Fred's 5+ Lunker Seals the Deal on Winni

The club had a surprisingly good turnout for our annual out-of-state event, with 12 boats and 14 anglers making the trip to Winni. To make things interesting, the AOY title was on the line, and was up for grabs among the three top spots: Eric, Mike and Wade.

It was a beautiful day to fish (for the anglers), with partly sunny skies, temps in the 80s, and a light breeze to keep things pretty comfortable. The questions was, would it be good for the fish too? Turns out it wasn't bad. 11 of the 14 participants brought limits to the scales, but it was Fred Naymie who walked away the victor -- his second win of 2008 -- with a bag weighing 12.35 lbs., anchored by a sweet 5.20 largemouth lunker that was easily the largest fish weighed in 2008. Following in second was Eric with a sack of 12.14 and in third was Mike C. with five fish totaling 9.89 lbs.

As for the Angler of the Year, Eric's second place finish earned him enough points to put him over the top for his third title in the last four years. Congratulations Eric! Even though Wade faded a bit with a 7th place finish at Winni, it was an exciting 3-way race right til the end and all three anglers had seasons to be proud of.

Our next tournament is our first of the 2009 schedule, to be held at Wequaquet on September 20.