Kickboat and Bellyboat Bass Fishing - SCBBBC

2011 SCBBBC Bass Fishing Tour Recap - By Rich Caro

2012-01-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

The 28th year of the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club has been completed, records have been broken, new anglers have had a taste of what the club is all about and there are a lot of fish wishing this club was never started. With the new officers in charge, DJ Von Bima as President, Dan Kinn as VP, Mr. Mercado as TD with Scott Beem as TD Asstiance, and Mike Ayers investing the money. The club was set for another smooth running tour of Northern California’s best bass factories. The club has been hammering the same locations for a long time now and it was time for a new stop on the SCBBBC tour. So after all the votes from the members were tallied it was Lake Mendocino that would go into the 2011 record book for firsts. The club somehow keeps growing every year and 2011 was no different with a record breaking 54 paid members. Once again the club with the smallest boats in the state of California had the largest membership and I do believe its events had the largest turnouts. The tournament average for 2011 was around 35 anglers striving to catch some toads.

#1 Lake Berreyessa.
After voting for the clubs blast-off and weigh in times during a standing room only meeting in February we were set to start the year off at Lake Berryessa. 37 anglers signed in with DJ in 26 degree weather. This was a very cold start to the 2011 Scbbbc tour kick off. But someone always gets into the fish and figures them out. I sure couldn’t figure them out as I came to the scale with a big zero, no keepers. I can’t even remember if I had a bite. It was Matt Nyiri who figured them out as he sat on a hump off shore and picked them apart and weighed in 9.23 for the best 5 fish limit. Coming in second with a five fish limit of 7.94 lbs. was Josh Peterson. 3rd place was Nate Albers with four fish for 7.24 lbs. This was a fun event and Andy and Scott kept it real smooth. I sure wish I had caught something at the season opener. I hoped this wasn’t a sign of how my 2011 season was going to be.

#2 Clear Lake.
The second stop for the club was Clear Lake on March 20th. I thought for sure I would do well here as my pre fishing was OK. I fished as hard as I could and was only able to manage 2 fish for 5 pounds. I used my own baits for most of the day and that’s what did me in. You can’t use reaction baits all the time. This tournament belonged to “Big Dave” Dave came in with 4 fish that weighed in at 27.05 lbs. Dave had a 10.70 pig and another pig at 8.74. If I remember right he caught them on a spinnerbait. It was Josh Peterson on his coattail for second with 4 fish that weighed 18.00 lbs. 3rd place went to another hot angler Chris Quinones with 3 fish for 16.13 pounds. Chris used swimbaits at State Park to catch his fish. We had 29 anglers sign up for this event which is kind of a small group for Clear Lake.

#3 California Delta - White Slough.
The third stop of the year was the great California Delta on April 11th. We are at White Slough and once again I can’t get a keeper, Ouch!!! This makes 2 events out of three that my CatchemCaro baits didn’t catch me anything. Talk to Mike Ayers and you’ll hear a completely different story as he took home the win with 5 fish for 19.65 and this was after winning a B-N-T event a week or two earlier at the same location Coming in second was Matt Nyiri with a limit of five fish for 13.82 lbs. 3rd place with a limit of 5 fish for 11.75 lbs. was Anthony Duffany. We had 42 anglers show up for this duel on the Delta.

#4 B-n-T Open – Clear Lake.
The 4th stop is one of my favorites, The B-N-T Open on Clear Lake. This is an event that brings both of the world’s best clubs together on one of the best bodies of water to catch giant bass. We had 50 anglers show up. This time I finally got into some fish. I prefished and got all the CatchemCaro baits out of the way and kept a flippin stick in my hand for the two days of competition. I went home with a 4th place finish and a two day limit of 32.21. It sure felt good to get some solid bites again. After two days of competitive fishing it was the 2010 open champ Carson Riley defending his title and winning again! Carson’s two day total was a whopping 42.82 pounds anchored by the tournament big fish of 6.97 pounds. Carson used his trusty jig to catch his bass. Congratulations Carson on a great win, the weather was beautiful and the food was GREAT! If you have never fished a kick boat event, this should be your first. It’s flat out fun! Rain or Shine and the B-N-T crew do it up right.

#5 Lake Sonoma.
Now it’s June 11th and we are at Lake Sonoma for the 5th stop of the 2011 SCBBBC tour. This is my least favorite place to fish a tournament. I love fishing here, but I just don’t do well. This is my most challenging water to fish, but one of these days I will figure them out. We checked in 35 anglers for a night of fishing. I was able to scrape up 2 keepers for 4.38. I think this is my average for Sonoma. 2011 our club will change it up and use the public ramp on the warm spring’s side of the lake. I hope this helps me shake the monkey off my Southfork kick boat. After a quick weigh-in, it was Jered Brendal with the best limit and the victory! Jered weighed in 5 fish for a dominating 19.31 pound limit! Jered used his trusty jig to catch his fish. Coming in 2nd place was Chris Lapoint with 5 for 18.35 pounds. Chris made the long row to cherry creek were it paid off for him. 3rd place goes to Dave Brown with a 5 fish limit of 14.72. Dave turned to his crankbait after dark to slay his limit. Marc Harrison had the tournament big fish also, a nice big 8.61 pounder! This guy is growing his skills with the club. This is one of the things I really enjoy about the SCBBBC. I love to watch as these guys join the club and struggle some and slowly start to figure it out and climb the standings throughout the year.

#6 Lake Mendocino.
It’s July 23rd and the club has left its comfort zone to try new waters. Lake Mendocino is the 6th stop for the tour and this will be the first time in the clubs 28 year history to fish it. I prefished this one with big Dave and to my pleasant surprise, this lake was beautiful. She was filled to the brim and I was able to launch straight out of the back of my truck in the parking lot. No ramp needed. The water was clear and the smallmouths were eating. This was a team event and my partner was Donney Breedloves son. I can’t remember his first name, but it was his first event ever. We strategized for a little while and then all 16 teams were off and fishing new waters. I was able to put two fish in the well and my partner got us one to give us 3 fish to weigh in and put our team in 9th place. One of my fish was the skinniest fish I had ever seen. I really liked this stop for the SCBBBC and wished it would be on the tour for 2012, but it didn’t get enough votes. Maybe 2013 will be the year we go back. The team that did figure Mendocino out was the team of Daniel Kinn and Scott Beem with a 5 fish limit of 8.94lbs. Congratulations guys. Coming in a close 2nd was the team of Matt Nyiri and B.Guerini with 5 for 8.69lbs. 3rd place went to the team of Carson Riley and Mike Casey with 4 for 7.39lbs.

#7 Blue Lakes.
The 7th stop for the SCBBBC tour would be Blue Lake on Aug 28th and I wasn’t able to make this event. I landed a new job in June and I went on my first field job to Fortuna to do a line bore job on a 330 excavator. It’s a little weird for me to miss a tournament with the club. It feels like Christmas day and I’m not at home with the family, strange feeling. With temps reaching the century mark and the 6 hour rule in affect it was Chris Quinones with a dominating win! He had a 5 fish limit of 16.82 and big fish of 7.40 and 2nd place went to Noah Stevens with 13.26 and 3rd was Mr. Dave Brown for 11.23 I had plans of fishing the mud lake this year, but that wasn’t going to happen and the call of duty came first. So that’s my throw out and with two other events with no fish weighed in, the 2011 season is proving to be a tough one for me to qualify for the TOC.

#8 State Classic – Clear Lake.
It’s the 8th stop and we’re back at Clear Lake for the SCBBBC State Classic Sept 17th -18th. This event has been held in October for 27 year and it seems to rain every other year. So our officers changed it up and moved the date up and what a great idea it was. The weather was beautiful and we had a great turnout of 48 anglers. I prefished for this event and found some fish. And low and behold I was able to catch a two day winning limit of 31.95. Most of my fish all eat Benos Little Creeper trash fish with one of my keepers coming on my new Mr. Winters lipless bait. When it’s your day it’s your day. I won by ounces with Taylor on my coattails. Taylor Capilla took second with 31.58 and Jered Brendal had 3rd with 30.63 lbs. The food prepared by Mark and Laura was the icing on the cake for sure. Mark always makes us some good food to chow on at these two day events. The club officers once again ran a perfect tournament and our club sponsors donated a lot of great prizes for our huge raffle and thanks again to Bucksbags for donating a beautiful kick boat to our event. I’ve won one of these way back when but this one felt a little better seeing how my year had been going up to now.

#9 California Delta – Beacon Harbor.
It’s now Oct 15th and we’re at Beacon Harbor for another duel on the Delta with 30 anglers and the 9th stop of the SCBBBC tour. I didn’t have a chance to prefish for this one so I went in blind. 30 guys signed up for this show and I was once again able to flip my way into the money with a second place finish just behind my buddy Jon Graves. I punched into some real thick cover and was able to get 5 for 9.74, but Jon was able to beat me with 5 for 9.85. “Thata boy Mr. Graves”. 3rd place went to Binh Phi with 5 that went 9.40 I’m starting to think that maybe I can get into the TOC if I can keep catching keepers. It was looking as if Matt Nyiri is locking in the AOY, but we’ll see what happens.

#10 Clear Lake.
It is now the 10th event and the final event of the 2011 SCBBBC tour. It’s Nov 6th and we’re back to Clear Lake. This sport kills me sometimes. Just when you think you got it all figured out, you’ll fall flat on your face. That’s what I did. Once again I fished my memory and not in the moment. I got nothing, skunked, zippo, nada and I’m on Clear Lake. What a humbling event for me. That makes three events with no keepers and one event missed, but somehow I still qualified for the 2011 TOC, Yea baby!!!! The fishing was a little different for Chris Lapoint. With snow dusted mountains tops surrounding the lake and greeting the anglers at blast off it was Chris Lapoint who came away with the big win! Chris used crankbaits to catch his limit and came to the scales with 4 for a whopping 23.66 pounds and the tournament big fish of 7.18 pounds. Congratulations Chris on a great tournament win! Coming in 2nd with another good limit was Carson Riley with 4 for 20.02 pounds falling to his trusty jig. 3rd place goes to big Dave Sternitzke with a 4 fish limit of 19.88 pounds and second big fish of 6.63 pounds.

#11 Tournament Of Champions – Clear Lake.
Next is the SCBBBC TOC 2011 at Clear Lake. This is a long running tradition and a very special event for all who qualify for it. There’s nothing like being at the Skylark in November with the top sticks from the club for that year. Good friends, good food and hopefully good fishing are what make this so special for me. I hope to be at many more in the future and I will always fish hard to qualify as it’s not an easy task for anyone. Once again Clear Lake kicked my butt as I came in second to last with one fish for 3.45. I probably worked the hardest at this event to catch that one fish that came on a white speed trap. This year’s TOC pitted the top 15 anglers in the club to a two day bass fishing extravaganza! Fresh off a tournament win in the last club event it was red hot Chris Lapoint again with an impressive victory of epic proportion. Chris’s record breaking 2 day weight of 44.89 pounds with an 8 fish limit was a sight to behold. Breaking the old 2 day 10 fish limit record of 44.45 held by Rich Caro. Chris used his DD22 and LV500 to catch his fish. Congratulations Mr.Lapoint. Coming in 2nd was last year’s TOC winner Carson Riley with an 8 fish limit of 35.91 pounds working his trusty jig and LV500. 3rd place was this year’s Angler of the Year, Matt Nyiri with an 8 fish limit of35.80, another impressive weight. Day 1 and day 2 big fish award goes to not two anglers but one. Jered Brendal took both days’ big fish award with a 7.80 lb bass and a 7.06 lb bass. Now that’s sweet! All anglers were rewarded for fishing the championship with a medal and check just for making it. A special “thank you” goes out to Andy Mercado and Scott Beem for coming up and running everything for a super smooth event.

I can’t thank everyone enough who makes this club possible. I still catch myself thinking about how it all started so long ago and find myself amazed at the fact that the SCBBBC has become what it is. I look forward to seeing where it will go and meeting new anglers who join us fort here first time. I also look forward to watching you guys as you win your first events and catch some of your biggest fish and bring them to the scale in front of all us SCBBBC members. The 2012 tour schedule is set and I’m looking forward to fishing every event once again and seeing all of you at the monthly meetings and on the water. I sure would like to fun fish more in 2012 with more of you and teach and learn from all of you. Once again, thank you DJ, Deacon, Scotty, Andy, Mike, and all the members that make up the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club and all the B-N-T members and officers for making the 2011 season a successful year for our sport of kick boating and float tubing. And thank you for letting CatchemCaro Bait Co. be one of the many sponsors all year long. And also, thanks to my wife Anne for letting me fish whenever and where ever I want.

Happy New Year Guys and Gals.

Rich Caro

ESPN 2 - Bass Tech Belly Boat Upgrade!

2011-12-01T11:23:00.001-08:00

Rich Caro Represents Scbbbc With Pro's Skeet Reese, Gerald Swindle And Others!

Back in 2005 ESPN 2 had a new show called Bass Tech and they flew Rich out to customize a buck bag kickboat on the show! and talk a bit about how the Club was founded....

Erich Louw Winner of the KBBC 2011 Series Leg 4

2011-11-23T09:25:00.001-08:00

The South Africa Club (Bass Challenge) Just finished another kickboat and float tube event event

Leg 4 of the Kick Boat Bass Challenge (KBBC) 2011 Series was held at Murray Park and was won by Erich Louw with a 3.17kg bag. In second place was newcomer Rui Calsada with 3.14kg and in Third place was Garth Jones-Hockley with 2.99kg.

Full results of the KBBC 2011 Series can be found here...

Pink Fishing

Chris Lapoint's Record Breaking Championship Victory!

2011-11-21T15:28:00.001-08:00

This year Tournament of Champions was held at Clear Lake and pitted the top 15 kickboater's in the club to a two day bass fishing extravaganza!

Fresh off a tournament win in the last club event it was red hot Chris Lapoint again with an impressive victory of epic proportion. Chris’s record breaking 2 day weight of 44.89 pounds with an 8 fish limit was a sight to behold. Breaking the old 2 day 10 fish limit record of 44.45 held by Rich Caro. Chris used his DD22 and LV500 to catch his fish. Congratulations Mr.Lapoint. Coming in 2nd was last years TOC winner Carson Riley with an 8 fish limit of 35.91 pounds working his trusty jig and LV500. 3rd place was this years Angler of the Year, Matt Nyiri with an 8 fish limit of 35.80, another impressive weight. 4th place was Jon Graves with a nice 8 fish limit of 32.84 pounds. Good job Ukiah Jon. 5th place goes to the clubs 2nd half leader in points Jordan Brendal with 7 for 27.76 pounds.

Day 1 and day 2 big fish award goes to not two anglers but one. Jered Brendal took both days’ big fish award with a 7.80 lb bass and a 7.06 lb bass. Now that’s sweet! All anglers were rewarded for fishing the championship with a medal and check just for making it. A special “thank you” goes out to Andy Mercado and Scott Beem for coming up and running everything for a super smooth event…..This has been a great year for Scbbbc and all it’s 50 plus anglers and we look forward to the 2012 season starting in February!.... Full Results and Pictures.

9 Pound Bass From a Kickboat - Spring Lake Top Water!

2011-11-15T10:31:00.001-08:00

Founder of the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club and Legendary Kickboater Rich Caro captured this sweet video on Spring Lake hooking up on this 9 pound bass which hit his top water bait the JA quick...Heart pumping action!

Float Tubing Lake Sonoma - Big Bass Fishing

2011-11-15T10:25:00.001-08:00

Great little video from Craig Huffman AKA Anglers Revenge. Craig hit Lake Sonoma in Northern California with his Dave Scadden float tube and was rewarded with some big fish.

Anthony Lunares Wins Bass-N-Tubes Championship!

2011-11-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

The San Jose Ca, Bass-N-Tubes held it Tournament of Champions this last weekend at Lake Naciminto.

After leading day 1 Anthony came back with a strong day 2 to take the win with 13.52lbs. Taylor had big 2nd day to finish in 2nd with 13.42. Noah put together two solid days for 13.30 and 3rd place. Matt L. was on the bubble with 12.04. And Mr. Steve Williams took home the Big Fish trophy for a 2.21 Spot on day 1.

A big thank you to Robert Middleton for helping out for the sweatshirts! Also, Oscar came through with a $25 gift certificate from Delta outdoors which we gave to 4th place. He was also able to get donations from Chubby Chaser Bait co.(chatter baits etc.) & www.dichosobaits.com(custom hand pours/ sick Jig trailers, check out the site ). Also Thanks to every body who donated baits and canned fod this year!

Congrats again to Anthony for his first win on the Professional Kick Boat Circuit .

See you all on the water next season.

-Rob

Kickboats, Float Tubes, and Belly Boats by Definition

2011-11-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A float tube, also known as a belly boat or kick boat, is a flotation device which anglers use to fish from. They were originally doughnut-shaped boats with an underwater seat in the "hole", but modern designs include a V-shape with pontoons on either side and the seat raised above the water allowing the legs of the angler to be the only part of his body to be submerged. Float tubes are used for many aspects of fishing, such as flyfishing for trout or lure fishing for bass, and enable the angler to fish areas otherwise not fishable from the bank.

Float tubes are either "U" or "V"-shaped, or circular. A standard float tube consists of an inflated bladder inside a sewn cover providing the seat, reserve air compartments, and tackle storage pockets. Many float tube anglers customize their crafts with rod holders, lights, and electronic fish finders.

The angler generally wears stocking foot chest waders and scuba diving flippers, so his legs remain dry. Seated in the float tube, he paddles across the water with a gentle movement of the flippers, then remains still over the chosen fishing ground. An alternative to diving flippers is the "paddle-pusher", or "duck fins." These fins strap onto the angler's feet and have paddles situated on the outsides of the ankles. The paddles fold back when the leg moves forward and open when the leg moves back, allowing anglers to move forward in a somewhat less efficient but more natural walking-type motion.

The competitive side of float tubing for bass is growing in the US with the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club which was the first of its kind and is by far the largest in the world and in South Africa with The Bass Challenge which offers a tournament trail called the Kickboat Bass Challenge for bass anglers who compete from float tubes.

Extreme Belly Boater - Gunther of Belgium!

2011-10-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

A friend of the Scbbbc from Belgium. Gunther is what I would call a extreme belly boater. Gunther fishes from his U-Tube belly boat for fish bigger then his boat as you can see in some of his photos. He fishes lakes and rivers around the Netherlands. You can follow his blog here! cant wait to see what he brings up from the depths next!

Kickboat Bass Challenge 2011 Series Leg 3 - Murray Park South Africa

2011-10-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the top 3 winners at Murray Park, South Africa. 29 anglers showed up for what looks like a great day on the water

1st Tristan Wood 5.01 pounds
2nd Brian Richards 4.9 pounds
3rd Danny Creigh-Smith 7.74 pounds

Complete Results Here!

From Kickboater to Bassmaster Elite - Chris Zaldain!

2011-10-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

California's Chris Zaldain best pro of 2011 in Central Open
5 qualify for 2012 Bassmaster Elite Series

October 22, 2011

BRANSON, Mo. - Chris Zaldain of San Jose, Calif., led the list of five anglers who qualified Saturday to move up in 2012 into the top tier of competition, the Bassmaster Elite Series, through the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Central Open circuit.

With 804 points over the circuit's three events of 2011, Zaldain wrapped up the season as the top angler.

The other Elite qualifiers were James Niggemeyer of Van, Texas, second with 743 points; Jared Miller of Norman, Okla., third with 742 points; Tommy Martin of Hemphill, Texas, fourth with 738; and Kevin Ledoux of Choctaw, Okla., fifth with 734.

Casey Scanlon of Lenexa, Kan., finished short of the top five, with 722 points. As the sixth-place angler, he would be the first one tapped for the 2012 Bassmaster Elite Series if any of the top five decline the invitation.

Zaldain, 27, said he won't be able to help out Scanlon on that score.

"I'll definitely fish the Elites," he said. "That's why I joined the Opens this year."

The 27-year-old competed this season after a six-year hiatus since the 2005 Western Opens. He wasn't on hand at Saturday's final Central Open weigh-in in Branson, Mo., to hear the news in person. Because he didn't make the Saturday cut, he used the time to scout nearby Bull Shoals Lake, site of a 2012 Elite event, anticipating the need.

Miller, 27, who also said he'd accept the Elite invitation, headed home to get ready for the Nov. 3-5 B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Championship presented by Yamaha and Skeeter Boats in Monroe, La., on the Ouachita River. Miller is hoping to qualify for the 2012 Bassmaster Classic through the Federation.

Niggemeyer's top-five points finish double-qualified him for the 2012 Elite season; he had finished 58th in Elite points when the 2011 season was over in June. His 2012 Elite seat will be taken through the Opens, not awarded to another pro.

2011 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Official Sponsors: Toyota, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Evan Williams Bourbon, Mercury, Skeeter Boats, Triton Boats, Yamaha

2011 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Supporting Sponsors: Humminbird, Luck "E" Strike, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats

Chris at the 2004 BnT Kickboat Open on Clear Lake

F.B.I Kickboaters in Japan!

2011-10-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

Our brother Kickboaters in Japan really take there tournaments as seriously as us! I love these guys....Watching them is like looking in the mirror of our club....Sure would like to fish a tournament with them some day! Check out one of many videos they have...This video is of their 2011 season...

Rich Caro 2011 SCBBBC State Classic Winner!

2011-10-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

48 anglers showed for this years Scbbbc State classic on Clear Lake and we couldn’t have asked for better weather this year! With sunny skies the battle was on! When it was all over and done it was Rich Caro taking the victory by only a few ounces. Rich had a 2 day total of 8 fish for 31.95 pounds beating our day one leader and 2nd place finisher overall Taylor Capilla! Rich reported catching his fish using his own Catchem Caro baits and Little Creeper Thrash Fish under docks. Congratulations Rich on your big win.

Just coming up short on day two was Taylor Capilla with an 8 fish limit of 31.58 pounds for 2nd place. Coming in 3rd place with an 8 fish limit of 30.63 was Jered Brendal. 4th place goes to Dave Montero with the day 2 big fish of 6.78 and an 8 fish limit of 30.55 pounds. Topping out the top 5 was Jon Graves with an 8 fish limit of 30.27 pounds! Taking home the day 1 big fish award was Jordan Brendal with a nice 6.48 pound Clear Lake bass. Congratulations to all the top guys!

The Bass Challenge - South Africa Kickboaters!

2011-09-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

Yet another one of our brother clubs in South Africa! These guys are fearless, fishing in waters with gators, hippos, and other creatures I don't want my legs in the water for......I believe Hugo Van Der Walt and Shawn Willment run this club and tournaments! Go get'em boys! Check out their web site here at http://www.basschallenge.co.za/ They have photos, standings, and everything else a great club should have.

Bass Angling Tournaments in South Africa for Float Tubes, Pontoons, Inflatables, Kayaks and Small Bass Boats

Back to Back For Carson Riley - Bass-N-Tubes Open

2011-05-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

Carson Riley claims victory for the second year in a row at Clear Lake.
Carson weighed in the big bag of the tournament on day 1 with 24.66 pounds topped off with the tourney big fish at 6.97 pounds. Carson's two day total weight was 41.82 pounds. In second place was Matt Nyiri with 2 nice limits for 37.49 pounds of Clear Lake bass. Taylor Capilla took home the third place money with 32.27 pounds.

Global Kickboat Big Bass Challenge - Catchem Caro Baits!

2011-04-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

Kickboaters from around the world will be competing for one big prize from Catchem Caro Bait for the guy that catches the biggest bass in there club tournament.

Qualifying clubs include: FBI, Japan, San Jose Bass-N-Tubes, IBBF, Italy, KBBC, South Africa, and Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club

Congradulations Mike Ayers!!!!
With a 11.60 monster delta bass, you are now the new leader of the CatchemCaro World Wide Baits Big Bass contest.

The leader board had changed once again thanks to the smallest bait used by most club members, the "Drop Shot" of all things. Mike Ayers from the SSCBBBC takes the lead while fishing with the Sanjo Bass-N-Tubes club. The event was on the Cal Delta at a location called White Slough.

19 anglers went at it and Mike won the event with a limit weighing 25.10 and breaking a new B-N-T 5 fish limit record. And now Mike leads the CatchemCaros World Wide Big Bass contest.
The big girl eat a drop shot rig as Mike navigated his Bucksbag Bronco Extreme. Mike is also one of the members on the CatchemCaro Prostaff. Congrats Mike on taking over the leaders board. Just when we all thought Big Dave had it nailed down, Mike came from behind and BINGO!!!
There's still a lot of chances for a bigger fish to come to the scales. So stay tuned as we all watch the out come of the clubs from around the globe.

See all the entry's and more info on the challenge here

The Invincible Belly Boat Fishing Team - Italy

2010-11-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

Our Brothers in Italy

Ibbf-Team (Invincible Belly Boat Fishing Team) was founded in Treviso in the fall of 2001, when three fans ciambellofili (Henry, Richard and Peter) decided to create a unique partnership with the prerogative of bass fishing from the boat and with the belly ' objective of "registering" new enthusiasts to develop innovative and original ideas, and above all create lasting friendships. Today IBBF-Team is an association recognized by the institutions and amateur sport ranks among the major Italian clubs. Our concept of fishing is realized in sharing experiences with others and have fun. Over time IBBF-Team has evolved, embracing also has changed the competitive spirit. Our commitment has been strong in the Italian championship belly boat (CIBB) for which, by nivizi, we managed to organize a final in one place "impossible" for many, but not for us (Nemi in 2009). We have held qualifying (first in Pietrafitta where now there is a row), we managed to fall for the first time in its history donuts in the lake Eur in Rome, we went on the radio and TV. We are committed in "a bass for a smile," involving over 100 people and donating a substantial sum to the cause that brings forward Sergio Lano years. The figure is helpful to build a school in Plan Tres Mil in Bolivia.We have done so much, perhaps too, surpassing all expectations, simply because we have acted in our own way. We have appeared in many newspaper articles, most popular and produced over 10 DVDs. The pure competition and an end in itself does not fit our philosophy and clashes with our beliefs. If we do compete having fun. IBBF-Team people who have come together in meetings, dinners, and whenever possible in the various Italian regions. We had sponsors, but are not essential for us, is a parenthesis. The association has about 70 members scattered in three different Peninsula, evidence that testifies to a mentality of 'simple, humble, perhaps, but definitely a winner.Being a member means being IBBF IBBF-Team-Team and then share with others in the group's passion, his secret place, and always give precedence to the group rather than individuality, while maintaining it, always give precedence allla opportunity to meet in a rally rather than a race.

For this reason in 2012 andreamo trend. We feel satisfied with the results achieved in recent years and Fipsas CIBB. From 2012 we will return to basics and spend all our energy solely in social life (meetings, fundraising activities and meetings) abandoning the commitment to racing.

Click Here for the IBBF-Team Website

Scbbbc 2010 Season Recap!

2010-11-23T08:55:00.000-08:00

Every day is like a nightmare, no TOC for me. 2010 TOC looks to be off the hook. I wish all of you guys the best of luck and enjoy every minute of your weekend at Clear Lake on the SCBBBC. 1st place $1500.00 while fishing in a kick boat and last place is $100.00. That's totally wild guys. Free rooms at the Skylark and the food at T-N-T is great, Your dinner will be like a company Christmas party, but with real friends that you enjoy fishing with every month. All of you guys earned this two days of bass fishing as you have competed in the worlds best elite kick boat format around.

This years SCBBBC tour had an average of 35 anglers at every stop along the tour. Last year Noah Stevens promised me to take the club a notch higher and he did just that, and for that I thank you. We have all enjoyed what the SCBBBC has to offer and for 1/3 ish of the club it's not over yet. They will have the time of there lives fishing in the worlds highest ever payout event in the history of any float tube / kick boat organization on one of the worlds best bass factories. Have fun guys and please take lots and lots of pictures. 2010 was the SCBBBC's 27th year as an organized float tube / kick boat club. Believe it or not, it has only changed very little in all those years. The main thing that has changed over the past 27 years are the faces and the number of faces that I see at each meeting and each tournaments. Every new year brings new faces and ways to catch these little green fish we call bass. We have always had 10 tour stops followed bt the TOC. Some of the tour venues have changed as the number of faces grew over the years, but the goal has always been the same. We're all there at dark-O-clock in the morning to sign in and get ready to blast off and fish for five good bites.

At each and every tour stop, some of us get those five good bites while some only get a few and other get none as I did at a few stops on the 2010 tour. I can't quite pin point what it is that makes me have a great time even during tournaments that I didn't so much as get a nibble. It's hard to get a blank, but it is made easy when I see the anglers at the weigh-ins that did get the bites. This year I was able to be there when several SCBBBC members weighed in there first keepers while fishing with the club. I kind of relive per-curiously through them as I know the feelings they enjoyed from the minute they feel the bite and then putting that first fish in the live-well and opening that lid periodically throughout the day to see your Mr Greene. Those are some great feeling for sure, and then they're thoughts as they Oar there boats back to the weigh-in knowing that they have there first fish for the scale and they now get to get there picture taken in front of the SCBBBC Banner. Ohhhhh what a great feeling as you can't wait to see your picture on the clubs web site.

I won't soon forget my buddy Walt's first fish he caught with the club during 2010 at Clear Lake or the time we spent prefishing for the Open and I'm sure he won't forget those fish too. Then there was Michaela first keepers at Clear Lake and I know she is probably all ready planning her strategies to put more fish in the live-well in 2011. And that member we call AC /Zack. I met AC for the first time at a Lake Ralphine turkey shoot of all places. This guy joins the club a year or two ago and now is sponsored by one of the wests best anglers, Mr. Dobynes. This guy has became a hell of an angler over night it seems like. Then we have the Rookie of the year, Chris Lapoint. This guy came from no where and kicked some bass this season. Watch out for him next year as he'll be in the top 5 more often then not I bet.

Let's not forget Mike Ayers, your award wining web master for the SCBBBC and the guy who managed all the club funds for 2010. This guy pulls off another SCBBBC AOY. This wasn't his first and I'm sure it's not his last. Watch out for his drop shot in 2011. I think there's another angler out there that will be another AOY hopefully in 2011, Matt Nyiri. I remember meeting Matt at the ramp at Spring Lake a few years ago and doing my little SCBBBC pitch while walking my dog. And now he hold a Rookie of the year and runner up for AOY. Keep it going Matt and thanks for joining the SCBBBC and bringing Camel-Back along.

It's been one out of 27 years and it's one year I'll always remember fishing. This was one of my hardest fishing years yet. There's not much a guy can do if he doesn't get the bites. I wouldn't have changed a thing this year and I fished my butt off at each and every SCBBBBC tour stop. This was my first year fishing as an unemployed angler and a victim of the recession. One of the cool things about this club is that it's affordable. I couldn't and wouldn't afford to fish some other event I really would have like too, but that's all part of this economy. Regardless of the recession the club still enjoyed the highest membership ever. Where else can you get the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat for $40.00 plus a little gas?

We all enjoyed another great season while fishing these float tube / kick boat event, but we all must remember it all happens because of a few elected officers, Noah, DJ, Mike, Martin, Mr Bird. These guys are the ones that do more then anyone might think to keep this ball rolling. There main goal is to keep there every day lives going and then making sure we all have a smooth, organized and fun event and meeting all year long. Thanks again guys for all your hard work and effort in 2010. And thanks to the many sponsors that have always been there to make our Clear Lake State Classic the best two day event in the world. Even if it rains all three days we're there. Without those sponsors all we have is fishing.

2011 looks like we'll have some old faces in new official position and I'm sure they'll do a fine job, but they have some huge shoes to fill. Good luck guys and always remember that you have a lot of people behind you and always willing to help when needed.

P.S. I can't wait to see what 2011, the 28th year of the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club has to offer the lucky anglers who join them. Thanks to everyone who came out and participated in a SCBBBC tournament and meeting. Have a great Thanks Giving and be sure to spend a lot of quality time with your family members and friends. See ya all on the water.

Rich Caro

Another Successful Year 2009 in the Books!

2009-12-04T09:17:00.000-08:00

WOW, another year under the bridge for the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club. This was our 26th year and it shows no signs of slowing as we have some great guys stepping up to take the club forward. Thank's guys for stepping up.

I'm looking forward to the new 2010 season and to seeing every one on the water. I met a lot of new anglers this year and made some new friends. I also look forward to meeting some new anglers and watching the new guys from 09 march up the standings in 2010. Remember to always introduce yourself to float tubers and kick boaters while your out on the water. Spread the word "SCBBBC" and lets keep the club growing.

We might have out grown some of the small bodies of waters we fished in the past, but the larger bodies of water have a lot more to offer a club such as our's. Don't forget to always support the Bass-N-Tubes club too. Try to schedule a few of there events into your 2010 season. They will offer some new bodies of water that most of us have never even seen. I know that more often then not, when I fish somewhere Iv'e never been I usually kick bass. The reason for it is that I just go out and fish. The Bass-N-Tubes club is as well organized and fun to fish as the SCBBBC. I'll be fishing a few of there events and hope to see more SCBBBC there too.

Rich Caro

2008 Season Flashback!

2009-01-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Now that the holidayzzz are over and I have a few days to think back on my 2008 season with the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club. 2008 was my 25th year of hitting some of Californias best float tube fishing holes. I had been Vice President for many years until 2006 when it was my turn to help take the club into the future. 2008 was my third year as the clubs President and it was my last year leading the worlds largest float tube / kick boat organization. WOW, and what a year it was! The club rouster grew to 47 paid members and our tournaments had averaged about 30 anglers. We put on 10 tournaments with B-N-T putting on one, the Clear Lake Open. We also added two new team events for the first time. This was the first time that Claifornia float tubers had the chance to pick their own two man teams and compete against each other. It proved to be a hit as 18 teams showed up for the first event on the Delta. One of the many benifits of being a part of the SCBBBC is meeting new anglers and 2008 brought several new anglers to our club.

In 2008 the SCBBBC had one of our very succefull members get real close to making it to the worlds biggest bass fishing show, The Bassmasters Classic. It was Pat Wilson , AKA, The Back Deck Pro, who represented the SCBBBC at the Bassmasters Federation Nation Championship in Kansas City. Pat had the worst fishing conditions any angler could face, but he did his best and came up empty handed as did most of the feild. 25 years ago when 9 float tubers hiked up to lake Ilsanjo for a little bass derby I don't think any of us thought that a club member would be one tournament away from competeing at the Classic.

In 2008 the club traveled with live game fish while fishing one of the worlds best bass factories, Clear Lake. The California Department of Fish & Game had worked with me and ironed out some of the details for us to recieve a special permit for transporting our catch while fishing our Clear Lake tournaments. We had to make some sacrafices with a 3 fish limit, but we did it and it proved to still be a great season on Clear Lake. This situation with the running permits had also helped to improve our clubs live-well standards and our education of the handling of our fish. Our mortality numbers for the 2008 season speak LOUDLY of our acomplishments as we only had 5 dead fish. Now I'm sure there might have been a few more that swam away after weigh-in and then past away, but I will bet the numbers are probably as low as the ones that came to the scales dead. With everyone working together our live-wells and our handling of fish will only get better.

2008 had some of the highest gas prices I have ever seen, but once I'm in the water those prices go out the window. These same high gas prices brought our club some new members. Some anglers just couldn't afford and didn't want the high cost of their glitter rockets and so they decided to sit a little lower in the water and save some money while still enjoying some great compitition. The SCBBBC can fill the void when gas goes over $4.00 a gallon. 2008 had a real bad ecomony, but it just didn't seem to faze our club rouster. This is a good sign for the future of our sport as the possabilities are endless with our growth. As a club we can work out any situation and still end up with great tournaments.

2008 was our clubs charity year. As a club we raised some canned food for people that don't have it as good as we do. I put the challenge out and all the SCBBBC members came through as we raised 672 cans of food for the Redwood Empire Food Bank. I personally would like to thank everyone for helping us feed the hungry. And thanks to Todd Iwamoto and Iwamoto jigs for donating 25 cents for every jig that our club members bought during the 2008 tour. We only do charity acts every other year so start thinking of another good charity act for the 2010 season.

The year started with some ruff weather as the winds blew at Lake Sonomas Yorty creek in Feb. This was our season opener and we kicked it off with 41 anglers. The rollers were rolling onto the ramp as I was launching my Bucksbag Bass Tech Kick boat and the wind was triing its hardest to blow my hat off. This tournament was the first in 25 years that I had beached my boat and sat in it while fishing just to get out of the wind and give my legs a rest. Jon Graves and I sat in our kick boats like beached whales, but to my surprise I caught a small keeper. Go figure. I was happy with my 8th place finish as Yorty creek is always my most humbling stop on the SCBBBC tour. When all the fish were weighed it was the only real float tuber of the day who won, Pat Wilson showed us that a angler doesn't need to have a fancy fully rigged kick boat to compete with the SCBBBC. All you need is a old school round belly boat and a few rods to catch 20.07 pounds of fish when the wind is blowing 35 plus miles an hour. What a way to start the 2008 tour.

http://scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008lakesonoma.html

Lake Sonoma, Yorty Creek, Feb, 24th
Anglers = 41
Limits = 1
Fish = 34
Big Fish = 5.63 Pat Wilson
Total = 101.3
Dead = 0

Now it's March and I'm checking in 39 anglers for 19 teams as we kicked off the second stop of our tour at the California Delta, Beacon Harbor. We were welcomed with a fly by by a Black Hawk as the FLW Nation Guard tour was having there last day of compition. Thier top 10 anglers blasted off with our 19 anglers. The fishing was wide open as it seemed as if everyone caught fish on this day. The team of Dan Chester and Dan Babala took 1st place with 21.81 for a 5 fish limit. CT Beach and I brought home 3rd place and we had a great day on the Delta with some real nice weather and a lot of canned foods being handed in at check-in.

http://www.scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008deltateams.html

Delta, Beacon Harbor, Mar 15th.
Anglers = 39
Limits = 15
Fish = 85
Big Fish = 6.82 John Hatfield
Total = 287.24
Dead = 0

It's April and we're taking the 2008 tour to Highland Springs in Lake County. Here is the body of water that our club record fish lives and it's one of my favorite places to fish. This lake has always felt very much like lake Ilsanjo to me. I have always liked it as if fishs similar to Sanj, but the fish are much bigger. We packed 36 anglers on this little lake, but I never felt as if my water was cramped by other anglers closing in on me. This was probably our coldest morning as my braid was totally frozen. It felt as if someone had tied a bunch of little knots in my line, but it was ice. I felt like I was Stealhead fishing, but I was in my Bucksbag Bass Tech kick boat. This cold snap made for some tuff fishing too. We only had two limits and it was our Vice President who took 1st place. Binh Phi weighed in one of the two limits of 13.78 and he also had the days big fish with a whopper of 7.64.

Mr. Scotty Beem has really sharpened his fishing skills over the past few years of fishing with the SCBBBC and once again he stayed on Binhs heels with the second of only two limits that weighed in at 11.52. I was able to take home 11th place and I almost got a little money. My fingers didn't thaw out until the following day. I won't forget my gloves ever again.

http://www.scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008highlandsprings.html

Highland Springs, April 20th
Anglers = 36
Limits = 2
Fish = 63
Big Fish = 7.64 Binh Phi
Total = 127.27
Dead = 0

Now I'm able to go to Clear Lake in May for the B-N-T Open. This is great as an officer because Mitch and Paul do all the work at this tour stop and it's a great time for the clubs to mix with eachother. I missed the first day as I qualified to fish the Bassmasters Federation Nation Divisinals at Lake Coude' lene in Idaho. When I flew home on Saturday the plane flew over Clear Lake and the sky was clear. I flew into Santa Rosa so the plane was dropping as we flew over Clear Lake and I was able to see kick boaters competeing in the keys on day # 1. It was way cool knowing I would be joining them the following morning. I checked-in Sunday morning and started fishing my favorite Clear Lake spot in the spring, the Keys. I love fishing in those keys when the fish are in there.

60 anglers were signed up and fishing this tournament and I was lucky enough to bring home 40th place and some good SCBBBC points towards the TOC. When you have 60 of Californias best kick boaters on the states best bass lake it's never easy to win, but for Todd Iwamoto it looked easy. Todd had the heaviest two day 5 fish limit of 34.61 and day # 1s big fish with a whopper that weighed in at 7.55. I'm sure most of Todds fish came on Iwamoto hand tied jigs. If you haven't stocked up on his jigs then your not catching as many fish as you can. It was the kid, Randy Kidd that smoked all 60 anglers when it came to big fish of this event. Randy weighed in a monster bass at 8.73. Bass-N-Tubes always puts on a great tournament and I can't wait to fish there Open tournament next year.

http://bass-n-tubes.com/dc/user_files/402.html

B-N-T Clear Lake Open, May 17th &18th
Anglers = 60
Limits =57
Fish = 391
Big Fish = 8.73 Randy Kidd
Total = 970.16
Dead = ?

It's back to the Delta's Whites Slough during the month of June and we had 27 anglers fighting the howling wind on an outgoing tide. The bite wasn't great, but a few guys always seem to figure it out. This time it was Mr. Doug Tyler who caught the bass need to win 1st place and show all of us who the # 1 stick was. Doug weighed-in only 2 fish for 11.02 and proved that you don't need a limit to take the top spot. Doug had the days big fish with a 8.63 monster that tried to eat his frog. It was our clubs newest President, Steve Wilson that did all he could to bring home the win and he came up in second instead. I was able to bring home 14th place while only weighing in one fish. Some times the fish just don't want to bite, but I still have a great day on the water fishing with the SCBBBBC.

http://www.scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008delta2.html

Delta, White Slough, June 14th.
Anglers = 27
Limits =2
Fish = 48
Big Fish = 8.63 Doug Tyler
Total = 116.96
Dead = 0

Once again I'm back on the Delta in June fishing the first of two new trial ( Pick Your Own Team )tournaments. My partner was Jon Graves and we were fishing against 17 other highly qualified teams. We all blasted off from Beacon Harbor on a nice day. The bite was much better then Whites Slough as eveyone was catching fish. The winning team was Mitch Teman and Chris Zelanka with a limit of 18.05. Graves and Caro came in 10th place and we were happy with that. We planned on winning, but the fish didn't plan on letting us.

Lake Sonoma
Anglers = 36
Limits =14
Fish = 81
Big Fish = 7.29 Capala
Total = 226.63
Dead = 0

It's July now and I'm fishing another team tournament on the regular SCBBBC tour and we're at Yorty creek again. It's our night tournament and I'm teamed up with Mike Casey. The team of Ayers/Marcheschi showed us how it was done by using Frogs / Jigs & drop shoots to bring in a limit that went 14.85. Mike and I took home11th place and some SCBBBC points. This tournament had a good turnout with 34 anglers ready to fish into the warm July night. The fish didn't bite like they should have on a summer night. One of these days I'm going to really get into the toads at Lake Sonomas Yorty creek and win one of these things. Maybe 2009 will be the year.

http://www.scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008sonomateams.html

Lake Sonoma, Night, July 12th.
Anglers = 34
Limits =2
Fish = 37
Big Fish = 6.44 Rolo Villanueva
Total = 90.21
Dead = 1

August is here and the SCBBBC is at Blue Lakes. This year no one fished the upper lake and we all stayed at the mud lake. This was our ( Early Bird ) tournaments so the long drive started very early as we checked in at 4:00 AM. The wind welcomed us as it was blowing in from the north.

We had 28 anglers check-in and Doug Tyler once again showed all of us how to win. Doug weighed in 5 fish for 10.52. Doug didn't just win, Doug won after fishing a night tournament with the Bass-N-Tubes club on the Delta. After weighing in with B-N-T Doug drove to Blue Lakes and checked in and loaded his boat down the small Deer trail in the dark before launching for another tournament. Doug found some fish and stayed with his patturn for another win. My hat goes off to the marathon man. We were also joined by Berrett Klien for the first time. He came and fished with us and made it to the scales with one keeper. I'm sure when he finishs school that he'll be a member of the SCBBBC. That's if he doesn't hook some great job after he gets a degree and move away. I look forward to fishing with him in 2009. I was able to scrape up 20th place and a few more of those SCBBBC points. I have TOC on my mind now as AOY isn't in reach this year.

http://www.scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008bluelakes.html

Blue Lake, Aug 17th
Anglers = 28
Limits =5
Fish = 80
Big Fish = 4.06 Join Graves
Total = 143.52
Dead = 1

It's still August and I'm back at the Delta with Jon Graves as my partner for the second of two new trial ( Pick Your Own Team ) tournaments. 24 anglers total with 12 teams ready to do what they do best, FISH. The bite wasn't what it's been in the past, but there is alway someone who will figure things out and this time it was the team of Iwamoto and Phi. They won with a nice limit of fish that weighed in at 21.63 I had a chance to watch Steve Wilson catch a toad while flipping a Vertical Tube bait. This was the last of a great new float tube format. I'm already looking forward to fishing the team events in 2009. I hope Mr. Graves will help carry us again for a few wins.

Delta, Whites, Real Team, Aug, 23rd.
Anglers = 24
Limits =7
Fish = 41
Big Fish = 8.80 Steve Wilson
Total = 106.79
Dead = 0

The month now is September and 23 anglers have there trucks loaded and ready to run to there secret spots on Clear Lake. This will be the first time our club has a 3 fish limit as the DFG put this restriction on us so we can "Run" legally. I wasn't sure how this new 3 fish limit would pan out, but it seemed to work good. My area I went to had trucks lined up to launch so I went to plan B. I only shared the ramp at plan B with one other kick boater. This time I came home with 6th place. I had a great day as I was able to cull a few times and get fish on the Speed Trap. I love catching fish on crank baits. I wish I knew were Matt Cahill fished because he took home 1st place with a 3 fish limit that weighed in at 13.56 and he had the big fish of the day with a toad that weighed 6.5. I'm sure glad we were able to "Run" as it really helps to spread us out and not crowd us together. The water was low so if we couldn't have ran it would have made for a ruff day on the water no matter were we launched.

http://www.scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008clearlake.html

Clear Lake, Sept, 20th.
Anglers = 23
Limits =10
Fish = 40
Big Fish = 6.50 Matt Cahill
Total = 115.30
Dead = 1

Finally it's Oct and time for the 24th SCBBBC State Classic. This was the first year that the Bass-N-Tubes club put this tournament on there schedual. It started off with rain, rain and more rain. There was also a million dead carp everywhere you went on Clear Lake. This didn't seem to faze the bass as they were still on a good bite. Once again we were able to run legally and spread out over the entire lake. After day # 1 we came back to a great BBQ put on by the State Federation Nation, thanks to Andrew Sayles and Captian Jack. The raffle was off the hook and the Evans Williams was flowing and great sponsors product was flying. I still feel a little hangover.

The rains let up and the tournament ended up being good. We had 40 anglers this year show up and fish with us. It was our own Deren Kozenko who took the top prise. Deren weighed in a total of 6 fish for two days that went 25.07 and he had the big fish of the tournament with a 6.67 toad. This has always been a fun event for me as I can remember when Jimmy Reese used to be the one putting it on back in the day. He had two weigh-ins each day and when you came in for the first weigh-in on Saturday he had a BBQ going for lunch. We'd come in and weigh-in , grab some food and take off again. Boy O boy, those were the days my friend. This year I was able to take 8th place and a few more SCBBBC points towards that big end of the year TOC.

http://www.scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008classic.html

Clear Lake, State Classic, Oct 4th & 5th
Anglers = 23
Limits =10
Fish = 40
Big Fish = 6.50 Matt Cahill
Total = 115.30
Dead = 2

As we wind on down the season we come to our last official stop before the 2008 SCBBBC TOC. We all checked in at Blue lakes for our last tour stop of the 08 season. It's November and the weather was cool and the wind was mild. I fished my fins off at this stop and I wasn't able to catch a keeper. So out of the 24 anglers that entered this tournament it was myself who came in last. After 25 years of fishing with this club I have came in last many times, but this time it didn't feel so bad. Don't ask me why, but it just wasn't all that bad getting my butt kicked. The weather was good and I fished as hard as I could all the way to the end. I had just finished another great year with a great club. I had met a lot of great people along the way. I had already came to terms with myself about stepping down from leading the worlds oldest and largest float tube / kick boat organization. I knew I had qualified for the 25th TOC and I would have a chance at the $1000.00 TOC prise money and that I would enjoy another dinner with the top 1/3rd of the club. I wish the whole club could join us for the TOC dinner.

On the other hand big Dave Sternitzke was a happy angler as he wrapped up a day of fishing with a big fat WIN with a limit of bass for 10.30 and his second SCBBBC Angler Of The Year 2008 and he wasn't sharing it with no one. I said it once before and I'll say it again. It's one thing to have won AOY back in the day when our tournaments averaged 10 anglers, but now they average 30 well rounded anglers with a lot of knowledge. My hat is tipped to big Dave.

http://www.scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008bluelakes2.html

Blue Lakes, Nov, 8th.
Anglers = 24
Limits =3
Fish = 57
Big Fish = 3.10 Jon Graves
Total = 101.09
Dead = 0

It's still November and 17 of the SCBBBC TOC qualifiers are back at Clear Lake and there trucks are idealing alongside the Skylark as we prepair for blast-off. It didn't feel the same as Bill Sweatt wasn't with us. This is the 25th SCBBBC TOC and we're fishing for $1000.00 for 1st place. We had great weather and some hot sticks ready to fish. We had several new faces that had never fished with the SCBBBC before 08' and several who had never made it to the TOC. After two days on the water it was one of our 2008 Rookies that out did eveyone. Rolando Villanueva caught a two day, two limit total for a total of 20.13. Rolo quietly joined our club and quietly fished throughout the season while quietly weighing in his fish all year. This was Rolandos first year fishing the SCBBBC and he is one of the new people I have had the pleasure to meet and fish with. The 2008 TOC could not have went to a nicer guy.

I once again got skunked on day # 1 and with some help from Dave Sternitzke I was able to get a limit on day two for a 13th place finish. If I would have found those fish on day # 1 things would have been a lot different for me. I still had a great time while fishing with the club on a great lake.

http://www.scbbbc.com/archives/2008results/2008toc.html

I also tip my hat to another new friend as he capture Rookie of the year. Dominic Doans aka The Dominator. Congratulations Dom on a job well done. He learned a few hard lessons in 2008 and he probably fished more then any SCBBBC all year. Watch out for this guy in 2009. We had a few members that were only able to fish with us one time and I'm sure they had a good time while fishing with us nut cases. We also had a couple members join that were not able to fish with us in 08, but we'll try to get them out with us in 09.

2008 was a great year and all the SCBBBC officers did a great job at makeing these tournaments go very smooth. This was Jon Birds first year at donating his time to be your Tournament Director. He weighed 773 fish that weighed a total of 2041.68 pounds. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that Jon had been the Tournament Director for the SCBBBC for a long time. We have had some great TD's in the past, but Jon worked some magic with everyone who brought him fish. Thanks Jon for a thankless job well done. 2009 we'll see a new face weighing in the fish. DJ Von bima is taking over for Jon as Jons back is hearting from weighing in all your monster bass.

I would have to say the Matt Cahill kept our check book balance down to the penny all year. Our account had never had such a large balance and Matt took care of it while we all fished. Thanks Matt for a job well done.

Now it's time for me to step aside and let Steve Wilson take his turn at steering the worlds largest float tube organization into the future. I needed to take a break and focus on some other things such as my wife who suported the club and me all through the year. I also want more time to jam on my new Les Paul, but don't think you wont see me on the water. I plan on winning every tournament throughout 09' and I think an Angler Of The Year award is in my future. LOL

I'll still be in the shadows of the new officers and maybe in a few years I'll run for President again, but for now I just want to fish and meet new anglers and help others catch fish.

I hope you all had fun while fishing with the SCBBBC I also hope you learned some new ways to catch a bass. I hope you fished some new waters with us and I hope to see you all at the 2009 SCBBBC tournaments.

Rich Caro

P.S. I would also like to thank Rebecca for all her help with the paperwork at the end of each tournaments weigh-in. And thanks to DJ for helping Jon weigh all those fish. And thanks to all of you for joining the SCBBBC in 2008 and helping to make it the best float tube club on the planet.

Big Fish 2008 = Steve Wilson 8.80 Delta, Whites Slough.

Heaviest Individual 5 Fish Limit = 20.07, Pat Wilson, Sonoma, Yorty Creek.

Heaviest Team 5 Fish Limit = 21.81, Chester/Babala, Delta, Beacon H.

Heaviest 1 Day 3 Fish Limit = 16.41,Matt Cahill, Day # 2 Clear L, Classic.

Lightest Winning Weight = 10.30, Dave Sternitzke, Blue L.

Limits =112

Fish = 773

2008 Total Weight = 2041.68

Total Dead = 5

Wilson nets co-angler lead at Forrest Wood Cup

2008-08-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

Sonoma County belly Boat Bass Club Member Pat Wilson Leads Forrest Wood Cup!

Fickle bite on Lake Murray yields tightly packed leaderboard heading into second day of competitionBy Gary Mortenson - 14.Aug.2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. – As expected, Lake Murray proved to be a tough first date for the entire co-angler field during the opening round of competition at the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
With difficult summer fishing conditions abound, coupled with a dramatic shift in the weather over the past 24 hours, co-anglers were left scrambling to find whatever bites they could. In fact, when all was said and done, only eight co-anglers in the field of 77 managed to land five keeper bass. However, by the time weigh-in had concluded, a few co-anglers did manage to break through the Lake Murray morass.“It was pretty brutal out there,” said Pat Wilson, who ended day one atop the leaderboard with a yeoman-like catch weighing in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces. “So I feel pretty blessed right now. I wound up catching eight keepers total and I had a limit in the boat by 12:30 p.m. My first fish was a 3-pounder and that really helped. Overall, I feel pretty good right now.
”To be sure, Wilson has plenty of experience fishing pressure-packed tournaments. With three Wal-Mart BFL titles, a 2005 FLW Tour co-angler title on the Potomac River and a 2007 Wal-Mart FLW Series co-angler title at the California Delta already under his belt, Wilson knows what it takes to win.“I went pre-fishing with (pro) Jimmy Reese the first two days and that really helped me figure out what the fish were doing,” said Wilson, who boasts 14 top-10 finishes in his FLW Outdoors career since his rookie season in 2000. “My goal was to get three keeper bites today. I figured that if I got anything more than that it would be a bonus. Today, everything just worked out. I had a great partner in David Fritts and he put me on fish. And that’s all you can ask for.”Wilson said he fished in anywhere from 10 to 25 feet of water using soft plastics, targeting bass on a variety of flats and breaks.“I’m going to do the same thing tomorrow,” said Wilson, a native of Penngrove, Calif. “The good thing is that I can use this (pattern) pretty much anywhere on the lake.”While he’s excited to be in the lead, Wilson said he’s just taking the tournament one day at a time.“Right now, I’m just trying to make the top 10,” said Wilson. “This is a great field. We have the best co-anglers in the country. But I think if I can make the top 10, I’ll be in pretty good shape. But like every tournament, you have to get a little lucky. So I’m just going to go out there tomorrow, fish hard and see where the chips fall.”

From Kick Boat to Kicker Fish - Chris Zaldain

2008-06-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

June 20 2008. Article from FLW on Bass-n-Tubes member Chris Zaldain. You can read the whole artical here in PDf format. Click Here

Belly Boater Chris Zaldain Making it Big with FLW

2008-01-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

2007 SCBBBC TOC Video!

2007-12-31T17:39:00.001-08:00

Looking Back on the Scbbbc 2007 Tour of California

2007-12-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

The 2007 Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club northern California tour is in the record books. This was a year to remember for sure as it was one of our biggest tour's on record. We had an average of 29 angler's at each event. This made for some great competition while kicking around in a kickboat.

A little some thing new for the SCBBBC members to fish for in the 2007 season was the SCBBBC Winner's Shootout. This is when all the angler's who have won an event and who won the Angler Of The Year award will have a chance to fish for $200.00 with no entry fee's. We have also invited the 2007 AOY from the Bass-N-Tubes club to fish the Winner's Shootout. The water's have been picked and the date is still needing to be picked. The location will be at Clear Lake so we can have a chance to hook some of California's biggest and baddest bass swimming today.

We hit all the club's regular location's. We started the tour off with a trip to Berryessa on Feb 24th with 29 float tubers ready and willing to rip some lip's. We met for the first time who our rookie of the year at this event would be, but no one knew this was him. He was floating around in the standard rookie style. This kid started off his season in pure rookie fashion while fishing in a U-boat. Anthony Duffany will prove to be a force to be seen throughout the tour. The weather was overcast and the wind picked up some while we all tried to nail a limit of Berryessa bass.Out of 29 angler's we weighed in 9 limit's and 92 total fish weighing in at a grand total of 170.05lb's. When all the fish were weighed in I was lucky enough to take home the win. It's alway's a great day on the water when the fishing goes your way.

With some new fee's for Berryessa permit's looming over us it's still not clear if we'll be fishing this great location in 2008. Let's all hope for a little luck with these fee's.The club's next tour stop was on March 24th at the California Delta's Beacon Harbor. This was a team tournament that brought out 16 team's and a total of 33 angler's. We blasted off at O dark in the morning and we had to dodge several big gas guzzling bass boat's as the idealed into there check-in area at Russo's. This didn't stop us from slaying Delta toad's in pure belly boat fashion. The bite was on as it seemed as if every one had fish in there live well's. The weather was great and the fishing was good too. We shared the water with the best in the world as the Bassmasters Elite series was on the Delta also. Mr Bill Sweatt fished along side the Elite winner Aron Martin's. When all was said and done it was the winning team of Brendal and Riley with five fish weighing in at 23.56 with an 8.32 kicker to help put them over the top and secure them both a slot in the SCBBBC's Winner's Shootout. We weighed in a total of 13 limit's and a total of 80 fish that weighed at total of 235.38 lb's. With the help of Mike Ayer's and crew this event went as smooth as alway's.

The tour then takes us back the Lake County to chase the fish at Blue Lake's on April 15th.Once again we had 33 of California's most hard core float tuber's arrive on the side of the highway to enter this event. The wind was howeling before the sun had a chance to peek over the mountain's. We all had the choice of fishing the upper or lower lake's, but once again it was the lower muddier lake that kicked out the winning limit. This win went to Mr. Scotty Beem. This guy called this one from the beginning and has taken a win here in the past. Scott came to the scale's with the winning weight of 17.25 with a kicker of 7.01 that put Scott over the top. I wonder if he used his Spiderweb patturn? I have been stuggling at this upper clear lake, but next year Im going to the muddy lake to change it up. We weighed in 16 limit's with a total of 114 fish for a total weight of 245.84 lb's.

The fourth stop on the tour was with the Bass-N-Tube's club at their Clear Lake Open on May 19th and 20th. This is always a huge tournament with member's from each club coming out of the wood work to fish this award winning bass factory. The wind blew at about 100 mile's an hour the intire weekend and kept all of us in the key's. This didn't stop the bite from being wide open as every one seemed to have had limit's. If you wanted to be catching fish this was the place to be, in the key's. It was a close race between two of our sport's biggest angler's. Our own Dave Sternitzky and B-N-T's Tim Zandbergen duked it out from there kick boats, but it was Tim who came away with the win while weighing in a total of 43.50 for two day's. Dave had a SCBBBC record breaking two day total of 42.87 for a second place finish and a spot in the SCBBBC record book's and a slot into the SCBBBC WSO. This tournament was also a wake up call for a few float tuber's to be carefull while fishing in the wind. It got a little hairy for a couple of angler's who were stranded do to the wind and needed to be rescued. Maybe some day you can read their story as it's a good one. We had 18 two day limit's with a total of 207 fish caught that weighed a total of 602.73 pound's. These totals only reflect the SCBBBC member's. Thank's again Paul and crew for a great tour stop alway's.Now it's time to go back to the water were our club's record fish still swim's waiting to be photographed again and make the new's.

It's Highland Spring's on June 10th. 31 angler's once again make the drive to fish with the SCBBBC on a small body of water sitting in the hill's of beautiful Lake County. The weather wasn't all that bad, but the fishing was tough for a few. Then there's Mr. Jig Master, Travis Tarver. This guy can catch anything that swim's as long as there is a hand tied jig on the end of his line. I bet he could catch a Marlin on a jig if he tried. Travis schooled all of us at this event. While we fished shallow he stayed a little off shore and kept to his jig. His jig dragging along the bottom was what it tolk to take the win at this event. Travis weighed in a limit of Highland fish at 17.05 It was the other jig master who nailed the biggest fish of this event, Mr Todd Iwamoto came to the scales with a 5.98 lunker. My guess is it was caught on a Iwamoto jig. We weighed in 7 limit's with a total of 74 fish weighing 72.51lb's. Once again out tournament staff ran a great show.

Now is July 28th and it time once again for a night time team tournament at Lake Sonoma. This is alway's a tour stop that kicks my bass. We had 14 team's for 28 angler's show up to this Army Corp Of Engineer's lake. This was one of those night's that all you needed was a Tee shirt and a kick boat. This water hole once again kicked my bass as it always doe's, but that wasn't the case for the team of the two jig master's, Mr. Iwamoto and Mr. Taver's. I knew as most of us did that this was a jig dream team. These guy's snatched up first place with a five fish limit weighing in at a total of 18.01. We weighed in 5 limit's with 49 fish that weighed a total of 130.25 pound's. This lake is alway's a body of water that will humble an angler while other's are slaying. Im going to start prefishing now for next year's Sonoma tournament.

We're now into the dog day's of summer and it's August 19th as we have our early bird tournament on Spring Lake. Now it's time for a real challenge as we have 24 die hard angler's competeing on 75 acre's of water. You had to get to your spot fast and catch the fish that were there even faster before another angler got onto your water. This lake over the past several year's has gotten tougher and tougher, but this is what an old man once told me builds character. It also sharpen's your tournament skill's as the future of our sport hold's crowded water's as we grow and grow. We had no limit's come to the scales, but we still had one angler prevale over all the other's. Carson Riley came to the scale's with four fish that weighed a total of 14.80 with a kicker that tipped the scale at 6.84. This put Mr. Riley in first and gave him a slot in the SCBBBC WSO.We had a total of 0 limit's with a total of 34 fish that weighed in at 93.12lb's. I bet next year is going to be a challenge again.

It's Sept 23rd and the SCBBBC is back at the California Delta's White Slough. This time we have 29 angler's floating in the water buy 6:00 am when Mike Ayer's blast's us off. Some angler's go to the right while some went to the left and a few stragler's floated around the launch area. The weather was beautiful as we had the cloud cover that is always a welcome element to any float tuber. Some ask if prefishing is realy needed. I say yes. I prefished and found only small fish to the left. So on tournament day I put it all on the line and oared to the right. I went right past every float tuber until I had some water to my self. The bite was on fire if you went to the right and it was as cold as ice to the left. Our young gun rookie Anthony had his personal big fish of 7.43, but it wasn't big enough to beat Mr. Bill Sweatt's 8.66 toad that almost cost him his life and a few rod's. Im sure you'll here his story every time we fish White's, it's one of those stories you don't soon forget.Anthony had this tournament in the bag throughout the weighin until he helped me bag my fish. I thought I had only 14 pound's and some change, but that wasn't the case. I weighed in five fish at 16.19 just edging Anthony out by 1-100th of an ounce with 16.18. Im not sure but I think this was one of the SCBBBC closest finish's ever in the 24 year's we've been at this sport of float tubing.We caught 7 limit's and a total of 61 fish that weighed in at 143.42 pound's. This year the Delta has been very very good to me.Now it is that time of year that the leave's start falling and the traffic is building on 101 as rubberneck's slow to look at the pumpkin patch. This is when all the California float tuber's come out from their private pond's to compete at the historic SCBBBC State Classic.

This was our 21st year at this tournament and it proved to be another great event for all who fished it. We had 36 angler's come to Clear Lake Oct, 13th and 14th. We didn't have the large number of Bass-N-Tube member's at this year's event, but the one's that did show were welcomed as if they were family. With our new live-well standard's and our great performance from our tournament director we were able to get the special permit to live haul our fish again, ( RUN ) Once again I would like to thank the Department Of Fish & Game for giving us this huge privlage that will help our sport keep growing with quality event's on Clear Lake.This year's winner was our V.P. Mr. Bill Sweatt with a two day limit of 40.12. This was a great come back seeing how Bill lost some $$$$$ rod's and reel's while prefishing in the storm just before the Classic. He kept his focus and prevaled over the pack and won the historic SCBBBC State Classic. Big fish went to Matt Cahill with a 8.23 Clear Lake monster. On day #2 it was Jon Bird who came in with the big fish at 7.18.We brought back the BBQ thanks to the help of Dale Zindler, Andrew Sayles and Captain Jack from the Caifornia BASS Federation Nation. These guy's stepped up and helped make our event the best. Our sponcor's all came through as the raffle was off the hook.Bucksbag, Flowmaster, Bighammer, Outdoor Pro Shop, AC Pro Shop, Tackle it, Persuader, Minn Kota, BASS & ESPN2, and Rejuvinate bass med's. Bucksbag was the main sponcor and John Grave's walked away Sunday with another beautiful Bucksbag Southfork kick boat. We weighed in 42 five fish limit's with a total of 243 fish that weighed in at a total of 688.11 pound's. We only had 1 dead fish. Thank you every one for taking such great care of your fish as this is what help's us to get the Running permit from the DFG. Next year's Classic will be an official ( EVENT ) What does this mean? It means we can have as many angler's as we want and we can pay back as much as we want with no limit's. We also won't have to worry about sharing the lake with any other big tournament's as the lake belong's to the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club. So start planning on attending this big show.

Now it's Nov 3rd and time to go back to Blue Lakes for our final event for the 2007 regular season tour with 27 angler's. We have a close race for Angler Of the Year and another chance for one angler to qualify for the SCBBBC WSO. This will also be the tournament that lock's in 15 angler's who will be joining us for the best ever TOC at Clear Lake. So after a slug fest between Mr. Sweatt and Mr. Sternitzky they ended the season with a tie for AOY 2007. I bet Bill wish's Dave would have fished the clear upper lake as the bite there was as tough as nail's for the few of us that fished it.Congradulation's Bill & Dave on showing true class on the water all season with the club. Once again, Im fishing the lower mud lake next year so watch out guy's and make room on that path for the Bass Tech boat. I think we need to get up there while prefishing and clear the path and make it a little more kick boat friendly.When the fish were weighed in it was an old club member Mr.Triton, Steve Wilson who came out on top with a five fish limit of 11.34 just squeezing out Dale Zindler with 11.06. This tournament locked in our young gun Anthony Duffany with the Rookie of the year award. Good going Anthony on a great first season tour with your new club. We caught 13 limit's with a total of 89 fish brought to the scale's that weighed in at a total of 154.3 pound's.For the 24th year the top third of the SCBBBC are heading back to Clear Lake's Skylark motel.

The crowd's are all gone and the weather is mild. It's Nov 17th , 18th and the weather is going to be nice all weekend. 15 of California's best line up for the blast-off as we once again have the Runner's permit thank's to the DFG. After we wake Carson up and share a few word's with everyone Mike blast's us off. We all caught fish, but the fishing seemed to prove tough for some and on fire for other's. After weighing in on day # 1 I had 22.64 with a kicker of 9.01. Prefishing paid off again for me as I knew where not to fish.After checking every one into their room's at the Skylark we all showed up at the T-N-T Mexican food resturant. They had a room set up for us and gave us top notch service. This was a sign of the change's in our sport as we have moved beyond the Pizza parlor and into a nice place with good food and cocktail's. Im glad I walked to the resturant as those shot's and Margarita's where gggrrreeeaattt!Day # 2 the lake fished the same for me and it kicked out 21.81 with another kicker of 6.01.Once again my prefishing paid off along with some choices that worked out for me.I was able to set a new two day record with 44.45. We had 6 two day 10 fish limits with a total of 123 fish for two day's that weighed a total of 347.16 pound's. We also set a new record for payout;s in a float tube tournament with a $1000.00 1st place take home check. 24 year's ago no one would have ever emagined that float tubing would have became what it is now. We're still in for some surprises as this sport is going to keep on growing. I have decided to run for President again as I still have some unfinished project's for our club.I would personally like to thank all of our member's and the Bass-N-Tube's family for helping to make this year a totally great year in float tubing and kick boating. I would also like to thank Bill Sweatt for backing me up as Vice President when the ice got real thin during this whole live well thing. And thanks to Mike Ayer's for all his work on our award winning web site that all of us use every day for information and another place to talk float tubing. And thank you Mike and Dan chester for weighing in all 1166 fish through the long season. You two guy's handled a total of 2882.87 pound's of fish. Maybe next year the TD will need a back brace. And thank's to all of our member's for taking care of your fish. We had maybe 8 fish die throughout the year. The DFG has taken notice to our professional handling of our fish and they thank us for setting the standard for care of fish.If it wasn't for Mr. Russ Stansbury we wouldn't have had our check book balanced and our finance's organized. How would you like to balance my personal check book, LOL. Thanks guys for all your help. Next season Im going to have a new crew backing me up and helping our club move forward. If Im lucky enough to be voted Prezzz in 08 I will be looking forward to working with all of you. Last but not least here are a few statistic's.During the 2007 SCBBBC tour we fished a total of 11 tournaments including the TOC.We caught a total of 136 limit's. { Open & Classic are 10 fish limit's.}We handled 1166 fish.We only killed 8 fish.We had a total weight of 2882.87 pound's brought to the scale.Thanks again every one for making the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club a huge success in 2007 and the past 24 year's.

Im looking forward to the 2008 tour already. So get out to the garage or the spare room and organize all that tackle and get those special touch's finished on your boat. Keep in mind if you need help on your live well system or your in need of a real deal on any Bucksbag product's contact me and we'll take care of you. If you need some hand tied custom jig's contact Todd Iwamoto and if your in need of a great guide on Clear Lake contact Benno Heune. Be sure to stop by the Outdoor Proshop,Tackle-it, Limit Out and buy some http://www.Bighammer.com swim baits while your getting some Persuader Spinner bait's. If you can't make it to these tackle store's don't forget to go online and shop at the http://www.usacproshop.net site. Be sure you have a full jar of Rejuvinate for your live well in 2008. Don't forget to renew your Subscription to Bassmaster Magazine and Basswest. Have a great holiday and I will see you on the water.Rich Caro

2007 SCBBBC Tournament of Champions!

2007-11-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

What a weekend. It started with confirming all the reservations for room and board for 15 qualifiers. Then prefishing on Friday. I started with my State Classic locations and they were slow, to slow to win any thing. So Mr. Stansbury passed on a little information that helped place me in the write area of the lake. That was near the huge clouds of bait fish. So I drove around and found bait fish in three area's.The clouds of these bait fish were huge. Millions of 2" & 3" shad swimming in formation.

So on day #1 I fished two area's down south and I missed my round tube while reloading all my gear to move from one hot spot to another. While putting in I had bait flipping and flopping every where and huge swirls in the skinny water from what I assumed were toads. As soon as I was in the water a giant swirl sounded off to my left. I grabbed my war eagle rod and on the third or fourth cast of day #1, BINGO. 9.1 pounder is pulling a little drag with one good head out of the water head shake. Then it came straight in to my thumb. I then nailed two more fish on my LVR while Yo Yoing it. Then I tried a number of baits before I pulled out the fish trap swim bait. This bait was the ticket for me as the fish eat them up. I had a limit just before sun up. Then the boat were on me, but thet were all cool. They watched as I landed several chunky fish while fishing in the Bass Tech Southfork boat. I watched them pull up and use all kinds of baits with no luck. I passed off some of my swimbaits and watched these boaters catch a few fish. Jay and Kevin pulled up to say hi so I was able to share my toad with them. I then loaded up the boat and fish and ran to my second hot spot.

There I culled a few fish with the same swimbait. I would cast the bait into 15' to 20' of water in the area where the bait fish were. Then I would let it sink on a slack line directly to the bottom. I would simply just slow roll the bait back a slow as I could. I would get slammed about every 20 or 30 minute's. I only caught a few fish in the 2 pound range as most were the better part of 3 pounds and up.When all the fish were weighed I ended up with 22 pounds and some change.

After checking every one into their rooms at the Skylark it was time for some food. We put the Pizza Parlor behind us and went to T-N-T Mexican food restaurant. This was a sign of the changes our club and organization is enjoying. All the food and Margarita's were great! Not to mention the shot's.It was a good thing that I walked to restaurant.

Day #2 I passed my first area up as a fellow angler pulled into my secret parking spot. My second spot was clear of anglers and the baitfish were jumping. After getting in the water in noticed there wasn't near the bait fish as the day before. So I pulled out the blade for a little while before the sun came up, but nothing was happening. Then the swimbait came back out and wham, fish on. The limit came quickly and only a few boats showed up, but they where cool and I did give them a few baits too. They started catching fish with them as soon as they started throwing them.Casting in the area of the shad and letting it sink into at least 15' of water on slack line then the slow retrieve seemed to be the ticket. I never got bit while burning any baits or working the middle of the water column. Water was 58 - 59 degree's.

We weighed in order of lowest weight first and up.I was waiting to see someone come up with some toads, but as they weighed in one at a time and I didn't see any monsters.Then I weighed in 21 pounds with big fish of 6 pounds. I'm totally stoked and to be honest I can't believe how you can have a few mediocre years and then BANG your on fire.I would like to thank Bill Sweatt for supporting me as VP through out these two growing years and backing me up in some rough water. Thanks also go out to Mike Ayers for weighing in all those fish and keeping up our award winning web page. And for getting our trophies for every tournament. Thanks to Russ Stansbury for keeping our finances straight. These officers helped build this club along with all our members who showed up at the monthly meetings and the event's. It was a long 10 lake tour. And thanks to the B-N-T crew for there support of the sport we all love. I can't forget Deren Kozenko for pulling his Ranger up to help release our fish. To be a part of this thing call the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club is unreal. My brother was at the very first turkey shoot that Roland Rich put on at Sanj. When he heard what the 2007 TOC 1st place was paying and where we all were staying and eating he was shocked. He said he never would have imagined this club would still be around let alone be paying $1000.00 with a no entry fee tournament.

If you thought this was a fun year while running legally and fishing with an average of 30 anglers at each event then your really going to like 2008.Thank you every one for every thing. And thank you all for making the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club a great organization to be part of.

2007 Scbbbc Awards

2007-11-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

Angler of the Year!
Congratulations to Dave Sternitzke and Bill Sweatt as your 2007 Co-Anglers of the Year! These guys both deserve this award as they are two of the best anglers in the club year after year. Both anglers finished the year tied with 443 points each. Their names will be forever remembered in the archives of the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club records with passed champions of this most coveted award, AOY. Great job guys no one deserves it more then you two!

Tournament of Champions is all set.
Congratulations to all 15 anglers that made it to the big show! 1. Dave Sternitzke 377, 2. Bill Sweatt 370, 3. Carson Riley 359, 4. Anthony Duffany 356, 5. Rich Caro 350, 6. Binh Phi 346, 7. Matt Cahill 339, 8. Mike Ayers 331, 9. Dale Zindler 328, 10. Jon Bird 327, 11. Scott Beem 322, 12. Dan Chester 320, 13. John Graves 319, 14. Paul Fontes 314 and second half points leader Dave Brown 192. These anglers will be competing for over $4000 dollars in prize money on November 17,18 at Clear Lake. Congrats to our first time Tournament of Champions Dan Chester, Anthony Duffany, Jon Bird, John Graves, Dale Zindler and Dave Brown. You guys did great this year!

2007 Rookie of the Year
goes to young Anthony Duffany with his 4th place finish over all in the points standing. In a close 2nd was rookie Jon Bird with a great first season coming in 9th overall. 3rd was John Graves fishing his first full year with the club. Watch out for these guys next year as they shoot for fame and fortune on the 2008 Scbbbc tour.

2007 State Classic at Clear Lake

2007-10-16T14:35:00.001-07:00

This has to be one of the best kickboat tournaments of all time! Let's recap, 1st we were granted a special permit from the Fish and Game to transport our fish so we didn’t all have to stay in one area, Thank you DFG and Richie. “Sam from the Bassmasters release boat checking in to say you guys did an awesome job with your fish. It's nice to work with people who give a hoot". 2nd We had Andrew and Jack from the BASS Federation Nation helping with the weigh-in and cooking everyone a huge BBQ Saturday that was off the hook! 3rd We had the group camp site at state park with a huge camp fire for us all to hang out around. 4th we had one of the greatest raffles of all time with lots of high dollar prizes and a special kids raffle that I know everyone enjoyed watching. And 5th we had a hell of a time catching bass all weekend! I would like to thank everyone that helped out this year. It was more then just the officers working but lots of others just helping out, you guys rock.

SONOMA COUNTY BELLY BOAT BASS CLUB 2007 TOUR

2006-12-19T08:33:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Trees have been cut and most of the presents should be wrapped by now. Box's of candy are being eaten and companies are having parties for their employees. The water temps are down into the 50's. Soon WE'LL be putting on a Turkey shoot in Jan at Lake "X"for all the float tubers that are sitting in warm living rooms watching rerun fishing shows on ESPN2. Once we get through the long cold month of January 07' we will be kicking off the SCBBBC's 2007 tour. The 2007 year will be our clubs 23rd year as an organized float tube club. Therefor I will see to it that all the anglers fishing with us will enjoy a smooth running circuit and have as much fun as possible. So here's where we're going to go float in our little bass boats.We will start the tour at Lake Berriessa on Feb 24th at Capella Cove. Will this be a small mouth show down or maybe a large mouth slug fest? The water will be cold in Feb and the fish will be in a winter mode. The strike zone will be very small so anglers will be having to slow down and make every bite count.After we thaw out from the Berriessa event the tour will take us down to the Delta ( Beacon Harbor ) on March the 24th for our clubs first team tournament of the 07 season. So for all of you anglers that didn't get a chance to fish the Nor-Cal team thing, here you go. This will for sure be a bucket mouth tourney as these waters hold some monster fish. Working with your team mate and putting a plan together and executing it to catch the heaviest five (5) fish limit. You read it write, this will be the first year we go to a five fish limit per team. Our members voted on this and every one feels good about the change. This will also relieve some stress off of a few more fish throughout the day.Now its April 15th and the weather should be warming up for the tour as we head up to Lake County to rip some lips on the famed Blue Lake, (Mud Lake). We haven't been to Blue Lake's in the early Spring in a few years. I'm looking forward to catching some toads and watching some of our anglers break they're personal best catch's. I have fishing this lake in April a few times over the years when there was no tournament going on. Huge fish swim in this mud puddle and they bite and fight very hard. With the new two week cut-off for prefishing, this lake's fish will be ready and willing to slam some baits.It's time for the wild flowers to start growing and the grass is now green on the hillsides as its May 19th and 20th and we'll all be camping at Clear Lake with the Bass-N-Tubes and all there region members. Who knows what format these guys will have for all of us float tubers while fishing on California's best fish factory, (Clear Lake). This is a May tradition to fish the U.S. Pro Kick-boat tournament at Clear Lake with the B-N-T boys and girls. Last year it was ( Mr Johnny Lake ) the B-N-T Founder and past President who caught the heaviest two day limit under some very tough conditions. Who's going to be on top this year?Now it's June the 10th and the weather is much warmer and its time to go to one of my favorite lakes to fish.I prefer to fish this honey hole when there's no other anglers there, but its more of a challenge with 20+ other float tubers trying to qualify for the SCBBBC winner shoot-out. Highland Springs will once again see the SCBBBC floating on its waters in the wee hours of the morning as we wait to blast-off and hunt for the clubs record fish. I bet that toad is around 13 pounds if not bigger by now. Who will be the lucky angler to catch her? You can bet the farm I'll be trying again. I might even bring out the ol round tube for this event again.Its July the 28th and its summer time. It's time for a night tournament and this year we'll be going to Lake Sonoma for our clubs second team tournament. Oh yea, once again you'll have the opportunity to plan a strategies with another club member and go out into the dark and catch the largest 5 fish limit. You guys asked for a team format, so here you have the second chance to try a team tournament, SCBBBC style. Im looking forward to fishing in a Tee-shirt into the night as I sit here typing now and its something like 30 degree's below zero outside. This lake seems to always kick my bass, but this year I'm planning on turning the Yorty Creek cove around in my favor. Last year it was the winning team of Dave & Phil who came in with the nights heaviest limit of bass.As summer lingers on its Aug the 19th and the next stop for the tour is our clubs home lake, Spring Lake. The lake that held the world record, maybe. Hopefully the water level will be good still and some flipping will be had. As we fish for our 6 hours one angler will come out on top. This lake can be any ones at any time, but if Big Daddy Dave Sternitzky has any thing to say about it, its all his. This is Dave's lake as he has his own parking spot there. LOL Or shall I say he should have his own spot. I look forward to this tournament as its going to be our clubs first ever early bird tournament. We will be starting as early as the parks department will let us. This one will be a hoot.Now it's Sept the 23rd and we're going back to the California Delta ( White S. ). Is this the start of the fall patern? Will the Delta Frogs be hopping? I know my frog will be jumping around the Delta waters. The Bassmasters Elite Pro's are coming to this water way this year as their tour stops here. So keep in mind that all SCBBBC members have a co-angler sign-up priority over the general public. So make sure you have some fresh braided line on those flipping and frog sticks.As we get close to the end of the year, its Oct the 13th and 14th and we're back to Clear Lake for the 22nd SCBBBC State Classic. The Bassmasters Elite Pros are coming here also and once again you as SCBBBC members have registration priority over all others to sign-up as a co-angler. This month is when this fish factory should be wide open for all float tubers no matter where you fish. Hopefully we'll be allowed to get our special permit again for transporting live fish. So start stocking up on those DD22 Craw crank baits and be sure to have some fresh mono ready for the fight of a life time.The last stop for the regular season is set for Nov the 3rd at Blue Lakes. I like fishing this lake in the fall and I will love it now that I know that it will have not been pounded for two weeks before the tournament.This new two weeks cut-off will be great for these smaller lakes. This new rule should improve the quality of the fishing for every one. So if this is your first time fishing with the club get out there and fish some of these lakes so you'll know them come tournament day. By now all these float tubers leg's should be conditioned to paddling and their oar skills mastered. There will probably be a couple of anglers racing for the AOY award on this lake.Just when you think the tour is over, the top 1/3rd of the club will be heading back to Lake County for the T.O.C. on beautiful Clear Lake. This will be Nov the 17th and 18th. We'll put them up in the finest resort and feed them and their families to a fine dinner and drinks. At the dinner we will announce where the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club's first ever (WINNERS SHOOT OUT) tournament will be held.That's just some of whats planned for the 2007 tour. Its our 23rd year and my second year as President. I learned a lot last year while doing the day to day duties for our organization. I'm looking forward to leading the club forward as a BASS Federation Nation California Chapter. It's clubs like ours that are helping to bring the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation back to what is was years ago. Happy Holidays and catch a toad.1. Berriessa, Feb, 24th, Sat.2. Delta (Beacon) Mar, 24th, Sat. (Team)3. Blue Lakes, Apr, 15th, Sun.4. Clear L. (Open) May, 19th-20th,Sat-Sun.5. Highland S. Jun, 10th Sun.6. Lake Sonoma, Jul, 28th Sat. (Night Team)7. Spring L. Aug, 19th Sun.8. Delta (Whites) Sept, 23rd Sat.9. Clear L. Oct, 13th-14th Sat-Sun (22nd State Classic)10.Blue Lakes Nov, 3rd Sat.11.Clear L. Nov, 17th-18th Sat-Sun (T.O.C.) Rich

2006 SCBBBC TOUR REFLECTION

2006-11-27T14:14:00.000-08:00

Well, there you have it. The Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Clubs 2006 tour is now in the record books. What a tour it was for me as President for the first time in 22 years. As I sit back and can smell the Turkey cooking I can't help but to reflect back on this 2006 tour. I had never floated down the road of permits and insurance for any tournaments. Before this club started I used to hide behind the Roland Rich name and my brother would hide behind the Ted Mann name. We thought that we wouldn't be responsible in case something bad happened at one of the 9 tournament we put on before the start of the SCBBBC. As luck would have it nothing bad ever happened and a great organization came from the act of a few. I was very luck to have followed in the fine prints of all the past SCBBBC Presidents as they paved the way and had the procedures set for me to follow.

I chose to follow there path for a while before going down some new ones. I hope the members have enjoyed the new path I have taken us down and the path I plan on going if I'm lucky enough to be elected President for the 2007 tour.This years tour started off at Lake Sonoma's Yorty Creek on Feb 4th. My worst night mare became a reality as I came around the last turn into Yorty Creek only to see all the tail lights at the entry gate that was not open as the combo we had been given was bogus. Here I'm faced with 27 of California's best float tubers who have been cooped up all winter and dieing to fish a tournament looking at me for answers. This was my first challenge as the one in charge. So after sitting around for what seemed forever in my shoes, the Rangers truck finally comes around the bend. I survived this do to the fact that they too had the same combo as I did and it didn't work any better for them as it did us. So finally all of us are on the water and ready to fish. After a beautiful winter day on Yorty Creek it was one of our past Presidents and AOY who took the 1st place spot over 26 others. Todd Iwamoto once again stayed true to his nature and was catching fish all day, even at the last minute. Todd even had big fish of the tournament at 4.12. This wasn't an easy tournament as there was no limits caught from any of the 27 anglers. We only caught 19 fish for a total of 45 pounds.

Then the next stop for the 2006 tour was Lake Berriessa on Mar 4th. This one started off cold for the 26 float tubers that checked in at Capella Cove. This is where we catch smallies mixed with Spots and Largies. This has always been one of my favorite stops on the tour. Unlike Yorty Creek, we caught a lot of fish at this lake with 10 limits and just about every one else weighing in a few keepers. This time it was Mr Chevy Matt Cahills turn to bring in the largest limit of fish. Matts limit was 10.77 and he had the second biggest fish of the day at 2.83. It was Dan Chester that came in with the biggest bass of the day at 3.86. The weather cleared up here as the day went on and here was another tour stop under my belt.

The third stop on the tour was the famed California Delta, April 8th. This was our yearly team tournament. We had 12 teams of float tubers show up early at Beacon Harbor. I decided to beat the crowd and go fish an area all to myself. This was a bad idea as I was only able to catch dinks. When I came back for the weigh-in, I then realized that I should have stayed at Beacon Harbor as it seemed as if every one had nice fish. This day belonged to the team of Wendy Yeh and David Pham as they came in with a huge limit of bass that weighed 23.54 and big fish that day went to Mike Ayers with a 8.71 Bucket mouth. Mike went on to win the Bass-N-Tubes Delta region's AOY award. I guess we might start calling him Mr. Delta. Ahhh another tourney that went smooth.

Then the fourth stop took us to one of the best bass factories in the nation, Clear Lake, May 20th -21st. This tour stop mixed the two baddest float tube clubs together as this was the Bass-N-Tubes ( US Open Pro Kick boat tournament ) I always look forward to this event as it brings float tubers together from all over the state. The camping was at M-M under the tarps Friday evening as the rain came down. We had some great home made brownies from Theresa to help keep us warm on a cold night. The bite was tough for some and wide open for others as we fished a two day, two spot format. The Bass-N-Tube guys walked away with this tournament as they placed in six of the top ten spots. 56 of California's most hard core float tubers came out for this fish off and one walked away with the tittle of winner. Mr. Johnny Lake had the talent it took to win this show and beat out all the rest. Matt Cahill had a good paturn going Saturday and he went to sleep in first place, but on day two he was forced to fish a completely new area and wasn't able to catch the toads he had on day one. I'm already looking forward to next years Open.

Now its June 24th and its time to fish for my 11 pounder again at Highland Springs. This lake has always reminded me of the Lake that started this whole float tube club, Alsanjo. I thought I would keep it simple and pull out the round tube once again and leave the Bass Tech boat at home. I never missed my kick boat once while fishing this event. It was also a great feeling to see the gate wide open when I came around the bend in the road at 4:30 AM. From then on the day went great as the fish where biting for me and most of the 17 SCBBBC members that came out to try and catch my 11 pounder that is swimming in the depths of this little hidden honey hole in Lake County. When all the fins where weighed in it was Mr. Iwamoto on top again for the second time during the 2006 SCBBBC tour. It seems as if this guy can come out a show the fish who's the boss. If I remember Todd did it on very little sleep also.

The weather is scorching in the 100's and we're back at Clear lake for our first ever Sundown tournament, July 22nd. We had 25 tubers show up at County Park ready to rip some lips in the heat. We all heard and saw what the heat can do to a kick boat as a new member watched his pontoons pop one at a time in the heat. I made a huge mistake at this tournament as I paddled a long ways in the Bass Tech boat to get to my hot spot. I had a limit in 20 minutes and then the wind came up. The wind wasn't blowing in the direction I wanted it to blow so I was forced to leave my spot before having a chance to cull a single fish. For every stroke of the oars I would move 12" and the wind would blow me back 6". All along my limit of fish where being dragged in a follow me bag. The water temp on the surface was 90+ degree's. It seemed as if I was oaring for three hours straight just to get back near the area that I launched from. By then four of my five fish had passed in the heat. By the time I weighed in that night all my fish had passed and I realized then that I was done with long oar runs with follow me bags and no more tournaments in triple digit weather conditions. By the time it cooled off alittle the angler on top at the end of the heat wave was one of our young guns, Kevin Nunez. Kevin had one of the years largest limits at 24.47 and he had big fish of the event at 7.02. I was glad when this tournament was over and I was back in my air conditioned truck.

On the 7th tour stop we're back at Yorty Creek on Lake Sonoma, August 12th for our annual night team tournament. I have always struggled at this lake so I thought this evening I might be able to change the out come and catch some fish. We had 9 teams show up on this beautiful night and once again this lake kicked my bass as I wasn't able to produce one small keeper. When the last fish was weighed in it was the team of Dave Sternitzky and Phil Ragueneau that stood on the podium at midnight.At the 8th stop of the tour we're back in Lake County to find the fish in Blue Lakes, Sept 16th. I shared the upper clearer lake with big Dave and had a great day. I was lucky enough to catch the big fish of this tournament with a 6.88 bucket mouth. This fish eat a huge Fat Free Shad in bass paturn. We had 21 anglers make the drive to fish this awesome fishery. Once again the weather was great and most of the float tubers caught keeper bass to bring to the scale. This time it was the Cigar mans turn for a win. Mr Binh Phi was the guy to beat at this tournament, but no body could stop him as he had the biggest limit of fish with 13.82 This is a fun lake to bring a kid if you really want to get into some fish. Summer time here you will usually have the lower mud lake to yourself all day.

As we start to get close to the end of the season we're back at Clear Lake for the 20th SCBBBC State Classic, Oct 7th & 8th. This tournament will go into the record books as it was the first tournament that we had a special permit to transport live fish in our trucks. After nearly having the carpet pulled out from under us we landed on top with a permit we have been waiting for for the past 22 years. Now we're total legal with no more skeletons in the closet for the SCBBBC. We also set new standards for live-wells. We had 45 of California's best float tubers once again come out from their favorite fishing holes to duel it out against others who per fer a float tube over a glitter rocket. We even had the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation President come to help with the weigh-in and raffle Saturday, Andrew Syles came to check us out and was pleasantly surprised after seeing first hand what we're all about. The Department Of Fish and Game came and kept a close eye on us and after this event was completed they had nothing but great things to say about our organization and that they looked forward to working with us in the future. After we weighed in 314 fish it was Russ Stansbury who was the man with the biggest two day limits at 32.61. Runner up was Bass-N-Tubes Mitch Teaman with 32.26. Watch out for Mitch next year as I think he'll be looking for a win. Lets not forget My Mike Boggs. This guy came out of no where to take big fish each day with a 8.46 on day # 1 and a 6.99 on day # 2. Way to go Boggs, you da man. Thanks to all our great sponsors for making this a great tour event.

The last stop for the tour was close to home at Spring Lake, Nov 4th. This was our bi-annual charity event. We chose to raise food for the Redwood Empire food bank and to donate all the entry fees to help feed the communities hungry. We had 18 anglers come out to chase these green fish on waters that might have held a world record fish, maybe. The weather was perfect for a good day on the water. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to fish this event as I had dislocated my right shoulder while skateboarding with our dog two weeks before the event. I felt good enough to fish and fish I did. I put a plan together and it worked well for me. I was able to catch a limit and cull a fish. This was my first limit in my new out of the water live well. I didn't have enough to beat the likes of Mr. Dave Sternitsky, AKA The Spring Lake Dude. This is Daves lake, I even think he has his own parking spot there. LOL.

After a long year of angling one angler stood out above all the rest as he was the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Clubs Angler Of The Year. Mike Ayers stayed a step ahead of all the guys and gals that came out to fish our 2006 tour. There where no through-outs included for the first time this year. This guy came and played his ( A) game all year. He didn't care if it was raining cats and dogs or if it was 10000000 degree's out. Shallow or clear water didn't faze this California angler as he seemed to always catch fish. Mike did all this while weighing in all the fish at all the years events. He also rounded up our trophies for every tournament while posting all the events stats and pictures on our award winning web page. So may we all tip our hat to Mike Ayers for putting his name in the record books along with all the AOY's from the past. Mike also found time this year to fish with the Bass-N-Tubes Delta region. He didn't just do it for fun, he did it to win and win he did. Mike was also the Angler Of The Year on the Bass-N-Tubes Delta Region. I bet the Shasta and Central Region are glad he didn't fish those tournaments. Who knows what he would have done there? You are the Man Mike. Thanks for all you have done for our club.

The last event is finally hear, Nov 18th & 19th. The Tournament Of Champions ( TOC ) The ten best SCBBBC angler are invited to come to Lake County one last time to show off they're skills. This year we voted on Highland Springs on day # 1, and Clear Lakes Library park for day # 2. I wasn't able to qualify this year again. So I decided to make the trip and do my last President duties. So once again I'm pleasantly surprised to see the gate opened on time at Highland Springs. I blast all 10 anglers off at 5:30 AM and then I decided to go float tube Clear Lake. So I'm off in the round tube and just loving life. I caught a few nice Clear lake fish and then went back to the room and crashed for a few hours before going back to Highland Springs for the weigh-in. After day # 1 it was Mr Cigar, Binh Phi in first place with a 12.25 limit. After weighing all the fish in and playing Tournament Director we handed out keys to all ten angler so they could enjoy a night at the Konocti Casino's new hotel.We then treated every one and there families to the annual pizza dinner so they had plenty of energy to compete on day # 2.Day # 2 all anglers checked in at Library park and received their permits for transporting live game fish. History is once again being made for this club. After blasting all the anglers off I jumped into Russ Stansbury's 21' Ranger and went out into the fog to retrace Russ's winning paturn from the day before. Russ was still on cloud nine as he had just came in first place on Saturday during an Anglers Choice tournament. We slayed several toads throughout the day. We didn't want to stop fishing, but we had no choice. So we cruse back to Library park to weigh-in all the toads caught by the top ten float tubers in the state. Almost all the anglers came in with limits. There could only be one winner and this years 2006 TOC winner was non other then Deren Kozenko. Deren won with a 28.50 limit. Big fish of the tournament went to Mike Ayers with a 6.75 lunker. Thanks again goes out to Mr. Stansbury for letting the SCBBBC use his 21' Ranger as a release boat. This was also a first for our club. I wish I had taken a picture of Russ's boat as it pulled away from the dock with four anglers and there live-well sitting on the deck. Ahhhhh its over finallyAfter going all the way through for my first time as President and getting the permits and proof of insurance for all 11 events. Jumping through DFG and the Regional Parks Department hoops I'm ready for it all over again. I never knew what these Presidents went through over the years and now I look at the club with a different pair of eyes. If I'm lucky enough to be re-elected for the 2007 tour I promise to take it a notch up with even more surprises.

Next season we'll have the SCBBBC Winners Shoot-out. This will take all the winners from the 2007 tour including the SCBBBC 07' Angler Of The Year and the Bass-N-Tubes 07' Angler Of The Year and invite them to a no-entry fee tournament. This tournament will be held during the 2008 season. First place will be well worth it big time as I promise to take this sport to the next level. We will also have a Bucksbag incentive program for winners fishing in a Bucksbag float tube or kick boat throughout the 07' season.We will also put on a B.A.S.S. Casting Kids Contest at the Santa Rosa Sport and Boat show at the Fair Grounds. There will also be another four hour turkey shoot at Lake Sonoma before working with the Army Corps Of Engineers and helping with the Water Fair at the fish hatchery. This is when we put our boats on display and help educate the public on Catch & Release and selective harvesting and the sport of float tubing. Thats just a few of the new things to come in 2007.

Here are a few stats from the 2006 tour.TotalsTournament entries = 284 Anglers.Total # of fish weighed in = 1379 Fish.Total weight all year = 2899.79 LB'S.Largest tournament = B-N-T OPEN, 56 Anglers.Smallest tournament = 17 Anglers, Highland S.Most weight for a tournament = State Classic = 789.71 LB'S.Least weight for a tournament = Lake Sonoma, 45.81 LB'S.Most fish for a tournament = B-N-T Open, 457 Fish.Least fish for a tournament = Lake Sonoma, 19 Fish.Biggest fish all year = 8.71, Mike Ayers, Delta.Smallest big fish all year = 2.83, Matt Cahill, Berriessa.Thanks to all the SCBBBC Officers and members and to the B-N-T crew for a great year in the float tubing sport. See ya all next season. Until then, Happy Holidazzzze.

Rich Caro

HISTORY IS MADE TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Today history was made for float tubers in California. After jumping through many hoops as President of the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club I would like to personally let you all in on some breaking news.For all the float tubers and kick boaters attending this weekends SCBBBC State Classic at Clear Lakes State Park. You might like to know that if you planned on running, I have some news for you. You will be doing it totally legally as we have the first ever permit for transporting live game fish while fishing the 2006 State Classic. You read it write. You can run this year if you have the following set-up. 1ST you must have no less then a 48 quart ice chest, ( Coleman / Igloo ) You must have a 500 Gallons Per Hour pump(GPH) circulating the water in your live-well at all times. You must have Rejuvenate Bassmeds in your water at all times. You must have ice if the weather permits it. The fish can not be left in your running live well while you are in your boat fishing. You will not be able to run with a plastic tote of any kind what so ever. ONLY ONE LIMIT PER LIVE-WELLIf you show up and do not have these specific requirements you will not be allowed to run.For those who do not plan on running be sure your live wells are up to the standards listed in the SCBBBC rules. If your live wells are not up to our standards you will not be able to attend the event.This is huge for our sport and just one on a few other hurdles I plan on jumping for all of us in the float tube world.Rich

Lake Sonoma Up First!

2006-02-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

Man I thought this day would never get here. The day before our first tourney of the year is finally upon us and everything is looking great. We just had our first club meeting of 2006 and boy am I impressed. 22 member showed up without coming only for a point that's dedication, that's awesome. We saw some new faces which is a great feeling right of the bat. Your new president is off to a great start and his board of directors seem determined to make this a great year. We even got John Stangle to become an official board member and Terry Yeh even step up and is now on the BOD. Just today john has been in contact with Minn Kota and has already gotten us 2 trolling motors a new banner and 24 Minn Kota hats for this years State Classic. Speaking of the State Classic we are thinking about having it at M&M campground this year and we will vote at the next few meeting on that subject and personally I'd like to lobby for M&M campground because they are great hosts. I'm picking up our Sonoma trophy's today for the winner tomorrow and I hope you guys like them. The first tourney I went with the wood grain plaques and next we will change to something different. This years State Classic will have the biggest and best raffle of all times I believe and we want to start promoting this event as soon as possible so if you have a place to leave some flyers lets start now. Anyway see everyone bright and early for the kick off of SCBBBC 2006!

Plaques at Outdoor Pro Shop Update!

2006-01-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hey Scbbbc'ers I have picked up our plaques from the Outdoor Pro Shop and have taken them in to be updated. For you guys that are not aware, We have 2 Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club plaques on display at the Pro Shop in Rohnert Park. One for Angler of the Year and one for TOC Champions. The Updates will be for Todd Iwamoto and Carson Riley for 04 & 05 AOY and Scott Beem and Russ Stansbury for 04 & 05 TOC. I'll have these at the next meeting to show before they go back to the Outdoor Pro Shop for Display.

SCBBBC 2006 TOUR STATEMENT FOR RICH CARO

2006-01-07T13:32:00.000-08:00

I would like to start this letter by wish all of you Round tubers, kick boaters and U-boaters a very happy new year. I hope Santa was good to all and was able to work a deal with Lucky Craft and G-Loomis so you all had some new tackle under the tree.

This year was a very exciting year in the float tube world. A lot of great things happened to our sport in 05’. Im sure that 2006 will be even more fun and exciting as we break new ground and smash some old records and enjoy new members. Last year we all enjoyed Bass N Tubes Clear Lake Open with the first tourney ever to offer two different locations to fish. One area producing lots of green backs with little wind and another place was as tough as leather and our tubes like feathers being blown around. That didn’t stop Chris Zeldain from capitalizing on both days and taking the Open for himself. Chris went on this year and stepped up and hopped aboard a real boat and went against 100 plus anglers and once again came out on top, 1st place and the proud winner of a fully rigged Triton bass boat worth $27.000.00 dollars. Was there a float tube club behind him? I think so.How about that Pat Wilson guy. One of the SCBBBC’s members loads up his gear and gets on a plane and flies 3000 mile and wins $40.000.00 at a FLW tournament on the Patomic River. Pat had never fish this water before, but because he joined a float tube club he was able to fish and learn from the likes of Mr. Jimmy Reese. I remember when Pat joined our club and only fished with one rod and a Berkley Power worm. Now Pat is our back deck Pro with a boat or two under his belt. Then there is an angler we all know as Mr. 4 eye’s Castro. Joe came from another great float tube club, ( B-N-T ) and showed a bunch of local northern tubers that he was a contender. The lunkers this guy caught with his hand-crafted baits won’t soon be forgot by the Sonoma County Belly Boat Boys. His game plan for Berryessa was able to keep him a step ahead of a lot of tubers for a 1st place finish. I have been lucky enough to catch a few of those hogs on Joes custom 4 eyed baits. Now if I could only do it during a tourney.

Don’t forget all the toys he surprised us with at the 19th Clear Lake Invitational.I thought that Santa had made some kind of a mistake.I can’t forget how the 06’ tour started with Mr. Kozenko slaying a huge limit at Lake Sonoma. This guy was on fire this year. It must have been that good luck charm that followed him to most of the locations we fished. Darren is on his way to a A.O.Y. award soon Im sure. Have I mentioned our youngest ever member? Big Nick, this guy was 12 years old when he put his $ up against our best and most talented anglers. He struggled some this year, but I think we all did when we first joined these clubs. Keep an eye on this young Rick Clunn in the making. I think we’ll see more of Nick at the scales in 2006.Then we had this young gun by the name of Mr. Carson Riley. He stayed on every ones coat tails all through the season. Carson was always there, head to head with the SCBBBC’s hottest sticks. At our 19th annual Invitational tournament he finally stepped up and showed every one he could win. Then he takes the grand daddy of all awards, the A.O.Y. for 05. Need I saw more about this young gun. IM looking forward to seeing this kid kick some bass in 06. Now we have to get him into a Pro-Am tournament. IM sure he’ll do just fine at that level.

We had our first war veteran fishing with us at a few of our tourneys this year. I remember listening to Mr. Mike Williams after he landed a real nice fish at Highland Springs and I couldn’t help but think to my self that that angler was recently in some crazy war and here he was catching some big fish on a beautiful lake. He caught his toad in a tree that I had just flipped the heck out of. I realized once again how good we all have it do to guys like Mike and many others who put it all on the line so we can enjoy the life styles we live. Mike is going back to that war for one more year. Lets all pray for him to get back to Sonoma County safe so he can catch another toad at Highland Springs. Thanks Mike.

It was a nice break for most of us this season as Mr. Todd Iwamoto gave us a break and didn’t catch all the fish this year. I guess that’s what having a new baby / little angler will do to a guy. He fished most tournaments on only a few hours sleep. I will try to take advantage of it in 06 if he gives us another chance to win. Some how I think he’ll be a little more rested and focused this coming year.Most of the SCBBBC tournaments averaged 25 to 30 float tubers. We had 42 paid members all year. All of the tournaments would not have went as smooth as they did if it wasn’t for Phil Ragueneau and Scotty Beem keeping things under control. I watched them at every weigh-in as these once newbies only a couple of years ago kept thing moving along while every one had a good time. The public watched as these guys where very professional at not only catching fish, but at weighing them in too. Don’t forget Russ and William taking care of bussiness in the we hours of each tournament too. They helped get us on the water as quickly as possible. Thanks guys.In 06 our club will have a new tournament director. Mr. Mike Ayers will take control of the scale and weigh each and every bass brought to the scale. Mike is also the SCBBBC’s web master and if he does half the job as Tournament Director as he has done with our web page, 06 should be another smooth year for our club. Thanks Mike for stepping up.

This year our club has had a chance to enjoy the benefits of one of our newest members who has recently been bitten by the bass bug. This would be Mr. John Stangle / Mr Yo Yo. This guy has been a breath of fresh air to our club with all kinds of great ideas and positive energy to help our club grow and look more professional. Johnny has entertained us all at our events with his world class Yo Yo tricks and personality. He has helped with improving our sponsorship abilities and he has cleaned up our By-laws. For all of you who have joined the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club this year, you can thank Johnny for the surprise package you will be getting in the mail. That was all his doing. He also has the nicest Pro Shirt on our circuit. Thanks John for all you’ve done for our club.This is the first year our club has seen so many anglers at the weigh-in’s that look like real Pro’s. I started wearing my Pro shirt just for the fun of it and I never thought it would catch on, but to my surprise it did. Now there is usually a half dozen Pro’s at our events. I hope to see more in 06. We finally got rid of that old Vice President and now we have a new V.P. by the name of Mr. Bill Sweatt. You all should know Bill as he is the second oldest SCBBBC member still on tour with the club. Check out his angler profile and you’ll see Bill has been there and done that a few times. Bill has seen it all, the good, the bad and the ugly. I think he’ll be a great V.P. and his new blood will be needed in 06 as this will be a year to remember for sure.So now it’s my turn as the President of a once very small club that I started 22 years ago. That’s write, we’re going on our 22nd year. Stepping into this job will be very easy as I am following in the foot-steps of many great SCBBBC Presidents.

The first was Martin Campbell. He was a good organizer and a great angler. Then there was Mr. Jimmy Reese. Jimmy was there as far back as the second tournament ever. He and Benno were the real back bones that helped organize the club as we all know it today. If it wasn’t for Mr. Reese I would probably still be putting on Turkey shoots. Or just catching blue gills.Then as Jimmy started fishing more as a Pro the club started to dwindle down in the early 90’s. It was Jay Bryant that stepped up and kept the machine going. If you thought the Bass Tech kick boat was cool, you haven’t see nothing yet! Jay is got the worlds baddest and raddest kickboat you have ever set eyes on. The Bass Tech boys would have been lost if it wasn’t for Jays ideas. Some of you might have met Jay at the B-N-T Clear Lake Open in 04. He was the guy with the real tricked out totally custom kick boat. His rod holder was the roll model for the Bass Tech lazy Susan rod holder. Mr. Swindal thinks he thought of it, but I’ll let you all in on a little secret. It was all Jay and if it wasn’t for Jay keeping it all fun, this club could have very well folded up in the early 90’s.Then as Jay started burning out after a long run at it, along came Mr. Andy Parsons. Andy really grew the club to the huge tour that we all enjoy today. He always made you feel welcome as a new or old member. He also knew how to catch fish on Rocky point too. After getting this club totally dialed in with B.A.S.S. and knowing it was time to pass of the President position.

Mr. Todd Iwamoto stepped up to the plate. Todd was able to manage the club and with his marketing skills he round up great sponcers and all the good stuff that comes with them while still capturing A.O.Y for something like four years straight. Todd also had a lot to do with the ESPN connections that most of you are aware of as you watched float tubing on T.V. He was the guy behind getting those camera guys out to Spring Lake for that shoot on the water. Once Todd got a few years under his belt he felt like it was time to pass the torch. So Jeff Andress jumped at the chance and went with it. Jeff kept the club on course. After knowing Jeff for a few year we realized that I had bought my two oldest guitars from his Dad. At the time I bought them I was 16 years old and Jeff was some thing like 3 or 4. That was way cool that the man who sold me my guitars that to this day I still love to play as much as I love fishing. He has the father of a little guy who would grow up to be the Presidents of a club I started, that is still going strong.

Jeff passed the torch again to a stand up guy, Mr. William Perez. He rolled up his sleeves, got into the job and totally cleaned up all the paper work and nailed down a permit procedure that any old angler can follow easily. William faced some of life’s hardest challenges while cleaning up this clubs official business. Thanks William for a great job during these past two years. Now in 2006 it looks as if it’s now my turn to lead the members for a few years. I promise to make some big mistakes along the way. That is how this club has gotten stronger and stronger, by learning from our mistakes. I feel I have a lot to offer the club / clubs as I support the growth of the B-N-T, our Italian friends and the SCBBBC. I have some of the best support behind me and I will do the best I can to help take our sport to the next level of competitive float tubing. I will try to make the SCBBBC 06’ Tour a very fun and challenging one. Already with the new challenging schedule this year is looking to be a very good one.

We worked out this years schedule around the B-N-T’s tour and some of the other tours such as the 100% and the Anglers Choice. I hope that this will help all of you float tubers plan a great season for catching Mr. Bucket Mouth. Between the SCBBBC, B-N-T’s Central R. , Shasta R and Delta R. a guy can fish a tournament almost every weekend from now through December. Who needs a big gas guzzeling boat to fish tournaments? All you need is a round float tube a rod or two and a live-well and BANG! You are ready to join a float tube club, meet some great people, learn how to catch more Bass and enjoy the great outdoors in a way that only a float tuber can. Happy New Year.

Rich Caro
SCBBBC Founder and President

Let the Blogging Begin

2006-01-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Yo, what's up scbbbc'ers? Are you ready for the 2006 season or what? This club blog is just for fun and is no way intended to take away from our great forum that we share with Bnt. This blog is just what it is a blog. A place to just be funny.

We have a great year ahead of us and what looks like some great competition. Last years race for the coveted "Angler of the year Award" was one of the closest of all time. Only one point separated Mr Castro from Carson Riley when it was all said and done so you can bet Joey will be gunning extra hard for a championship this year.

I'm excited about our new Club President and Vice President I believe they will work hard to make everything run smooth so we can all just concentrate on bass fishing with now worries. Remember what makes a great club is great members so stay cool fool, and have a blast!

Our first tourney is just around the corner at lake Sonoma and I cant wait. This is a perfect time and lake to bring out a friend to fish and try out the club. So if you know anyone on the fence ready to fish competitively bring them out and show them how much fun they are missing.

That's it for my first ever blog - I'm out!