The last tournament of the year didn’t go exactly as planned for me. I fished hard for eight hours and got exactly one bite. A fish hit my crankbait and jumped and threw it. It looked like a throwback but that was the way my day went. Congratulations to the folks that did catch fish.

At Jackson last Sunday 23 members of the Flint River Bass Club and the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our December tournament together. There were 37 keeper bass weighing about 54 pounds brought to the scales and all but 13 of them were spotted bass. There was one limit of five fish and 8 of us didn’t catch a keeper.

Chuck Croft won it all with a good catch of five fish weighing 12.34 pounds and his 4.85 pound largemouth was big fish. Brandon Stooksbury had three keepers weighing 5.12 pounds for second, third was Niles Murray with four at 4.98 pounds and Brian

Bennett had four weighing 4.40 pounds for fourth.

The water was in the upper 50s, three or four degrees colder than when I had fished with Jordan McDonald there on Tuesday. And it was much more stained. On Tuesday I could see a crankbait down about a foot, by Sunday I could see it down about four or five inches.

Now that the tournaments are over the clubs have their top six set. Those top six fishermen are the tournament committee in each club and the top fisherman is the tournament chairman for the coming year.

In the Spalding County Sportsman Club Raymond English won the point standings and had big fish for the year with a 6.61 pound largemouth caught at Clarks Hill last April. Zane Fleck was second, I came in third, Chris Davies placed fourth, Sam Smith was fifth and Billy Roberts rounded out the top six.

In the Flint River Bass Club I won the point standings, Chuck Croft came in second and had big fish for the year with a 6.02 pounder caught at Clarks Hill in August, Niles Murray placed third, Jordan McDonald was fourth, Jack Ridgeway came in fifth and Don Gober was sixth for the year.

At each tournament during the year the members catching fish earn points. In the Sportsman Club 1st place gets 25 points, 2nd 24 on down to 1 for 25th place. In the Flint River club 1st gets 100 points, 2nd 90 down to 10 for tenth place.

Some clubs use total pounds and ounces for their standings each year. The point system seems fairer to me. With points each tournament is worth the same. With weight the tournaments in the spring and fall are worth a lot more than the winter and summer tournaments when fishing is tough.

A January tournament is usually won with less than ten pounds, but in April a two day tournament may be won with 25 or more pounds. That makes one tournament worth a lot more based on pounds and ounces.

I keep a spread sheet for both clubs showing total fish caught each year as well at total weight. It is amazing how close the weights follow the points. For example, in Flint River I had 47 keepers weighing 85.23 pounds, Chuck Croft had 27 bass weighing 63.93 pounds and Niles Murray had 45 fish weighing 82.5 pounds. So Niles and Chuck would have changed places based on weigh.

In the Sportsman Club Raymond English had 52 bass weighing 88.68 pounds, Zane Fleck had 46 weighing 71.97 pounds and I had 51 weighing 94.46 pounds. The top three would have stayed the same with a pounds system but we would have changed order.

What really hurts is to zero a tournament. When that happens you get no points and no weight! It is very hard to win the points standings for the year if you have even one zero in the 12 tournaments.

All three Griffin clubs start new years in January. The Flint River Club meets the first Tuesday each month and fishes the weekend after the meeting, with tournaments on Sunday. The Potato Creek Bassmasters meets the Monday after the first Tuesday and fish their tournaments on the Saturday following the meeting. The Spalding County Sportsman Club meets on the third Tuesday each month and fish the following Sunday.

This is a good time to get in on the fun and join a bass club, or two or three of them! I fish with two clubs but some of the members fish with all three. We have a lot of fun, learn about bass fishing from each other and each tournament, and enjoy a little competition.

You don’t have to have a boat to join a club. Dues are about $75 per year and each tournament entry fee is about $30. There are also a variety of side pots in each club. There is not much money involved and you can’t really win enough to even pay for gas for your two vehicle and boat in a tournament, but it is not about the money. For those wanting to win money there are all kinds of pot, buddy and individual trails for that.

I joined the Sportsman Club in 1974 and the Flint River club in 1978 and have not missed many tournaments in either club in all those years. I do enjoy the meetings and the tournaments and plan on fishing club tournaments as long as my health will allow.