Anglers in 2 Boats Take Home All the Marbles Today

And that's the way it was this 27th day of August 2022, as 14 anglers in eight boats gathered at West Neck Creek Marina to test their bass-tournament skills against one another. At day's end, competitors in only six of the boats weighed fish. Their cumulative total was 27 bass, including five limits, for a total weight of 62.29 lbs., or an average weight per fish of 2.30 lbs.

Occupying 1st place was solo angler Jim Calhoun, with a total weight of 15.31 lbs., anchored by a 6.02-lb. bass, which earned him additional bragging rights for big fish. He also claimed prize money from the 1st side pot.

Finishing in 2nd place was the team of (from left) Don Carter and Rob Peppers, who weighed a 14.52-lb. bag, including a 4.27-lb. big fish. They also snagged the 2nd side pot.

Following is how everyone else ended the day:
     * Chris Napier, five fish, total weight 10.87 lbs., 3.32-lb. big bass.
     * The husband-wife team of Andy and Diana Morath, five fish, total weight 10.09 lbs., no big fish.
     * The team of Gary Coderre and Dave Anderson, five fish, total weight 7.90 lbs., no big fish.
     * The team of Craig Jones and Rob Chatham, two fish, total weight 3.60 lbs., 1.96-lb. big fish.
     * The teams of Steve Bailey/Dennis Dean and Wayne Hayes/Ken Testorff had some fish but elected to dump them before weigh-in.

Another angler, in the person of Don Carter, joined the list of other anglers who now have qualified to fish our season-ending two-day Classic tournament scheduled to be held Oct. 15th and 16th.

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to everyone who turned out today to fish. For planning purposes, our next qualifier tournament is slated for Saturday, Sept. 10th, from safe light (about 6:15 a.m.) to weigh-in at 2:30 p.m. We hope you can join us.

One Last Cast

For a change, I didn't go chasing many what Wayne refers to as "tree monkeys" today. In case you've forgotten the story from an earlier blog post, that's the term he has coined for my typically many errant casts that occur throughout any given day on the water...specifically, ones that land in trees. As a matter of fact, I only had two of these all day long. More importantly, Wayne didn't have to help me retrieve my lure on a single occasion--a first, I do believe, since I started fishing regularly with him last year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my casts today always went where I wanted them to go. I simply never hung my lure up so badly that I had to rely on Wayne to stop his fishing just to help me out. I'm also not saying that I'll be able to continue this trend. All I'm really saying is that, for this one day, you might say "I did good..." a miracle of sorts, for certain.

On a different note, I today also learned that I'm not the only victim of an overheating alarm on a fairly recent rebuilt motor...by the same mechanic no less (and No! I'm not talking about my partner, Wayne!). Don't know how my fellow fisherman is taking his problem, but I'm less than happy about my situation. Unfortunately, the overheating alarm isn't my only difficulty. I'm once again also having surge problems with the outboard.

Plans are in the works for Wayne to take a look at my motor this next week and see if he can resolve my issues. He often jokes about my having him on speed dial, but we both know there is more truth than fiction in that statement. I can't begin to tell you how many times over the years he has bailed me out of a jam. I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you how nice it is to have a friend like him.

Current Overall Statistics