After our Aug. 11 tournament was cancelled because of low oxygen in all the local waterways, we returned to action today in a big way, as evidenced by the fact 24 anglers in 14 boats showed up for today's contest. When the weigh-in was complete, we had brought a total of 56 bass to the scales, weighing a grand total of 131.43 lbs., for an average weight of 2.34 lbs. per fish.
Winners today included the following:
1st Place, the team of (from left) Wayne Hayes and Al Napier. They weighed a five-fish limit that topped out at 19 lbs. even, anchored by a big fish weighing 4.57 lbs.
2nd Place, the team of (from left) Rob Peppers and Don Carter. They weighed a five-fish limit that went 15.16 lbs., including a big fish that weighed 4.49 lbs.
3rd Place, the team of (from left) Bob Glass and J. P. Twohig. They had a five-fish limit weighing 13.61 lbs., including a big fish that weighed 4.26 lbs.
4th Place, the team of (from left) Allen Napier and Chris Napier. They weighed a five-fish limit, which tipped the scales at 12.37 lbs. Their big fish weighed 4.78 lbs., which was good enough to capture the day's lunker pot.
Mystery-Weight Award, the husband-wife team of Andy and Diana Morath. Their five-fish limit total weight was 7.68 lbs., which was closest to the drawn weight of 6.50 lbs. They didn't weigh a big fish.
Here is how everyone else fared in the competition:
* The team of Dave Anderson and Ken Testorff, five-fish limit, 11.67 lbs. total weight, 3.04-lb. big fish.
* The team of Lenny Hall and Gary Coderre, five-fish limit, 10.69 lbs. total weight, 3.36-lb. big fish.
* The team of Steve Bailey and Bobby Moore, five-fish limit, 10.55 lbs. total weight, 2.95-lb. big fish.
* Jim Wilder, five-fish limit, 9.20 lbs. total weight, 4.43-lb. big fish.
* The team of Eddie Sapp and Stan Krason, five-fish limit, 9.16 lbs. total weight, 3.29-lb. big fish.
* Chris Fretard, four fish, 8.27 lbs. total weight, 4.51-lb. big fish.
* Jim Bauer, two fish, 4.07 lbs. total weight, 3.02-lb. big fish.
* Skip Schaible and the team of Rusty Girard and Josh Fenneman didn't weigh any fish.
Eddie Sapp joined 10 other anglers who now are qualified to fish our season-ending two-day Classic in October.
Congrats to all of the winners, and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next event is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 8, from safe light (about 6:30 a.m.) to weigh-in at 2:30. I hope you can join us.
West Neck Creek was teeming with bass boats this morning, thanks in no small part to our tournament, as well as (I understand it) two club events that launched from the Pungo Ferry ramp this morning. For a while, it nearly was impossible to find a length of shoreline not occupied by at least a couple other boats. As the morning wore on, however, anglers started heading to some of their favorite honey holes, and you easily could find lengthy stretches of unoccupied water.
My partner and I were among those anglers jockeying for positions. Early on, we had a topwater bite--primarily for the first couple of hours. Then, however, the topwater bite died, and for that matter, any bite whatsoever. We finally realized we just were thrashing the water above the bridge and decided to turn around and fish the other side of the bridge for a spell. The dry spell continued for a while, but we kept chunking and winding until we finally stumbled across another stretch of productive water.
When all was said and done, we had boated a combined total of 15 to 20 bass. If we could have located a kicker fish today, we likely would have finished in the money, but that's why it's called fishing. There are no guarantees you're going to catch that one bigger fish that turns your "OK" limit into a good one. We gave it the old college try and had a good time doing it. In the final analysis, I don't think we either one had any regrets.
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