What a Difference 24 Hours Make

Unlike yesterday, nary a drop of rain fell on our 22 anglers in 14 boats today. They collectively caught a total of 65 bass, with a combined weight of 123.79 lbs. The average weight per fish was 1.90 lbs., and the average weight per boat was 8.84 lbs.

Those claiming a pay envelope at the end of the day included the following:

1st Place, Mark Ingram, five fish, 11.42 lbs. total weight, and a 4.14-lb. big bass.

2nd Place, the team of (from left) Steve Bailey and Dennis Dean, five fish, 11.18 lbs. total weight, and a 2.97-lb. big bass.

3rd Place, the team of (from left) Mike McClusky and Rob Peppers, five fish, 10.53 lbs. total weight, and a 2.79-lb. big bass.

4th Place, Wayne Hayes, five fish, 10.45 lbs. total weight, and a 3.28-lb. big bass.

Here's how everyone else finished today:

     * The team of Allen Napier and Chris Napier, five fish, 10.07 lbs. total weight, and a 2.75-lb. big bass.     

     * The team of (from left) Rusty Girard and James Calhoun, four fish, 9.29 lbs. total weight, and a 4.42-lb. big bass, which earned them the day's lunker award.

     * Eddie Sapp, five fish, 9.15 lbs. total weight, and a 3.44-lb. big bass.

     * The team of Fred Crawford and Gabe Himmelwright, five fish, 8.43 lbs. total weight, and a 3.18-lb. big bass.

     * Chris Fretard, three fish, 8.40 lbs. total weight, and a 3.32-lb. big bass.

     * The team of Gary Coderre and Dave Anderson, five fish, 7.91 lbs. total weight, and a 1.81-lb. big bass.

     * The team of David Dozier and Richard Hall, five fish, 7.42 lbs. total weight, and a 2.66-lb. big bass.

     * Ken Testorff, five fish, 7.10 lbs. total weight, and a 2.59-lb. big bass.

     * Jim Crist, three fish, 6.27 lbs. total weight, and a 3.24-lb. big bass.

     * The husband-wife team of Andy and Diana Morath, five fish, 6.17 lbs. total weight, and a 1.73-lb. big bass.

As announced by the tournament director today, a total of 25 anglers qualified this year for the annual two-day Classic, scheduled to be held Oct. 10th and 11th. Thanks to everyone who has participated and helped make another season of tournaments a success. Hope you'll make plans to return again in 2021.

One Last Cast

It doesn't seem possible another year's worth of tournaments could be over. The season never seems very long, but given that the coronavirus pandemic forced cancellation of four events this year, it seems only yesterday that we restarted our season.

With the cooling temperatures, reckon it's time to break out those old-faithful jerkbaits and get 'em ready to use this fall and winter. Just hope the weather cooperates with some sunny days and temps that don't stir up all those ol' folks aches and pains.

Certainly hope these two tournaments in the past two days serve to get me ready for our Classic in a couple of weeks. I navigated these past two days on 4.5 hours' sleep each night and gotta say I was surprised at how alert I felt when the alarm went off this morning. I experienced a bit of a yawning period along about mid-morning, but other than that had no problem whatsoever lasting until weigh-in.