December 2005

Vice President: Tim Spencer Tournament Director: Dwayne Langston Secretary: Bobby Landes

Upcoming Events: Next Club Meeting > 03 January 2006, Next Tournament: Lake Travis > 28 January 2006

President, Mike Shields, Called the meeting to order about 7:00 pm 06 December 2005. President call for the last meeting minutes that were read by Secretary, Bobby Landes and accepted by members present. President called for Treasurer Report and was give by Jake Jakubowsky.

Issue 1 Club Post Office Box: Recommendation to the members present to due away with the PO Box due to the annual cost of $68.00 and the amount of Club Business mail received. Jake offered to receive Club correspondence at his home address. Other members requested that the PO Box stay as is, and the club pay the box fee to insure the Austin Bass Club retains an address.

Issue 2 Web Site Host: Last year in February I had a big problem with uploading files and created Web Pages to my AOL account for free Web Pages. It got to the point the files were being corrupted and the site was unresponsive. I contacted AOL tech support and was told that they could not support Microsoft Front Page, a web page and site editing software I us. So in February I searched the internet for someone to Host the Austin Bass Club Web Site. I ran across a site that listed the TOP 10 web hosting sites. Last year Lunarpages.com was at the top of the list and I checked the Top 10 site this time and even though their are others cheaper I prefer to stay with what I know works. I checked out not only the providers site but also some of the sites the Web Host was hosting and I feel I choose the best for the dollar spent. Last Year I spent $110.35 the setup the site and register the domain name AUSTINBASSCLUB.COM. In February 2006 it will cost me $95.40 that is only $7.95 per month and I get the domain name for life at no extra cost as long as I stay with Lunarpages.com the Web Host.

Issue 3 Club Officers: Mike Shields >President, Tim Spencer > Vice President, Jake Jakubowsky > Treasurer, Bobby Landes > Secretary and Dwayne Langston > Tournament Director are the current club officers. Some of the club officers have expressed they would like someone to take over their duties as club officer for 2006. The responsibilities of being a club officer is every members duty to support the Austin Bass Club and isn't all that hard to do. I have served in each of the offices like other members have in the past years and encourage other members to step up and man the post.

Issue 4 Club Membership: The membership and members participation has dwindled to just a few members making the meeting and attending the tournaments. Over the past years I have herd members expressing their feelings about why members don't join, or the ones that due join and leave the Austin Bass Club were reasons like, they want to fish for money or they want someone to show them how to Bass Fish. Each new member that comes to a Club Meeting has his on reasons for getting into or continuing with the Sport of Bass Fishing. In the dictionary "FISHING" is defined as trying to catch fish. There is no trick or instant process to learning to bass fish, it is the days, weeks, months and years you as an angler puts on the water and into the learning process. If you are have problems in determining what equipment, type of bait, where to fish and how to put it together, we can all give advice. But it is up to the angler to choose their way of becoming a Bass Fisherman.

Item add 12/28/2005 Jake sent me an email requesting that all Austin Bass Club members and Texas Association of Bass Clubs dues should be sent to Jake ASAP, to keep the bank account above minimum, to avoid bank charges. ABC $20.00 and TABC $20.00 total $40.00 per year.

There were 4 teams show up at our end of year 2005 December Draw Tournament. It was a cool morning between 42° to 47° air temp and a water temp that ranged 50° to 62° depend on who was giving the report. Darrel Routon and Jake Jakubowsky took First Place with 13.87lbs with Dale Langston and Chris Bodkins taking Second Place with 11.64lbs. Darrel Routon came in with good stringer of 7.57lbs for Top Individual and Dale Langston took Big Bass with a nice fish weighing 6.80lbs. With the weather being what it was toping out at about 70° and the boat traffic being manageable and no one being hurt or loosing equipment, It was a good day to be on the water. Congratulations to all.

1	Dale Langston	119.69
2	Bobby Landes	116.80
3	Keith Nichols	105.00
4	Sean Ramsey	98.36
5	Jim Sparks	89.78
6	Denis Parrish	87.19
7	Ronnie Scott	85.74
8	Jake Jakubowsky	78.04
9	Dwayne Langston	65.94
10	Jim Robinson	56.96
11	Jeff Woodard	46.13
12	Mike Shields	38.07
13	Tim Spencer	37.66
14	Wesley Sanders	34.48
15	Ray Ceder	33.96
16	Jimmy Routon	27.36
17	Daryl Hanson	25.11
18	Dan Ross	23.81
19	Robert Ceder (G)	22.72
20	Bud Croom	19.09

Mr. Langston Is the Unofficial Official 2005 Top Fisherman

Dale Langston is unofficially the 2005 Top Fisherman for 2005, but hey, let’s just call it official. Dale had an outstanding year, moving up to the No. 2 position in late summer and holding that spot until the very last tournament of the year. He slipped into the top spot during the December tournament where he caught one fish that weighed 6.80 lbs. It was his only bite of the day but it was a winning bite, capturing the big bass of the tournament award while also moving him into the top spot for the yearlong competition.

The Austin Bass club has a reputation of having a number of really good fisherman year in and year out and to finish at the top in this group speaks for itself. Dale, you not only finished No. 1 for the year, but you’re a champion of a person as well.

After 3 years of being your clubs’ secretary I’m stepping down and passing my pen on. The time has passed so quickly and until recently I didn’t even realize it had been that long.

Starting in February I will be taking on additional fatherhood responsibilities as Yvonne, Chance and I are expecting a new addition to the family. Of course with these responsibilities comes less time doing other things like getting out late night newsletters, which I’ve already been experiencing. Although the baby isn’t here yet my time seems to already be evaporating and I’m sure it will only get worse with time.

I’ve enjoyed being your secretary and hopefully you’ve received the club information in a somewhat timely manner and perhaps you’ve even gotten a chuckle or two along the way. I apologize if I’ve offended anyone with my off color humor or beliefs.

Thanks for the occasional kind words and encouragement through the years, as it has always helped to inspire me to put out a newsletter that people looked forward to reading. I’ve enjoyed writing both for and about the guys in this club and I appreciate the friendships I’ve gained and strengthened throughout the process.

President: Mike Shields Treasurer: Jake Jakubowsky

Mr. Langston Is the Unofficial Official 2005 Top Fisherman