July 16. 2009 by Short Bus.

Nine teams competed in the BNBC Charity Tournament at Dawson Lake on July 11.  The tournament raised money for Shriners Childrens Hospitals.  What a great cause to support.

The club raised  $795 in entry fees, raffle tickets and straight donation.  That amount was augmented by the McLean County Sportsmen’s $250 for a grand total of $1045 to support the marvelous efforts of the Shriners.

Among the copious sponsors were Wired2Fish, National City Bank, Show-Me’s, Panera, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Wings Etc., Maggie Miley’s, et al.  We would like to thank each and every one for their generous donations, for without them, the charitable donation would be much less.

And a hearty thank you to all the anglers who came out to support the charity.

In first place and with big bass was James Hurt and Jennifer Nelson.  They weighed in 2 fish to win the event with 5.91 pounds, anchored by the event’s big bass of 3.78 pounds.  Nelson noted that her fish didn’t quite make the cut, but caught several bass throughout the day.  Hurt caught the big bass about 10 minutes into the tournament and then the second keeper at about 11 AM.  Their fish were caught on frogs and creature baits.

In second was the solo angler Andy Veselak with two fish going 3.68 pounds.  Veselak was given some great tackle and a rod for his efforts.

In third was the angler team of Fred Myers and Andy Bean, a recent state qualifier in the IHSA fishing event.  Bean was reported to have caught both the team’s fish.  Nice job, Andy!

BNBC member Rod Wallace hosted a cookout to attendees of the Charity Tournament, and it was a smashing success.  Thanks to you, Rod and Holly!

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July 16. 2009 by Short Bus.

In this edition of the tournament blogs, I’m going to focus solely on the positive things that transpired during the event, because there was much drama to be had.  I’ll save my commentary for another article.

Rod “Always a bridesmaid” Wallace and Adam Stark landed two fish for a third place posting.  Their fish went 5.12 pounds, anchored by a nice bass of 3.16 pounds.  Adam and Rod are striving to be  recipients of some first place cash this year during a Tuesday Night event.  If you’ve noticed, since Stark came on board they’ve placed in the money at two events.  Watch out for these boys in the upcoming tournaments!

Another solid 2 fish bag got Brian Bounds and Eric Sharrow a second place check.  Their 5.28 pound bag was anchored by an almost identical twin of Rod and Adam’s fish, weighing 3.18 pounds.  Eric should have gotten the “Best Dressed” award for the evening, as he was swanked out in business casual attire.  Nice job, guys!

Larry Russell caught a super-nice 17+ inch smallmouth during the event.  For those of you who didn’t get to see it, I’m posting a photo of it just because it is that cool.  Plus, our stocking efforts will one day yield more catches like this at Lake Bloomington.   Nice catch, Lar!

Chad and PJ caught a nice bass weighing 3.41 pounds and another bass to gain ground on TOY leaders Bree and Maisenbacher.  Keep up the good work!

Honestly, right here I was going to write a quick note on not wanting to sound like I’m ringing my own bell for what I’m about to write.  Forget that, because the bell has been rung!  Dennis and I got first place and big bass.

Dennis (Bierbaum) and I weighed in three fish for a total of 8.63 pounds, with the tournament’s big bass of 3.92 pounds.  Here’s a picture of the fish, and the expression on my face is priceless.  I look angry and DB is all smiles! Thanks to Gena Norris for taking the pix.  Bierbaum caught a bass late in the night, but neglected to catch the right species.  He made me get the net anyway after fighting a 10-inch white bass for a minute.  A few key bites were lost that may have cost us a limit.  We didn’t see the fish to tell if they were Dave Norris sized or not.  We try to lose them well away from the boat so as to not get that discouraged.  Dennis and I bought a couple rounds of celebratory drinks at Green Gables as is customary, and a good time was had by all in attendance.  I even sold some Sweet Beavers at a super cut rate while there.

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