Castaic Bass Club Blog

The Meeting

The first meeting of the year is always a busy one.  We had a lot to discuss.  The

Subject of “3 to a boat” took up the bulk of the time.  This issue arises when we have more Non-Boaters than Boaters and it happened a lot toward the end of last year.  The club policy is no fisherperson (for the P.C. among us) left behind.  That means that 3-to-a-boat is inevitable at some point during the year and so let’s deal with it now.  Some Boaters feel that having 3 in their boat gives them a 50% advantage; others don’t care one way or the other.  When the situation occurs we will ask for volunteer Boaters.  In the event that there are still Non-Boaters without a partner we will go to a draw.  We will make out best effort to insure that no Boater takes the extra person multiple consecutive times; this is not fair to anybody.

The next subject was the change of venue for our second 2 day tournament from Lake Nacimiento to Santa Margarita in San Luis Obispo County.  Tony Franks is investigating the availability of campsites and tournament regulations for the lake.

The good news is that we have reserved the Apache Sunrise Group Camping site at Lake Cachuma for our 2 day tournament there in May.  This is the same site we had last year.  It is mostly flat and has good access to the rest areas and showers.

At the meeting tonight we have a very special guest speaker and great friend to the club, Mr. Bill Siemantel.

This month’s tournament is at Lake Piru and the good news there is that the lake has come up a little but there is a lot of debris and the water is very stained.

Tournament Results

Cold? Yes. Windy? Some.  Water temperature? Good.  Rainy? At times.  That pretty much sums up the lake conditions at Castaic for the January tournament.  The best news of all was; Water? Yes.  The lake was up considerably.  I know that all these water level changes can put the fish off the bite but it was either that or walk to your favorite spot and dig in the mud.  Besides the fish at Castaic will use just about any excuse to not bite, they have a very strong union I think.

Bringing the big bag for first place was a team of returning members, Jeff Jue and James Fu.  Their 4 fish limit weighed in at a nice 8.93 pounds.  In second place were a new member, Kevin Miner and Eddie Carr with a limit that weighed 7.40 pounds.  In third place was another new member, Ken Burkhart and Shelley (can you believe it) Singer who executed a perfect set and zip (set hook, zip pants) on his first keeper. Ken and Shelley had a limit weighing 6.87 pounds.  The rare occurrence of the tournament was in the Big Fish category that was not won by one of the top three teams.  Big Fish went to the team of Brendon O’Dell and Chaz Valenzuela who only weighed one fish but it was a good one at 3.42 pounds.

Mike’s

Last month marked the 2^nd year since the passing of Manny Nunez. I spoke with Anita and let her know that the Nunez family is always in our hearts. She is in good spirits and still speaks fondly of the club. I invited Anita to join us and after she stopped laughing, paused for a moment, then said that she wasn’t a good fisherman. I assured her that she would be in good company. We will see what the future holds.

At the beginning of this month, Grant Powell’s wife, Gail, passed away. It is a very difficult time in Grant’s life right now and a phone call from his fellow club members will go a long way in soothing his aching heart. His number is 661-510-3592.

Please keep the Nunez and Powell families in your prayers.

As you may notice from looking at the top of the right column of this page CBC now has a page on Facebook. Club members, family, and friends can view the page by clicking on that badge. Please upload pictures, upload video, and post comments on the wall. Also don’t forget to click on “Become a Fan”.

January Meeting

Before I move on to the meeting notes let’s take a moment to reflect on what we did last year.  Ok, I’m done, how about you?  No, no, really, we did some cool stuff last year.  We had two 2-Day tournaments, one at Cachuma and the other at Lake Lopez for the first time. Mike Iljin caught that beautiful 12.76 pounder that may turn out to be a lake record for Pyramid.  Overall I think we had a great time. This year it looks like we maybe going to Lake Isabella in Kern County for the second 2-day tournament.

The January meeting will be at El Torito on the Old Road in Valencia at 7:00 P.M. We are starting over so let me remind you.  Membership is $25, Monthly Dues are $10, Tournament Fees are $10 and the Big Fish option is $5.  If you want to fish on Sunday the 17th and are unable to be at the meeting you have to let one of the officers know by Thursday before the meeting.  If you call later you won’t be fishing on Sunday.  The new board is Mike Iljin, President, Ron Licari, Vice-President, Eddie (Van Winkle) Carr, Presidents Assistant, Tony Franks, Secretary and Shelley Singer, Treasurer.  After the tournament on Sunday we will have a better handle on the makeup of the club for this year and I will edit the on-line Phone List to reflect the changes.  If you do not have the link to the list, just send me an email request.

Mike’s

Happy New Year to Everyone!!!  This year’s fishing schedule looks to be another great one with some diversity thrown in with the 2nd 2 day tourney at either Naciamento or possibly Lake Isabella. We are always looking for new ideas to improve our club, so please e-mail the suggestion box with any new thoughts.