Unseasonably warm temperatures leading up to the SRIBA season opener dropped just a bit on the eve of the tournament. SRIBA angers were greeted Saturday morning with bluebird skies and air temps in the high 30s to low 40s. It was obvious that high pressure had moved in and the bite might be tough in this shallow body of water.

The club members blasted off just before 7 AM and headed for their own starting spots. By 9 AM the sun was strong and the air had warmed considerably, leading most members to shed their jackets and grab some of that warm sunlight in their short-sleeved shirts. The lack of wind made it warm, but also contributed to making for a tough bite.

As the day played out, the wind began to blow gently, building up slowly. This was enough to create some activity for some club members and stir up a bite in some areas of the lake.

When everything was said and done some anglers had been able to connect with bass, and yet others had been shut out in their efforts to put a bass over the side of their boats.

Weighing in 4 bass, including a 4.26 lb. fish, Andrew Gardiner took the first place spot with a total weight of 11.29 lbs. Bringing in the only 5-fish limit of the tourney, Curt Snow took the second place spot, just 1/2 lb. behind Andrew, with 10.72 lbs. Rounding out the top 3, Dave Royer weighed in 3 bass, including the tourney lunker of 4.54 lbs, for the third place spot.

   SRIBA anglers weighed in a total of 15 bass, with a total weight of 36.57 lbs. for the club. With 7 anglers participating, we had an average of only 2.14 bass per angler. Average weight per bass was 2.44 lbs, which isn't half bad overall. Not a bad start to the season overall. Congratulations to the winners!

Charter SRIBA member Steve Burke left the club several years ago due to work obligations. Stating that he needed to get back into the club so he will "be forced to go fishing", Steve re-joined us at the season opener at Wordens Pond and has re-joined us for the 2008 season.

Steve was instrumental in getting SRIBA started back in 1993, joining with us for that first season and fishing with us until 1999, when he was forced to leave because his new job required Saturday work.

Steve, it's great to have you back!

SRIBA anglers found Watchaug Pond to be a place of feast or famine in our second tournament of the season on May 10.

The weather man had promised winds of up to 40 MPH, which never materialized, but we did have some gusts in the 30 MPH range and some sustained winds in the 20 MPH range, at times.. Nevertheless, some club members managed to nail down what the fish were doing and where they were doing it and bring some really nice bags of bass to the scales!

Nailing down the top spot, Steve Burke brought an incredible 5-fish creel of 17.45 lbs to the scales for a great 1st place finish. Steve caught his fish on a mix of jigs and worms in a few different locations on the lake. He also mentioned using a 3/4 oz. jig to help him feel the bait in the high winds. Steve said he was able to limit out and cull a few bass. Great job Steve!

Also bringing a great bag of bass to the scales, Curt Snow weighed in 5 fish for an awesome 15.92 lbs., for the 2nd place spot. Curt said he used Rat-L-Traps, Senkos and Jigs to land his fish. His first fish of the day was a 4 lber. that nailed the Rat-L-Trap in the first 5 minutes of the tourney. Curt also limited out and culled several times, culling his last fish just 10 minutes before the end of the tourney. Nice bag of fish!

Rounding out the top 3, Dave Royer also had a great weight, with 5 fish for a weight of 13.80 lbs. Dave also culled several times during the day. Good job Dave!

The rest of the field seemed to have trouble finding consistent fish, but everyone managed to bring fish to the weigh-in.

All in all, SRIBA members weighed in a total of 26 fish, and a total weight of 64.52 lbs. Average number of fish per angler was 3.25 and the average fish weighed in was 2.48 lbs. No dead fish were weighed, for a 100% release rate :)

Congrats to Steve & Curt for the 1st and 2nd place finishes!

SRIBA anglers tried hard to unlock the secrets to Glasgo Pond's bass, but were pretty much unsuccessful on a large scale, as every club member struggled to bring both, numbers and quality fish to the scales.

Rich Williams used his favorite shallow crankbait to bring 5 fish to the scales, being the only angler to bag a limit. Rich tipped the scales at 6.66 lbs. for the win.

Andrew Gardiner said he used a combination of spinnerbaits and plastic worms to land 4 keepers and take the second place spot, with a total weight of 5.55 lbs.

Landing in third place, Isaac Claros landed only one bass, but it was a good one! Isaac had the tourney lunker of 4.89 lbs. He said it hit a spinnerbait in about 7 feet of water.

SRIBA landed a total of 21 keeper bass and released 100% of them alive. The total fish weight was 30.58 lbs., with an average weight per fish of only 1.46 lbs. Only 2.63 bass per angler were caught. Definitely a tough day!

Congrats to Rich and Andrew for their 1st and 2nd place finishes, as well as to Isaac for his tourney lunker.

Continuing the tough trend that started at Glasgo Pond, Billings Lake bass shut themselves down and stayed that way through most of the night, as SRIBA fished their first night tournament of the 2008 season.

Fog blew in and stayed for at least half the night, covering the moon and providing plenty of darkness, but it didn't seem to help the fishing much

Of the 8 SRIBA anglers fishing, only 2 managed to bring a limit to the scales. Rich Williams weighed in 5 bass for a total weight of 9.04 lbs. Rich said he caught all of his fish, including a 3.43 lbs. bass, on a Jitterstick, a buzzbait and a spinnerbait.

Landing in second place, Curt Snow had 5 fish, with a total weight of 8.14 lbs. Curt also landed the tourney lunker of 4.72 lbs. Curt landed all but the biggest bass on a 1/2 oz. spinnerbait. The lunker hit a 1/2 oz. Jig & Pig.

For totals, SRIBA weighed in 32 fish, with a very small 1.52 lb. per fish average. The average number of fish per angler was 4. Total weight of the 32 fish weighed in was 48.48 lbs. Of 32 fish, 2 died, so our release rate for the club was an unusually low 93.75%.

Congrats to Rich and Curt for their top finishes.

Water levels were down and water temps were up, as SRIBA anglers headed out onto Indian Lake for our 2nd night tournament of the 2008 season. The combination of the prevailing weather conditions and the near-full moon caused things to be slow for the first hour or two.

As usual, though, some club members were able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and bring some good creels to the scales.

Rich Williams worked hard and put together a great limit of bass that clinched the 1st place spot weighed in at 14.83 lbs. Rich said he struggled during the first hour or two until the moon went down, then things turned on for him. Rich said he landed fish on a Zara Spook, a Jitterstick and a buzzbait.

Mitz came to the weigh-in with a smile on his face, saying "I had the night of nights!". He said it was the absolute best night of fishing he's ever had. His great creel tipped the scales at 14.10 lbs. and included the tourney lunker of 4.24 lbs., landing him in second place spot for the tourney. Mitz said he caught the majority of his fish on a spinnerbait.

Rounding out the top three, Bob Willis also had a great night, with a limit of bass that weighed in at 12.16 lbs. Bob's creel included a smallie that weighed well over 3 lbs. Bob said he caught most of his fish on spinnerbaits.

SRIBA anglers landed a total of 29 Bass, including a mix of largemouth and smallmouths. This is an average of 4.14 fish per angler. Unfortunately, we had 3 fish die, so our release rate suffered and ended up being only 89.66%. Total weight of the fish was 65.50 lbs, for an average weight per angler of 9.36 lbs and an average weight per fish of 2.26 lbs.

Congrats to Rich, Mitz and Bob for great bags of fish!

SRIBA Anglers arrived at Smith & Sayles to find the lake almost completely void of any weeds, due to a weed eradication performed by the State of RI earlier this year. This didn't keep club members from catching some great bass there though!

Thunder Storms were predicted, but thankfully never materialized. Conditions ended up being almost ideal all night, with air temps in the upper 60s to low 70s and only a slight breeze throughout the night, with no moonlight at all.

Despite saying that he hadn't expected to catch 5 fish, Rich Williams bagged an awesome 17.32 lb creel, easily topping the rest of the SRIBA members and taking his 4th straight win! Rich said he caught most of his fish on a spinnerbait. Rich's big fish weighed in at 5.61 lbs. but it wasn't quite enough to take the tourney lunker.

Also bringing in a great bag of fish, Curt Snow bagged 5 fish that weighed in at 14.93 lbs. Curt's creel included the tourney lunker of 6.16 lbs. and also included another fish well over 5 lbs. Curt took the 2nd place spot for the night.

Wrapping up the top three, Dave Royer bagged 5 fish for 11.22 lbs, narrowly edging Bob Willis, who also had 5 fish for 11.18 lbs.

SRIBA anglers weighed in a total of 34 bass, for a total weight of 78.01 lbs and an average of 4.86 fish per angler. Average fish weight was 2.29 lbs. and the average weight per angler was 11.14 lbs. All 34 fish were released alive.

Congratulations to Rich, Curt & Dave for their great bags of fish!

In our toughest tournament in many years, SRIBA anglers fished for 7 hours, only to scratch out a few bass across the entire club membership.

Severe thunder storms the previous evening and a massive cold front that blew in during the night shut the bass bite down and caused half of the club members to go completely fishless for our return to daylight tournament hours. When everything was said and done, 4 SRIBA members had landed bass and 4 anglers hadn't.

Leading the pack, Mitz landed 2 bass that weighed in at 4.27 lbs, including the tourney lunker of 2.99 lbs. Mitz landed his fish early in the tourney and said his primary bait was a floating shallow crankbait.

Landing in 2nd place, Isaac Claros bagged 3 bass, the most of any club member for this tournament. Isaac's bass weighed in at 3.92 lbs.

Wrapping up the top three, Dave Royer brought 2 bass to the scales that tallied a 3.18 lb. weight.

This was the first tournament of the 2008 where SRIBA members failed to bring a bass to the scales that weighed 4 lbs. or more. With the conditions at hand, it was definitely understandable.

Totals for the tourney were as follows: Total # of bass weighed in was 8 and the total fish weight was 13.24 lbs. Average fish per contestant was 1, with an average fish weight of 1.65 lbs. Average weight per angler was 1.66 lbs. We released 100% of all 8 bass!

Congrats to Mitz, Isaac & Dave for their top finishes!

SRIBA members chased river bass during scattered showers and cloudy skies today, trying to nail down those elusive river lunkers.

Conditions weren't ideal, but most anglers managed to find fish and fill their livewells.

At the end of the day, all but one member of SRIBA had brought a limit to the scales. Weights were close across the boards, but when the weigh-in was finished, Curt Snow and Steve Burke had clinched the top two spots.

Curt brought 5 fish to the scales that weighed in at 8.99 lbs. and included the tournament lunker of 2.51 lbs. Curt found the fish scattered and caught them from a variety of locations and types of cover.

Steve also had 5 fish, which weighed in at 8.54 lbs. Steve said he caught fish from a lot of different areas and just covered a lot of water to catch his limit and cull his smaller fish over the course of the day.

Rounding out the top three, Dave Royer weighed in 5 bass that tipped the scales at 7.93 lbs. Dave, as with everyone else, caught his fish from a wide variety of areas over the course of the day.

SRIBA anglers weighed in a total of 39 bass for a total weight of 57.80 lbs. and an average fish weight of 1.48 lbs. Average number of fish per angler was 4.88 with an average weight per angler of 7.23 lbs. All 39 bass were returned alive to the water, for a 100% release rate.

Congratulations to Curt, Steve and Dave for their great bags of fish!