Sept. 29, 2012 Dewey Mullins Tribute Bass Tourney

                                                           It rained...

 and it rained...

                             and it rained some more.












That's why all the anglers in these photos look more than a little wet around the edges. They barely had motored away from the boat basin this morning when Mother Nature opened her arms and started dumping on them. I had chosen to take myself out of today's competition to rehab my arm a bit more from the tendonitis attack I had a couple weeks ago, and I truthfully never missed a single moment of the soaking all my friends had to endure.

A total of 21 anglers in 15 boats participated in this final regular tourney of the 2012 season. Claiming the first place prize was Bob Glass and Randy Conkle (right top), with a five-fish limit weighing 11.70 lbs. after a 0.25 deduction for one dead fish. Coming in second was Mark London (right middle), with a five-fish limit weighing 11.35 lbs. Rounding out the leader board in third place was Wayne Hayes and Paul Celentano (right bottom--Wayne wasn't available when photo was taken), with a five-fish limit weighing 9.89 lbs.

Here's how all the other anglers finished today:
     * Tom Acree and Joe McDevitt, five fish, total weight 9.72 lbs.
     * Rob Peppers, five fish, total weight 9.05 lbs.
     * J. P. Twohig and D. McDonough, five fish, total weight 9.04 lbs.
     * Andrew George and Drew Iannetti, five fish, total weight 8.97 lbs.
     * Chris Fretard and Mike Miller, five fish, total weight 8.12 lbs.
     * Bryan Dear, five fish, total weight 6.95 lbs.
     * Gary Coderre, four fish, total weight 5.61 lbs.
     * Duane Kessel, four fish, total weight 5.10 lbs.
     * Al Lemieux, four fish, total weight 4.57 lbs.
     * Skip Schaible, two fish, total weight 4.05 lbs.
     * John Goodman, two fish, total weight 3.03 lbs.

Jim Bauer didn't weigh any fish.

Big-fish honors today went to Bob Glass and Randy Conkle, with a bass weighing 4.08 lbs. That's the fish that was declared dead at the weigh-in.

The field of other anglers finished in the following order behind Bob and Randy's lunker:
     * Wayne Hayes and Paul Celentano, 3.73 lbs.
     * Mark London, 3.45 lbs.
     * J. P. Twohig and D. McDonough, 3.16 lbs.
     * Skip Schaible, 3.03 lbs.
     * Andrew George and Drew Iannetti, 2.97 lbs.
     * Rob Peppers, 2.69 lbs.
     * Bryan Dear, 2.31 lbs.
     * Tom Acree and Joe McDevitt, 2.06 lbs.
     * Duane Kessel, 2.05 lbs.
     * John Goodman, 2.04 lbs.
     * Al Lemieux, 1.56 lbs.

Anglers Gary Coderre, Jim Bauer, and Chris Fretard and Mike Miller didn't weigh lunkers.

Those 20 fishermen who participated in the weigh-in accounted for a total of 61 bass weighing a combined total of 107.15 lbs., which amounts to an average of 1.7 lbs. per fish. Added to our seasonal totals, we end up with a total of 765 bass through 17 events and a grand total weight of 1,422.57 lbs. These figures translate into an overall average of 1.8 lbs. per bass.

(Left) Some of the fish that were weighed in today.

Here is the list of contestants who have fished four regular tourneys this year and therefore are eligible to participate in the 2012 two-day Classic scheduled for Oct. 13-14:

Gary Coderre                                               Lenny Hall

Steve Bailey                                                  Eddie Sapp
Paul Celentano                                             Bob Glass
Randy Conkle                                               Jim Bauer
Rob Powell                                                   Wayne Hayes
J. P. Twohig                                                  Al Napier
Skip Schaible                                                Chris Napier
Joe McDevitt                                                 Jeremy Gatewood
Rob Peppers                                                John Matyiko
Mark Cable                                                   Bobby Moore
Al Lemieux                                                   Aaron Phillips
Tucker Blalock                                             Mike Evans
Tom Acree                                                    Chris Sims
Mark London                                                 Duane Kessel
Ken Testorff

Some anglers on this list no longer are in the geographical area. Those who are, however, can be looking for me to contact them by email or phone within the next few days to find out how many of them plan to fish the Classic.

Hook, Line & Sinker...

I had an email from Jim Bauer last night, telling me about the day he had spent in West Neck Creek. The highlight of his day was this 2-1 and a small striper, both of which he caught on a swim senko. He also caught two dinks on a Bandit crankbait in firetiger. Rounding out his day were four crappie (three of which he gave to Dewey) and a bream, all of which he boated at the West Neck Bridge.

Jimmy reported seeing a fair amount of bait fish in the creek yesterday, but there only were occasional blowups from bass chasing them--and he couldn't generate any interest whatsoever in a topwater bait. The water temperature at launch time was 72, compared to 79 when he came in about 3:30. Duckweed again was everywhere from the ramp area, all the way out to the bridge, during the afternoon.

Like Charlie Bruggemann did the other day, Jimmy encountered a cottonmouth yesterday--"just popped up around some bait fish as I started to cast," he reported. The cottonmouth decided to turn and head for the far bank, which probably was a good idea, given the fact that Jimmy had his "dose of prevention" handy.

Before leaving the marina yesterday afternoon, Jimmy stopped in at the store to visit with Dewey. While there, Bob Glass showed up, and Jimmy was able to show both of them the nice 6-8 he had gotten during his latest trip to Lake Gaston. Both Dewey and Bob couldn't believe the fish weighed only 6-8, given the size of its mouth.

It appears everybody is catching fish. Here's the mixed bag Skip Schaible came up with today. He didn't hit the water until 10:01. All the fish you see in this panoramic photo then came into the boat between 10:30 and 1 o'clock, which is, as Skip noted, when it started clouding up. Skip told me that he had one other hookup today--it hit a crankbait and swam under the boat, ultimately gaining its freedom. According to Skip, "It felt a little bigger."

In the email these photos were attached to, Skip described an unusual event he witnessed today while on the water. He sent me a photo, but I couldn't get it of usable quality for the blog. In any event, he said he was fishing a cove when a small duck happened on the scene and began swimming around. All of a sudden, though, Skip started hearing some splashing. He first just figured the duck was diving or doing whatever it is that ducks do. When the racket kept up, he turned and had a look.

He first noticed that some bass had a school of shad herded up. But then he realized something was after the duck, too. "I have no idea what it was, but it kept trying to get him," he said. "I'd see this wake in the water, and then--POW!--something would grab for the little duck. Whatever it was made four or five passes before things settled down."

Skip noted that he has heard of bass trying to eat baby squirrels--and I've seen 'em chase snakes before, too--but he's never heard or seen anything like what he witnessed firsthand today. He tried big frogs, white mice, and gray mice to get the attention of whatever it was after the baby duck, but no such luck.

Here's wishing both of you fellas the best of luck in tomorrow's tourney.

Hook, Line & Sinker...

A little earlier today, when I was out to the marina taking care of some things with the boat, I ran into Skip Schaible, who just had come off the water from a day's fishing. I asked him if he had done any good, and he told me about these two fish:

                     Weight: 2 lbs. 8 ozs.

  Weight: 3 lbs. 3 ozs.





The 2-8 was caught on a fluke-style bait. The 3-3 fell for a popper. Both fish came from West Neck Creek.

Later this afternoon, I also received an email from my kayaker friend, Charlie Bruggemann. He went to Back Bay this morning--before sunrise. "I found nothing moving," he said, "and it stayed that way all day. The water was low and muddy," which he surmises was at least part of the problem.

Until about 10 minutes before he quit, Charlie only had had three dinks on for a second, and when he set the hook, each of them went airbone and spit the business end of his Gamakatsu EWG. It was while Charlie was trying to avoid a cottonmouth in that last 10 minutes that he managed to boat a 2-2 and salvage his otherwise dismal day--or so he thought.

Charlie then experienced what my family doctor keeps referring to as one of those "age-related events." In simple terms, he pulled a muscle in his back, which likely will put him on the shelf for a couple of weeks or so. Misery may love company, Charlie, but I assure you I wouldn't wish that on you, even if you were my enemy. If I did, I'd probably end up with tendonitis in both arms, or maybe worse.

With both of us laid up, Skip, it looks like you'll have to carry the load all by yourself for a spell. Tight lines!

Sept. 22, 2012 Dewey Mullins Tribute Bass Tourney

What started out as a day of high hopes ended in a rather lackluster fashion for many, as seven of the 14 boats carrying today's 22 tourney contestants returned to the weigh-in site without weighing any fish. In several of these cases, the anglers threw in the towel early and were long gone from the marina by the time the last anglers returned to the boat basin. To say it was a "tough day" would be an understatement. Nevertheless, some of the anglers managed to find fish.

First place in today's event went to Duane Kessel, who had a five-fish limit that tipped the scales at 11.22 lbs. Claiming second place was the team of Al and Chris Napier, who also had a five-fish limit, with a total weight of 7.47 lbs. In third place was a new team in our midst, Chris Fretard and Mike Miller, whose four keepers weighed in at 6.71 lbs. Big fish honors went to Bryan Dear, with a bass weighing 4.82 lbs.

(Top Row, L-R) Duane Kessel - 1st Place, Al & Chris Napier - 2nd Place








(Bottom Row, L-R) Chris Fretard (his partner, Mike Miller, was absent) - 3rd Place, Bryan Dear - Big Fish





Others who weighed fish today were as follows:
     * Rob Peppers, five fish, total weight 6.41 lbs.
     * Bryan Dear, two fish, total weight 6.28 lbs.
     * J. P. Twohig and Bobby Moore, five fish, total weight 6.13 lbs.
     * Skip Schaible and Rob Powell, two fish, total weight 1.88 lbs.

Here is the list of anglers who didn't weigh any fish:
     * Tom Acree and Joe McDevitt
     * Gary Coderre
     * Wayne Hayes
     * Paul Celentano and Ken Testorff
     * Steve Bailey
     * Tucker Blalock and Drew Wright
     * Bob Glass and Randy Conkle

Coming in behind Bryan Dear with big fish were the following anglers:
     * Duane Kessel, 2.82 lbs.
     * Chris Fretard and Mike Miller, 2.74 lbs.
     * Al and Chris Napier, 2.16 lbs.
     * Rob Peppers, 1.95 lbs.
     * J. P. Twohig and Bobby Moore, 1.81 lbs.
     * Skip Schaible and Rob Powell, 1.07 lbs.

Those 11 anglers who participated in the weigh-in today accounted for a total of 30 bass weighing a grand total of 46.1 lbs. Those numbers translate into an average of 1.5 lbs. per fish. Added to the year-to-date totals, through 16 events, we have weighed a total of 704 bass, weighing a grand total of 1,315.42 lbs. The year-to-date average remains at 1.8 lbs. per fish.

We added the name of Rob Powell to our list of anglers who have qualified to fish our season-ending two-day Classic on Oct. 13-14 by virtue of having fished four tourneys. To date, a total of 27 anglers are qualified.

For planning purposes, our last regular tourney of the current season is scheduled for next Saturday, Sept. 29. Start time will be safe light (or approximately 0700). Weigh-in will be at 1500.

On a personal note: It was another day of disappointment for Paul and me. Neither one of us boated a keeper bass. I joked that my bad luck is starting to rub off on him, but Paul remains optimistic.

2 Hours, 3 Fish

 

Skip Schaible only had a couple hours to fish today, but that was good enough to bag these two bass and one pickerel. The biggest bass weighed in at 3.3 lbs. on his digital scales.

As shown in these photos, one of the bass and the pickerel fell for what appears to be a Strike King crankbait. The other bass was caught on a fluke. And as Skip noted in his email, he lost one bass today.

He also said the water level has "dropped a lot since yesterday"--not surprising, after the way those north and northeast winds have blown.

Here's hoping the wind quiets down enough for us to launch our tourney Saturday on schedule. This isn't a bad showing at all, Skip, for just two hours on the water. Way to go.

Got Lucky Today...

That was the subject line of an email I received tonight from my fishing buddy, Jim Bauer, who is spending a week at Lake Gaston. He attached this photo of a 6-lb. 8-oz. bass that he caught today in a cove. The fish came from a stump in 5 or 6 feet of water. Jimmy was using one of his favorite Gaston baits at the time: a French fry. He described his prize as "not much belly and a big ol' mouth."

This fish was one of nine, including two more keepers that weighed just over a pound, that Jimmy boated today. The other fish all were dinks. He said he also lost a nice fish the first thing this morning on a topwater.

According to Jimmy, the water is low and stained a little from all the recent rain. He concluded tonight's note by saying, "I'm whipped but will give 'em another go tomorrow."

Give 'em fits, my friend.

Hook, Line & Sinker...

I received a couple of emails from fellow anglers today, telling me about their recent on-the-water pursuits, and I plan to add two-cents worth about my trip today, so here goes.

The photo at left shows Tom Acree's culled five-fish limit from Sunday, Sept. 16. The top three fish here were caught in West Neck Creek on Senkos. The bottom two were caught in the horseshoe with all the wrecks on 7.5-inch red-shad Culprit worms. All five of these fish, plus the 20 others that Tom caught Sunday, were boated between 0700 and 1230. Here are the weights of the fish in this photo: 3.00, 2.00, 2.00, 2.00, 1.75, according to Tom's digital scales.

Tom fished by himself both Saturday and Sunday--his partner, Joe, had to go to Raleigh on family business. His Saturday outing was so windy that he was limited to using spinnerbaits and crankbaits, neither of which is really his strong fishing style. Nevertheless, he managed to boat five bass, but all were under a pound.

Then there was a note from Charlie Bruggemann, who spent five hours today in Straight Creek, where he said the action was ever so s-l-o-o-o-w. He tried unsuccessfully to establish a topwater bite this morning. After working his way through all the topwaters in his tacklebox, he tied on a beetle spin, which netted a couple of small bass, a grindle, a couple of white perch, a striper, and a crappie. It wasn't until he changed to a jig-and-pig combination, though, that he eventually boated a 2-13 bass, which he said "saved the day."

And, finally, these three fish were my reward today for spending six hours in West Neck Creek. All three fell for a 5-inch watermelon-black-red swim Senko. From the left, the fish weighed 1-10, 2-3, 2-3. Both 2-3s came on back-to-back casts to the same spot in the knees of a big cypress tree. Getting these three fish to the boat today was both a delight and near-torture. The latter trait was a result of the resurgence of an old health problem: "fishing elbow." It flared up last week after I started fishing soft plastics seriously again after a long dry spell.

As a result, I lost three fish today that would have equaled the size of the ones I boated. I know because I saw all three--they were leapers, and I lost them because the pain wouldn't allow me to reel fast enough to keep slack out of the line. Just for grins and giggles, try reeling a right-hand baitcaster upside down and backwards with your left hand sometime--with a two-pound bass or better on the end of the line. I seriously doubt that you'll have much more success than I did.

My single goal at this point is simple: Try to get healthy for Saturday, at least good enough to be some help to my partner, Paul. He certainly deserves better than what I handed him the last tourney. I now know I can catch some fish with these Senkos; the problem is going to be getting them in the boat after they're hooked. I plan to have my left-handed Lew's dusted off and mounted on a rod, ready to use Saturday, just in case I still can't handle things the usual way. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though.

Dewey Mullins Tribute Bass Tourneys: A Comparison of 2011 and 2012 Winning Totals

With only two regular tourneys, plus the Classic two-day event, left this year, I decided to draft an item that would give everyone a bird's-eye view of how our winning weights in 2012 compare to those of 2011. Please understand that recorded weights this year are in decimal numbers, whereas they were in pounds and ounces last year. That fact, however, doesn't affect the differences that jump out at you, most notably the increased participation this year. You quickly notice that we've had several tourneys this year in which there were three winners, compared to no tourney last year in which we had the required 20 or more participants to pay three places.

That being said, here is the promised comparison:
  
              2011                                                                     2012                                   

04/03     1st Place     9-15                                    03/31     1st Place     14.55
              2nd Place    7-1                                                    2nd Place    11.87
              Big Bass      4-0                                                    3rd Place    11.76
                                                                                            Big Bass     4.55

04/10      1st Place     11-15                                 04/14     1st Place     13.77
               2nd Place    11-14                                               2nd Place    13.63
               Big Bass      5-1                                                   3rd Place    11.21
                                                                                            Big Bass     4.56

05/01       1st Place     12-9                                  04/21     1st Place     13.55
                2nd Place    10-6                                                2nd Place    13.22
                Big Bass      3-14                                                Big Bass     4.17

05/15        1st Place     10-7                                 05/05     1st Place     10.92
                 2nd Place    7-14                                               2nd Place    10.04
                 Big Bass      3-2                                                 Big Bass     2.99

05/22         1st Place     11-5                                05/12     1st Place      13.16
                  2nd Place    10-5                                              2nd Place     12.36
                  Big Bass      3-6                                                3rd Place     11.07
                                                                                            Big Bass      5.34

06/12         1st Place      10-10                             06/02      1st Place      12.60
                  2nd Place     9-2                                                2nd Place     7.68
                   Big Bass      3-9                                                Big Bass      4.52

06/26          1st Place      9-0                                06/09      1st Place       16.55
                    Big Bass     2-2                                               2nd Place      11.62
                                                                                            3rd Place       9.89
                                                                                            Big Bass        5.25

07/10           1st Place     11-7                              06/23      1st Place       9.68
                    2nd Place    9-1                                               2nd Place      9.37
                     Big Bass    3-9                                                Big Bass       3.13

07/16            1st Place     9-12                             06/30      1st Place       11.62
                     2nd Place    5-14                                            2nd Place      9.71
                     Big Bass     3-7                                               Big Bass        4.09

07/23            1st Place     11-15                           07/14      1st Place       12.17
                     2nd Place    8-7                                              2nd Place      11.94
                     Big Bass      3-4                                              3rd Place      8.76
                                                                                             Big Bass       5.71

08/06             1st Place     8-7                              07/28      1st Place       14.89
                      2nd Place    7-5                                             2nd Place      12.15
                      Big Bass      3-6                                             3rd Place       11.93
                                                                                             Big Bass        3.81

08/20             1st Place     12-2                            08/04      1st Place       15.67
                      2nd Place    9-13                                           2nd Place      13.58
                      Big Bass      3-2                                             Big Bass       4.89

09/10              1st Place     11-5                           08/18      1st Place       13.84
                       2nd Place    9-1                                            2nd Place      12.05
                       Big Bass     4-2                                             3rd Place      4.88

09/24              1st Place      12-11                        08/25       1st Place       13.84
                       Big Bass      2-12                                          2nd Place      11.90
                                                                                             3rd Place       10.18
                                                                                             Big Bass       4.93              

Who Says You Need a Broom Stick to Fish Soft Plastics?

I know several people who wouldn't think of using anything but a heavy- or medium-heavy-action rod to fish soft plastics, regardless of their texture. If I hadn't lived through the '70s, when the late-Charlie Brewer, Sr. (pictured right) introduced Slider fishing, I also might be one of those proponents. As that light-line angling technique taught us, though, you don't need heavy tackle to catch bass with soft plastics.

According to Charlie Brewer, Jr., his dad took a lot of razzing about using "toy tackle" (usually 4- and 6-pound-test monofilament line) and a light-action spinning rod, initially made from a fly-rod tip. But time after time, he demonstrated that bass could be caught on light tackle with a sweeping hookset and by slowly playing the fish, rather than crossing its eyes and horsing it into the boat. He helped teach anglers how to catch suspended bass, for which Slider fishing was geared.

It didn't matter to Charlie Brewer, Sr. what brand name was on the rod. He only was concerned what type of rod it was--in other words, the action and power. He insisted on a flexible tip and strong butt section, referring to it as light action, rather than ultralight. He also preferred a rod that only was 4 or 5 feet long. Because such a rod wasn't readily available in the '70s, his company eventually started marketing custom-made Slider rods.

All this information got me to thinking here recently about what kind of tackle I really need to get the job done and to be able to fish "comfortably"--this latter a reference to the arthritis and other age-related pains I experience in my hands and arms. Increasingly, I had been noticing that some of the rods I was using were causing a lot of discomfort. The only two rods proving to be an exception were my two 6' 6" St. Croix Premier crankbait rods (see photo at left) in medium action and medium power. As I learned in a few trial runs, I could use these two rods all day long with nearly pain-free results. When I added the four other rods back into the mix, the pain started all over again.

I knew these crankbait rods easily would handle all the different weights of lures that I throw, and after some Internet research, I learned that quite a few people use crankbait rods for many different applications, e.g., spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and topwaters. I didn't find but a handful who use them for soft plastics. It was then, though, that I remembered my Slider-fishing days. I figured if I was able to set the hook on fish with a light-action rod and 4- and 6-pound-test mono without breaking the line, I certainly ought to be able to do the same thing with a medium-action rod and 40- and 50-pound-test braid.

Convinced that my plan was sound, I ordered four more St. Croix rods like the two I already had and matched them all up with different models of Lew's baitcasters. I already had proved these rigs could handle spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and topwaters, as well as crankbaits--I did that with the original two rods. It wasn't until this week, though, that I completed the "acid test" for using this tackle with soft plastics--specifically flukes, swimming Senkos, and Texas-rigged curl-tail worms.

I'm a believer that getting older doesn't necessarily mean you have to give up things; rather, you sometimes just have to alter the way you do them. For example, I had to buy a lighter bowling ball a few years ago. Now I'm using some lighter fishing gear. And, yes, I know there will be more changes down the road. The challenge is to keep smiling while all this happens, but in reality, we really should because at least we're still on the "green side" and not the "brown side."

Tight lines!

Hook, Line & Sinker...

Before I start this report of my day's fishing, I need to take care of more important business. I need to let everyone know what I learned from Jane this afternoon when I came in. She told me that Dewey has been in the Princess Anne Hospital since Wednesday. According to her, he first became ill sometime this past Sunday. The diagnosis, as I understand it, is that Dewey has a twist in part of his intestines that, with time, the doctors think will return to normal on its own. As a result, if he is able to eat on his own in the morning, without vomiting or other complications, they probably will allow him to return home sometime during the afternoon. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that things happen just that way.

Now, about my fishing today. The water temp when I started at 7:30 was 72, and it had climbed to 79 when I quit at 2:30. The water was a good color, and it was clean--I barely had a scum line to clean up. And during the afternoon, the water started coming in ever so slightly. Like Tuesday, I stayed in West Neck, where a lot of nice bass continue to be caught.

I only threw two different kinds of baits today: 1/4-oz. Bomber crankbaits and 5-inch swim-tail Senkos. At day's end, I had boated one white perch and 15 bass, with seven of the latter qualifying as keepers. All the keepers ranged from 1-5 to 1-7. I caught five of the bass on the Bombers. All the rest fell for the Senkos. In a few cases, the bass would take hold of the Senko so gently I didn't even know I had a fish on until I'd feel the line suddenly get heavy or see it start moving sideways. In four of those instances, they must have just had hold of the tail, because when I set the hook, nothing was there. Again like Tuesday, most of my fish today came from the area between Marker #4 and the mouth of the creek.

When I arrived home this evening, I had an email from Charlie Bruggemann, telling me that he had gone to Back Bay today. He sat in the grass, tossing frogs, Johnson's Silver Minnows, and Gulp shads, and boated nine bass, along with a large pickerel and a skinny but legal striper. His best bass tipped the scales at 2-14. Charlie admitted that his froggin' skills today "were less than stellar." He missed a couple of big strikes. I would imagine it'll be sometime tomorrow before he gets his blog updated with the details and video of today's outing. To see it all for yourself, go to http://www.vbfishguide.blogspot.com/.

Hook, Line & Sinker...

Having been out to the marina yesterday and checked the water level, and knowing the weather forecasters were calling for less wind today, I had decided I would spend the day on the water. I wanted to see if I could atone somwhat for the dismal showing I had made in Saturday's tourney. For a while, things weren't looking too good--it was 10 o'clock (2.5 hours after I had launched) before I put my first fish in the boat today.

My choice of locations was West Neck Creek, given the lower water level that existed after a couple days of north winds. I began the morning by throwing a fluke in white ice, to no avail. I also tossed a curl-tail worm in junebug red for a spell, with the same results. I then went through some wakebaits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and crankbaits--still with no luck. The crankbaits I had been throwing were 3/8-oz. models, so I decided to downsize to a 1/4-oz. Bomber in chartreuse with a black back, and that's when things started happening.

By day's end, I had boated 11 bass and a 15-inch striper. All but one of the bass had fallen for the Bomber. The lone other bass went for a swim-tail Senko in green pumpkin with black flake. The sizes were nothing to brag about, with the biggest of four keepers only going 1-7. My best fish of the day was my last fish of the day, which I hooked up near the mouth of West Neck. It, too, smacked the Bomber and took off for open water, slipping drag as he went. Evidently, though, I didn't have a good hookset, because moments later, the lure simply came loose.

I have to admit that I'm impressed with the action of the swim-tail Senko. Besides the action, I like the fact that I can keep moving at a decent pace while fishing it. I very well may have to look and see what other colors are available besides the one I used today. I had a couple other strikes with the swim-tail but was a little too slow in pulling the trigger.

Sept. 8, 2012 Dewey Mullins Tribute Bass Tourney

(L-R) Randy Conkle and Bob Glass - 1st Place
and Big Fish (Bob)

The moral of today's tournament story is simple: Sometimes it pays to fish close to home. The reason I say that is because the winners among today's 16 anglers in 11 boats all limited their fishing to West Neck Creek.

Claiming the first-place prize was the team of Randy Conkle and Bob Glass with five fish that weighed a total of 11.19 lbs. Bob also had the big fish at 3.70 lbs. Second place went to Al Napier, who had a five-fish limit weighing 10.66 lbs.

Here's how the other contestants finished today:

     * Matt Floyd, five fish, 10.00 lbs.
     * Bobby Moore and J. P. Twohig, five fish, 9.94 lbs.
     * Mike Evans, five fish, 9.43 lbs.
     * Wayne Hayes, five fish, 9.09 lbs.
     * Tom Acree and Joe McDevitt, five fish, 8.48 lbs.
     * Paul Celentano and Ken Testorff, three fish, 6.85 lbs.
     * Steve Bailey and Jason Fittro, three fish, 4.60 lbs.
     * Skip Schaible, one fish, 3.42 lbs.

Gary Coderre didn't weigh any fish.



Al Napier - 2nd Place

Anglers weighing big fish behind the winner registered by Bob Glass were as follows:

     * Skip Schaible, 3.42 lbs.
     * Paul Celentano and Ken Testorff, 3.31 lbs.
     * Al Napier, 3.22 lbs.
     * Mike Evans, 2.97 lbs.
     * Steve Bailey and Jason Fittro, 2.63 lbs.
     * Bobby Moore and J. P. Twohig, 2.39 lbs.
     * Wayne Hayes, 2.32 lbs.
     * Matt Floyd, 2.26 lbs.
     * Tom Acree and Joe McDevitt, 2.04 lbs.

Those 15 anglers who participated in the weigh-in accounted for a total of 42 bass weighing a combined total of 83.66 lbs. Those numbers translate into an average weight of 1.9 lbs. per fish. All but three fish were released alive.

Today's numbers increase the year-to-date totals through 15 events as follows: 674 bass brought to the scales, with a total weight of 1,269.32 lbs. The yearly average weight remains at 1.8 lbs. per fish.



The end of a long day's fishing always means one thing--it's time
to clean up the mess.

There were no new names added to the list of those qualified to fish our season-ending two-day Classic on Oct. 13-14 by virtue of having fished four tourneys. That leaves the number of those qualified at 26.

For planning purposes, our next tourney is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 22. This tournament will mark a return to the same fishing hours we started the 2012 season with: safe light (or approximately 0700) to 1500. With only one more regularly scheduled tourney left after this next event, only those participants who have fished at least two tourneys to date still can qualify for the Classic--no exceptions.

On a personal note: I was absolutely no help to my partner, Paul, yesterday, except for running the trolling motor. I boated four non-keeper bass all day, along with a white perch and a pickerel. To make matters even worse, I took two spills in the boat. One time, the boat fender got under my feet. The other time, I got my feet tangled up in the net. Bottom line: I'm wearing physical bruises today for the bruises I incurred to my ego yesterday. Paul is a good fisherman who deserves a better partner than he has in yours truly.

Hook, Line & Sinker...

It had been about 10 days since I last hit the water, so I couldn't wait to get to West Neck Marina this morning, prep the boat, and launch for a day of fun fishing. I had expected high water, so I was anything but disappointed when I turned into the parking lot, looked down toward the ramp, and saw the water already lapping over the front lip of the concrete. I momentarily thought about leaving my boat in the shed but needed a "fix" too badly to pass up the opportunity.

I figured the fish would be scattered, with the water so high, and it didn't take very long to verify that fact. Instead of running to Albright's as I usually do in this situation, I stayed in West Neck, so I'd be close in case I got a phone call and had to get home in a hurry. My wife had some surgery a week ago today, and this was the first time I had been away from the house for any length of time at all since that event.

I began my day by running up to the mouth of West Neck and fishing my way back with the wind, and with it blowing so hard, the trip turned out to be a lot quicker than I had anticipated. I just kept going when I got to the West Neck Bridge and didn't stop until I had gotten to the first duck blind on the lefthand side. In that distance, I only managed to boat three bass, one small striper, and one bluegill. The biggest bass was only 1-1, but all three were keepers. I also had two bass come unbuttoned alongside the boat--both of them keepers, too. All the fish hit a variety of crankbaits. The only other hit came on a plastic worm. The fish took it in a stand of cypress trees and moved a good distance with it in his mouth before I set the hook, but all I got for my effort was a hook buried in some wood.

This dismal showing had me a tad down in the mouth before I got home and had a chance to check my email. There I found a note from my friend Charlie Bruggemann, telling me he only had gotten a total of three fish today in Oakum Creek: one bass, one yellow perch, and one pickerel. His bass, however, was a nice 3-0. "If it wasn't for that fish, the day wouldn't have been worth getting up at 5 o'clock," said Charlie.

Another angler launched right behind me this morning in a Nitro, and when we met up a little later, he brought up the subject of my blog and paid me some kind compliments. He explained that he follows it all the time. Unfortunately, I neglected to get the fella's name, but I'll recognize the boat when I see it again and plan to educate myself then. Or better yet, if he'll email me upon seeing this note, I'll gladly offer an apology for "my bad" this morning. Here's my email address: kenneth34@cox.net. I look forward to hearing from you.

These Fellas Are on a Roll

Joe McDevitt holds the 3.06-lb. bass he caught today while he and Tom Acree were on the water. They started in West Neck Creek at 6:30 and had put three fish in the boat by 7:15, when they decided to move to Albright's Creek, where they quickly added more. By 8:45, they already were culling, and by 10:45, they had 10 solid keepers in the livewell.

About this time, the wind died down, so Tom and Joe decided to move to the wrecks down south, where they simply continued catching quality fish.

The duo had planned to be off the water by noon to avoid some of the holiday boating traffic, but the fish stayed active, and they just couldn't leave. When they finally quit at 2 o'clock, they collectively had boated 25 bass. Their productive lures today were white flukes and red senkos. "We couldn't tell which the fish liked better," said Tom. The bass were crushing both.

Once Joe and Tom had come off the water, they stopped at the marina store and asked Dewey to weigh their five best fish of the day. Here were the weights: 3.06 lbs., 3.05 lbs., 3.0 lbs., 2.75 lbs., 2.75 lbs. The math tells me this totals 14.61 lbs. Considering these anglers caught 13.5 lbs. of bass just Saturday, I see it as somewhat of an understatement to say that Joe and Tom are on a roll.

Another angler who had a good day today is my kayaker friend Charlie Bruggemann, who fished the oxbow at the mouth of Albright's Creek. Fishing the frog and a wakebait until 12:30, he boated 19 bass. His best three weighed 1-0, 1-3 and 1-4. Charlie tells me he'll have his blog updated sometime tomorrow afternoon with all the details and video, so take a look and get the full story.

In the meantime, my hat is off to all three of these folks. Can hardly wait to get back on the water myself to see if I can get in on some of this same kind of action. Good on ya!

One Heckuva Day!

That was my first thought when I received this photo in an email this evening from Tom Acree. In case you've forgotten, he's the fella who just recently boated an 8-2 largemouth from West Neck Creek. He then followed that up on Saturday of the same week with nearly a 14-pound bag of fish to win our Dewey Mullins Tribute Bass Tourney.

Tom had some help today from his longtime partner, Joe McDevitt, in boating this fine looking bunch of bass--all from West Neck Creek. But the real accomplishment in this catch is that all the fish came between 0630 and 0900. And get this: Tom tells me he lost a fish halfway to the boat at 0640 that would have equaled or eclipsed the 8-2 he caught just two weeks ago. Unlike the previous hawg, this one leaped, giving Tom and Joe a good look at all of her beauty. A fish like that replacing the smallest one above would have made for one fantastic total weight. As I see it, though, Tom and Joe still have plenty of bragging rights with just the fish pictured here.

Tom sees today's catch as a reflection of the quality of those fish we've been releasing this year in all of our tourneys. "It has made fishing in the creek (West Neck Creek) awesome!" he said. I, for one, would have trouble arguing with his logic.

With a full moon, Tom plans to fish tomorrow, too--with or without the high water like he and Joe had today. According to Tom, it was at the top of the ramp when he and Joe launched this morning. Hope you stay on your current roll, Tom. Catch a big 'un for me while you're at it.