Big Turnout; Lots of Fish Caught, Too

Despite a lower-than-normal water level and a biting northeast wind, anglers turned out in force to compete against one another today. A total of 23 anglers in 14 boats motored out of the basin this morning when I gave the "go" signal.

Those contestants who walked away with a money envelope today included the following:

1st Place, (from left) John Goodman and Mark London, five bass, 19.50 lbs. total weight, 5.59-lb. big fish.

2nd Place, (from left) Rob Peppers and Dave Anderson, five bass, 13.70 lbs. total weight, no big fish.

3rd Place, Paul Celentano, five bass, 13.03 lbs. total weight, 3.69-lb. big fish.

4th Place, Ronnie McLaughlin, five bass, 12.11 lbs. total weight, 4.94-lb. big fish.

Lunker Award, Mike Evans, three bass, 9.91 lbs. total weight, with his 5.84-lb. winning fish.

Mystery Weight, Ken Testorff, two bass, 3.33 lbs. total weight, no big fish. The weight drawn was 4.45 lbs.








Here is how all the other contestants finished the day:

     * The team of Zack Rhodes and Alec Wommack, five bass, 11.45 lbs. total weight, 3.02-lb. big fish.
     * Steve Bailey, five bass, 11.44 lbs. total weight, 3.23-lb. big fish.
     * The team of Nathan and Marjorie Gottsch, five bass, 10.56 lbs. total weight, 3.13-lb. big fish.
     * The team of Gary Coderre and Lenny Hall, five bass, 9.97 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Mitch Portervint and Skip Schaible, five bass, 8.65 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Mike Speedy and Docota Fox, five bass, 8.55 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Jake Milligan and Jack Rhodes, five bass, 6.83 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Randy Conkle and Bob Glass didn't weigh any fish.

Overall, today's anglers weighed a total of 60 bass for a combined total weight of 139.03 lbs. The average weight was 2.31 lbs.

To date, 14 anglers already have qualified to fish our season-ending two-day Classic.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next scheduled tournament is Saturday, May 14, from safe light (probably about 5:45) to 2 p.m. I hope you can join us.

We've had anything but what I would consider good weather so far this 2016 season, but that fact in no way diminishes the reality that we're off to one of the best starts ever as far as numbers of fish caught, as well as total weight and average weight.

I only wish ol' Dewey was here to celebrate with us. He always got excited with the kind of numbers we've been putting up to this point in the current tourney season.

Only time will tell if our current success will continue for the long haul. I, for one, hope that it does. The way I see it, Dewey made this gig of ours possible in the first place, and any degree of success we achieve is a fitting tribute to this man who so loved the sport of bass fishing. I still can visualize that mile-wide grin that used to spread across his bewhiskered face anytime someone brought a big fish or a big sack of fish to the scales for weigh-in.