Oh Say Can You See by the Dawn's Early Light?

Not very well when the fog is as thick as it was this morning. Nevertheless, the 17 anglers in 11 boats were not deterred from their challenge to see who the best and luckiest ones were in today's tourney. At the end of the day, the anglers weighed a total of 35 bass, for a total weight of 61.63 lbs. and an average weight of 1.76 lbs. per fish.

Pay envelopes were distributed to the following competitors:

Rob Peppers took 1st place with a five-fish total weight of 12.64 lbs. His big fish weighed 3.22 lbs.

Jim Wilder claimed 2nd place with a five-fish total weight of 9.47 lbs. His big fish weighed 2.72 lbs.

(From left) Randy Conkle and Bob Glass walked away with 3rd place. They had a five-fish total weight of 9.34 lbs. Their big fish was a 5.32-pounder, which Bob caught to take lunker honors today.

(From left) Al Napier and Wayne Hayes had the luck of the draw on their side today, winning the mystery-weight award with a total weight of 5.10 lbs. The tab drawn was 4.90 lbs. Their big fish weighed 2.43 lbs.





Here are the totals for all the other competitors:

     * Bobby Moore and Duane Kessel had a five-fish total weight of 8.78 lbs. Their big fish weighed 2.65 lbs.
     * Andy Morath and Zach Bubier had a four-fish total weight of 6.29 lbs. Their big fish weighed 2.82 lbs.
     * Lenny Hall and Gary Coderre had a five-fish total weight of 6.17 lbs. Their big fish weighed 1.94 lbs.
     * Skip Schaible had a three-fish total weight of 3.84 lbs. His big fish weighed 1.59 lbs.
     * Ken Testorff, David Davenport, and the team of Chris Fretard and Mike Miller didn't weigh any fish.

Two more anglers became eligible to participate in our season-ending two-day Classic. The total number now qualified is 18.

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to everyone who participated today. For planning purposes, our next scheduled event is next Saturday, Sept. 23, from safe light to 3 p.m. Look forward to seeing you.

The general consensus of everyone was that fishing today was tough. On more than one occasion, as boats with anglers showed up in the boat basin for weigh-in, I heard some jokingly remark, "Hold the weigh-in sack. All I need is a Ziplock bag."

For several days now, I've been hearing people say they are having a hard time finding fish. Some seem to feel the fish have been spooked with recent extremes in the water level. I'm not sure what the problem is, but it's hitting anglers of various skill levels. Whatever is wrong, I just hope it sorts itself out--sooner, rather than later.

In anticipation of another tough day on the water, I decided to break out my flippin' stick, which has been put away for ages. I figured that surely I could find a few fish with it. My lump sum total, though, was one dink. I finally did locate one keeper-sized bass with a spinnerbait but never was able to catch another one to go with it. Accordingly, I released that one keeper an hour before quitting time and called it a day.

Considering that my arms and shoulders aren't giving me near as much grief tonight as usual, I very likely will keep using that ol' flippin' stick for a spell. I like this good feeling.

Here are the revised standings for the ever-changing chase for Angler of the Year bragging rights:

(From left) Bobby Moore has 133.61 total lbs., Duane Kessel has 131.24 total lbs., Rob Peppers has 126.74 total lbs., Bob Glass and Randy Conkle have 126.14 total lbs., and Al Napier has 124.79 total lbs.