Sunday, January 20, 2008

January 20, 2008 Tournament Results:

Congratulations Randy Weldon!



1st Place: Randy Weldon


1.90 lb Bass


(and 2nd place and 3rd place and 4th place and . . . )




One fish is all it takes to win a tournament.




Today, it was that fish.


Congratulations to Randy Weldon!!




Eric Arbelo won the "Wildcard" option


with a 3.26 lb Carp


(not a bass!)


********************************************


Also, congratulations


- Randy Weldon & James Pettis -


the winning Dream Team


********************************************


Honorable Mentions:


Bob Purdin: 2.98 lb Carp


Nathan Daniels: unweighed Carp



Click here to see all the pictures from today's tournament

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Professional Angler's Websites and Blogs:

In the hope that this blog becomes a useful tool for club members, I will periodically be putting up news articles, web site links, and other hints and tips from the World Wide Web. If there is anything you'd like to see here, please let me know!

This is a site that lists various Professional Bass Fishermen's websites and/or blogs: *Bass Angler websites*

You'll find such people as Mike Iaconelli, Roland Martin and Rich Lundgren, among many others.

Happy fishing and don't forget next Sunday is the first tournament of the year!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Cabela's coming to Visalia?:




In case you missed it, the Valley Voice newspaper recently reported the following story:

Developer Has Former Costco in Escrow
Big Hunting and Fishing Store Coming to Visalia?


Visalia - A Carlsbad California-based developer, Foursquare Properties, has the former Costco building on Mooney Blvd. in Visalia in escrow to purchase. “They are going through their due diligence phase,” says a city official who visited in Visalia with the representative of the company – Jonathan Hay whose office is in West Jordan, Utah.

Mr. Hay told the Voice he “could not disclose any information at this time” but suggested in a couple of weeks he might be able to say something.

The building – owned by Costco – is 115,000 square feet and sits adjacent the former Home Base building nearly the same size and also vacant. Costco left for its new location as of October 2007. Home Base closed its doors way back in 2001.

The vacancy has created a ghost town atmosphere in what was one of Visalia's busiest shopping centers in years past, anchored now only by Circuit City as a major draw for the rest of the mom and pop shops in the center.

Our source tells us the developer plans to “re-tenant” the big space with two or three retailers similar to what another developer did at the former Target building just to the north on Mooney. That former big box is now home to Jo-Ann's, DDs and Petco.



Outdoor Store Coming




An intriguing possibility is the close relationship between Foursquare and the big outdoor retailer Cabela, based in Nebraska.

Foursquare is the “preferred developer” for publicly traded Cabela and has worked on a handful of new stores for them including more than one former Costco building. In Yakima, Wash. they are building a 52,700-square-foot Cabela as one of the tenants in that town's former Costco building, according to press reports. That is much smaller than the typical Cabela superstore that are sometimes as large as 200,000 square feet, a massive hunting and fishing outlet along with all outdoor sports and one of the largest such chains in the U.S. Last summer the company indicated an interest in the same Visalia Costco property according to several accounts – one reported in the Voice. The company has recently opened a store in Reno and has been said to be interested in coming into California.



Sportsman's Warehouse Files Visalia Plan



In Visalia they would face competition from another Utah company – Sportsman's Warehouse – that has now filed building plans for a new 58,000-square-foot store at the new Target shopping center on the northside next to the sports park. That new Sportsman's store is expected to open next fall – the second location for the company in the state.

As for the development firm – Foursquare, the privately held company with office locations in California, Utah and Oregon, the firm was organized as a series of partnerships and controls over 4 million square feet of retail and office development in the U.S. – the largest of which is in Salt Lake City, a shopping center with 1.5 million square feet.

The Visalia city official told the Voice Mr. Hay was interested in what new retailers the town didn't have but wished they did that would help bring the mostly vacant shopping center back to life. Most of that center is owned by a California partnership that includes Save Mart owner Bob Picinini who owns the Home Base building and the rest of the center minus Costco. Real estate reps with that company say they would welcome another owner of the Costco building looking for tenants that could help the entire center.

In recent weeks the Voice reported that the former Broken Arrow pad in front of the center had been purchased by Caltrans.


Click here to visit Cabela's website.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

January 02, 2008 - Club Meeting:


New President: Bob Purdin
New Vice-President: Bishop Hilliard

Outgoing President: Gary Scott
Outgoing Vice-President: Tray Williams

Meeting items included:

The Team Tournament dates will be announced and available at February's meeting.

2008's annual membership dues . . . are due! They must be paid no later than January 20th.

At the start of the meeting, the club had $163 in the bank account.

2008's regular Tournament schedule was passed out (and is listed on the sidebar). All tournaments will be held at Lake Success unless otherwise noted.

Discussion was held regarding making the Team Tournament generate funds for the club. The 2007 Team Tournament did not add to the club's funds, and Bob wants the club to discuss and decide action that will give money back to the club. This item will be addressed at future monthly meetings.

The club gave out approximately $30,000 in pay-outs during the 2007 season!

Club by-laws were passed out and are availabe for anyone that would like a copy.

Calvin Foster, Area Manager with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, was in attendance and discussed current and future activity for the lake and the dam. About two months ago, the Rocky Hill ramp (west wall) was extended another 55 feet, and the last 25 feet of the ramp has a yellow line painted down the center to use as a marker for determining how much of the ramp is left under water as the lake lowers.

The raffle at the end of the meeting generating another $350+ and membership dues paid tonight garnered another $400+, giving a much-needed boost to the bank balance.

The first tournament of the year is January 20th, with sign-ups at Porterville Lanes Bowling Alley and at Lake Success.

The next club meeting is February 6, 2008. See you there!!