I just got back from the HBC last night up in clear lake. I would like to start by saying Ron and his entire list of sponsors put on a really cool event.

I did not sign up in time to fish this event so I signed up as a camera boat. They ended up being short VTO’s so I did not get the opportunity to shuttle around the camera crew, but had a great day anyway.
We ended up going to different parts of the lake in case there were any surrendered fish that needed to be turned over. This is a rule that is specific to the HBC. Link

I was assigned to the rattlesnake arm of Clear Lake. Ron said it was ok for us to fish so I got a couple hours in. I ended up changing out hooks on my crank baits.  I then messed around with my new Hummingbird 997 for a good portion of the morning.

I had not been down to that end of the lake in while so it was kind of nice. I got bored after a while and came to the conclusion that no fish were going to be surrendered.  And if they needed me -Hell , my boat does 70mph. No big deal.

I headed north where I met up with Matt Allen, who I had just met that morning.
Matt is no stranger to fishing big baits and fished the HBC 1 down south.

He was fishing an area I told him about and had apparently killed them there that morning. I guess we should have both been fishing this tournament because each of us had a couple Bass in the 5 pound range just messing around with 3:16 JR and the Snack Size Chartreuse Shad.

As boats started heading back towards the north end, we did not want to get in the way of anyone participating in the event so we headed back to Konocti Vista where the event was being held.

Matt had volunteered to be the check in boat so we both grabbed all we needed and headed out in my boat.
We missed most of the weigh in but had fun talking to everyone as they came in.

Shaun Bailey took the HBC belt and a check for $10,000 with the big fish weighing 9.01. Robert Cepek came in third with 8.21. Jerry Ballesteros came in third with 7.52 and worm-chuckin’ Scott Green came in fourth with 7.20. If Scott had not just caught a 14 pounder on a worm a couple months back I would be making a lot more fun of him right now. They say size does not matter, Scott so don’t feel bad.

Here is a Link to the Full list of results.

I met a lot of great people at this event and would love to fish the next one if it wer at freakin’ Amistad. They are however raising the bar to a $1,000 entry fee and a $50,000 winner-take-all prize pot, so we will see what happens.

I will leave you with a picture of the swag bag all the competitors and camera boat guys got just to make you jealous.

I do have to say though it made it extra worthwhile.