2008 President's Letter

The SCBA Directors presented the 2008 schedule in October at the 2007 Championship. However, over half of the tournaments we scheduled had to be changed due to Holidays, lake permits and conflicting schedules with other organizations. We accommodated these changes with the idea of doing what is best for the majority of our fishermen. We sadly and reluctantly had to drop the Ute Tournament scheduled in May, rescheduled the Navajo and Bonus Tournaments.

Sun Country’s 2008 kick off tournament will be held at Amistad on March 1^st and 2^nd and returns to Amistad April 5^th and 6^th. We have given a lot of thought to improving fishing conditions by scheduling as many events as possible during prime time and I’m sure everyone knows by now that the months of March and April are prime time at Amistad. We scheduled Navajo in late May for the great large and small mouth bass being caught. In July we return to Ute Lake just in time for the dragonfly hatch and top water action.

We scheduled the Bonus Tournament to be held on the same lake as the Championship. The Bonus Tournament will be held at Amistad on August 9^th and 10th. Amistad will go off limits beginning the Monday after the Permian Open in September and will remain off limits until the first day of Championship pre fishing in October. We chose Amistad after considering several areas, but the facts are, there just isn’t a better place to hold a championship tournament in October than Amistad. The fishing at Amistad is as good as it gets anywhere and the Del Rio Chamber Of Commerce is the best and most professional organization we have had the pleasure of working with. Sun Country has a good reputation around the Del Rio area and you, the Sun Country members, are the reason for that. You have the reputation of being polite, courteous, and generous and you leave the facilities the way you find them. We thank you for that. It makes negotiations much simpler and more productive.

The Directors have made minor rule changes for 2008, standardized tournament fishing hours and added a paragraph concerning inclement weather. Please read and understand the rules. We also adjusted the entry fees for qualifying tournaments, Super Team and Ranger Cup. These were adjusted to offset increased costs and make a better pay back. Expect the Championship to exceed $100,000 for the 3^rd straight year. Sun Country still gives the fishermen more bang for the buck than any other fishing organization.

We are also pleased to announce an agreement with Nick Nicholas as Tournament Director for the year. Nick and his crew have been running our tournaments for the last several years and have done a tremendous job. I’m certainly glad to see Nick to return.

We’re looking forward to seeing all of you at Amistad on March 1st. It will be a great tournament.