Another successful fishing tournament was held on Fountain Lake this past weekend. According to Ray Brown, one of the organizers, it was very good tournament with plenty of fish caught and plenty weighed in.

There were 14 total boats entered in this year’s tournament with 27 participants.

Every boat caught fish and the tournament hosts wanted to commend everyone for their great sportsmanship and were proud to say that all the fish were alive and released back into the lake.

Taking first place honors in this years tournament were Jason Holland and Travis Lohre with a total fish weight of 18.8 lbs. and Jason also took home the money for the biggest bass which was a 5.66 lb. bass.

Second place honors went to Danny Nelson and Greg Dusenberg with a total weight of 16.76 lbs.

Third place went to Tony Johnson and Mike Smith with a 14.66 limit.

All weights were based on a five fish limit.

The youngest fisherman in this year’s tournament was eight-year-old Drew Folie who was fishing with his grandpa, Ray Brown. They finished just out of the money in fourth place.

Drew matched grandpa fish for fish and was a big reason they

got fourth place.

Being a bass fisherman is something that can start at an early age but last a lifetime.

Ray Brown and Lloyd Van Guilder would like to thank the following sponsors for providing prizes: Crystal Pierz Marine, Hy Vee; Taco Bell, Arbys, Burger King, Taco John’s, McDonald’s. They would also like to thank Jill and Susie of the Chamber of Commerce for their interest and support of the tournament.

Even with the high water and cool temperatures there were plenty of fish caught. The participants had to work hard for what they caught but were rewarded for their effort.

Ray and Lloyd would like to thank everyone for showing up and making the 6th Annual Die-Hard Tournament a success.

Each year they have added a boat or two to the ones that keep coming back.

Ray said, &8221;if anyone has any doubts about cleaning up our lakes this tournament should be a wake-up call. With cleaner lakes and rough fish control this could be one of our city’s biggest assets.&8220;

He also went on to say, &8221;we have a nice bass population but I would recommend everyone who catches a big bass to put it back alive unless they are going to mount it.&8220;

He also said, &8221;if you are going to eat any bass the best tasting ones are between 1 and 1.5 pounds.&8220;

On a related note: Harley Miller who is the president of the Watershed Committee contacted me and wanted to set the record straight with where the half percent sales tax money would go (or not go). He said that the money collected by that tax will be spent on the project and not on any wages or other administrative costs. He also said that there was a separate fund set up for administrative costs and that the tax money cannot be spent on anything other than the project

itself.

Everyone with any interest in our area lakes seems to have an opinion on the matter. This is a good thing because it shows that people are interested in cleaning up the lakes and that they actually care.

The bottom line is that there will be a tax – whether it is a local sales tax shared by all that spend money in our community and enjoy our natural resources or by the people that pay real estate taxes in our city.

Whatever opinion you have on this, there will be a vote and that is the time to decide. After all the years of studies and ideas that never seemed to quite come together there is finally a giant step being taken to accomplish the cleanup of our area waters.

The big picture is one of cleaner lakes and streams that can be enjoyed by all of us and the ones that will come after us.

Until next time &8221;play safe; take the time to explore the outdoors and above all &045; Enjoy.&8220;

Remember to show your support for the troops that are serving our country so that we may enjoy these many freedoms that we have.

(Dick Herfindahl, Outdoors writer.)