If you have ever thought about joining a bass club, right now is the perfect time. All three Griffin clubs are starting their new years this month. If you want to join a club, the three clubs give you a variety of options.

The Flint River Club meets the first Tuesday each month so our first meeting is this week. We fish a tournament every month, usually the weekend after the meeting. Most are one day tournaments fished on Sunday but we do have two or three two-day tournaments on Saturday and Sunday.

Since the Flint River club is affiliated with both BASS and FLW Federations you can join either one or both, but you have to be in at least one. Members qualify to fish the state Top Six tournaments in these federations, giving you the opportunity to advance all the way to the BassMasters Classic or the FLW Championship.

Dues in the Flint River Club are $70 in the FLW Federation, but that pays local, state and National dues and gives you FLW membership. For the BASS Federation dues are $60 per year but you must also join BASS separately. Or you can be in both for $110 per year if you also join BASS.

Tournament entry fee is $20 each month, and we pay back the top four places in each tournament. There is also a voluntary $5 big fish pot in each tournament ant the winner of the big fish wins all of it. In addition a cumulative cig cish pot gets you into competition where the first person to catch a six pound bass wins everything in the pot.

The Spalding County Sportsman Club meets the third Tuesday of each month and fishes the following Sunday, with two or three two day tournaments.

This club is in the FLW Federation only. Dues, including local club dues of $25, are a total of $75 per year. Members can qualify for the FLW state top six, held in late March or April each spring. The BASS Top Six is held in November each year.

In this club the tournament entry fee is $25 and we pay back the top four places. There is also a big fish pot and a cumulative big fish pot just like in the Flint River Club. In both clubs, if no one catches a six pounder during the year the member in the cumulative pot catching the biggest bass during the year wins it. And in both clubs, the pot starts over if someone catches a six pounder so it is a new competition.

The Potato Creek Bassmasters meets the Monday after the first Tuesday each month. The clubs stagger dates like this so we don’t have conflicts. They fish the Saturday after the meeting and have a couple of two day tournaments, too.

The Potato Creek club is not affiliated with a federation. Instead, they have their own Classic where members can qualify to fish a tournament for the money in a pot raised during the year. It can be a fairly big amount. They also have the two big fish pots like the other two clubs.

All three clubs allow members to fish by themselves or with another member. We do not have draw tournaments. Also, in both the Flint River and Sportsman clubs members can bring a guest, limited to one time per year per guest. Guests can enter the tournament and daily big fish pot but not the cumulative pots. Members must be at least 16 years old, but youth can fish with adult members in a concurrent youth tournament each month in the Flint River and Spalding County clubs.

All three clubs also award points in each tournament to those catching bass. At the end of the year the point standings earn plaques for the top fishermen and “bragging rights” for a year. Some work hard to do well in all tournaments to place high, and the teams going to the Top Six tournaments are based on point standings, but some don’t seem to care about them.

In the Flint River Club this past year I won the points standings, Chuck Croft was second, Niles Murray was third, fourth was JJ Polak, fifth was Travis Weatherly and sixth place was John Smith.

I also won the Spalding County points standings last year, Raymond English placed second, third was Kwong Yu, fourth was Zane Fleck, Russell Prevatt was fifth and sixth was Niles Murray.

The Potato Creek top six were Raymond English first, James Beasley second, Bobby Ferris third, Lee Hancock fourth, Niles Murray fifth and Mike Cox sixth. As you can see, some of us fish with two clubs and a few are even in all three!

In all three clubs we have more members with boats than members without boats, so we can usually find someone for you to fish with if you don’t have a boat but want to give club fishing a try. It is a lot of fun and a great way to learn how to catch bass better.