With Tourney Day Saturday, Can't Say Much Tonight

April's Fool 2014 proved to do anything but make a fool of me, which calls to mind that favorite exclamation of ol' Gomer Pyle: "surprise, surprise, surprise!"

I'd be less than truthful if I didn't say I left home this morning for West Neck with absolutely no aspirations whatever of having anything close to a decent day. I mean, given my results over several weeks now, how could I hope for those kind of results? I figured if I dodged another skunk, I'd be lucky. So, you well can imagine the exhilaration I felt when I managed to get hold of this 1-6 today.

At 9:30 this morning, I had boated an 8-inch bass, which given the way he seemed to be shivering in that cool morning air as I unhooked and released him, led me to wonder whether he might be a tad cooler than I was at the moment. Between 9:30 and noon, I simply thrashed the water and was beginning to think my magic number for the day might be "1."

But lo and behold, I then came up with the 1-6 in the photo above, followed by this 1-8. And before the day was over, I also put a 15-ouncer in the boat, along with a pickerel that probably would have gone 2 lbs. or better. It might not have been the kind of day that would please a lot of anglers, but I gotta say it certainly tickled this ol' timer.

Maybe there's hope I'll be able to give Rob a little help after all this coming Saturday. He has to be getting tired of my lackluster tournament performance ever since last year's Classic. If it wasn't for what he's been putting in the boat, we wouldn't have a thing to show for our efforts.

Catching those fish today indeed was nice, but making the day even nicer was the fact I only had to deal with light winds most of the time. I wonder: Do I dare hope that the winds will be light this Saturday, too? I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Incidentally, I've already had one sign-up for this weekend's tournament. He has his own rig but prefers to fish as a backseater. Anyone game? Here's his photo (courtesy Skip Schaible):