Sports and Outdoors

 Lake Info

Normal Lake Level is 322.00 feet above Mean Sea Level.
Current level for Cedar Creek Lake is: 322.47 Water Temperature:
66  degrees - top
64 degrees - bottom

Eustace, Kemp players raise $7K in ‘Dig Pink’ drive
By Kerry Yancey
Monitor Staff Writer

Monitor Photo/Kerry Yancey
Eustace and Kemp junior high and high school volleyball players gather to present a check for nearly $7,000 to the American Cancer Society as part of the American Volleyball Association’s national “Dig Pink” fund-raising effort. Players from both schools raised the money for breast cancer research in just 17 days.

EUSTACE–In an outstanding demonstration of community spirit, Eustace and Kemp volleyball players raised more than $7,100 for breast cancer research during their “Dig Pink” fund-raising effort.
Junior high and high school players from both schools presented a check for $6,827.47 to the American Cancer Society Oct. 23 during a special ceremony prior to the varsity match.
The total swelled to more than $7,000 when proceeds from a silent auction and a raffle being held at the E.L. Kirk Gym that night were added in. The raffle featured a pink-and-white volleyball signed by both varsity teams.
That’s seven grand in just 17 days of fund-raising. The effort kicked off with an announcement when Eustace played hosting Kemp in the first round of District 14-3A volleyball play Oct. 6.
“I’ve been here 40 years, and I’ve never seen the student body, and the whole community, jump on board like this,” veteran Eustace volleyball coach Chuck Powers said.
“When we first started, we guessed we might raise maybe $500 from each school,” he added. “That shows how hard the kids worked.”
“Our kids just amazed us with what they can do,” Kemp volleyball coach Peggy Swierc said. “We pledged $500, but we’re pushing $7,000 with what we’ve got going on here tonight.”
The American Volleyball Association, which had sponsored the national “Dig Pink” fund-raising effort to mark National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, presented plaques to the junior high and high school teams from both schools.
One in four women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. More than 200,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with the disease this year, and more than 40,000 will die from the disease.
Although breast cancer is much rarer in men, more than 1,000 men will die from the disease this year.
Breast cancer can strike women of any age – just being female and growing older are two proven risk factors.
Swierc said every player knows someone who has had an encounter with breast cancer.
“It’s been very good for the two schools to come together on something worthwhile,” Swierc added. “Something that’s bigger than volleyball.”
 

Yamaha pros pick Texas lakes as favorites
Special to The Monitor
Not surprisingly, as professional bass anglers cross and re-cross the country to compete on different lakes, they develop their own favorite places to fish. Here, eight Yamaha pros, each with years of experience, describes his favorite.
Three of the seven favorite lakes are in Texas, with one located just northeast of Cedar Creek Lake.
Kelly Jordon, who, before he started his professional tournament career, spent eight years as a guide on Lake Fork, considers that famous East Texas impoundment his favorite, primarily because it has such a large bass population.
“During the late spring and through much of the summer, it’s possible for two anglers to catch 50 or more bass on crankbaits in a day on Lake Fork, and the majority of those bass will be in the four- to seven-pound class,” Jordon said. “Along the way, you’ll almost certainly have at least one chance at a 10-pounder, too.
“I developed a lot of my tournament fishing techniques while guiding on Fork, so it will always be a special place for me,” he added.
Cliff Pace, one of the top 12 finalists in this year’s BASS Angler of the Year race, likes Lake Amistad in Texas the most, primarily because its large size (64,900 acres) and different types of structure.
Lake Amistad is located along the Rio Grande River in Val Verde County, north of Del Rio. Impounded in 1969, the lake’s maximum depth is 217 feet.
“Amistad is the type of lake that offers such a variety of fishing choices you can nearly always find a place to fish exactly the way you want to with your favorite lures, and that’s rare,” Pace said.
“If you like to cast spinnerbaits around shallow brush, for example, there are places where you can do that, and if you want to crank deep points, or fish plastic worms even deeper, you can do that, too,” he added. “It’s a fun place to fish.”
Two Yamaha Pros, Dean Rojas and Alton Jones, rate another Rio Grande impoundment, Falcon International Reservoir, as their favorite lake, primarily because of its trophy bass population.
Located 40 miles east of Laredo in Zapata and Starr counties, the lake was impounded in 1954.
Jones fishes the lake often and caught his heaviest bass, 11 pounds, from the 83,654-acre impoundment. On other trips, he’s caught two weighing more than 10 pounds in a single day.
“Falcon is the only lake where I’ve had a 65-pound braided line broken by a bass,” Jones, winner of the 2008 Bassmaster Classic, said with a laugh.
“There is so much flooded brush that the bass don’t have to run far to get you in trouble,” he pointed out.
“I caught two bass over nine pounds in one day during a tournament, and caught 88 pounds in three days at Falcon and still finished 14th, more than 40 pounds behind the winner,” Rojas added. “Right now, Falcon is easily the best trophy bass lake in the country.”
Mark Davis, winner of the 1995 Bassmaster Classic and BASS Angler of the Year, prefers Alabama’s 69,000-acre Lake Guntersville.
“It’s a lake that has everything, including a very healthy fish population,” Davis explained. “If you want to fish structure, the lake has channels, points and dropoffs, but if you want to stay shallow, you can fish vegetation, stumps or boat docks.
“The best part is you can fish Lake Guntersville year-round and expect to catch fish,” he added. “I’d rate it as one of the top three bass lakes in the United States.”
Yamaha Pro Dave Wolak likes Clear Lake in California the best, despite having limited fishing time there.
“It’s where I first learned to fish swimbaits, and today they’re some of my favorite and most productive lures,” he recalled.
“Clear Lake is one of those lakes that has produced some truly huge bass over 15 pounds, so with every cast you’re absolutely on edge waiting for a big strike,” he added. “You can’t ask for more excitement and fun than that.”
Takahiro Omori, winner of the 2004 Bassmaster Classic, rates Lake Champlain on the New York/Vermont border as his favorite.
“Lake Champlain has largemouth and smallmouth, so you can choose not only which fish to go after, but also the way you want to fish for them,” Omori said. “The largemouth hit crankbaits or jigs in shallow water, while the smallmouth hit drop shots, spinnerbaits, and jerkbaits in deeper water.
“It’s a huge lake, and it’s also very scenic, so there are a lot of places to fish, and you can enjoy all of them,” Omori added.
Another top 12 finalist in this year’s BASS Angler of the Year race, Yamaha pro Mark Menendez, really likes Alabama’s Lake Jordan.
“It’s one of the premier spotted bass fisheries in the country, and they’re big fish so they really fight hard,” Menendez said.
“I enjoy structure fishing, and that’s one of the best ways to fish Lake Jordan, using jigs or crankbaits,” he added.
 

Mabank battles Terrell in season finale

Monitor Photo/Kerry Yancey
Mabank Lady Panther senior Whitney Evans (13) tries to save the ball after a block by Terrell's Tonisha Dean (6, far left) during their District 15-4A and season-ending match at Mabank Tuesday. Also shown are Meagan Royal (1), Kourtney Holyfield (6), Jena Penney (8) and Shaylee Williams (5).