Cletus T.
Senior Member
Who says you can’t catch fish in 100 degree heat? Who says that people don’t care and help each other out anymore? Who says it’s too hard to get people excited and interested in a bass fishing tournament during the dog days of summer? You show me people that feel that way and I’ll show you close to 100 people who showed up at Bear Creek Reservoir yesterday to take part in a charity bass fishing tournament to honor and raise money for a family that is in a battle against that terrible disease called cancer. The young man is named Trey Rood and he is a bright young man who loves to fish and hunt and basically loves life. He still has a great attitude about his fight with cancer and he is actually starting UGA this fall as an incoming freshman. (GO DAWGS)…..sorry I couldn’t help myself. This tournament was the brain child of Phillip Hamarick who has quickly become of my best friends. He and his team of business associates have built a company called Sportsman Living which is a lot like a Facebook but it’s for us crazies and when I say “us crazies” I mean hunters and fishermen. Sportsman Living backed this tournament and got all the donations lined up and organized what I feel like was one heck of a tournament. I can’t tell you how proud I am of Philip and the Sportsman Living team on how awesome yesterday was. Not only did they put on a Grade A tournament but they also helped raise around $2,000 for Trey and the Rood family. And that’s what it’s about folks……people helping people and doing it with a giving and loving heart and with a smile on their face. You found that yesterday out there at Bear Creek.
The tournament was set up as a 1-fish tournament, meaning you catch the biggest bass you win but there was a wrinkle thrown in the mix. Bear Creek has a slot limit and any bass you catch that is in the 16-22 inch range HAS to be released and it could not be weighed in for the tournament. It was a tough pill to swallow but that’s the law and DNR set that and they did listen to us when asking could they remove the slot limit for this tourney but they just couldn’t do it and we understand why. It would set a president and then if they did it for us they would have to do it for another and so on and so on….and we understand why they couldn’t. That meant though that there were some good fish being caught that would not count. Sad…..BUT….true! There was some pretty serious cheese on the line too and the top 3 all came away with cold hard cash. There were 40 spots open and we had I believe around 31-33 boats out there. That’s a pretty good showing for a bass tournament and what many would call the toughest time of the year to get a big bass to bite. It’s hot and I mean face melting hot and the water is hot and the bass just aren’t feeding that much. They are lazy and lethargic and to get a big bass to bite in conditions like we had yesterday you got to be a pretty doggone good fisherman. Speaking of doggone good fishermen, brother we had them lined up for this tournament too. There were some heavy hitters out there competing yesterday and when the dust settled there was one team standing alone on top of that mountain….and on top of that mountain….in their hands….they held the biggest bass of the day in one hand…..and a WAD of cash in the other!!!!
We had some serious anglers in the mix too. We had local yokels that fish the Bear a lot and know it well. We had other small water experts that are well know in the Jon-Boat circuit and consistently sit atop the leader board on lakes such as Varner, Stone Mountain, Black Shoals and Horton. We had some T-Haw warriors there too. We had folks that do this for a living out there. We had a NCAA college bass fishing champion out there too…….so I’m saying all of these to let you know the competition stiff and I mean as stiff as a heavy action Ugly Stick folks! So let’s get to the action……what you say?
Like most fishing mornings……the day just doesn’t get off the right foot unless you eat a Sausage / Egg and Cheese biscuit. Yall may have your biscuit of choice but IMO the S.E.C. is the King Kong of biscuits! So I got one at the Mickey D’s right off the interstate and this only comes after I almost took out the whole power to my neighborhood by backing the boat and the trailer into a power pole. Thankfully I didn’t hit it that hard but it did wake me pretty good. I get my boy Phillip and the hardest working man in America Mr. Brent a S.E.C. too because they were already there and the boats were starting to show up. I get there and there are already about 10 boats there and it’s an hour and half before blast off so that fired me up. I also got really fired up when I saw the Sportsman Living Carolina Skiff J-14 boat parked there that someone was going to win. We sold $5 raffle tickets for this boat and somebody was going to be a happy camper at the end of the day with a fancy new boat. Boats were pouring in and the parking lot was filling up quickly……that’s a good things folks! The sky was going dark to light and the excitement was building. I meet some awesome folks and a lot of people that I know from this mighty fine forum and it was great to put a face with a screen name. I love meeting folks and talking to new people……I’m a talker if you haven’t figured that out by now but I do mean well. Phillip gives me a mega-phone and tells me that I’m sending everybody off at 6:30. I LOVE a mega-phone BTW and I felt so powerful with it in my hand…….I felt like a alpha-male tiger in the jungle that had the loudest roar in all the land……it was awesome. We had a few boats get there a wee bit late and the blast off actually was more like 6:35 but at that time I said a few words and let everybody fish and when I said it’s go time people took off in every which direction. It was a pretty sweet site!
So after everybody took off I went back up the hill to help set up. Brent (the hardest working man in America) is like a machine folks……he set up tables / chairs / tents / fans / coolers full of ice / and silent auction material in literally 7 ½ minutes……I think it was a world record if they kept up with “setting up” world records. I’m not sure they keep those kind of records butt they should! After setting up it was time for the “Media Boat” to hit the water and get some on the water coverage. My boat was the “Media Boat” but I did have a few fishing poles as well and I had a score to settle with one bass from a previous Bear Creek outing. You see…….the first time I fished the Bear with good ole Frank Savage we got skunked….but I lost about a 2-pound bass at the very end of the day close to the boat ramp that would have saved the day for us. I was being cocky and playing with the bass and the fish didn’t like my commitment to the moment and showed me who the boss was. I was sick about it and mad about it and this little area where this took place has always looked at me funny. Soooooooo….when I got out on the water that is the first place I went and on my 3rd cast with the trusty baby doll jig, she bit down on it and crossed those eyes. I caught that same bass from over a year ago….the only problem was that the fish had shrunk in size though but it was the same fish no doubt……or at least I’m saying it was. I then started making my rounds and seeing folks on the water and hearing about the toughness that the Bear presents at times. People were catching fish but the bite was tough and the fish were either short fish or they feel in that darn slot limit. There were some good fish caught too that just weren’t long enough and I know it stinks and I would be fighting mad over it too but that’s the rules so that’s the way it had to be. I had a little on the water conversation with Frank Savage and his partner Jim Lee (a Varner dead-ringer) and they said it had been a slow morning with a few short fish. I saw another boat that had to release a stout 4 ½ pounder that only went 18 inches long…..it was a pretty green largelipp though. I fished over by a fallen tree and tried to pick apart the sweet spots and on about the 10th cast I had one load up on my shaky head and I set the hook and it pulled hard and I knew it had to be decent and then it come up and I got a good look at it and sure enough…..it was a good one (probably 4-5 pounds) but as it came up and flashed at me it wrapped me around one of the limbs and just like that my line snapped. This all happened in about 7 – 8 seconds. It was over before it even began. Those bass know what they are doing. So I headed back to ramp and picked up Phillip so he could get some good shots with his “professional” fancy camera. We did this for a little while and then it was back to base camp to put the finishing touches on the weigh in that was about to happen. One more thing too…….it was 207 degrees outside by now!
Tim Hawkins from Hammond’s Fishing Center conducted out weigh in so it was dead on accurate. He got there and was set up in a matter of minutes. The weigh in started at 12:30 and we had people ready to weigh their fish right off the bat. Team Brian O’Keefe and Jack Butler were up first and he came in with a doozy too. The fish was long and as Brian said “skinny” but when he pulled her out of the livewell she looked strong to me…she weighed 4.56 and after a quick pic the bass was released to fight another day. The new camera I have takes pictures underwater so be prepared to have your mind blown…..baddest camera EVER….that’s right! So we had some fish to weigh and there were some good looking fish but as of yet the O’Keefe bass stood. Then team Little / Little showed up but there wasn’t anything little about what they brought to the scales. Team Little / Little actually was Josh Little and Daniel Holt both of Jefferson and these two bassmasters fish the Bear a lot and he actually told Phillip last week that he was going to win it…..that’s right….he Babe Ruthed it folks…..he called it and sure enough their 6.32 pounder was the game winner! Not only does Josh put in a lot of time on the water at the Bear, he also has a bad to the bone tattoo on his forearm of a fish, that’s hard core folks and it means he plays for keeps. We had a lot of fish caught that were in that slot limit so we couldn’t weigh those in but we had some good chunky 2 ½ to 3 pounders caught too. So the final standings looked like this Team Little / Holt in 1st place and they took home$1550……Team O’Keefe / Butler took 2nd place and they took home $620 and then to round out the top 3 was the Father and Son team of Benjie and Ben Cleary and that gave them $310. Jacob Griffith and Ben Smith won the Peoples Bank prize package which included 2 brand spanking new Minn Kota trolling motors and two deep cycle marine batteries to go with them. Mr. Steve Levi won the Carolina Skiff boat and he was one happy camper.
Even though there was a lot of competition out on the water and a boo-koo of prizes awarded and money won and awesome Chick-fila sandwiches eaten and awesome sweet tea drank, this whole thing was set up to honor and help Trey Rood and his family out during this battle with cancer. Cancer is a terrible disease and it doesn’t care who it jumps on but one thing that cancer never knows and that is the heart and will and soul of the fighter that it enters. From the short time that I got to spend with Trey Rood I could tell that he is a fighter and that he has the love and support of a strong family and he also has a bunch of stinky ole fishermen in his corner now fighting for him too. I’d like to thank Phillip Hamrick of Sportsmans Living as well as Brent (hardest working man in America) and Lee and all of the other people that donated their time and money and effort and prayers to this cause, and people it is a worthy cause I can promise you that. Yall put together a great tournament and even more so than that you touched a family and a young man in a way that you may never truly know the impact it has on somebody. So….Trey Rood and family…..this was for you and we consider it an honor to help in small some way. You are in our thoughts and prayers. God Bless you and your family!
Cletus
The tournament was set up as a 1-fish tournament, meaning you catch the biggest bass you win but there was a wrinkle thrown in the mix. Bear Creek has a slot limit and any bass you catch that is in the 16-22 inch range HAS to be released and it could not be weighed in for the tournament. It was a tough pill to swallow but that’s the law and DNR set that and they did listen to us when asking could they remove the slot limit for this tourney but they just couldn’t do it and we understand why. It would set a president and then if they did it for us they would have to do it for another and so on and so on….and we understand why they couldn’t. That meant though that there were some good fish being caught that would not count. Sad…..BUT….true! There was some pretty serious cheese on the line too and the top 3 all came away with cold hard cash. There were 40 spots open and we had I believe around 31-33 boats out there. That’s a pretty good showing for a bass tournament and what many would call the toughest time of the year to get a big bass to bite. It’s hot and I mean face melting hot and the water is hot and the bass just aren’t feeding that much. They are lazy and lethargic and to get a big bass to bite in conditions like we had yesterday you got to be a pretty doggone good fisherman. Speaking of doggone good fishermen, brother we had them lined up for this tournament too. There were some heavy hitters out there competing yesterday and when the dust settled there was one team standing alone on top of that mountain….and on top of that mountain….in their hands….they held the biggest bass of the day in one hand…..and a WAD of cash in the other!!!!
We had some serious anglers in the mix too. We had local yokels that fish the Bear a lot and know it well. We had other small water experts that are well know in the Jon-Boat circuit and consistently sit atop the leader board on lakes such as Varner, Stone Mountain, Black Shoals and Horton. We had some T-Haw warriors there too. We had folks that do this for a living out there. We had a NCAA college bass fishing champion out there too…….so I’m saying all of these to let you know the competition stiff and I mean as stiff as a heavy action Ugly Stick folks! So let’s get to the action……what you say?
Like most fishing mornings……the day just doesn’t get off the right foot unless you eat a Sausage / Egg and Cheese biscuit. Yall may have your biscuit of choice but IMO the S.E.C. is the King Kong of biscuits! So I got one at the Mickey D’s right off the interstate and this only comes after I almost took out the whole power to my neighborhood by backing the boat and the trailer into a power pole. Thankfully I didn’t hit it that hard but it did wake me pretty good. I get my boy Phillip and the hardest working man in America Mr. Brent a S.E.C. too because they were already there and the boats were starting to show up. I get there and there are already about 10 boats there and it’s an hour and half before blast off so that fired me up. I also got really fired up when I saw the Sportsman Living Carolina Skiff J-14 boat parked there that someone was going to win. We sold $5 raffle tickets for this boat and somebody was going to be a happy camper at the end of the day with a fancy new boat. Boats were pouring in and the parking lot was filling up quickly……that’s a good things folks! The sky was going dark to light and the excitement was building. I meet some awesome folks and a lot of people that I know from this mighty fine forum and it was great to put a face with a screen name. I love meeting folks and talking to new people……I’m a talker if you haven’t figured that out by now but I do mean well. Phillip gives me a mega-phone and tells me that I’m sending everybody off at 6:30. I LOVE a mega-phone BTW and I felt so powerful with it in my hand…….I felt like a alpha-male tiger in the jungle that had the loudest roar in all the land……it was awesome. We had a few boats get there a wee bit late and the blast off actually was more like 6:35 but at that time I said a few words and let everybody fish and when I said it’s go time people took off in every which direction. It was a pretty sweet site!
So after everybody took off I went back up the hill to help set up. Brent (the hardest working man in America) is like a machine folks……he set up tables / chairs / tents / fans / coolers full of ice / and silent auction material in literally 7 ½ minutes……I think it was a world record if they kept up with “setting up” world records. I’m not sure they keep those kind of records butt they should! After setting up it was time for the “Media Boat” to hit the water and get some on the water coverage. My boat was the “Media Boat” but I did have a few fishing poles as well and I had a score to settle with one bass from a previous Bear Creek outing. You see…….the first time I fished the Bear with good ole Frank Savage we got skunked….but I lost about a 2-pound bass at the very end of the day close to the boat ramp that would have saved the day for us. I was being cocky and playing with the bass and the fish didn’t like my commitment to the moment and showed me who the boss was. I was sick about it and mad about it and this little area where this took place has always looked at me funny. Soooooooo….when I got out on the water that is the first place I went and on my 3rd cast with the trusty baby doll jig, she bit down on it and crossed those eyes. I caught that same bass from over a year ago….the only problem was that the fish had shrunk in size though but it was the same fish no doubt……or at least I’m saying it was. I then started making my rounds and seeing folks on the water and hearing about the toughness that the Bear presents at times. People were catching fish but the bite was tough and the fish were either short fish or they feel in that darn slot limit. There were some good fish caught too that just weren’t long enough and I know it stinks and I would be fighting mad over it too but that’s the rules so that’s the way it had to be. I had a little on the water conversation with Frank Savage and his partner Jim Lee (a Varner dead-ringer) and they said it had been a slow morning with a few short fish. I saw another boat that had to release a stout 4 ½ pounder that only went 18 inches long…..it was a pretty green largelipp though. I fished over by a fallen tree and tried to pick apart the sweet spots and on about the 10th cast I had one load up on my shaky head and I set the hook and it pulled hard and I knew it had to be decent and then it come up and I got a good look at it and sure enough…..it was a good one (probably 4-5 pounds) but as it came up and flashed at me it wrapped me around one of the limbs and just like that my line snapped. This all happened in about 7 – 8 seconds. It was over before it even began. Those bass know what they are doing. So I headed back to ramp and picked up Phillip so he could get some good shots with his “professional” fancy camera. We did this for a little while and then it was back to base camp to put the finishing touches on the weigh in that was about to happen. One more thing too…….it was 207 degrees outside by now!
Tim Hawkins from Hammond’s Fishing Center conducted out weigh in so it was dead on accurate. He got there and was set up in a matter of minutes. The weigh in started at 12:30 and we had people ready to weigh their fish right off the bat. Team Brian O’Keefe and Jack Butler were up first and he came in with a doozy too. The fish was long and as Brian said “skinny” but when he pulled her out of the livewell she looked strong to me…she weighed 4.56 and after a quick pic the bass was released to fight another day. The new camera I have takes pictures underwater so be prepared to have your mind blown…..baddest camera EVER….that’s right! So we had some fish to weigh and there were some good looking fish but as of yet the O’Keefe bass stood. Then team Little / Little showed up but there wasn’t anything little about what they brought to the scales. Team Little / Little actually was Josh Little and Daniel Holt both of Jefferson and these two bassmasters fish the Bear a lot and he actually told Phillip last week that he was going to win it…..that’s right….he Babe Ruthed it folks…..he called it and sure enough their 6.32 pounder was the game winner! Not only does Josh put in a lot of time on the water at the Bear, he also has a bad to the bone tattoo on his forearm of a fish, that’s hard core folks and it means he plays for keeps. We had a lot of fish caught that were in that slot limit so we couldn’t weigh those in but we had some good chunky 2 ½ to 3 pounders caught too. So the final standings looked like this Team Little / Holt in 1st place and they took home$1550……Team O’Keefe / Butler took 2nd place and they took home $620 and then to round out the top 3 was the Father and Son team of Benjie and Ben Cleary and that gave them $310. Jacob Griffith and Ben Smith won the Peoples Bank prize package which included 2 brand spanking new Minn Kota trolling motors and two deep cycle marine batteries to go with them. Mr. Steve Levi won the Carolina Skiff boat and he was one happy camper.
Even though there was a lot of competition out on the water and a boo-koo of prizes awarded and money won and awesome Chick-fila sandwiches eaten and awesome sweet tea drank, this whole thing was set up to honor and help Trey Rood and his family out during this battle with cancer. Cancer is a terrible disease and it doesn’t care who it jumps on but one thing that cancer never knows and that is the heart and will and soul of the fighter that it enters. From the short time that I got to spend with Trey Rood I could tell that he is a fighter and that he has the love and support of a strong family and he also has a bunch of stinky ole fishermen in his corner now fighting for him too. I’d like to thank Phillip Hamrick of Sportsmans Living as well as Brent (hardest working man in America) and Lee and all of the other people that donated their time and money and effort and prayers to this cause, and people it is a worthy cause I can promise you that. Yall put together a great tournament and even more so than that you touched a family and a young man in a way that you may never truly know the impact it has on somebody. So….Trey Rood and family…..this was for you and we consider it an honor to help in small some way. You are in our thoughts and prayers. God Bless you and your family!
Cletus
