Castaic Bass Club Blog

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.

November Meeting

First of all Yes Virginia there is going to be a December Meeting at the usual time and Place on the 10th.  There are no club dues or tournament fees at this meeting.   The T.O.C. will be on the 13th and the Holiday Party at El Chaparral on the 20th.  The restaurant is located at 19132 Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country.  Their phone number is 661/252-5599.  The fiesta starts at 11:00 AM.

As you know the November meeting marks the election of officers for the coming year.  This year it was a simple confirmation as there were no contested positions.  The board for 2010 will be Mike Iljin, President, Ron Licari, Vice President, Eddie Carr, Presidents Assistant, Nick Langer, Weigh Master, Tony Franks, Secretary and me, the Treasurer.  With the grueling business of the election out of the way the pairings for Pyramid were done and then we had a pretty good raffle.

Tournament Results

How many ways can you say windy and Lake Pyramid in the same sentence?  You have to admit that this time it was different.  This time it was cold and windy and also it was windy from the get go, we didn’t have to wait until the sun came up before it started blowing.  Given these conditions the results were not a great surprise.  Finishing in First Place with an incredible 2 fish that weighed a total of 4.56 pounds were Roger Larocque and George Reed.  They also had a 3.07 pounder for the tournament Big Fish.  Wes Carpenter and Adam Boyd also caught 2 fish that totaled 4.47 pounds and was good for Second Place.  In Third Place were Mike Iljin and Eddie Carr with one 2.05 pound fish.  Forth Place went to Nick Langer and Tony Franks who also caught 1.  This one fish is significant for two reasons.  1) it was the only other fish caught in the tournament and 2) it gave Tony just enough point to squeak into First Place for Angler of the Year ahead of Mike Iljin by a mere 3 points.  It was a close race at the end and our congratulations go out to Tony.

Mike’s

First and foremost, I want to thank the club members for their support during my family’s scare last month. Cassie loved the flowers that the Club delivered to her and they are a constant reminder to us of the well wishes from our extended fishing family.

Since this will be the last news letter of the year I would like to thank all of the Board members: Bo, Mark, Shelley, Eddie and Nick for all of their help and support this last year. They have made the Castaic Bass Club one of the finest clubs that has ever fished a lake.

We will have our last tournament of the year at Castaic on December 13th, so if you plan on fishing and can not make the meeting on Thursday, please be sure to call and or e-mail a board member before the start of the meeting at 7:00.

There is a special event going to be held at the Sports Complex in Castaic called The Celebration of Life. This event is to honor the life of fellow fisherman Ron Smith who passed away suddenly just a few months ago. The event will be held on December 20th, the same day as our banquet. We are hoping to wrap up our banquet between 1 to 2p.m. so that club members could still have a chance to drive over to the lake and participate in the event. There will be plenty of things for the kids to do and see, so bring them along. Below is a list of the day’s activities.

Take care,

Mike

Ron Smith “ Celebration of Life” Family Festival

Event and Volunteers Schedule:

October Meeting

Bo Viescas presided over the meeting in Mike’s absence.  He reminded the members that elections would be held at the November meeting.  The current board has been basically the same for the past two years.  Bo stressed that we welcome and encourage other members to participate.  To this end, two of our members have stepped up.  Ron Licari has put himself forward for the position of Vice President and Tony Franks is running for Secretary.   Please make a special effort to attend the November meeting on the 12th.

Tournament Results

What a change, a lake with actual water and fish at the same time.  Sure it was windy but this is Pyramid so when isn’t it windy.  Overall the weather cooperated nicely.  Ron Licari and Chaz “Hooksetter” Valenzuela brought in the winning numbers with a 5 fish limit at 11.59 and one that weighted 4.4 that was good enough for big fish.  Second place went to Brendon O’Dell and Shelley Singer (that’s me) with a limit that included one nice Small Mouth and totaled 11.13.  The three man team of Mike Lander, Adam Boyd and is son Hunter Boyd rounded out the top three places with a limit that weighed in at 8.72.  As usual, the Hot Dog Man was there at the end to make the tournament complete.

Mike’s

The year is quickly coming to an end and it’s hard to believe that the annual awards banquet is just a little over a month away. Top dog honor is still up for grabs with the top 3 spots a mire few points apart. I have reserved a room once again at the El Chaparral Restaurant, Canyon Country on Sunday December 20th. The festivities will start around 11:00 with a brunch hosted by The Club. Prizes and awards will follow the food. Please remember to bring your perpetual plaques to Thursday’s meeting so we can attach any plates you earned during the year.  You receive a plate for every tournament that you placed in the top 4. Also all Big fish winners receive a plate for every month. Please make plans to attend this fun afternoon with family and friends. Our next tournament was supposed to be held at Lake Piru but after speaking with the Ranger up there it was decided to move the November tournament back to Pyramid. The water levels are so low at Piru that the launch ramp is covered in mud and the lake has no coves. According to the lake personnel, this is the lowest the lake has been in over 40 years.

It will be a fun time no matter where we fish.

Take care,

Mike