Hart clears the field by 2# at the Top Stick Castaic Opener

[John Barron]

When the smoke (from the Castaic Bass Club Bass Club BBQ) cleared Mike Hart came out on top at the Top Stick Castaic Opener by 2 pounds including a 4+ big fish. Damon Motley pushed 3 pounds ahead of 3rd place Daren Lacher with 4th place Joe Payne just edging out Guy Williams by .01 of a pound! A great job done by all of the anglers with almost all boats weighing in fish.

A big thank you to the Castaic Bass Club for putting on a great BBQ for us.....excellent burgers after a day on the water.
Thanks to Mark Paulson our blast off boat, Pat Waters and Courtney Mim for helping handle the fish and traffic and Lance Karafellas on stats. Great job done by Roger Nelson, official photographer for Top Stick (pictures wil be posted soon) and a special thanks to Mike Iljin for jumping in and needling fish for us. Chris Johnson did his usual excellent job and I just wouldn't want to do this without him.

A special discussion about the real threat of the Quagga Mussel lead by Ron Cervenka was held at the awards ceremony along with some new insurance regulations talked about by Stan Vanderberg that are now in effect. For more information regarding the new insurance regs contact Stan Vanderberg at 1-800-BASS-BOAT and more information can be found regarding he Quagga Mussel at www.dfg.ca.org

We will post more on both later here and on www.topsticktour.com

Thanks to all that came out and fished and watched.
John Barron
"Clean and Dry"

Full results will be posted in the morning but for now here are the top 5 plus 1st out of the money.
Pros
1 Mike Hart 5 15.37 $3,820.00
2 Damon Motley 5 13.40 $1,810.00
3 Daren Lacher 5 10.44 $1,100.00
4 Joe Payne 5 10.39 $800.00
5 Guy Williams 5 10.38 $700.00
6 Tony Capparelli 5 10.20 Dobyns Rod

Non Boaters
1 Pete Hoffman 5 15.37 $1,200.00
2 Chris Koda 5 13.40 $750.00
3 Mike Robinett 5 10.44 $450.00
4 Daniel Kurz 5 10.39 $660.00
5 Soon Chul Lee 5 10.38 $300.00
6 Rich Palmer 5 10.20 Dobyns Rod

[tunaman]

Congratulations to the winners today, good job to everyone in prevailing under adverse conditions, and GREAT job by the Top Stick staff! John, you run a great tournament trail and I'm really impressed with the Top Stick organization. Thanks for making me a part of it!

I've just finished post-processing the pictures from the weigh-in and awards... that is the most arduous and lengthy part of photography these days (with the advent of digital photography). Fortunately, I've been able to automate much of the process, so it runs on cruise control once I've dumped the originals.

I shot a total of 338 pictures today consuming 1.4 GB, and have 326 acceptable images from those which are processed into printable (~50" x 33" without enlargement! - 1.85GB total) and viewable (1024x768) images. I'm dumping all to DVD for John to post to the website, but expecting some may not want to wait, I've created a slideshow (obviously this was thrown together, as they're not in proper sequence - apologies in advance, but I'm a little wiped out )which can be viewed at:

http://www.tunaman.org/pics/TopStick/Castaic/index.htm

It is obvious to me that this is a labor of love for John Barron, and I'd like to commend him for an outstanding job running Top Stick (with great assistance from CJ, of course!). When John approached me to propose shooting the events, it was obvious that he's working very hard to showcase you anglers in the best light possible. I'm very proud to be a part of Top Stick this season and will work hard to deliver on John's vision.

I tried hard today to make the rounds and capture everyone involved with Top Stick, and for anyone I may have inadvertantly missed I apologize in advance... I tried to err on the side of overkill, and towards that you'll see at least a couple of anglers who weren't involved in the tournament in some of the shots. I know some of the participants, many from here, and some are only familiar names or handles. I'm going to try to get to know everyone, but please don't be shy and help me help Top Stick to be showcased as John would have it... feel free to let me know you're a part of Top Stick when I'm shooting on the water, and don't be shy!!!

Best regards,
Roger
"CLEAN and DRY"

[tunaman]

And to pay homage to Mr. Hart and Mr. Hoffman, here's a picture of Mike giving his acceptance speach at the awards ceremony:



GREAT job out there guys!
Roger

[Dnld_sanders2]

casitas next boys.

[Gerryjig]

*NM*

[Matt M.]

Congrats Daren!!! I hope that graph helped you out man!

Matt

[Brian D.]

And, nice job Roger! Great pics and temendous exposure for the anglers.

[JohNNy Utah]

*NM*

[tunaman]

I've created a slideshow (obviously this was thrown together, as they're not in proper sequence - apologies in advance, but I'm a little wiped out )which can be viewed at:

http://www.tunaman.org/pics/TopStick/Castaic/index.htm

OK, had a chance to straighten out the file ordering and have re-generated the slideshow so that it is now in chronological order. Enjoy!


Roger
"CLEAN and DRY"

[Munsey]

It's good to see Angel fans do well. Awesome Job.

[ken burk]

very nice job, you dancin' banana.

[Kevin Shin]

I've created a slideshow (obviously this was thrown together, as they're not in proper sequence - apologies in advance, but I'm a little wiped out )which can be viewed at:

http://www.tunaman.org/pics/TopStick/Castaic/index.htm

OK, had a chance to straighten out the file ordering and have re-generated the slideshow so that it is now in chronological order. Enjoy!


Roger
"CLEAN and DRY"

Roger,,
You'be done a great job
You will make some people want to come out and fish the next TS tourny.
I hope TST grows bigger (it's sure thang) FASTER with all these help from guys like you.
Thanks.

[tunaman]

Thank you Kevin - it's my pleasure.

[DL]

Thanks guys, I wasnt exactly on suicide watch but I was close. When I finally moved to the front of the boat the last thing I wanted to do was fall on my face. Once the first fish was in the boat, things kinda fell into place and we were able to just go fishing. We were suprised when our weight held up to get third, there are some great sticks fishing this cirucuit and I surely didn't think 10.44 would be enough for a check...but it was. No rest for the weary, Casitas is next (provided it isnt closed) and that lake and I have a love/hate relationship. It loves me and I hate it But I am looking forward it Good job to Guy and the rest of the field as well, it was tough out there and it seemed like just getting bit was an accomplishment.

And thanks to John and Chris, you guys run a great show. Can't wait for the next one!

PS Ken Burk...I can get you a dancin banana if you want one