If my recollection is on track, we've had a grand total of one tournament this year in which the weather cooperated with us for the whole day. The rest of the time, it has been cold, rain, thunderstorms--you name it, we've had it, for at least part of the day, and today's event was no exception for the 13 boats and 19 anglers who showed up this morning at West Neck Marina.
Just like the last tournament, the dark clouds, thunder and lightning moved in about an hour before the scheduled weigh-in, and some of the anglers got wet before all was said and done.
At the top of today's leaderboard was the team of (from left) Mike Miller and Chris Fretard, who weighed a limit of five bass, with a total weight of 9.64 lbs. They didn't have a kicker fish.
Finishing in 2nd place was Rob Peppers. His five-fish limit tipped the scales at 9.54 lbs., also without a kicker fish.
Taking 3rd place was Gary Coderre, whose five bass weighed in at 8.48 lbs. His big fish and today's lunker weighed 2.21 lbs.
Walking away as today's mystery-weight winners was the team of Mitch Portervint and Skip Schaible (not pictured). Their total weight for five fish was 5.11 lbs. (no big fish). The weight drawn was 5.25.
Here is how all the other contestants finished:
* The team of Randy Conkle and Bob Glass, five fish, 7.92 lbs. total weight after a 0.25 deduction for one dead fish, 1.73-lb. big fish.
* The team of Jared Allbritten and Travis Daniels, five fish, 7.25 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
* The team of Tom Acree and Joe McDevitt, five fish, 6.98 lbs. total weight, 2.08-lb. big fish.
* The following anglers didn't weigh any fish, even though most of them reported having keepers: Steve Bailey, Jim Bauer, Duane Kessel, the team of John Matyiko and Mark Cable, Jake Milligan, and Ken Testorff.
Overall, the anglers today weighed a total of 35 bass for a total weight of 54.92 lbs. The average weight was 1.56 lbs.
Three more anglers attained status as "Classic-qualified" today. Those three are: Jim Bauer, Rob Peppers and Jake Milligan. We now have 18 who can fish the two-day season-ender.
For planning purposes, our next event is scheduled for Saturday, July 25th, from safe light (about 5:30 a.m.) to weigh-in at 2 p.m.
Later this afternoon, I learned I wasn't the only one who got hold of a "heavyweight" today. One of my friends told me the story of how he hooked a giant turtle, which, when he reached the surface, had his giant claws extended, ready to do battle with by buddy as he tried to get the hook out of his throat. As it turned out, though, the risk outweighed any gain to be had from fighting those claws to get the hook back, so my friend reached down and snipped the line instead.
I would be less than honest if I didn't say I struggled all day--with short strikes, wind knots, globs of moss and grass, and a host of other little annoyances that made me wish I just had rolled over, shut off the alarm, and gone back to sleep this morning. I didn't put the first fish in the boat until about 12:30--a 12-inch bass. Moments later, I hooked a small yellow perch. Both fish hit my spinnerbait.
By and large, though, I just worked out my arm and shoulder today with a mix of topwaters, crankbaits, chatterbaits, and soft plastics--all to no avail. If I had been a betting man, I would have bet you I was going to suffer my first skunk of the current season. As it was, I felt totally sorry for that 12-inch bass, 'cause his mouth really was bruised and bleeding, apparently from having been hooked earlier and released.
So, my pursuit of a "winning" day continues. All I have to do is wait for the law of averages to finally catch up with me--just hope I live long enough to see that happen.
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