They Won the Tournament, But There's More...

That's right. Eric Killian and Jim Crist (l-r) won yesterday's Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney out of Pungo Ferry, but they also pulled off a couple other feats en route to that victory. Bringing that bag of five bass to the scales, weighing 21.53 lbs., with a kicker fish checking in at 7.68 lbs., they established a couple of new highs for this tourney series.

Until yesterday, the best five-bag limit of bass in a single day belonged to the team of Mike Evans and Jeff Garnes, who, back on April 23, 2013, weighed 20.47 lbs. of fish, anchored by a bass that tipped the scales at 5.70. And the all-time top seasonal-lunker award winner dates back to March 22, 2014, when Ronnie McLaughlin weighed a 7.15-lb. bass.

If yesterday's numbers for Eric and Jim hold up as the best all season, a couple of things will happen. For openers, they each will go home on Day 2 of our 2018 Classic with the first-ever Duane Kessel Memorial Award for Best Single-Day Total Weight. The newly designed plaque, honoring this accomplishment, pays tribute to our late good fishin' buddy who left us unexpectedly this past winter.

In addition, the accompanying photo will become part of the sidebar on the homepage of my blog (West Neck Creek Ramblings), along with a permanent posting of their to-date record-setting numbers for total weight and big fish.

Well Done! on yesterday's victory, fellas. Wish I could tell you to just sit back and enjoy, but the truth is, as I'm sure you already know, everyone will be doing their best now to top your accomplishments.