after gettin turned around on the backroads we finally made it to the picnic shelter at russell state park in the afternoon. we arrived to a warm welcome by all the folks in attendance. and after a round of hearty handshakes and introductions, placing faces with board names we all set down to a great meal provided by the people there. chicken of all types, pork, burgers hams and sausages with salads, veggies and breads to go with it and tea, sodas and cold water to wash it all down with.. it was a great meal and everyone left the table with a satisfied look so nobody was gonna have to fish hungry. some of the sc folks was already there, and some arrived after we did, but it seemed to be a pretty even mix of fishers on the two teams, with noone team a underdog. after signing up those that wanted to partake of the big fish pool, and another pool of $5.00 each for the one to guess the closest weight of the winnning fish we was off and on the lake. lake russell is a very pretty place with the shoreline in the area we was at completely bare of lake houses and cottages. it was like being in a wilderness area and once the sun went down it was completely dark with no lights whatsoever except the lights from the boats on the water. we fished close to the landing, within a mile id say. the first good looking point we come to we set up. stumpgrinder and nancy was across the creek from us. close enought to see but not close enought to talk to. the bite was slow..... bad slow and i was suprised becuase of it being mid october, with cooling waters, the bite should have been wide open but it wasnt. something had shut the bite down and everyone was guessing it was the cold front that was passing through. we fished till 12 midnight and only had 4 fish in the boat. there was no cell signal on the lake so we couldnt check with other boats to see how it was going for them. several clash boats come by in the night and also reported havin a tough bite and we dint know till we got back to the landing that everyone seemed to be having a bad bite night.
there was a large crowd at the weighin but not many fish weighed for the big fish, especially after daveys was weighed in at 1.84 pounds. it held up and davey took the big fish pool. 28 people participated in this event. Ragfly had a guess weight of 1.83 and me with a guess weight of 1.85 was on either side of the winning weight so we split that pool. 23 people participated in this pool. after that was done the teams presented their fish for the weigh in. Georgia had their fish ready first and they had an impressive weight of 24.13 lbs. when the sc team catch was weighed they had a weight of 27.99lbs so they won the event and the clash title. It was suprising to me that both teams come up with stringers like they did, which goes to show that both sides was experienced nightstalkers and very capable of winning this event. we all knew that someone was gonna win and we had no loosers in this event as everyone who participated was winners. being busy with the weighin i dint get a chance to make any photos, however there was a lot of photos being made and i'm sure when these folks get back home (a lot of em was camping) there will be plenty of pics posted so everyone can see em. i got a few on arrival and will post some of them as i get em ready. the ga team done a fantastic job of putting the crappiefest together and they was gracious hosts. i was impressed with everyones hospitality and friendly attitude. there was sooo much going on, and im looking foward to other folks perspective on the event as they start posting. again i wanna thank the ga folks for their hospitality and everyone seemed to look foward to doing it again next year. :D. i hope everyone got home safe and sound and had a great time at the crappiefest. i know i did.