It wasn't the very best of days, but it wasn't a bust either.Tropical Depression Henry came and went and had little effect on the fishing. Other than a few rain showers, it was a pleasant day on the water. The cloud cover was appreciated.
Back in his familiar spot, Jeff took top honors with 13.66 pounds. Tony, who's also been very consistent this year, came in 2nd with 11.35 pounds. He once again edged out Bill by about 1/10 of a pound as BZ weighed in 11.24 pounds. Bill also had the day's 2 biggest bass at 3.30 and 3.41 pounds. Between the money he's earned from 2 big fish pots in a row and Rick's ATM donations, he will be buying a new trolling motor soon!
Jeff has finished in the top 3 in 7 of the 8 tournaments we've had this year! The only time he didn't, he finished 4th with almost 11 pounds. He's won 4 times, came in 2nd place once, and took 3rd twice. Incredible! Tony, who's finished in the top 3, 5 out of 8 times, has also demonstrated great consistency.
It's looking more and more like we will close out the year at Lake Okeechobee, except for the away tournament in November at Lake Placid. We are hoping to get some pre-fishing reports back from the gang so we can make good decisions about where to fish 3 of the last 4 tourneys.
Bill wants to give a special shout out to Bruce for his excellent net work. Usually we do this in jest as we poke fun at our UACO, or Urban Aquatic Containment Officer. But in this case he really saved my ass. My biggest fish broke free at the very last second, only to fall into Bruce's awaiting net and brought safely onto the boat! So I split the $50,000 check from my 3rd place finish with him and told him to put $100 for me on RED in roulette when he goes to Vegas soon!
Jeff brought up a good suggestion for a new rule to be considered by the Club. We have had a problem lately with boaters who have co-anglers assigned to them, not showing up and not calling to let us know. There is never a good reason for this. We all enjoy the communications glut of this 21st century. The whole club is a text message, email, or phone call away with the push of a button. Not letting us know you are not coming is a big problem! This really is true whether you have a partner or not. We need to know if you are ok before we take off.
As anyone who owns a boat knows, this creates a problem for everyone. Not only is it disrespectful to the non-boater, who now has to hook up with someone else, but as boaters we prep for each tourney based on if we are fishing alone or not. I'm sure non-boaters might prep differently too depending on who they might be fishing with. (As an example, if I was a non-boater, and I got paired with Robert, I knew we were going to be flipping thick cover tight to the boat, and I rigged accordingly.) Now I had no problem whatsoever taking Bruce on yesterday. I love fishing with Bruce, and I think he enjoys fishing with me. But because I thought I was fishing alone, I brought extra rods and an extra tackle box. This makes for a super tight squeeze for space, which impacts both anglers.
Jeff's suggestion is if you strand a non-boater for whatever reason, the very next month you MUST take on a co-angler, regardless of the outcome of Tony's random draw. I think it's a good suggestion and would like to see a discussion and vote on this soon!
