The teams that qualified for the 2003 Championship held on Clearlake, Cal. barely had time to unpack their boats when it was time to start the '04 season. We held our annual mandatory meeting at KB Dillons on Friday night and you could tell everyone was excited about the new season. Furthermore, I think some of the teams had a good pre-fish on Friday because the word was it would take some good weight to win. We are fortunate to have a power plant lake we can fish when everyone else is cussing 40-45 degree water where they fish. The word is getting around about Anglers choice and their great Championships where qualifiers get a chance to fish for 3 boats. We had anglers from Phoenix, Az., Denver, Co., Page, Az., and Albuquerque, NM. along with the regulars from the Four Corners area.

Morgan Lake, a cooling lake for an APS power plant, was on fire Saturday November 8. This lake fishes bigger than its 800-acre size might indicate. The weather had been turning more like winter over the last few weeks, which in turn got the fish thinking fall feed up. With the water always in the mid 60's and up, Morgan Lake fish view fall at a different temperature than their brethren in typical lake environments. The water temperature was a balmy 76 at launch time and the bite was hot. We had 21 teams rearing to go at 6:00 am and they were scattered from the dam to the highway and all spots in between. Fish were taken on reaction and finesse baits with the Big Fish (5.63lbs) falling for a worm fished by the team of David Perry and Scott Skelton.

Out of a possible 21 limits there were 17 five fish limits weighed. It took 15.76 lbs to get a check and 20.25 lbs. to win. The team of Hammond/Cook took top honors with 5 fish for 20.25 lbs. They said the bite was all-day and mixed between reaction and finesse baits. This is a new team made up from two teams from last year. Seems like they have the right stuff to make a run at AOY. Good luck. The team of Perry/Skelton caught enough fish for second with 5 fish for 19.44 lbs. The big bass, 5.63lbs, anchored it. The new team of Eaves/Smith showed they are a team to watch when they weighed in 5 fish for 17.86 lbs and third place points. Bill Eaves owns the Sportsman Inn on the San Juan River below Navajo Lake. They will be a team to be reckoned with when the circuit moves up there in March also. Forth place was the team of Stanley/Pirkey with 5 fish for 15.76 lbs.

I have some bad news to go along with this story. Everyone will remember that Homer and I were looking for a missing angler. His name is Brett Olds and he had a very miserable Friday night. Along about 2:30 am Saturday morning, Brett was awakened not by the sounds of reindeer hooves but another all to typical Four Corners varmit, a drunk driver. Brett was staying at the Motel 6 on the Bloomfield highway when a drunk tried to take the trailer tongue off. I guess the driver was so drunk that the police decided he should stay at the cross bar hotel instead of the Motel 6. I talked to Brett on Sunday and he said he made it home even though he fought a snow storm over Wolf Creek Pass. I hope that this doesn't dampen Brett's enthusiasm very long, I know everyone would like to see him come back. It just proves what everyone is saying about drunk driving, it affects everyone and it is everyone's problem to do something about it. We send our best to you Brett. See you soon.

I would like to thank our sponsors for their support that makes this circuit and up-coming championship at Clear Lake, Cal. possible. Our national sponsors are BassCat boats, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Mercury Outboards, Motorguide, Lowrance, Bass West magazine, Competitive Edge baits. Our local sponsor is KB Dillon's where all our meetings are held. With their support, our meetings are comfortable and delicious. They are the premier eatery in our area. Please support all of our sponsors when making your next purchase. Without them, we would be just another team circuit.