How Many Ways Can I Say, "It Was a Tough Fishing Day"?

But the important thing to take note of here is that, for the very first time ever in its recorded history, we had a "grand marshal" leading our 32 anglers in 18 boats out the starting blocks for today's Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney. And a fine grand marshal Skip Schaible (on front of boat at right) doth make, wouldn't you say? I can't attest to its authenticity, but I also heard a rumor being circulated that part of the reason for Skip's umbrella today was that he was testing an all new formula of skin moisturizer for Olay--or more precisely, Oil of Olay, as Skip reminded me.

All kidding aside, we had no grand marshal, and Skip only used the umbrella to get a little relief from the incessant sun that beat down on us all day long. Truth be known, I might even have envied his ingenuity to a certain degree. However, I have no intentions of running out and getting one of my own. I'll just "borrow" Skip's when he isn't looking--again, I'm only kidding. That's not the way I treat any of my friends.

Getting down to the heart of the matter, here are those individuals and teams who "earned" (and I can't stress that word sufficiently) their way to a pay envelope in today's competition:

Claiming 1st Place was this team of (from left) Jared Allbritten and Chris Napier. Their limit of five bass weighed a total of 10.17 lbs. They had no big fish.

Walking away with 2nd Place was this team of (from left) Rob Peppers and Dave Anderson. Their limit of five bass weighed a total of 9.13 lbs., buoyed by a big fish that tipped the scales at 3.16 lbs.

Taking 3rd Place was the team of Paul Celentano and Hal Scott (not pictured). Their limit of five bass weighed 8.47 lbs., anchored by a big fish that tipped the scales at 2.55 lbs.

Finishing in 4th Place was this team of (from left) Eddie Sapp and Al Napier. Their limit of five bass weighed 7.57 lbs. They had no big fish.

Coming home in 5th Place was the team of Duane Kessel and Bobby Moore (not pictured). Their four bass weighed a total of 7.47 lbs., with a big fish that tipped the scales at 2.61 lbs. Incidentally, I erroneously reported in an Aug. 22nd blog post that Duane recently had caught a 7-lb. bass. As I learned today, however, the 22-inch citation-size bass actually only weighed 6-2, which still is a nice catch.

Capturing today's Lunker Award was Gary Coderre, who weighed a 3.32-lb. bass. Gary also is the current leader in the 2016 Angler of the Year competition. He and his partner, Nathan Gottsch, finished the day with a three-bass total weight of 5.80 lbs.

Rounding out today's winners was this team of (from left) Wayne Hayes and Sean Vitovich, who claimed the Mystery Weight Award with five bass weighing a total of 7.32 lbs. They had no big fish. Their total weight was closest to the drawn weight of 7.80, discounting the weight of the 4th-place team. FYI: Our rules state that a place winner cannot also be the mystery-weight winner.


Here is how all the other contestants finished the day:

     * The team of Mitch Portervint and Skip Schaible, five bass, 6.50 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Randy Conkle and Bob Glass, five bass, 5.87 lbs. total weight after 0.25 deduction for one dead fish, no big fish.
     * Jim Bauer, three bass, 5.49 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * David Dozier, four bass, 5.28 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Jonathan Glasscock and JD Glasscock, two bass, 4.22 lbs. total weight, 3.07-lb. big fish.
     * The team of Jim Sumrell and Cathy Brandt, three bass, 4.21 lbs. total weight after 0.25 deduction for one dead fish, no big fish.
     * Ronnie McLaughlin, two bass, 3.27 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Darryl Dunn and Jim Wilder, one bass, 1.57 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Rob Chatham and Ken Testorff, one bass, 1.39 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * Steve Bailey and the team of Mike Miller and Chris Fretard did not weigh any fish.

Overall, today's anglers weighed a total of 58 bass for a total weight of 93.73 lbs. The average weight was 1.61 lbs.

Four more anglers became eligible to fish our season-ending two-day Classic.

Congratulations to all of today's winners, and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next scheduled event is Saturday, Sept. 10th, from safe light (about 6:15 or 6:20) to weigh-in at 2:30 p.m. I hope you can join us.

It was refreshing to see so many anglers turn out for today's contest. I have to believe that, somewhere, ol' Dewey was smiling down on us. He always got excited anytime we had such a big participation.

A quick check of my records back to 2013 revealed that, while we, on occasion, have had a few more boats participating in our tourneys, I could not find a single instance when we had 32 anglers on hand. I applaud everyone who helped us achieve this new benchmark. Good on ya!

Having heard outboards running hither and yon throughout the tourney's eight hours, I suspected a lot of folks were experiencing much the same kind of day my partner and I were having. Accordingly, I wasn't surprised at the final numbers we put up. The hope of all, of course, is that, as the temperatures start cooling, we will see an improved bite. It's just not that much fun to step outside in the wee hours and immediately get smacked with humidity like what we had this morning--so thick you nearly could slice it with a knife. Nevertheless, we persevere.