When the air temperature and water temperature are running better than 90 degrees under a clear sky, as they were today, the smart fisherman will take comfort in any little relief he/she can obtain. Today, that comfort came in the form of a nice cool breeze.
Don't think there was a single soul among the 10 anglers in six boats who didn't appreciate the "breeze in the trees" today. And the fish cooperated, which is always nice. As a matter of fact, all the boats weighed limits at the end of the day. The combined totals were 30 bass, for 69.16 lbs., which translates into an average weight per fish of 2.30 lbs. and an average weight per boat of 11.52 lbs.
Those anglers who took home a little extra spending money today included the following:
Here is how everyone else finished the day's competition:
* The team of Wayne Hayes and Ken Testorff, 11.01 lbs. total weight, with a big bass weighing 4.48 lbs.
* The team of Dave Anderson and Gary Coderre, 10.35 lbs. total weight, with a big bass weighing 2.97 lbs.
* Mark Ingram, 10.30 lbs. total weight (after a 0.50 deduction for one dead fish), with a big bass weighing 4.30 lbs.
* Bob Clarkson, 8.82 lbs. total weight (after a 0.50 deduction for one dead fish), with a big bass weighing 3.09 lbs.
Two more anglers, in the person of Diana Morath and Gary Coderre, completed their requirements for fishing our season-ending Classic tournament. That brings the overall total number to 13 contestants. For the benefit of those who haven't yet completed their requirements, please know there only are five more qualifying tournaments remaining this year, so plan accordingly.
Congratulations to all the winners today, and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next scheduled tournament is next Sunday, July 25, from safe light (about 5:45), with weigh-in at 2 p.m. Hope you can join us.
Over the years, I've often made the mistake of leaving fish to find fish and paid for it by striking out. Thankfully, that didn't happen today.
My partner and I started the day with a pretty good topwater bite. Unfortunately, though, we lost several of the fish that we hooked up with before getting them to the boat. We knew that at least three of those fish were bigger keepers by virtue of feeling them or seeing them break water enroute to the boat.
After some discussion, my partner and I decided to ignore the urge to run and instead just to stay put. It stood to reason those fish...and others like them...were still in the area. Our challenge was to find them and draw them out of hiding.
That challenge proved difficult for a long spell, until my partner came up with an idea that started turning things around, one fish at a time, as we made pass after pass through the same area where we had drawn a strong topwater bite.
Granted, we finished out of the money today, but we both felt satisfied that we had made the right decision to ignore that urge to run and just keep hammering the same earlier productive stretch of shoreline.
Neither one of us had any regrets at weigh-in.
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