Most of our 56 plus members actually do have “pre-existing conditions”. A big topic on the TV commercials that ended earlier this week. At least I hope they did. So, when we got a bad weather forecast for last Thursday our officers made the decision to cancel. Were they right?

As it turned out the winds only blew about 15-20, not the 20-30 as forecasted. But the temps were in the low 50’s. Wind chill would have been pretty bad in a 30-knot wind. Of our above mentioned 56 members around 20 of them are sitting out because of the Covid 19 pandemic.

We have changed our procedures to make it safer for our members. When, whenever we met, we wear our masks and no crowds. Since we resumed in late May our morning registration takes place outside at the SRA park on SH 154. The co-angler (back seater) comes there and pays the full fee for both anglers (boater and co-angler) meeting with just one person.  He then meets the boater at the ramp where they intend to leave out of. In the afternoon after the tournament the co-angler brings the score sheet back to the registration site for accounting. Once the winners are declared their winnings are placed in envelopes and the next weeks co-angler brings them to the winning persons.

So, contact among the club members is pretty darn sparse. That is up to now.  What is the one thing seniors, that go outside in the winter time, hate worse than big winds? Cold of course. And now we have to go back inside. Back into the Minnow Bucket. In an effort to continue our covid precautions we will use the same procedure. Only the co-angler will go inside to register and may wait on the outside patio if he wants to know the results. Or go home and get them the usual way by an email from our president in the afternoon.

For the next three weeks we will be fishing our Championships. Most clubs fish only once a month. A few fish bi-weekly. Even fewer fish weekly. But the Lake Fork Anglers fish every Thursday throughout the year except Thanksgiving and Christmas. That is 50 weeks. (Members must fish at least 8 to maintain membership). Fishing the same format every week to me would be boring, so we fish two different formats. We used to fish three but it got confusing to some of our oldest members.

We start out each month with our format we call “Hardcore”.  This follows the Major League Fishing format where every fish over 10” counts (including slots-Lake Fork has a 16” to 24” slot) and we fish one of three sections of the lake rotating each tournament. Our other format (LFA) is the standard 5 fish creel where your best five fish count. In our club, even though there is always two anglers in each boat the boater only fishes against the other boaters and the co-anglers only fish against the other co-anglers. And each group has it’s own lunker pool as well. Two anglers for safety, learning and measuring the fish as all fish are measured, recorded and released on the spot.

So, this Thursday Nov 5^th will be the LFA Championship following the 5 fish creel with the boat seating set up with our highest point boater and the lowest scoring co-angler and so forth until all are seated.

Starting on Nov 12^th will be the Hardcore semi-final. Co-anglers will be seated by a draw. Every fish will count and a drawing will take place for the section of the lake to be fished. The top 50% will then move on to the final being held on Nov 19^th where again a draw will take place for seating and the lake section will be drawn from the two remaining sections. The winners earn travelling plaques paid for our sponsor “Bass Fishing Innovations”.

Our 2021 season begins on December 3^rd with a Hardcore. Come and join with us. Dues is $5 a year and tournaments $20 including your 100% payback lunker. Just bring your tackle and life vest. Call 903-440-2797 or e-mail at [email protected]. for info.