2013 Annual Meeting Minutes!

The Badlands Bass Bandits held their annual meeting to kick off their 2013 tournament season. As usual there was much to discuss for the up and coming season. The first order of discussion was the review of the club's rules as well as discussion of possible rule additions and changes. Since the dawn of this club the bandits have started all of their tournaments at 7 a.m. mtn time and ended at 2 p.m. The club has now changed their start times to 6 a.m. and will fish til 2 p.m. All who attended this meeting were in favor of this change due to the fact that it will give it's members a better shot at an early morning bite! Another rule change was made in regards to a prefishing rule. For the 2013 season any lake that is less than 600 acres, anglers will not be allowed to prefish Sunday nite through Friday night of the week of the tournament. The new season will also have a new rule for a 2 day tournament. In the event that day 1 of competition is complete and day 2 is unsafe due to bad weather the tournament will be concluded and the results from  day 1 will determine the tournament winners. In the event that day 1 is usafe due to bad weather the tournament directors along with the club members will decide if day 2 of competition will go ahead as planned. There was a rule change to Rule #34 which previously stated the following: No one over the age of 16 will be allowed to ride along during a tournament without paying the entry fee, whether they fish or not. An angler under the age of 16 may ride along whether they fish or not, free of charge, but will not be considered for awards or prize money. The change to this rule will be that "anyone who wants to ride along will be allowed no matter what their age is without paying a tournament entry fee. If a person riding along wants to fish, that person must pay the tournament entry fee. An angler under the age of 16 may ride along whether they fish or not, free of charge, but will not be considered for awards or prize money in either the Junior or Adult divisions."  The final discussion of rule change was in regards to Junior membership fees as well as tournament entry fees. From now on tournament entry fees for Junior anglers will be $5, and they will not be required to pay a $25 membership fee. However, they must fill out a membership form in order to compete in Junior tournaments.

  The next order of business is always everyone's favorite part of the meeting....selecting dates and tournament locations! This is done by club members nonimating lakes that they would like to have a tournament on. Once all lakes have been listed the club will vote on lakes through a process of elimination. Listed below is the 2013 Badlands Bass Bandit tournament season:

 

March 16th Ice Bowl Tournament at Lake Nelson (Time - TBA)

April 27th  Lake Nelson

May 25th & 26th  Lake Tschida (Each day is a seperate tournament)

June 8th  Lake Oahe

June 9th  Lake Pudwell

June 29th Lake Sakakawea

June 30th  Lake Sakakawea

July 20-21  New Johns Lake (2 day tournament format)

August 10th Lake Audobon

August 11th  North Audobon (a.k.a Nobon)

September 7-8th  Lake Nelson  (The 7th will be a night tournament 2p.m. thru 10p.m. and the 8th will be 6a.m.-2p.m. 2 day tournament format)

September 28th  Classic Championship Day 1 Lake Sakakwea (Dock out of Buleah Bay)

September 29th  Classic Championship Day 2Lake Sakakwea (Dock out of State Park)

 

 That's right folks the Bandits will be hosting North Dakota's first ever night time Bass fishing tournament right on North America's premium Lake Nelson! This is going to be such a big and fun event for all members. This tournament has it all big bass, night time, and day time all packed into 1 complete tournament. I'm sure this will be a staple in the Bandits future. For the past two years the Bandits have been docking out of the state park for Lake Sakakawea. New for the 2013 Classic Championship the Bandits will once again host their Classic Championship at Lake Sakakawea, but with a new twist. Day 1 of competition will be docking out of Buleah bay and on Day 2 the club will dock out of the State Park. This will be like fishing two lakes because these two ramps are seperated by 18 miles of water. So if ya wanna win the Classic ya better have some spots in both areas of this big lake!

  Last year the Bandits held multiple tournaments on a single weekend to help cut the cost of traveling. It was a big success and the Bandits are doing that again this year.

  The next order of business was the election of new officers. Here are your officers for 2013:

 

President - Steve Basinger

Vice President - Johnathan Campbell

Secretary  - Paul Reinbold

Treasurer - Jeff Wetzel

Tournament Directors: Marty Mantz, Cody Arth, Eric Vossler, Cole Murdock

 

  Yes sir, we here at the club house are sure excited for our 2013 season, especially for the new members along with rules and tournament formats. It's going to be an exciting year so if you are interested in learning about bass fishing and meet new people who share the same interest as you then we invite you to contact us to join this wonderful club. Have a safe rest of the winter and hopefully we will see you all soon on the water!

 

- Paul Reinbold