It Threatened Rain All Day, But Only a Couple Light Sprinkles Fell

At launch time this morning, I and a number of other anglers would have bet we all probably were going to get wet before the day was over, but fortunately, the weather gods smiled on us today and allowed us to get the tournament in without any deluges like we had a couple weeks ago. For that, the 23 anglers in 12 boats indeed were grateful. At day's end, these competitors had weighed a total of 54 bass, for a combined total weight of 123.19 lbs. Using those numbers, the average weight per fish was 2.28 lbs., and the average weight per boat (of those 11 boats that weighed in) was 11.19 lbs.

Here are the anglers who excelled today and, in the final analysis, took home pay envelopes:

1st Place, the brothers team of (from left) Allen and Chris Napier, five fish, 15.61 lbs. total weight, with a 4.57-lb. big bass.

2nd Place, Mark Ingram, five fish, 15.07 lbs. total weight, with a 4.39-lb. big bass.

3rd Place, the team of (from left) Gabe Himmelwright and Fred Crawford, five fish, 13.60 lbs. total weight, with a 4.11-lb. big bass.

4th Place, the husband-wife team of (from left) Andy and Diana Morath, five fish, 13.31 lbs. total weight, with a 4.61-lb. big bass.

Lunker Prize, the team of Gary Coderre and (not pictured) Dave Anderson, 5.84-lb. big bass, with five fish, 11.84 lbs. total weight after 1.00 deduction for two dead fish.

Here is how everyone else finished the day:

     * The team of Bobby Moore and J. P. Twohig, five fish, 12.04 lbs. total weight after 0.50 deduction for one dead fish, with a 3.78-lb. big bass.
     * The team of Rob Peppers and Mike McCluskey, five fish, 10.62 lbs. total weight after 0.50 deduction for one dead fish, with a 3.70-lb. big bass.
     * The team of Richard Hall and Dave Dozier, five fish, 10.33 lbs. total weight, with a 2.64-lb. big bass.
     * The team of Wayne Hayes and Ken Testorff, five fish, 9.57 lbs. total weight, no big bass.
     * The team of Keith Klotz and Aaron Leigh, five fish, 6.93 lbs. total weight, no big bass.
     * The team of Rob Chatham and Craig Jones, four fish, 4.27 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Steve Bailey and Dennis Dean didn't weigh any fish.

No more contestants became eligible to participate in our season-ending two-day Classic tournament in October.

Congratulations to all the winners today and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next event is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 4, from safe light to a time to be determined by the tournament director and announced prior to the start of that event.

One Last Cast

Tossed a worm up beside one of my favorite laydowns today, felt a tick in the line, gathered up the slack, then watched my line start moving steadily away. When I decided it was time to set the hook, I felt nothing but slack in the line.

Split seconds later, though, as I was straightening the line from where it had wrapped around my rod tip on the hookset, I felt pressure on the rod and realized the reason why I thought I had missed the fish. Simply stated, the fish apparently had been running directly at the boat on the hookset.

As soon as I had unwound all the line from the end of my rod, I tried to remedy my blunder, but by this time, the fish had had all he/she wanted, spit the worm, and left me scratching my head and staring at the swirl he had left behind.