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.