Only one signup sheet was more than sufficient to register the 13 anglers in seven boats who turned out for today's event. Don't know if we've just hit some kind of early summer doldrums, people perhaps are starting their vacations, and/or maybe they're losing a bit of interest as a result of some tough fishing conditions.
Despite the low turnout, the group overall weighed 29 bass for a combined total weight of 71.55 lbs., which translates into an average weight per fish of 2.46 lbs.
Winners at day's end were as follows:
Here is how everyone else finished today's competition:
* The team of Wayne Hayes and Ken Testorff, five fish, total weight 10.45 lbs., no big fish.
* The team of Dave Anderson and Gary Coderre, five fish, total weight 9.37 lbs., no big fish.
* The team of Craig Jones and Rob Chatham, three fish, total weight 8.38 lbs., big fish 5.56 lbs.
* Jim Crist, four fish, total weight 5.53 lbs., no big fish.
* The husband-wife team of Andy and Diana Morath, two fish, total weight 4.98 lbs., no big fish.
By virtue of having fished their seventh regular tournament of the current season today, two more anglers joined the group that has completed the requirements for fishing our Classic tournament. These two anglers are Wayne Hayes and Gabe Himmelwright.
Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. Our next event is scheduled for Saturday, July 9th. We'll shove off from the boat basin at safe light...likely about 5:30 or 5:45...with weigh-in at 2 p.m. Here's hoping you can join us.
'Twas one of those mornings when everyone had to deal with an abundance of fog when it came time to begin the tournament day. Some chose to try running in the "soup," but Wayne and I were among those who stayed put in West Neck Creek until it was safe to start running the North Landing River.
During today's weigh-in, I heard more than one comment that the foggy conditions had affected the game plans of some competitors. In the final analysis, though, all hands returned on time for the 2 p.m. weigh-in, and that, after all, is what's really important here. It's crazy to jeopardize people's lives, especially in tournaments like we fish, where the stakes are, for lack of a better way of putting it, nothing more than chicken feed.
I would imagine that most anglers have a story or two of their own that would exemplify nothing short of bad judgment when it came to decisions they may have made in the face of foggy conditions like we had this morning.
Even though it has been about 50 years, I still vividly recall a club tournament I once fished on the Chickahominy River. Our tournament director at the time, for whatever reason, had decided we would launch in the wee hours at one site and then run to another site that served breakfast. It truly was a miracle that we all made the trek to breakfast safely, thanks in no small part to the fact that we at least decided to band together for the fog-filled journey, rather than having the occupants of each boat try to get to the breakfast site on their own.
The return trip that afternoon to the launch site also wasn't without its own fair share of hazards...not from any fog, but for the fact we learned that the chosen launch site was a club's private ramp that we did not have permission to be using. Imagine our shock and concern when we returned to find the club members having a big booze party. Fortunately, they proved to be understanding and forgiving, and even extended an invitation for us to join their partying if we so desired. We simply thanked them for their hospitality and hurriedly trailered our boats for the return trip home before they had a chance to change their minds.
Current Overall Statistics
No comments:
Post a Comment