Hit the Road Jack and Don't You Come Back No More...No More...No More...No More

In case you can't figure out for yourself what I'm talking about here, that's our collective message to this pain-in-the-butt period known as the fall transition. It can't get out of town fast enough. That's my opinion, but I'm not alone. There are a lot of other anglers who share the same thought, especially after today's weigh-in.

Out of seven boats, we had three that didn't weigh a single fish. Now, in all fairness, I will admit that I think all three of those boats had at least one fish in the livewell, but the anglers opted not to weigh their catch. However, that fact still doesn't help the tallies of the four other boats that did weigh in. Together, they weighed a total of 14 fish, for a total weight of 23.58 lbs., or an average weight per fish of 1.68 lbs.

To give you some perspective, those numbers are on par with what we routinely were weighing back in 2010, when I started keeping records of our tournaments. I know, because I just checked those records.

In any event, here are  today's short line-up of winners:

Claiming 1st place, with five fish (the only limit in the bunch), was the husband-wife team of Andy and Diana Morath, who weighed 11.43 lbs. They also walked away with the big-fish prize, which tipped the scales at 4.10 lbs. They further won the day's only side pot.

In 2nd place was the team of (from left) Rob Peppers and Don Carter, who had three fish, weighing a total of 4.90 lbs. Their big fish came in at 2.86 lbs.













The last two boats to weigh any fish consisted of the team of Fisher Bryan and Gabe Himmelwright, who weighed three fish, for a total weight of 4.26 lbs., and the team of Gary Coderre and Dave Anderson, who also weighed three fish for a total weight of 2.99 lbs.

Those who didn't weigh-in included the teams of Allen and Chris Napier, Bobby Moore and J. P. Twohig, and Wayne Hayes and Ken T.

With only one regular tournament left this season, it's noteworthy to mention that the race for Angler of the Year tightened considerably today. Going into this event, Rob Peppers held a 14-point lead, with 156.10, and Andy Morath with 142.54. After today, though, Rob's lead shrunk to 7.3 points, with a total of 161 even, compared to Andy's 153.97.

As a result, next Saturday, Oct. 1, promises to be somewhat of a nail-biter, unless Tropical Storm Ian finds a way to prevent us from holding our final tournament of the season. Here's hoping the storm lets us have a jim-dandy finish.

Finally, let me congratulate today's winners and thank those anglers who showed up this morning.

One Last Cast

While big bass generally have been in short supply this past month plus, that's not to say the same is true of other species. For example, take this big catfish Andy Morath caught during today's competition. He estimated the fish at about 25 pounds.

In checking the Internet, I learned that the official size for a citation channel cat in Virginia is 12-0.

Meanwhile, there are two state records on file. The first is a 32-lb. channel cat caught 04-28-1980 on Lake Chesdin by Hugh Wyatt. The second is a 31-8 channel cat caught 10-2-1992 on the Rappahannock River by Sue Stanley. The difference is that the first one was caught before the state started using the new State Record Fish Rules adopted in 1985.

Current Overall Statistics