These two photos portray a day that started out a far cry from the bright sunshine you see here. As the 23 anglers in 13 boats left the boat basin bound for their first stops in today's bass tourney, the sky was heavily overcast, with lightning showing in the distance. For the most part, you could hear an occasional low rumble of thunder, too. In addition, we knew 20-to-25-mph winds were going to be blowing. Given these conditions, the anglers generally were hanging around, waiting for a "go" or "no go" signal. After checking some weather radars and getting a feel for the general consensus among anglers, Dewey finally gave the "go" signal, and thus began a stream of boats headed to the ramp for launching.
I can't speak for everyone participating in today's contest, but my partner, Paul Celentano, and I were subjected to recurring showers through the mid-morning timeframe before the clouds finally parted, and we started peeling off our rain gear. Unfortunately, the sun's arrival pretty much put an end to the bite we had enjoyed under the overcast skies, and we ended up with only three weighable fish.
Other anglers, however, didn't seem to suffer the same curse. Finishing in first place was the team of Mike Evans and J. P. Twohig, with a bag of five bass weighing 12.25 lbs. Close behind, in second place, was the team of Bob Glass and Randy Conkle, also with a bag of five fish and a total weight of 11.90 lbs. Taking third place was the team of Gary Coderre and Lenny Hall, with five bass weighing 10.18 lbs. Bob Glass captured the lunker award today with a bass that weighed in at 4.93 lbs.
(L-R) Mike Evans
and
J. P. Twohig,
1st Place
 |
| (L-R) Bob Glass and Randy Conkle, 2nd Place and Big Fish (Bob) |
(L-R) Gary Coderre
and Lenny Hall,
3rd Place
Here's how the other participants finished in total weight:
* Kevin Mills and Tim Ackal, five fish, 9.90 lbs.
* Al and Chris Napier, five fish, 9.77 lbs.
* Tom Acree and Joe McDevitt, five fish, 6.39 lbs.
* Scott Hickman, five fish, 5.48 lbs.
* Paul Celentano and Ken Testorff, three fish, 4.40 lbs.
* Brandon Cartier and Tucker Blalock, two fish, 2.79 lbs.
Jeremy Gatewood and Keith Jennings, Mark London, Christian Safley and Bernie Bailey, and Darren Hoercher did not weigh any fish today.
Anglers finished in this order behind Bob Glass for today's lunker award:
* Gary Coderre and Lenny Hall, 3.56 lbs.
* Mike Evans and J. P. Twohig, 3.51 lbs.
* Al and Chris Napier, 2.95 lbs.
* Kevin Mills and Tim Ackal, 2.25 lbs.
* Paul Celentano and Ken Testorff, 2.23 lbs.
* Tom Acree and Joe McDevitt, 1.49 lbs.
* Brandon Cartier and Tucker Blalock, 1.37 lbs.
* Scott Hickman, 1.18 lbs.
Those 17 anglers who participated in the weigh-in today accounted for a total of 40 bass, with a combined total weight of 73.06 lbs., for an average of 1.8 lbs. per fish. Our new grand total number of bass year-to-date is 632, with a grand total weight through 14 events of 1,185.66 lbs. The yearly average weight continues standing at 1.8 lbs. per fish.
Today's competition saw two more anglers become qualified to fish our season-ending two-day Classic on Oct. 13-14 by virtue of having fished four tourneys. Those two new addees are Lenny Hall and Mark London. That brings our Classic-qualified total to 26.
For planning purposes, our next tourney is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 8. Start time will be safe light (or approximately 0630), with weigh-in at 1430.
On a personal note: Paul and I caught a little of everything. Besides bass, we had white perch, pickerel, grindle, gar, and crappie. We each lost a nice fish, too, which would have given us a limit for weigh-in, but that's the breaks of the game. Paul's best baits today were an assortment of soft plastics. I was catching everything on various crankbaits. We spent our day in Albright's Creek and the oxbow at its mouth.
No comments:
Post a Comment