for sometime so that it can be added to this website as well as our Area Poll Rankings. In order for this to happen I will need to get the results from Chris Woodfin or someone else that has all the weighin results for the LC Angler Tournaments.
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Bethel Lakes "Backyard Brawl" | 1 May 2004
| Bethel Lake seems to continue getting stronger and stronger every year. Don't let the past few years fool you; in the last 2 or 3 years Bethel Lake has come back in a strong way. Prior to this year, there really weren't any tournaments being run here. But when Bethel last held a full season, if you didn't have at least 20lbs of weight, don't even bring it to the scales expecting to win. For the past few months, the fish have been on the beds out here; except when they held the tournament this past weekend. There wasn't hardly a bed to be found. Those beds that had fish available weren't worth spending time on because of the size of the fish. With that in mind, most angler's immediately knew what to target. Locate the Fry and they will locate the fish. Two of the "Top 3" Anglers were targeting Fry as well as other anglers. Lures of choice were a mixture of some type of Jig or Plastics. The bite was on for most anglers, and very few struggled to get a limit in. Water temps were rather warm, low 70s and water clarity varied depending on where you were on the lake. Most strikes were subtle and even as you watched the fish take the lure you would have to wait until the fish had the lure for a while; even then it still seemed like the hookset wasn't solid. Because if the fish didn't jump off, they came unbutton fairly easy and that left for several 4 letter words echoing across the lake. It was fun to have it put back in the Backyard again, fishing amongst friends and old time rivals. I never got the numbers, so I can't post the weights up for the places. I only know what the 1st and 2nd Place weights where; as well as the "Big Fish" weight. The 1st Place weight went 16lbs 9oz, 2nd Place went 16lbs 4oz and "Big Fish" went 4lbs 13oz. Here are your Top 4 Anglers...
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Waller Mill Reservoir | 8 May 2004
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This lake took everyone by surprise. This lake usually starts pretty late in the spawn to where there is still good bed fishing in the later part of June. From what was heard about anglers who pre-fished the lake, just 5 keeper fish would take them a long ways. Usually, Anglers can catch a good solid bag out of here that would go about 14- to 16lbs or so. The only thing that could have possibly happened on this day that affected the bite was the cold-front conditions. It came out of nowhere at the last minute and if you didn't watch the weather the evening before, you would have been in for a big shock thinking it was going to be an 80-degree day. Out on the water, it probably got about 70 or so, with a brisk wind all day long. Apparently the spawn is pretty much over. Some fish were found with Fry, very few were found on beds and the Bluegill are bedding in force out here. Usually, when the Bluegill start bedding, the Bass Bedding season is usually over with for the most part. Only 3 Anglers came in with a limit of fish. The majority of the Anglers used some type of plastics to coax their fish into biting. The event only brought in 24 fish with a total weight of 43.64lbs. Here is how the Top Anglers placed...
Our next Boot'Legg Tournament will at Little Creek Reservoir on May 22nd 2004. Bring plenty of batteries or you will be paddlin'!!! Here are a few photos for your viewing enjoyment... 
 
 
 
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Little Creek Reservoir | 22 May 2004
| The BITE was on here on Little Creek Reservoir...I mean one bite right after the other. Too bad those bites were from the Deer Fly's (some folks call them May Fly's). I mean the Angler's were getting ate up like nobody's business. It was to the point that it was nearly impossible to fish; The heat didn't help much either. The fly's were so bad, that it ran one of our Angler's off the lake and into their vehicle for the last hour or so of the tournament. Oh yea, there was also a tournament being held, of which some fish were biting as well. A couple of new faces to the Boot'Legg showed up. Angler's that I know are from the "Little Creek Angler's" trail. Those being Richard Thurston, Thomas Clark, Brad Shinn, Mike Dickenson and Fred Randall. Andy Wasney appeared again, bringing along a new partner Terry LeBreck. "Thanks for coming out and joining us and we hope to see you guys at the next one." There really wasn't a set pattern from the information provided by the anglers. According to a source, "Chunk, chunk and chunk somemore." I saw a few of the top finishes spot fishing, basically running from one point to the other. Strangely enough, it worked for them. What I did find out for sure is that the majority of the bites came in the morning. After about 1100 that morning, the bite was almost non-existant. There was not particular lure, color or area; just running from point to point and hope for a bite. There were plenty of bass fry to be seen, but they have already been released by their guardians. The Pike bite was on later on during the day, so that kept hope alive and brought some excitement to the boat at the time. They don't call them "Little Creek Angler's" for nothing because we got our butts handed to us on Little Creek today by those guys. The Top 5 places came from the folks fishing with the Little Creek Angler's. Only 2 Anglers came in with a tough limit of fish. The event only brought in 26 fish with a total weight of 45.29lbs. Not including penalties, there was an average weight of 1.77lbs per fish. Here is how the Top Anglers placed...
There is a break in action before our next Boot'Legg Tournament. It will be held at Waller Mill Reservoir on July 31st 2004. Bring plenty of water, it's going to be HOT and we don't need anyone getting dehydrated!!! Here's a photo of our winners... 
Tournament Director & Sponsor: James Williams |
Assistant Director & Web Designer: Neal Robinson Assistant Director: Brian Hollis Assistant Director: Gene North Web Provider & Affiliate: Bass Jon's | ||||||||||||