Cletus T.
Senior Member
OK folks…………….the Mini-Me Classic was held yesterday out at Fort Yargo and boy what a time we had. It was out of this world awesome and that’s pretty awesome. We had a great turnout (probably over a 100 people in all) and there were fish caught, bellies were fed and hearts were touched. We had some straight GON STARS show up like Ole Captain who lead us in one awesome blessing before we grubbed down. He had his trusty sidekick “Max Relax” there with him and he got petted quite often by his adoring fans. We also had the Sultan of Slime show up and he showed up in a big way by bringing 60 packs of his soon to be world famous “Catfish Reaper” bait enhancer. He placed one in every goodie bag for the kids. The goodie bags were actually goodie book-bags. We had 60 of those draw string book bags that all the kids love to wear made up with the Mini-Me Logo on the back of them. They looked really good and in the words of one of the little boys who was there fishing with his Dad, he made this comment “These bags are sweeeeet” I thought they were pretty sweet too young man! We had so many people help out and a good many of you who helped are from off this forum and none of this would have been possible without the overwhelming response and the kindness in your heart. There are a lot of people to thank and I will get to that a little later on and I’ll do my best to thank everybody but if I forget your name please forgive me…….there are just so many people to name. It was a team effort and this team just won State! Let’s get to the action
We woke up very early and I was a little worried that waking Hunter Jack up at 5:30 in the morning might lessen his energy level but all it took was a little shaking and he rolled over and said “Let’s do this thing”. I laughed and knew that he was ready. We got loaded up and being that we had so much I drove my truck and Jaimelou drove her SUV, both loaded for bear with Mini-Me materials and fishing stuff. We got to the park without a problem but once we were in the park we ran into a slight problem. The gate to get down to the Picnic Shelter # 5 was locked. So I made one call to the man who was very instrumental in making the Mini-Me a huge success. That phone call was made to Mr. Frank Savage and within 5 minutes he was unlocking the gate and letting us in. You may ask who the heck is Frank Savage? Well he is a man I got to know over this forum and I have fished with him a handful of times and you won’t find a nicer man than Frank Savage. He has a look and a demeanor about him that is just so pleasant. He lives across the street from Fort Yargo and he has been keeping me posted as to the water level issue out there as well as all the new fishing structure being put in the lake. To take it a step further he let Hunter Jack and Me fish in his boat for the Mini-Me. He put the boat in for us, it was actually waiting for us when we got there and this boat ain’t no beat up Jon-boat either is a super nice Jon-boat with Hummingbird side-finder on it and 10 hp motor on the back that cranks on the first pull every time! I can’t thank you enough Frank for all you did for me personally as well as what you did for the Mini-Me.
So the excitement was building as 8 o’clock got closer and we had Father and Son’s and Father and Daughter’s all over the place waiting to blast off. I think we had 12 boats sitting in the drink when it was finally time to attack the water of Fort Yargo. At about 7:57 I said let’s rock n’ roll and I let everybody take off. So me and Hunter Jack took off and we didn’t even get to our first spot before we were being flagged down by LeverAction (Mark) and his son Noah because they had a fish we needed to weigh. They had busted a solid greenback and from the looks of it, it had some shoulders on it. We pulled up and YEP….it had shoulders. We put it on the scale and it weighed 3-pounds even. They were stoked and so was I, because the weather was a good bit cooler from what it was earlier in the week and I was afraid that the little cold front was going to mess up the fishing. Well…….it didn’t because the fishing turned out to be pretty doggone good. So they released their fish and took off to our first spot and as I was pulling up to the fallen tree we were going to fish I look over at Brine and his two boys and I see he has a nice looking bass in his hands too. We start fishing the tree and on my second cast with the lipless crank a bass loads up on it, he tries to take me to the heart of the tree but I turn him and then it comes to the top and splashes around this huge amount of pollen that had built up on the water and a few seconds later the bass is in the boat. He’s not a big one, probably weighs 1-pound but we have our first fish of the Mini-Me Classic and we are pumped! I let Hunter Jack hold it and throw it in the livewell. I’m about to make my third cast of the day when I hear Hunter Jack say “Oh-No” and I look back as he’s watching something sink to the bottom of the lake. It was his fishing pole. He said it just slipped out of his hands and sank like a rock. I tried to find it with my lipless crankbait but I just couldn’t hook up with it. Hunter Jack was a little bummed out but I told him it was OK and we had to run to the bank to get another kids fishing pole.
We get the new pole and do some fishing around Picnic Area # 5 and there is quite the crowd growing up there on the bank. They look good too. I see a boat quickly approaching us and its LeverAction again with another chunky bass that his son had caught. This one weighed a hair over 3-pounds at 3.4. They both had huge smiles on their face and it made me smile to see how happy they were, and to see the amount of fun a father and son can have when fishing together. We headed out to find that big bite and we got some insider knowledge that we needed to be throwing topwater. There had been an 8-pounder and a 6-pounder caught earlier that morning off of a topwater bait. We tied on a Pop-R and got to fishing. We made our way to some shallow water ending up catching a few more small bass. These bass fell victim to the ole green pumpkin baby doll jig and the very trusty shaky head worm. Hunter Jack got in on the action with the shaky head worm and he fought his bass brilliantly. We only had about 30 minutes until the weigh in so we made a move and fished the dam area for just a little while, and guess who we ran into whacking bass right in the face again…….that’s right LeverAction and his son. His son Noah was a fish catching machine. We saw him fighting a fish and we could hear him grunting and when he finally got it in the boat he got real fired up and let out a well done “YESSSSSSS”. We cruised over to them and it was another solid 2 and half pounder. Hunter Jack loves to hold fish and so we let him hold it and we actually put it in our livewell because they didn’t have one in their boat and we wanted to take some fish back to the bank so we could get some good photos and see the kids on the bank “freak out” on some bass. It was time to head back and take this party to a whole other level.
We got back to find a bank full of Mini-Me’s. There were fathers and mothers and granddaddies and nanny’s up on the bank fishing with their little ones. We all slide our boats right up on the bank and we got down to the business of weighing fish….taking pictures and high-fiving. We went right down the line to everybody’s boat and they pulled out their fish and we got a team picture of them. Bone Collector 20 started it off right with a healthy looking bass but the best looking thing in his boat was his cute little daughter and she at first was going to hold the bass but she decided to let daddy hold it. The picture turned out perfect. We got a solid picture of Brine and his two good looking boys and guess what…..they all had a big ole bass in their hands too. You could tell that ole Brine had taught his boys right and they all knew exactly how to hold a bass…….high in the air and just a little jacked out…..I love it!!!!! Brine was our defending champion and even though he and his two boys Brannon and Daniel gave it their best effort there was a team that came to the scales strong! We had a few other father and son teams hoist their catches up for the crowd to cheer and then we got to a team that I just felt had something scary lurking in their livewell. They had already whispered in my ear that they had a good sack and brother they were right. The team of Matt G and his fishing machine partner “Landing Lunkers” Luke Andrews pulled out a 3-pounder followed by a 4-pounder and they had everybody on that bank fired up with their catches. It was a solid two fish limit. We took a few other pictures of our father son team that I called the “Bayou Bengals” due to their love for LSU. We had one more team to weigh in and they had been knocking the snot out of these Fort Yargo bass all morning and that was LeverAction and his son Noah. I knew it would be close but when we put their two biggest bass together it weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and that fell short to the 7 pounds that took to win it. We had our 2010 Mini-Me Classic Champion!!!!!!!!! Congrats to Matt G and Luke A for their big victory and by whacking those bass with some southern class! We needed to eat and give out prizes.
We made our way up to the Picnic Shelter and I’ve got to say that it looked awesome. My wife Mrs. Jaimelou did sooooooo much for this event and I want to thank her from the bottom of my heart. I love this lady and she does so much for me and our family and she just loves to serve and she is so thoughtful and thinks of all these great ideas. I’m just the big mouth that comes along and looks like he has it all together but brother let me tell you…….I don’t have it all together and if it wasn’t for her I’d be nothing. She’s the brain behind this whole thing for the most part. We had our Church, Shadowbrook Baptist come aboard this year and it was awesome to see families from our church show up and have an awesome day of family fun. Our children’s pastor Mr. Jeff Sorrow was there helping with the fishing and even though all he hung were limbs and sticks he had a blast being there. Our youth pastor was there too Mr. Wes Patterson and he gave a very encouraging talk to all of us about how important it is to be a part of our kids lives and pour into them and what God calls us to do as parents and it was really an awesome word that Wes brought us. I thank you for that, even though he did reveal that as a kid he had a drug problem…….yes……that’s right….he said every time the Church doors were open he got “drug” to Church. That was too funny brother!!!! We announced our Mini-Me Classic Champion and let me tell you what we gave to the winner. He won a certificate that deemed him CHAMPION. He won a tackle box filled to the brim with fishing supplies and it had an official “Mini-Me Classic 2010 Champion” sticker on the outside of it. He also won a custom built kids fishing rod by Michael Dubnick Custom Built Rods. Even though we didn’t have the rod built in enough time to have it there, Luke has the certificate that will get him his rod. He also won a surprise guided Catfishing Trip with the Sultan of Slime to be held at a later date this year. This was a surprise that I didn’t even know. He and his partner (cousin) also won matching 14 ct gold pendants made by none other than our very own Chris S- and hand delivered by who else, the Money Man!!!! LeverAction’s son Noah won a great prize too for coming in second. Our very own Randall was there with his daughter and he donated a gift certificate for one free high powered herring swimbait that Randall builds. Noah was pumped and Randall, thank you for donating to the Mini-Me, that was super awesome of you. We had so many prizes to give out that these kids went home with their very own mini Bass Pro Shops. We let Ole Captain stand up and speak from the heart for a little bit and you could of heard a pin drop when he spoke because everyone was listening intensely. He then led us in a blessing and we grubbed down like it was nobody’s business.
I got to thank some people and I’m just going to make one very long run on sentence because there are so many people to thank. Jaimelou for loving me and supporting me and helping me the way you do. To my Mom and Dad who came out and helped out, I couldn’t have done it without you. To my brother Blake who hauled that huge smoker there and cooked for all of us. To Chris (The Park Ranger’s son), this fine young man came down and helped with the smoker when things looked like they were going to get hairy. To my Uncle Hugh for coming and helping out. You didn’t have to do it but you did and I love you for it. To Shadowbrook Baptist for stepping up to the plate and making this event about more than just a fun family day but making it about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Pastor Jeff and Pastor Wes, thank you for giving up your time and energy and talents to attend the Mini-Me. Thank you to Jonathon Herndon a.k.a. the Sultan of Slime for donating and getting Bass Pro Shops to donate some goods like that did. Also than you to Bass Pro at Discover Mills for donating to it. Mr. Tommy……you are one heck of a man and I thank you for everything you did. Hammond Fishing Center located in Cumming stepped up to the plate in a big way and donated a ton of tackle and fishing stuff…..so thank you Jason and Tim for all of that. Thank you Spotchaser (Chandler) for donating all the food. That’s right folks…you heard me right! He donated all the hamburgers and hot dogs as well as other food items. You sir were a huge part of the success of the Mini-Me and I want to truly thank you! Thanks to Brian O’Keefe for everything to did as well. He helped me out with a lot of the behind the scenes stuff as well as secure donations and money and some of these people were sending stuff from far out like Minnesota and other states. Thank you Ole Captain for coming and being a part of this great event. Thank you to GON and Mr. Nick Carter for sending a box full of goodies for the event. GON has always been about the kids in the outdoors and they stepped up in a big way. Thank you Fort Yargo and all your crew. Your staff has been helpful and supportive of this event from the day we called. I mentioned him earlier, but I have to say it again, THANK YOU Mr. Frank Savage for keeping me updated on all the conditions out there at Fort Yargo and for sharing your most awesome fishing boat with me and my mini me. We had a blast zipping around the lake in your boat. Thank you to Chris S for the Mini Me pendants you made yourself and for Money Man for driving them up from Henry County. And lastly I want to thank the rest of the GON Forum and its fine members here. There were a slew of people that sent in prizes and money and it just overwhelmed me the support we got from complete strangers. Well…….we’re not really strangers…..we all share a love for the great outdoors and we all love to play in these outdoors that God so graciously gave us. Everybody chipped in and I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart because we couldn’t have done it without the support from our GON family and that’s what we are people…….one big family, I truly feel that way.
So I know it’s long and the writing isn’t the greatest but I think you get the point of what went down on the mighty waters of Fort Yargo on April 10th 2010. The Mini-Me Classic was a HUGE success and you better believe that come spring of 2011 that there will be a bunch of Mini-Me’s running the banks and fishing the waters of Fort Yargo. Thank you and may God Bless you!
Cletus
We woke up very early and I was a little worried that waking Hunter Jack up at 5:30 in the morning might lessen his energy level but all it took was a little shaking and he rolled over and said “Let’s do this thing”. I laughed and knew that he was ready. We got loaded up and being that we had so much I drove my truck and Jaimelou drove her SUV, both loaded for bear with Mini-Me materials and fishing stuff. We got to the park without a problem but once we were in the park we ran into a slight problem. The gate to get down to the Picnic Shelter # 5 was locked. So I made one call to the man who was very instrumental in making the Mini-Me a huge success. That phone call was made to Mr. Frank Savage and within 5 minutes he was unlocking the gate and letting us in. You may ask who the heck is Frank Savage? Well he is a man I got to know over this forum and I have fished with him a handful of times and you won’t find a nicer man than Frank Savage. He has a look and a demeanor about him that is just so pleasant. He lives across the street from Fort Yargo and he has been keeping me posted as to the water level issue out there as well as all the new fishing structure being put in the lake. To take it a step further he let Hunter Jack and Me fish in his boat for the Mini-Me. He put the boat in for us, it was actually waiting for us when we got there and this boat ain’t no beat up Jon-boat either is a super nice Jon-boat with Hummingbird side-finder on it and 10 hp motor on the back that cranks on the first pull every time! I can’t thank you enough Frank for all you did for me personally as well as what you did for the Mini-Me.
So the excitement was building as 8 o’clock got closer and we had Father and Son’s and Father and Daughter’s all over the place waiting to blast off. I think we had 12 boats sitting in the drink when it was finally time to attack the water of Fort Yargo. At about 7:57 I said let’s rock n’ roll and I let everybody take off. So me and Hunter Jack took off and we didn’t even get to our first spot before we were being flagged down by LeverAction (Mark) and his son Noah because they had a fish we needed to weigh. They had busted a solid greenback and from the looks of it, it had some shoulders on it. We pulled up and YEP….it had shoulders. We put it on the scale and it weighed 3-pounds even. They were stoked and so was I, because the weather was a good bit cooler from what it was earlier in the week and I was afraid that the little cold front was going to mess up the fishing. Well…….it didn’t because the fishing turned out to be pretty doggone good. So they released their fish and took off to our first spot and as I was pulling up to the fallen tree we were going to fish I look over at Brine and his two boys and I see he has a nice looking bass in his hands too. We start fishing the tree and on my second cast with the lipless crank a bass loads up on it, he tries to take me to the heart of the tree but I turn him and then it comes to the top and splashes around this huge amount of pollen that had built up on the water and a few seconds later the bass is in the boat. He’s not a big one, probably weighs 1-pound but we have our first fish of the Mini-Me Classic and we are pumped! I let Hunter Jack hold it and throw it in the livewell. I’m about to make my third cast of the day when I hear Hunter Jack say “Oh-No” and I look back as he’s watching something sink to the bottom of the lake. It was his fishing pole. He said it just slipped out of his hands and sank like a rock. I tried to find it with my lipless crankbait but I just couldn’t hook up with it. Hunter Jack was a little bummed out but I told him it was OK and we had to run to the bank to get another kids fishing pole.
We get the new pole and do some fishing around Picnic Area # 5 and there is quite the crowd growing up there on the bank. They look good too. I see a boat quickly approaching us and its LeverAction again with another chunky bass that his son had caught. This one weighed a hair over 3-pounds at 3.4. They both had huge smiles on their face and it made me smile to see how happy they were, and to see the amount of fun a father and son can have when fishing together. We headed out to find that big bite and we got some insider knowledge that we needed to be throwing topwater. There had been an 8-pounder and a 6-pounder caught earlier that morning off of a topwater bait. We tied on a Pop-R and got to fishing. We made our way to some shallow water ending up catching a few more small bass. These bass fell victim to the ole green pumpkin baby doll jig and the very trusty shaky head worm. Hunter Jack got in on the action with the shaky head worm and he fought his bass brilliantly. We only had about 30 minutes until the weigh in so we made a move and fished the dam area for just a little while, and guess who we ran into whacking bass right in the face again…….that’s right LeverAction and his son. His son Noah was a fish catching machine. We saw him fighting a fish and we could hear him grunting and when he finally got it in the boat he got real fired up and let out a well done “YESSSSSSS”. We cruised over to them and it was another solid 2 and half pounder. Hunter Jack loves to hold fish and so we let him hold it and we actually put it in our livewell because they didn’t have one in their boat and we wanted to take some fish back to the bank so we could get some good photos and see the kids on the bank “freak out” on some bass. It was time to head back and take this party to a whole other level.
We got back to find a bank full of Mini-Me’s. There were fathers and mothers and granddaddies and nanny’s up on the bank fishing with their little ones. We all slide our boats right up on the bank and we got down to the business of weighing fish….taking pictures and high-fiving. We went right down the line to everybody’s boat and they pulled out their fish and we got a team picture of them. Bone Collector 20 started it off right with a healthy looking bass but the best looking thing in his boat was his cute little daughter and she at first was going to hold the bass but she decided to let daddy hold it. The picture turned out perfect. We got a solid picture of Brine and his two good looking boys and guess what…..they all had a big ole bass in their hands too. You could tell that ole Brine had taught his boys right and they all knew exactly how to hold a bass…….high in the air and just a little jacked out…..I love it!!!!! Brine was our defending champion and even though he and his two boys Brannon and Daniel gave it their best effort there was a team that came to the scales strong! We had a few other father and son teams hoist their catches up for the crowd to cheer and then we got to a team that I just felt had something scary lurking in their livewell. They had already whispered in my ear that they had a good sack and brother they were right. The team of Matt G and his fishing machine partner “Landing Lunkers” Luke Andrews pulled out a 3-pounder followed by a 4-pounder and they had everybody on that bank fired up with their catches. It was a solid two fish limit. We took a few other pictures of our father son team that I called the “Bayou Bengals” due to their love for LSU. We had one more team to weigh in and they had been knocking the snot out of these Fort Yargo bass all morning and that was LeverAction and his son Noah. I knew it would be close but when we put their two biggest bass together it weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and that fell short to the 7 pounds that took to win it. We had our 2010 Mini-Me Classic Champion!!!!!!!!! Congrats to Matt G and Luke A for their big victory and by whacking those bass with some southern class! We needed to eat and give out prizes.
We made our way up to the Picnic Shelter and I’ve got to say that it looked awesome. My wife Mrs. Jaimelou did sooooooo much for this event and I want to thank her from the bottom of my heart. I love this lady and she does so much for me and our family and she just loves to serve and she is so thoughtful and thinks of all these great ideas. I’m just the big mouth that comes along and looks like he has it all together but brother let me tell you…….I don’t have it all together and if it wasn’t for her I’d be nothing. She’s the brain behind this whole thing for the most part. We had our Church, Shadowbrook Baptist come aboard this year and it was awesome to see families from our church show up and have an awesome day of family fun. Our children’s pastor Mr. Jeff Sorrow was there helping with the fishing and even though all he hung were limbs and sticks he had a blast being there. Our youth pastor was there too Mr. Wes Patterson and he gave a very encouraging talk to all of us about how important it is to be a part of our kids lives and pour into them and what God calls us to do as parents and it was really an awesome word that Wes brought us. I thank you for that, even though he did reveal that as a kid he had a drug problem…….yes……that’s right….he said every time the Church doors were open he got “drug” to Church. That was too funny brother!!!! We announced our Mini-Me Classic Champion and let me tell you what we gave to the winner. He won a certificate that deemed him CHAMPION. He won a tackle box filled to the brim with fishing supplies and it had an official “Mini-Me Classic 2010 Champion” sticker on the outside of it. He also won a custom built kids fishing rod by Michael Dubnick Custom Built Rods. Even though we didn’t have the rod built in enough time to have it there, Luke has the certificate that will get him his rod. He also won a surprise guided Catfishing Trip with the Sultan of Slime to be held at a later date this year. This was a surprise that I didn’t even know. He and his partner (cousin) also won matching 14 ct gold pendants made by none other than our very own Chris S- and hand delivered by who else, the Money Man!!!! LeverAction’s son Noah won a great prize too for coming in second. Our very own Randall was there with his daughter and he donated a gift certificate for one free high powered herring swimbait that Randall builds. Noah was pumped and Randall, thank you for donating to the Mini-Me, that was super awesome of you. We had so many prizes to give out that these kids went home with their very own mini Bass Pro Shops. We let Ole Captain stand up and speak from the heart for a little bit and you could of heard a pin drop when he spoke because everyone was listening intensely. He then led us in a blessing and we grubbed down like it was nobody’s business.
I got to thank some people and I’m just going to make one very long run on sentence because there are so many people to thank. Jaimelou for loving me and supporting me and helping me the way you do. To my Mom and Dad who came out and helped out, I couldn’t have done it without you. To my brother Blake who hauled that huge smoker there and cooked for all of us. To Chris (The Park Ranger’s son), this fine young man came down and helped with the smoker when things looked like they were going to get hairy. To my Uncle Hugh for coming and helping out. You didn’t have to do it but you did and I love you for it. To Shadowbrook Baptist for stepping up to the plate and making this event about more than just a fun family day but making it about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Pastor Jeff and Pastor Wes, thank you for giving up your time and energy and talents to attend the Mini-Me. Thank you to Jonathon Herndon a.k.a. the Sultan of Slime for donating and getting Bass Pro Shops to donate some goods like that did. Also than you to Bass Pro at Discover Mills for donating to it. Mr. Tommy……you are one heck of a man and I thank you for everything you did. Hammond Fishing Center located in Cumming stepped up to the plate in a big way and donated a ton of tackle and fishing stuff…..so thank you Jason and Tim for all of that. Thank you Spotchaser (Chandler) for donating all the food. That’s right folks…you heard me right! He donated all the hamburgers and hot dogs as well as other food items. You sir were a huge part of the success of the Mini-Me and I want to truly thank you! Thanks to Brian O’Keefe for everything to did as well. He helped me out with a lot of the behind the scenes stuff as well as secure donations and money and some of these people were sending stuff from far out like Minnesota and other states. Thank you Ole Captain for coming and being a part of this great event. Thank you to GON and Mr. Nick Carter for sending a box full of goodies for the event. GON has always been about the kids in the outdoors and they stepped up in a big way. Thank you Fort Yargo and all your crew. Your staff has been helpful and supportive of this event from the day we called. I mentioned him earlier, but I have to say it again, THANK YOU Mr. Frank Savage for keeping me updated on all the conditions out there at Fort Yargo and for sharing your most awesome fishing boat with me and my mini me. We had a blast zipping around the lake in your boat. Thank you to Chris S for the Mini Me pendants you made yourself and for Money Man for driving them up from Henry County. And lastly I want to thank the rest of the GON Forum and its fine members here. There were a slew of people that sent in prizes and money and it just overwhelmed me the support we got from complete strangers. Well…….we’re not really strangers…..we all share a love for the great outdoors and we all love to play in these outdoors that God so graciously gave us. Everybody chipped in and I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart because we couldn’t have done it without the support from our GON family and that’s what we are people…….one big family, I truly feel that way.
So I know it’s long and the writing isn’t the greatest but I think you get the point of what went down on the mighty waters of Fort Yargo on April 10th 2010. The Mini-Me Classic was a HUGE success and you better believe that come spring of 2011 that there will be a bunch of Mini-Me’s running the banks and fishing the waters of Fort Yargo. Thank you and may God Bless you!
Cletus
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