Our Best Turnout So Far This Year

I figured those raindrops falling on my head in the wee hours this morning as I prepared to go to West Neck Marina and set up for the day's tourney, our seventh event this season, might dampen a lot of the anglers' desires to chase bass. However, I couldn't have been more wrong. We ended up with 19 hearty souls in 12 boats--by far, our best participation this year.

Claiming first-place money today with a five-fish limit weighing 14.32 lbs. was the team of Bob Glass (pictured right) and his partner, Randy Conkle. Their day's lunker was a hefty 5.64-pounder, which, in most cases, would have been big enough to capture the big-fish pot, but not today.

That prize was reserved for Jim Wilder (pictured below), who weighed a dead fish that tipped the scales at 6.01 lbs. Jim also brought a five-fish limit to the weigh-in today. His total weight was 13.47 lbs. before a 0.50 penalty was assessed for weighing two dead fish. That penalty dropped his official weight to 12.97 lbs., which still was good enough to claim second-place prize money.

Here is how all the other participants finished in today's contest:

     * The team of Skip Schaible and Chris Vitovich, five fish, total weight 12.70 lbs., didn't weigh big fish.
     * Duane Kessel, five fish, total weight 12.28 lbs., big fish 4.22 lbs.
     * Gary Coderre, five fish, total weight 11.61 lbs., big fish 3.76 lbs.
     * The team of Paul Starcher and Shawn Thompson, five fish, total weight 9.60 lbs. (after a 0.25 dead-fish penalty), big fish 3.59 lbs.
     * The team of Nelson Anderson and David Dozier, five fish, total weight 9.29 lbs., didn't weigh big fish.
     * The team of Ronnie McLaughlin and Jonathan Cohen, five fish, total weight 7.74 lbs., didn't weigh big fish.
     * The team of John Matyiko and Mark Cable, five fish, total weight 6.55 lbs., didn't weigh big fish.
     * The team of Rob Chatham and Mitch Portervent, three fish, total weight 6.24 lbs., didn't weigh big fish.
     * Ken Testorff, three fish, total weight 5.82 lbs., didn't weigh big fish.

Chris Fretard didn't bring any fish to the scales today.

Those 18 anglers who participated in the weigh-in accounted for a total of 51 bass weighing a grand total of 109.12 lbs. Those figures translate into an average weight of 2.1 lbs. per fish.

There were no new names added to the list of those anglers eligible to fish the season-ending two-day Classic as the result of today's tourney.

For planning purposes, our next event is scheduled for Saturday, June 1. Start time will be safe light (or approximately 0600). Weigh-in will be at 1400.