Buckeye Lake results

an and Shortie McCline won the final Buckeye Lake final Tuesday evening pot tournament of the season Sept. 14 with two fish that weighed 4.16 pounds. They also tok big bass honors with a 2.99-pound fish.
Bruce Tankovich and Wayne Hanley finished second with three bass that weighed 3.1 pounds, Richard Peters and Mike Terry placed third with a 2.59-pound bass, Doug Moran took fourth with two fish that weighed 1.71 pounds and Jerry Mossman and Tim Magers were fifth (weight was omitted from the report).
Twenty-eight anglers participated.
Organizer Robin Cross said tournaments next spring should start about the second or third week of April. He'll let me know when the date is set. He is also planning on running an open at Buckeye in the spring, which is in response to many requests from the Tuesday night participants.
Participation was strong all season with consistently more than 30 competitors each week. I've heard people say they like the format which allows you to fish either alone or with a partner and they like not having a championship because they don't feel pressured to be there every week.
They payout looks pretty good to. If there are 35 anglers, Robin pay $142 for first, $91 for second and $47 for third, along with $70 for big bass. If there are fewer than 21, he cuts out big bass.
Robin said he only pays three places and big bass to keep the payout high enough to make it worthwhile. He said he did that because of an experience where he won $12 for finishing tenth in a contest with about 30 anglers at another lake.
I don't know what other pot tournaments pay, but these seem to be pretty good. That fishermen kept coming all season, even when Buckeye finally went onto its summer doldrums, says they like the format.

Turnout still good at Buckeye

The fishing continues to be tough in the Tuesday evening bass tournaments at Buckeye Lake, but participation is still good. Last week (Aug. 17), 28 anglers showed up and this week (Aug. 24), 30 anglers participated.
This week, Dave Mocks and Fran Tippton won with two fish that weighed 4.75 pounds and took big bass honors with a 3.69-pound fish. Shaun Magers and Dana Moran finished second with two bass that weighed 3.01 pounds.
Joey dams ad Jim Kughn placed third with two bass that weighed 2.24 pounds, Doug Bennett and Dave Hinerman took fourth with a 2.08-pound fish and Ty Nauer and Rod Stufflebean were fifth with a 1.58-pound fish.
On Aug. 17, Randy Swihart and Bob Conaway took first with two bass that weighed 2.88 pounds, while Scott Clark was a close second with two fish that weighed 2.54 pounds.
Mike Gitting finished third and took big bass honors with a 2.01-pound fish, Chuck and Ryan Davis placed fourth with a 1.64-pound bass and Wayne and Dusty Baker were fifth with a 1.15-pound fish.
The action may be slow at Buckeye, but the turnout's still good. I think organizer Robin Cross is probably right when he says the 100 percent payback is attractive. I have heard a couple anglers comment that they prefer tournaments where the fishing is tough for everyone because they know they can get in the money with only a couple bass. On the other hand, if everyone is catching fish, they know they have to have a "kicker" as part of a limit catch to hope to get in the money.
Frankly, the bass fishing has been tough at most area lakes, not just Buckeye, although I expect it to start turning around soon. However, I've heard the rivers are a different story. I haven't been to any of the smallmouth spots I like, but I've heard the spotted bass were hitting on the Muskingum Rver at the Rokeby Lock pool (Gaysport) last week and I expect the rest of the river is producing similar activity.
If anyone has any reports, let me know at seoangler@gmail.com

Bass still hitting at Buckeye

The results of the Tuesday night tournaments at Buckeye Lake continue to surprise me. Most anglers I've talked to who have been fishing lately report having a tough time finding even a couple keepers (unless they're fishing at night or in a river), but the top teams a buckeye keep coming in with good catches.
This week, Rod Stufflebean and Ty Nauer took first with five bass that weighed 8.38 pounds. That's the kind of weight that was winning the weekly tournaments in the prime weeks of May and early June.
Anyway, second place went to Scott Clark, who had five bass that weighed 6.79 pounds and Wayne and Dustin Baker finished third with five fish that weighed 6.24 pounds.
Chris and Samantha Vansky placed fourth with three bass weighing 4.12 pounds and Dave Mockus and Frank Tipton were fifth with two fish that weighed 4.01 pounds. Mockus and Tipton also took big bas honors with a 3.36-pound fish.
A total of 38 anglers participated and 14 teams weighed in fish.

Buckeye still producing

As I mentioned last week, Buckeye Lake has a reputation for becoming a tough place to find bass after late June. However, numbers are still good at the Tuesday night pot tournaments, although the winning weight was down this week.
Robin Cross and Chuck Davis topped a 40-angler field with five bass that weighed 5.85 pounds, while Rod Stufflebean and Ty Nauer were a close second with four bass that weighed 5.27 pounds. Nipping on their heels on third were Kevin Sharrock and Ryan Miskell with five fish that weighed 5.19 pounds.
Mike Watson and Charlie Cray took fourth with four bass that weighed 4.9 pounds and Skip Yates and Jim Watson finished fifth with three fish that weighed 4.48 pounds. Yates and Waton also took big bass honors with a 2.68-pound fish.
Out of the 40 anglers fishing, 14 teams had a total of 4 bass. I don't know the number of "teams" fishing, because an angler can fish these tournaments alone.
Robin is excited about the number of anglers still showing up for these tournaments. I don't have any numbers to compare them to, but they may be as good or better than most pot tournaments in the area.

Buckeye still producing

In most years, Buckeye Lake is a good bass producer through mid- to late June, then declines rapidly. It seems different this year, or maybe some fishermen have just done a better job of figuring out where they're hiding.
Anyway, the Tuesday night tournament at Buckeye is still having nice results. This week (July 21) saw 25 anglers weigh in 47 bass, with the top three finishers weighing five-fish limits.
Rod Stufflebeam and Ty Nauer took first with 9.28 pounds, including a 4.26-pound fish that took big bass honors. Other anglers weighed in 3.58-pound and 3.5-pound fish that would have been big bass most weeks. That's great for mid-July!
Scott CLark finished second with 8.47 pounds and Mike Gittins placed third with 6 pounds.
The totals then dropped off, with Dave Mockus and Frank Tipton finishing fourth with two bass that weighed 4.25 and Mark Foulty and Frank Harrington were fifth with three bass that also weighed 4.25 pounds.

Bass still hitting at Buckeye

Most of this week has been hot, humid and uncomfortable (again, but Tuesday was different. Cloudy and more comfortable temperatures made it the day I wish I had gone out. Seems the bass at Buckeye agreed with me, as the top three finishers in the Tuesday evening tournament all ha five-fish limits.
Mike Watson and Tim King took first with five bas weighing 7.49 pounds, while Tim McClure and Keith Bryant finished a close second with five fish that weighed 7.39 pounds.
Scott Clark placed third with five bass that weighed 6.85 pounds.
Dave Mockus finished fourth with three bass that weighed 5.56 pounds and took big bass honors with a 2.62-pound fish.
Rounding out the top five were Kevin Sharrock and Ryan Miskell with four bass that weighed 4.34 pounds.
In all, the 22 anglers competing weighed in 28 bass.