The 2014 Season Is Off to a Windy Start

If there's one thing those 18 anglers in 12 boats who showed up for today's season-opener probably still are saying, it's that they hope the next event is a tad less windy than the 15-25-mph blast that we had to deal with all day. If we can believe that old saying about "when March comes in like a lion, it usually goes out like a lamb," we should be able to rest easy, knowing that our April 5 contest will be a piece of cake when it comes to the wind.

Despite all the errant casts everyone had to contend with today, some of our group met the conditions head-on and, in the final analysis, claimed success.

The victory party started with this duo, Dennis Cohen (left) and Ronnie McLaughlin (right), who brought 13.17 lbs. of largemouth to the scales for weigh-in at 3 o'clock. Anchoring their sack of five 1st-place fish was a 7.15-lb. behemoth that Ronnie bagged, which also earned him "big fish" honors for the day.

I overheard some of the other anglers saying that they might just throw in the towel now for the seasonal-lunker award that will be

Ronnie's 7.15-lb. lunker

passed out at our season-ending two-day Classic in October. However, I would caution everyone to delay that decision a spell until we find out if Ronnie plans to enter the competition for seasonal lunker, which requires participation in at least nine tourneys.

For reference purposes, Ronnie, nor his partner, contributed to that pot today. My advice would be to keep playing along until we see what Ronnie's intentions are in this regard. One thing is certain: If he decides to join the race for seasonal lunker, all the rest of us have our work cut out for us.

Meanwhile, running close behind in 2nd place was the team of Red Bruun (left) and Al Napier (not pictured). Their five-fish bag totaled 12.57 lbs. Their big fish tipped the scales at 3.46 lbs.

A little farther back, in 3rd place, was Mark London (right), who also weighed a five-fish limit for 8.87 lbs. His big fish weighed 3.25 lbs.

Rounding out our gallery of winners in today's season-opener was Gary Coderre, who claimed our first-ever "mystery weight award," which will be a regular part of all our tourneys this year. After today's weigh-in had concluded, I asked Yankee, an innocent bystander, to draw a weight tag from a jar. The weight he drew was 6.25 lbs. As it worked out, Gary weighed three fish for a  total weight of 3.74 lbs., and that was the closest number to the drawn weight tag.




Here is how everyone else finished the day:
     * Donald Greer, a newcomer we welcomed to our group today, weighed two fish, for a total weight of 3.51 lbs., including a big fish at 2.12 lbs.
     * Steve Bailey weighed two fish, for a total weight of 3.37 lbs.
     * The team of Jesse Munden and Jon Guzman weighed one fish, for a total weight of 1.35 lbs.
     * The team of Rob Chatham and Ken Testorff weighed one fish, for a total weigh of 1.07 lbs.

Jim Bauer, Skip Schaible, and the two teams of Randy Conkle and Bob Glass, and John Matyiko and Mark Cable didn't weigh any fish.

For planning purposes, our April 5 event is scheduled to launch at 0630, with weigh-in at 1430. I would like to offer my heartiest congratulations to all the winners today and to thank everyone who helped get our new season off the ground. Hope to see you and others again in two weeks. In the meantime, "Tight Lines!" to one and all.

In a phone conversation today with yesterday's big-bass winner, I have learned that Ronnie plans to fish nine more tourneys this year and pay the $2 entry fee in the seasonal-lunker pot each time, which by our rules & regs, as currently written, will make him eligible to win the seasonal-lunker pot at year's end for the 7.15-lb. bass he weighed in yesterday. Bottom line: That makes him da man to beat for da money.