Russo's Marina / 100% Bass

[StogieMan]

I just fished my 3rd event in the 100% Bass Delta circuit last Saturday, congratulations to the winners, 40 pounds is mind boggling! Anyway I wanted to publicly comment on the facility that 100% is using, Russo’s Marina.
Chuck Russo and his crew do an amazing job; they make me feel special, like a V.I.P. From the golf cart ride in and out of the over-flow parking to the courteous and friendly flashlight wielding, traffic directing ramp folks making sure my non-boater gets on and off the ramp safely. Oh and let’s not forget my favorite guy at the ramp (what’s your name dude I want to buy you a beer) who hooks my boat up to the trailer for me while standing ankle deep in water, love that guy! I’m nobody on this circuit, just trying to make the TOC while sharing good times with my fellow club members who also come out to fish and yet, Chuck remembers my name! I launched there to do a little pre-fishing early in the week (not that it helped me any ) only to have pointed out that my trailer had a soft tire, guess what, yep, they have an air compressor there too! What can I say…Chuck, I love ya man!

[Chad Dibble]

Ditto to that. Great team over there at Russo's:!:

[BassTraveler]

There is a saying in Business.
Some businesses like Russo's, know this.

"Take care of the customer. If you don't someone else will."

[macinckirk]

There is a saying in Business.
Some businesses like Russo's, know this.

"Take care of the customer. If you don't someone else will."

Very Very ture, I was up there last Oct. 1st time to the delta in over 20 yrs, and I got to Rent Dave's House Boat, and I have to say The whole Russo Family is down to Earth and are just Great!!!! This is way People will take the extra time to go to there Marine and use them.

[Ken Mah]

He does all that work for free.

Great guy

[185vsfrog]

Maybe Steve is working for free, but Russo's is making a killing with practically every west Delta tournament being held there this year. Just think at $10.00 a launch how much Russo's makes every weekend (and every day, for that matter). Russo's should absloutely cater to the fisherman for all the business they receive from us. I am just sour because I came there earlier in the year to buy a year launch pass and I was refused, stating that "they were all sold out". How can you sell out of launches? It doesn't make sense to me but Russo's did exactly what they shouldn't be doing. They sent me down the road to Sugar Barge and Lundberg's.

[Gator]

185 - I can say this - that does not sound like Russo's at ALL. Are you sure they didn't say they currently did not have any passes to sell? I would advise you to go talk to Chuck himself. I guarantee you he will make it right.

[Tobe]

Hey Frog,

There must have been some miscommunication because Russo's is a great place, I feel they cater to anglers big time and $10.00 is way affordable.

I would take Gators advice and give Chuck a call.

[Gary Dobyns]

because of the location. Many of us coming from the Sacramento direction launch at Brannon Island and boat over for tournaments. I also hate the fact that all the tournaments go out of Russo's because of relocating all the fish caught to the tract area. Fishing in that area is a bitc* anymore, but if you don't, you get beat. If all the top 10 finishes were added up this year 90% or more would be from the tract. As far as Chuck Russo and Russo's Marina, they run a first class operation and everyone around there has always been friendly and very helpful. They cater to us fishermen, always have parking, always have enough help directing parking, shuttle service, and a smile. Do they make money on us? Hell yes, that is their business. They also spent a hell of a lot of dollars on upgrades to get us there, also. If anyone has any problems or questions about Russo's, ask for Chuck himself, his customer service and facility is triple A plus. How about live release boats moving tourney fish to other locations around the Delta? Weather permitting of course.

[Mike]

Thanks you Gary! We started this descussion last week about relocating the tournament fish. I understand the tournament orgs. not wanting to spend the extra money to "hire" a release boat, but we need to do something. The Tract already has a huge bass population in it, it doesn't need a stocking program. Just last weekend 100% bass Avg. weight 20 pounds x 90 boats=1800 pounds of fish shot down a tube. Anglers Choice 45 teams 16# avg. weight=that another 720 pounds of fish on Sunday! This happens almost every week. Maybe they can charge a $5 fee for the realese boat? Or someone could volunteer one?


As far a Russo's making a "killing" off of us bass fishermen? After they pay for the extra staff and expences they might make a few bucks. What wrong with that? They worked very hard to earn our business. i dont have a problem paying 10 bucks for the launch and shuttle and to have a guy hook my boat up for me.

[Fishin' Dave]

You all thought I was weird and parnoid about all the fish going to Franks and the idea of relocating. We'll some other weirdo Gene Dobbyns or Gary (never heard of the guy HA!) thinks like me. While Russos is a first class place, the roads suck to get there, there is no freeway, all the fish are in Franks now, and no hotels. The only thing is Russos is one of the few places equiped to run a tourney.
Ladds is awesome, close to fwy, close to hotels, etc.
After that, where else do you hold a tournament on the Delta? B&W is a good location, but too small.
Tower park maybe?
Orwood was a cluster mess.
Holland is out in BFE like Russos.
Brannon island has an awesome ramp, but no other facilities other than a camp ground. Plus go run to Brannon on a windy day.
We all know the Big Break story.
Tracy Oasis might get hosed with the water project. Like Russos, they have an awesome staff and Terry takes care of us, but location, location, location. It's a long run out of there to anywhere.

Bottom line right now is Ladds is the best place to hold a tournament. Russos has a great staff and a great location on the water, but you can't get there with ease on the road. Time will tell. At least lets get the fish out of Franks! Can you say release boat?

[Gary Dobyns]

I missed the fish relocating topic. Sorry, I would have given my two cents worth. I got to tell you the "BFE" almost made my fall off the chair I was sitting in. I have never said it, or even know what it stands for. Right.

[Ron C]

...it's all about the money folks - and not just for them. Major tournament organizations like FLW and BASS get paid a considerable amount of money (like $10,000+) to bring tournaments to specific venues. Even though the city of Stockton invested a lot of money to upgrade the facilities at Ladd's (Buckley Cove), they "stiffed" BASS/ESPN the $10,000 that they promised them TWICE! This is why you will (probably) never see another "freeway close" major tournament out of Ladd's.

Gene Buchholz and Chuck Russo have invested A LOT of time and money to get local merchants from Oakley, Antioch, and Brentwood to pony up the money to get FLW to bring the Stren Series there (just as Phil Mitsueda did for the Stren Shasta tournament). Sure Gene and Chuck will get a good return on their investment (as well they should), but without their efforts, there would be no Stren Series Delta tournament. I, for one, cannot thank Gene and Chuck enough for their efforts. As for Stockton (Ladd's), they have only themselves to blame for the biggies not returning there.

As far as the increasing bass population in the Track because of all of the tournaments goes, it is really no different than Callville Bay at Mead or Windsor Beach at Havasu - although the bass there obviously move a lot farther than they do at the Delta. Just remember, if there wasn't a strong forage base in the Track, the bass wouldn't stay there. Besides - it saves us a hell of a lot in gas money (Har Har!).

[Hardshell]

if 185 thinks they are making too much money we could always go back to "The Break" and ol' David's BS.

[sTony]

Russo's does a great job and I for one am thrilled to have guys like this offer the facilities that they do. Kudos to Chuck and Gene!!!

I defy anyone to name a better home for Delta bass fishing.

sTony

[Dewayne]

You live in BFE, don't tell us you never heard of it before.

Even if you get release boats all they will do is haul them to the middle of Franks. No one will make a 10 mile run in a release boat to dump the fish. Let's be realistic.

With everyone fishing Franks some great water is getting little pressure. Of course everyone who catches a sack anywhere else wants to keep all the boats in Franks. Right Cooch!

[Cooch]

realistically, as I said earlier in the week, anything is going to be better than the tradgedy of releasing those fish at Russo's down that tube on the launch ramp. My question here is, why is it continuing to be allowed? Don't the permits for tournaments require something different? Or has there been a change the rest of us are unaware of, or an acception made for Russo's.

I absolutely love the folks and facility at Russo's. I'm absolutely appalled the orgs are being allowed to release those fish right there. That tube is a novel idea and I can understand why Russo's would have installed it. It would work great for very small tournaments or fun get together events that maybe aren't permitted. But fer permitted events, last I undrstood, using that tube is a violation for the tournament org holding the permit. If I'm wrong, maybe one of the organizations can come shead some light. If I'm right, we better see a change soon before the hammer comes down on one of our orgs.

And don't kid yersef about the other great places on the Delta getting little pressure. I don't know where all these guys are coming from, but mid week fishing is not much different than weekends. There are guys all over this river fishing right now. There just tend to be a LOT of people chasing the "easy" fish in Franks! LOL

[Gene Buchholz]

I should probly keep my 2 cents to myself but here goes.

First I want to know why when someone tries to give a compliment to someone on this forum someone else has to make a negative debate out of it.
The person that didn't get his launch pass just signed in on the day of his post. He didn't get a pass because Chuck only sells a certain amount every year. I know Chuck explained that to him very nicely.

Second why is all this falling back on the location of the tournaments and the owner of the marina. THERE IS A CATCH AND RELEASE BOAT AVAILABEL TO ALL ORGANIZATIONS FROM BBAC!

For those of you that have not been involved in hosting a tournament it takes a lot more work and money then you think.

Tournaments have been being won out of Franks for many more years then they have been launching out of Russo's. Just to mention a few Don Payne 10 years ago Gary Howel/Ken Mah, Jim Stich,and many more (sorry about the spelling of names). Yes the track is being refulled but so was Big Break, look at how many tournaments are won in front of Lakeport at Clear Lake every year and know it is changing to the bay by the Casino.

Russo's is the most centralized location on the Delta, at todays gas prices it is saving everybody a lot of money. If the tournamnets were still going out of the Break you would still the cost of the bridge and driving time.

If you all knew how much money Chuch has invested to give us a location and the service he does he should be charging 20.00 dollars a launch. Russo's wants us there and will take a long time for him to get a return on his investment.

And yes we have been discussing a catch and release boat for quite awhile. Does anyone have $20,000.00 dollars to dish out?

I'm more then happy to discuss this post in person with any body
I hope I have not offened anybody. I bust my ___ to help give this sport its due and promote it, I just can't understand all the negative comments posted when it should be discussed with the direct source on a one on one basis



PS. the winning weight on Saturday didn't come out of Franks and neither did a lot of the top ten weights..

[gt5bass]

Gene,

Thank you to You and Chuck (and his great staff) for all you have done for improving bass fishing on the Delta. I think sometimes we forgit that we are just grains of sands in the big picture.

The negativity is just a reflection of the direction our society as a whole has turned.

See y'all in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I never got my slip reserved, so I git to launch the wife everyday this year.

[sThurmon]

I'd like to thank the owners at Russo's. Between having the tackle shop there and getting help loading the boat at weigh in it is a pleasure. If you guys could just move your marina to I-5, I would like it alot more. Comming from sac area its tough to trailer around in the morning. Oh, and also, could you extend the release pipe over to Dissapointment so I could start catching some of those fish again?

thanks again

Steve T

[JimmyReese]

Great response Gene!

I have to give you guys a lot of credit for all the hard work you guys give to the fishermen, I personally come to the delta 3 or 4 times a year and your accomidations have always been a class act!
You guys do a lot for the fishermen, more than you have too! We do appreciate this very much.

I as well beleive there should be a release boat, I think in the long run this will make the Delta a better fishery! (Ill donate a $100 to help this happen..)

I know this area we could release fish once in a while, I believe we could get "Braggs Marine" to sponsor this!

See ya next week! Jimmy Reese

( Lets get a "wrapped Release boat" A corporate sponsor to help pay for it! )

[gt5bass]

I'll match Jimmy's $100.

Now if we can git the other 198 pro's fishin' the Stren to match, we got your release boat

[Gator]

Jimmy - I like your idea. I think this is something that could be "sold" to a corporate entity. May be something to investigate further.

[Mike]

I dont think it will cost that much to build one. Look at all of the old broke down house boats around Bethel Island! Take one of those old hulls and strip it down, and build or bolt a big water tank and water pumps on the top. Slap on a old outboard and on you go.

[Fishin' Dave]

See fellas, I'm on to something. For the health of the bass, and the maintanence of the Delta, lets get a release boat! Jimmy hit it on the head, get corporate sponsorship. I'll match their $100 with $100 of my own at the end of the month.

I put in a call to BBAC to find out about their boat. I hate fees, but like the $5 boat insurance fee charged by some orgs, we might have to do a $5 release boat fee.

Lets get it done!

[gt5bass]

Have a base sponsor for the primary wrap and sell spots to other sponsors to help cover the operation and maintenance costs.

We could also have a bunch of mini-tourneys (ie. turkey shoots) were each particpant donated $25 to the Release Boat Fund.

I will talked to a buddy of mine who is sponsored by one of the Wrap companies and see if they will help getting it Wrapped.

[NaCl]

....I'm not even fishing the Stren event! I believe Russo's has done a lot for Delta bass fishing and the ONLY legitimate criticism is the lack of a proper release boat. So, I'll donate $100 to the building of a release boat to be located at Russos PERMANENTLY.

Jimmy, your idea of "wrapping" the release boat is excellent. It doesn't have to be a permanent "wrap". It could easily be treated as a floating billboard. Sell the advertising every year to a new sponsor to help cover operating costs.

I also think tournament orgs should include a small rental fee to use the boat. This would cover operational costs and maintenance of the release boat. Team tournaments typically draw 40-80 boats. A simple $2 fee per boat launch would provide $100 a day to take care of our fish. I can't believe ANY serious bass fisherman would have a problem with dropping 2 stinkin bucks to re-distribute those tourny fish. And, if someone finds that $2 offensive, he can launch somewhere else and drive over. I guarantee it costs more than $2 in fuel to drive over from Brannon Island to Russos and back.

Also, there was some discussion about "where" would you release those fish. C'mon....anybody with rudimentary knowledge of the delta could easily solve that problem. You've got three MAJOR entry points into the Franks Tract area. All three are only minutes from Russos. Rotate the releases between those three points....1. False River/Fisherman's Cut, 2. Old River/San Joaquin River confluence and 3. the mouth of Holland Cut just outside Franks. These three locations would give bass plenty of migration routes to widespread areas of the Delta including Fishermen's Cut, all the places south along Holland Cut, Sandmound, and yes, some would find their way back into the Tract. But, MANY would move on to widespread areas diminishing the concentration in the Tract itself.

This effort is worth a $100 contribution for me.

.....NaCl

[sTony]

I'm a huge fan of Chuck and the rest of the Russo's crew for they've brought to our sport. They are a class act!!!

The release boat idea is a good one. It's not as simply done as some here might think. We do have the availability of the BBAC release boat but I'd caution that it is antiquated, has a poor trailer and is moved around to a variety of lakes so it might not always be available to tournaments at Russo's. I've worked that release boat several times and it requires nets to release the fish which is also not the ideal you'd want in a release boat. You also can't take just any wreck an convert it into a good servicable release boat either. The best of them are set up to release the fish from the bottom om the boat.

You'd also have to have trained staff to run the boat as there needs to be someone on board who knows how to handle stressed fish. Don Reighly works the release boat up at Oroville and alot and he really does an awesome job and saves a lot of fish in the process.

I'd be more then happy to meet with Chuck and Gene and assist in anyway possible to get a release boat down at the marina for tournament use. I'd also be willing to sponsor the boat and work it.

sTony

[Fishin' Dave]

I will volunteer to run the boat sometimes in return for advertising MY sponsors while I run the boat.

If the BBAC trailer sucks, lets round up these donations thrown out here, have a fundraiser crab feed, and fix it up to standards.

When the tournament callendar comes up, have sign ups to run the boat; and promote your sponsors.

Orgs can charge a fee for the opperationg costs.

Ideally we should have 3 release boats in our fleet. One for the Delta, one for Clear lake, and one traveler for the Mother Lode and others.

[Dewayne]

They are currently shot through a tube from a bag. No one knows if there are stressed fish in need of attention. Could not be any worse.

I could probably find a c-note for a good cause.

PS - No, Jimmy cannot drive the release boat!

[Mike]

It sounds like raising funds wont be too hard. We could have a spegetti (sp?) feed and have people donate fishing tackle that they dont use anymore and have a big auction after to raise money. The hard part is going to be getting someone to run the boat. Everyone wants to do now, but it will get old after a while and might be hard to find reliable people. Maybe the Delta Teen Club could get involved in that part. The other is getting permisson from F&G to transport that many fish.

[Fishin' Dave]

I just got off the phone with Mike from BBAC and no need to repair the trailer! They have recieved a 5 digit donation to upgrade and repair the boat and trailer. Carter is suposed to call me this afternoon to discuss using the boat.

So if the BBAC boat is willing and able, we need to hear from Gene and Russos. Then I need to contact Hutch from Won Bass for the next Pro/am and others like 100% and Stren.

Mike, that is an awesome idea for the Delta Teen Team to get involved. I've seen them do boat checks out there, why not the release boat?

It looks like my "relocating bass project on the Delta" has gone from a crack pot idea that I caught some heat for to a hell of an idea that looks like a reality. Thanks to everybody's suggestions, oppinions, and offers. I'm glad to see everybody interested in the health and maintence of our fishery.

[gt5bass]

PS - No, Jimmy cannot drive the release boat!

And no, the color scheme can't match his boat either!

[gt5bass]

Mike,

FLW used the BBAC boat last year for the EverStart and I believe the will be using it again for this year's Stren, so I don't think the DFG is going to be a problem.

[Dewayne]

Stren usually has a release boat. It's the smaller team tournaments that happen there every weekend that tend to pou most of the fish down the tube.

[Fishin' Dave]

So far, the best idea looks to be a permanent release boat docked at Russos.

We need to find out from Gene and Chuch if they want to do that.

A fund raiser or two will need to be held to purchace a boat; let BBAC boats travel.

Tournament orgs or Russos can charge a release boat surcharge.

Tournament orgs with tournaments of 20 boats or more should be required to use the boat.

Opperators of the boat can be on a voulanteer basis or the Teen team idea looks great.

If all else fails, park the boat in Cooch's front yard. We can buy him a 19th century naval out fit, cigars, and he can be the captain of the SS Releasesbassus Boat. Arrrrr matey

[JimmyReese]

I totally agree,.....NO Purple, No yellow......Camo for sure!!!

I would call the Contractor that is developing the property on the way to Russo's....We'll let him pick the colors, if he cant afford the idea nobody can!

( I think whom ever is in last place of each tournament should be allowed to drive the release boat!)

I'll ride shotgun!


( See dewayne, you do have a chance to drive!)

Actually, over the years of release boats I dont believe I have ever seen them dump a fish........I would imagine they dont go to far, especially when they have to come back for more fish....I know for a fact the guys made only one trip at Havasu! Yes dewayne, one was yours! I think Gary had one too!

F!$# on!
Jimmy Reese

[Colebass]

I didn't take any of these post negatively towards Chuck or Russo's. I have not been to the marina at ALL! But will have to for Stren. These post made me feel much more comfortable about coming there. When you (Gene) was at the "Break" it wasn't a great ramp, but your store and all the back lot parking made it a great place to come.

So all this dialog and your involvement has made me WANT to come down.

And for those of us that have posted here for a long time, we know the first time poster! I've been waiting for a first time poster to jump on here about something GOOD or GREAT, I know it will happen someday!

See down there Gene and thanks for your continued support of our great sport!

[lawrencelee]

Bass Barbarians use to have a 27' patio boat for rent at Lundberg. The last I saw of it was at Lundberg lawn area and not in use. Contact KB - to see if they still have that patio boat and if they are interested in donating it or selling it for conversion to a live release boat.


Smileee

[kb]

I have given all that information to Gene however I am no longer associated with Bass Barbarians. I am in the process of delivering the boats to the new guy that will be taking it over.