Well, that does it. Our first ever tournament series is done!
Ten of us fished Norton Reservoir today. Great turnout! The weather was nice (for October). The day started calm and extremely foggy…and stayed that way for about three hours. When the fog cleared, I think all of us were surprised to find out where we actually were compared to where we thought we were! Ken Wood said he was about a half-mile off course. Haha.
The bite was tough if you were looking for bass. Only two limits were caught. Some of us found plenty of pickerel, though. Valber caught 14!
We paid out three spots, but Donald Davis was kind enough to donate a $25 Bass Pro Shops gift card, so that went to the 4th place angler, which was Chris Diranian. He had three fish for 43.75 inches.
Third place went to Michael Andreasen, who hauled in four bass that went 57.5 inches.
If we had an Angler of the Year category this year, Donald Davis would certainly take the crown. He’s won three regular tournaments, plus our night tournament. He placed second once, as well as third, and he took lunker four times!
Well, add another second place finish to that list! Don not only caught a limit, but he culled a few times. His five went 75.5 inches.
Hell of year, bud!
Ken Wood caught his fifth fish with about two hours left in the tournament—and then his phone died. He had about 67 inches at the time, which he thought might be good for second place. He contemplated heading back to the launch to charge the phone for a bit, but decided to keep fishing and see what happens. That was a good call, because shortly after he hooked up with a 20.75-inch swamp donkey that went 4.11lb.
Luckily Don was nearby and he was kind enough to let Ken borrow his phone to take a photo. (Deep down he probably kind of hates himself for it. Haha.) That fish bumped Ken up to 77.5 inches, good enough for 1st place and lunker!
And there you have it.
This was a great first year! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to one of our events! No drama, no fights, no egos. You’re all awesome!
As mentioned before, we still have more tournaments planned. If the weather cooperates, the next one will be on October 22. It’ll be a “zone” tournament, meaning that we’ll quarter the lake, and each angler will be restricted to one zone every two hours. It’ll be a random draw. If you start in section A, you’ll move to B after two hours. If you start in C, you’ll move to D, then A, then B, etc.
Major League Fishing does something similar. Should be a good time! We’ll probably run it mid-morning till late afternoon, like 10 AM till 6 PM. Something like that. We’ll nail down the details soon.
Anyway, thanks again, fellas! It’s been a great year!