Hey folks,
Just a quick note on the 2011 Fun Fest that is set for Saturday September 17th at the amphitheater at lake lanier islands. The public is welcome to attend the weigh-in on Saturday from 4-6. We will have $5 and $20 raffle ticket for all kinds of prizes like a Lowrance HDS-8, guided trips, big screen TV's, fishing gear and many other items. The amphitheater is before you get thru the gates to LLI on the right so it is free to attend and all are welcome. Come on out and see what many people consider to be the best run tournament for stripers in the southeast.

Hope fishing turns around for you guys!

So who all on here is fishing this year? I will be there.

I will see you there Clay! Vic and his wife Jan, myself and Janet are Team "His and Hers Stripers".

Jimpal is letting me tag along.

Myself and Charles are in.

My wife Kathy is joining me for dinner Friday night and
Mike Dyer and Jim Miller will be aboard Saturday as Team Hooked on Stripers.

Really looking forward to it.

Team Cast Away Baits will be there somewheres. I've got some very cool give aways and a new Cast Away commemorative sticker for the occasion.

I will be fishing again this year. Looking forward to it but wish the reports were better. Been a while since I have been out on the lake.

My brother and I will be there...if we don't kill each other on the way up! HA!

Looking forward to meeting some of you guys

I will be there, looking forward to it.

Jeff craig is fishing with me.Team striperaddict

I will see you guys there!

Thanks for the warning

Thanks for the warning
Funny Brett, I will steal your meal ticket now!!!!

My meal ticket served up fresh skunk today...

Had a good time with good friends though. We'll get them next year....

Anybody know the final results of the 2011 Funfest tournament?

I don't remember all of the results, but, I do remember that 28 boats caught fish. Last year, 45 caught.

David and I were lucky enough to catch one fish fairly early, and were trying hard for a 2nd fish for quite some time. Then we caught what is, or is close to, the smallest striper either one of us has ever caught... a 15". That put us at 38" total, so we thought we needed an upgrade in a bad way. Then, I finally caught a fish on my only leadcore rod, but, it was a spot about the size of our 2nd striper. Turns out, 38" was enough to put us in 14th place, believe it or not. We had a good time, and I for one slept like a rock last night! I do remember that Capt. Clay placed, as well as Big Fish On, and Nick and his brother. I couldn't keep track of it all. Congrat's to everyone that caught fish, and I hope everyone had fun regardless. I believe 20th place was one fish under 23". It was good to see some of you there. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Thanks for the info. & Sounds like good turnout!

Here are the winners from the 2011 Fun Fest:

1st Reel Work- Dwayne Brandon
2nd Team Supreme- Jonathan Schaefer
3rd Draggin' Bait- Jerry Floyd
4th Team ZTE #3- Josh Pile
5th Big Fish On- Ken West
6th Samsung #1- Bill Carson
7th Jasper Engine- Mark Smith
8th Lanier Striper Charters- Jeff Blair
9th Samsung #3- Jason Hammond
10th ZTE #2- Allen Silver
11th Team Striper Tales- Tom Blackburn
12th AT&T #2- Leonel Castillo
13th Team Grayson Hobby- Basil Congro
14th Striper Sniper- David Huneycutt
15th Catching Not Fishing- Clay Cunningham
16th Hiz Witness- Warren Turner
17th Cast Away Baits- Jim Farmer
18th Team HP- Fernando Massei
19th StriperQuest.net- Kyle Nadrowski
20th Striper Quest II- Wes Carlton

I don't have the winning totals with me but as soon as I get them I'll update the post. Congratulations to all winners and participants. I hope you had as much fun as we did.

Not sure how Fun Fest works. But wouldn't it be better if they did it in the summer time? Seems the fish go into this funk every year.

We caught 4 yesterday but they were all tiny. One was the smallest striper I have ever seen.

Thought about it but there were concerns expressed about summertime fish mortality. There's lots of opinions about it but since conservation is one of our key principles we elected to stay with September. We'll look at options for next year.

I think this time of yr is perfect

It gives the average striper fisherman a real chance against the guides and wanna be guides such as yourself who are out on the water every day.

Plus you can actually measure and throw the fish back without having floaters.

Dan is a weekend warrior.

LSC Should keep Fun Fest around same time where it is now. Its the perfect thing to bring the summer to an end and it makes no sense to have a "green" tourny with 60 boats leaving floaters everywhere. I'm sure people would love us if that happened

It's nice to have almost no skiing/tubing during the Fun Fest, too. LSC has my thanks for such a great event. Well done, once again!

Thx for the feedback guys. Anyone else who wants to weigh in, please do so. Be glad to take any opinions and bring them back to the committee.

Prime time for a striper tournament (by any club or organization) is any month of the year that free lines and planer board fishing are the primary methods used to catch stripers. Mid-late October, November, March, April, or May would be good. Big fish can be specifically targeted during those times and fish can be caught, handled and successfully released more often.

Another good point of fishing one of the months above, is that stripers can be located and caught literally all over the lake. Though the fish are oddly scattered this year, that is not typical and shouldn't be expected to happen the same next year. You can, however, bet on fish being caught from extreme North end areas all the way to the Dam when fishing the cooler months. It would spread anglers out a lot better, but finding a good central location might be the head scratcher. On the North end, Laurel park ramp is very well set up for a tournament the size of the Fun Fest. Little Hall would work, but just not set up as well.

Boat traffic is usually reasonable, being as the areas targeted are not the wide open water scenarios targeted in the hotter months.

Move it to one of those and I am all in.

I think it is one of the best times. Some months would have everyone packed up in the rivers in a small area like April and May. Summer months are out due to mortality, January and February can be extremely hard. Does not leave much else. Maybe November or December.

Jim

Being my 1st FF, there is nothing I would change. You guys run it like a well oiled machine.

Thanks for the great time!

The biggest fish that was caught on my boat at Lanier this year was 37 pounds. It was caught in April in the Chestatee Bay.

Jim,
Summer months should be out - due to the increased possibility of fish mortality. DNR figures support the conclusion.
Toms

Jim, I'm thinking the starter cards could be turned in to a fixed location much easier than to a free-floating boat. Maybe a dock such as the one in the back of where we launched. Or maybe a boat that is tied to a dock and has plenty of bumpers . The boats in the tx could line-up and file past, turning their starter cards in on the way by. Just a thought.

Charles, my bro and I said the exact same thing while we were getting blown around carson's boat by 15-20mph winds. I kinda liked the chaos of it all though LOL!

bumper boats!

Hmmm…So are ya'll saying that a 4 hour tournament in the summer time would kill more fish than are killed anyway?...I’m sure 90% of the participants would be fishing anyway on any given Saturday in the summertime.

I like the spring time idea best. It would get some real numbers on the board.

I'll just sat this: Last years event was won with 72" So let me know the next time you hit that number with 62 other boats on the water, from all over the 4 State area.

I have brought up many of these points this last season. Much of the problem is do to the major sponsors are free this time of year, and are tied up much of the rest of the season. So if you saw what it takes to put on a show such as this event, it could'nt be done with out there backing.

I would like too say, that there was a team in place that has put timeless hours into this FunFest event. These guys deserve a huge hand for there accomplisment in putting on such a flawless event this huge. I don't think there is anything this well run in the Southeast. Great Job guys!!!

Dan- You're right, I have no idea what it takes, as that was the first thing I said on this chain. However, 2 20 pound fish does not impress me. But 2 30's would.

I’m going to step out of this chain and leave it be. I was just trying to understand why they would do it this time of year, which obviously is not relevant.

I need to get Plan B to take me out fishing. Been fishing this lake for 10+ years and have not yet had a day with two 20lb catches on my boat, much less during a tournament.

Two 20lb fishes or even one 30lb fish impresses the h3ll out of me!!!

The funfest rocked. Been doing for 3 years now. Every year it is a blast. Time wise. I would mind seeing the end of Sept and beginning of Oct. Maybe a nighttime fishing. 7-midnight. Or go 4-midnight would be fun.

This does level the field. I would prefer April or May because a lot of fish would be caught. My team did catch a winning fish. About 28" and we would have beat out many of the best fisherman on the lake if I had not lost the fish at the boat. (umbrella rig and it popped off when I grabbed the rig). We caught the fish at 11:30 or so. did not catch another fish until 1 pm. (spot). I only get to fish a couple times a month and we did ok, but we had 2 guys that have not fished much with us and they think that striper fishing is very, very, very boring as we just ride around at 3 mph all day. I would like to see 4 or 5 stripes and 10 bass caught for the sponsors. I will throw a shout out to all the guys on the team who spent the time to put this together. It took a huge effort to pull this off again. I have fished all three and this was my best showing. My 2 cents are for April, May, or November after turn-over. I passed the river today on 20 and it looked really green already. Who knows maybe I will actually measure a fish next year I did sort of get 16th or so!

Its a great event and it dont matter to me when it is I will be there. All you can do is do it when the sponsers are available.

What I cant figure out is why people who dont even fish it care when it is.

What if they go with November next year and its one of those wild winters and its 35 degrees that day. That would really draw a crowd.

The Fun Fest was killer. keep it the way it is. Don't fix it if it isn't broken.

Can't wait for next year!

Thx for the kind words and the feedback. Dan is right about the sponsors, without them we don't have much of a tx. Personally, I don't disagree with Plan B; most of the people would be fishing anyway and I personally would prefer planer boards and flat lines. But it's all about perception, we can't have floaters all over the place in front of the sponsors and then talk about conservation. The club will consider all the options after conferring with our sponsors before we come up with a new date.

My thanks to all the participants. I would also like to thank all the people on the committee who worked so hard to pull this off. It is really amazing how we all pulled together to make this happen. There were literally thousands of man hours that went into this. It is only with the dedication and attention to detail of everyone involved, that this was such a success.

Anyone who wants to learn more about fishing, meet some of the finest people around, make some good friends, and get a chance to give back to the community which provides us with a wonderful fishery should come to one of our meetings and check us out. Meeting times and locations are posted on www.lanierstriperclub.com.