That was the feeling I got from firsthand conversations I was a part of today, as well as some I heard about while the 22 anglers in 14 boats were weighing in their catch this afternoon. The final overall tally was 43 bass caught, for a total weight of 91.72 lbs. and an average weight of 2.13 lbs. per fish.
Anglers who walked away with a pay envelope included the following:
(From left) Bob Glass and Randy Conkle, 1st place, five bass, 12.95 lbs. total weight, 3.90-lb. big fish.
(From left) Mike Miller and Chris Fretard, 2nd place, five bass, 12.40 lbs. total weight. Chris also claimed the day's lunker pot with a 4.09-lb. fish.
(From left) Duane Kessel and Bobby Moore, 3rd place, five bass, 12.19 lbs. total weight, 3.10-lb. big fish.
(From left) Rob Peppers and Dave Anderson, 4th place, five bass, 11.90 lbs. total weight, 3.66-lb. big fish.
Mystery-weight winner was Steve Bailey, who had a three-fish total weight of 5.55 lbs., which was closest to the drawn weight of 6.00 lbs. He didn't have a big fish.
Here is how the rest of the field finished the competition:
* Al Napier, five bass, 9.86 lbs. total weight (after a 0.25 lb. deduction for one dead fish), no big fish.
* The team of Mike Speedy and Stephen Hardwick, four bass, 9.19 lbs. total weight, 3.67-lb. big fish.
* Lenny Hall, four bass, 7.50 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
* The team of Zack Rhodes and Austin Taylor, five bass, 7.16 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
* The team of Mitch Portervint and Skip Schaible, two bass, 3.02 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
* The team of Rob Chatham and Ken Testorff disqualified themselves for Ken having started the gas motor on one occasion before donning his lifejacket.
* The following anglers did not weigh any fish: Wayne Hayes, Andy Morath, and Jim Bauer.
The first and only angler to date to qualify for our season-ending two-day Classic is Skip Schaible, who has fished all seven contests so far. Several other anglers, however, are poised to join him on the eligibility list with the next tournament they fish.
Congratulations to all of today's winners and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next scheduled event is next Saturday, June 17, from safe light to 2 p.m. I hope you can join us.
You need to understand I frequently launch casts that end up in weeds, stumps and what-have-you, then have to claw my way to the lure to save it for another occasion. Today was no exception to my propensity to make errant casts (there were about 12 of them, according to my partner). However, I only had to go get my lure one time all day, and that happened very close to the end of the day when the warm weather and eight hours of fishing time were starting to tell on me.
The rest of the day, I was amazing myself with a hitherto nonexistent uncanny ability to retrieve lures from a long distance. On one occasion, I managed to unwrap a lure that had taken three turns around a limb on a downed tree along the shoreline. On a couple other occasions, limbs simply broke off, allowing me to effortlessly retrieve everything. On yet another occasion, a lure unwrapped one turn from the limb of an upright tree, then caromed off the base of the tree and landed in the adjacent water, whereupon I simply began a normal retrieve.
Not everything about the day, though, could be framed in such a positive light. After all, there was the matter of that one occasion when I absent-mindedly started the gas motor before I had donned and fastened my lifejacket. While the tournament duo in one boat who witnessed my infraction of the rules declined to file a complaint, I was not prepared to accept their willingness to turn a blind eye and voluntarily disqualified my partner and myself for the day.
And then came the moment when Rob and I were getting ready to head for the basin for weigh-in, only to be flagged down by a young couple whose jet ski wouldn't start. They asked for a tow to the ramp area, which, of course, we honored.
Here's hoping I see a return to normalcy the next time I'm on the water.
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