Threatening Skies Didn't Dampen Spirits

When I gave the "go" signal this morning, the dark skies made it seem like a downpour was imminent. However, as it turned out, the day passed with only a couple of sprinkles reported by the 14 anglers in nine boats.

Those who went home with a pay envelope today were as follows:

1st Place, the team of (from left) Red Bruun and Al Napier, five bass, 11.96 lbs. total weight, 3.36-lb. big fish.

2nd Place, the team of (from left) Randy Conkle and Bob Glass, five bass, 11.29 lbs. total weight, 3.86-lb big fish (today's lunker), caught by Bob.

Mystery Weight Winners, the team of (from left) Mitch Portervint and Skip Schaible. They had three bass for 5.56 lbs. total weight, which was closest to the weight drawn of 3.40 lbs. Their big fish weighed 2.74 lbs.




Here is how everyone else finished the day:

     * The team of Gary Coderre and Lenny Hall, five bass, 10.18 lbs. total weight, 3.35-lb. big fish.
     * Ashley Bishop, five bass, 8.86 lbs. total weight, 3.53-lb. big fish.
     * Steve Bailey, five bass, 7.38 lbs. total weight after 0.25 deduction for one dead fish, 2.72-lb. big fish.
     * The team of Jesse Milligan and Bobby Moore, five bass, 6.99 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * Wayne Hayes and Ken Testorff chose not to weigh their fish.

Overall, anglers weighed a total of 33 bass for a total weight of 62.22 lbs. The average weight was 1.88 lbs.

One more contestant became eligible to participate in our season-ending two-day Classic tournament. Jesse Milligan joined these 28 other qualified anglers: Chris Fretard, Al Napier, Jared Allbritten, Wayne Hayes, Mitch Portervint, Skip Schaible, Rob Chatham, Ken Testorff, Paul Celentano, Sid Ryan, Randy Conkle, Bob Glass, Steve Bailey, Ronnie McLaughlin, Gary Coderre, Chris Napier, Jim Wilder, Jake Milligan, Jim Bauer, Rob Peppers, Don Carter, Mike Miller, Chris Vitovich, Lenny Hall, Nathan Gottsch, Marjorie Gottsch, Duane Kessel, and John Matyiko.

Congrats to all of today's winners and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next event is scheduled for next Saturday, Sept. 19th, from safe light (about 6:20 or 6:30) to 2:30 p.m. I hope you can join us.

There are only two things positive I can say about my day. First, I once again dodged a skunk. And secondly, the lone fish I boated came on a hollow-bodied Spro frog. The fish initially blew up on the bait but missed. Then he came back, sucked it in, and started swimming off with the frog--not exactly what I was expecting.

I hooked two other bass on the same frog this morning, but both went airborne after I set the hook and, to my chagrin, gained their freedom. I also had the same result this afternoon while fishing a curly-tail worm. I had pitched the worm up to the base of a cypress tree, saw it moving off against the wind, and set the hook, but the fish was gone after just one leap.

I was one of several who thanked all the weather dudes for those "5-to-10 mph" winds they predicted today. Of course, they also were calling for a 60-percent chance of showers and/or thunderstorms when we shoved off this morning. As we all know, you'll be sitting home a lot of otherwise nice days if you plan your fishing trips around their forecasts. If you have a day off, just go--that's my advice.