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.