With the yo-yo water level we had all this past week, a clearcut decision about where to launch today's event from couldn't be reached until yesterday. And, fortunately, the nine boats with 17 participants were able to go out of our traditional site...West Neck Creek Marina. As a result, one-half of the new ownership husband-wife team of Jimmy and Bethany Vaughan was able to be on hand to greet everyone before we left the boat basin this morning.
As Jimmy would learn, the tournament results revealed a total of 35 bass were brought to the scales, for a total weight of 91.87 lbs., which translates into an average weight per fish of 2.62 lbs. Those anglers who went home with pay envelopes...in some cases, multiple envelopes...included the following:
Here is how the rest of the field finished in today's competition:
* The husband-wife team of Andy and Diana Morath, 13.80 lbs. total weight, and a 4.15-lb. big fish.* Ken Mathias, 12.87 lbs. total weight, and a 3.94-lb. big fish.
* The team of Wayne Hayes and Ken Testorff, 8.79 lbs. total weight, and no big fish.
* The team of Dave Anderson and Gary Coderre, 8.36 lbs. total weight, and a 2.11-lb. big fish.
* The team of Craig Jones and Rob Chatham and the brothers-team of Allen and Chris Napier didn't weigh any fish.
Congratulations to all of today's winners, and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next scheduled event is next Saturday, May 7th, starting at safe light or about 6 o'clock, with weigh-in at 2 p.m.
Welcome Aboard! to the new owners, too. Looking forward to a long and satisfying relationship. We appreciate your allowing us to continue enjoying our favorite sport in the "playground" we've all gotten so used to over the years.
As anglers approached the West Neck Creek Bridge in the wee hours this morning, en route to the marina, we all were met with a dense fog bank. It was nearly thick enough to cut with the proverbial knife.
Luckily, though, by the time 6 o'clock rolled around...our start time...the fog surprisingly had rolled out, and everything was able to happen right on cue from the tournament director, Wayne Hayes.
I don't know many anglers who welcome a foggy start to a day's bass tournament. Personally speaking, I've never liked it. In my early days of bass fishing, I used to just try to navigate very slowly and, even then, more times than not, ultimately would find that I had dramatically missed the mark, or simply had gone in circles.
Then, a few years ago, I recall having tried to navigate the North Landing River one tournament morning during densely foggy conditions and incurring, along with my partner at the time, Rob C., one of the eeriest sensations I've ever experienced. We just had turned south out of West Neck Creek that particular morning, when what should we encounter but a tug pushing a giant barge directly at us.
Having once been employed by the Naval Safety Center, I had a lasting deep appreciation for the many mishap reports investigators had to write about foolish people who did foolish things. I certainly never relished the idea of a mishap report having to be done on yours truly. Accordingly, my friend and I did a hasty retreat to West Neck Creek that morning and stayed put until safe passage was possible.
The only other time I ever experienced a similar fog-shrouded disaster was while, as a young Navy seaman, returning to port in Norfolk, VA, from a cruise aboard my first Navy ship, a destroyer. I was standing at quarters on the fantail, along with other divisional shipmates, when our ship's bridge watch suddenly sounded the "emergency backdown" alarm. We subsequently were left scrambling for something solid to grab onto. And then, once we had a chance to look up and see the faint outline of an aircraft carrier so close to our tiny "tincan," let's just say it more or less took our breath away.
The smart man knows that fog is nothing to be taken lightly, and even with a tournament at stake, you're far better off in the long run just waiting for the fog to lift before you try to navigate anywhere.
Current Overall Statistics
(click anywhere on this chart for a full-size model)
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