Raindrops Were Falling When We Launched This Morning

Fortunately, however, they pretty much had ended by the time those 18 of us in 12 boats blasted off from West Neck Marina about 6:15 a.m.

I figured the fishing today would produce some big bags, and I was correct. The top three winning teams and individuals were in a league of their own, so to speak, as evidenced in the following statistics:

Finishing in 1st place was the team of (from left) Don Carter and Rob Peppers, who weighed five bass with a total weight of 17.69 lbs. Their big fish was a 5.23-pounder.

Capturing 2nd place was Al Napier, who weighed five bass with a total weight of 17.47 lbs. His big fish, a 5.43-pounder, secured the day's lunker prize.

In 3rd place at the end of the day was the team of John Goodman and Mark London, whose 14.95-pound bag was more than 5 lbs. ahead of the next nearest competitor. Their big bass weighed 3.29 lbs.

The mystery-weight award went to Mike Evans, who weighed three bass with a total weight of 7.38 lbs. That weight was closest to the 7.25 tab that was drawn.








Here is how all the other competitors ended up at the 2:30 weigh-in:

     * Ronnie McLaughlin, five bass, 9.37 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Gary Coderre and Lenny Hall, five bass, 8.38 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * Steve Bailey, five bass, 5.66 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * Ken Testorff, three bass, 4.78 lbs. total weight, no big fisih.
     * Jim Wilder, two bass, 3.70 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Mitch Portervint and Skip Schaible, two bass, 3.10 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * Neither the team of Nathan and Marjorie Gottsch nor the team of Nelson Anderson and David Dozier weighed any fish.

Overall, today's anglers weighed a total of 40 bass for a total weight of 92.48 lbs, The average weight was 2.31 lbs.

As part of today's presentation of money envelopes, anglers (from left) Skip Schaible and Rob Chatham received small plaques from the tournament director for their recent man overboards--the real deal, not drills. Fortunately, there were no injuries to either angler.




Congrats to all the winners and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next event is scheduled for next Saturday, April 30, from safe light (about 6:15) to 2:30 p.m. I hope you can join us.

It's that time of year when you often will get a bunch of strikes, but more times than not, the fish will come unbuttoned before you get a chance to touch them. Such was my lot today. I think I probably had a total of about 20 strikes on my topwater, with about 15 of them being hooked so poorly they got off long before I could bring them to the boat. With one leap, they would be gone.

I'm fairly certain I buried the hooks of my topwater in the jaws of a big ol' gar this afternoon, and he made very quick work of my 30-pound braid. In the next couple of minutes, he splashed the water silly, evidently trying to dislodge those hooks. I never went back and checked, though, so I don't know if he was successful or not.