Bass-Jons

The non-stop rain was the story at the September 17 Bass-Jons tournament at Lake Smith.  The Hampton Roads area had gotten a taste of fall with the cold front that came through on Thursday night/Friday morning, and forecasters called for "off-and-on" rain throughout the day on Saturday.  The problem is, they missed the "off" part.  The tournament kicked off with 15 boats, and it was not yet raining, but less than 15 minutes into the tournament, it started raining and never stopped.  Despite the miserable conditions, 14 of the 15 boats made it to the weigh-in, and out of the 14, everyone weighed at least one fish.  There were 8 boats with 5 fish limits, and anglers reported catching fish on just about everything, including plastics, jigs, senkos, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits.

The winning bag was brought in by Larry King and guest John Larock at 12 lbs 14 oz.  Their bag, which was anchored by a 4 lb 6 oz kicker, was caught on creature baits.  Second place went to Jim Carlson and Mike Taylor with 11 lbs 4 oz.  Their bag was caught on senkos.  Third went to Dan Griffin and Dave Evans with 10 lbs 14 oz.  They caught their fish on a mixed bag of baits, with their largest coming on crankbaits and spinnerbaits. The tournament big fish was caught by Victor and Aida Lopez at 4 lbs 14 oz.  They reported catching some fish on a chatterbait. 

The Angler of the Year Race has become very interesting with only two events remaining.  The two leaders, Mike Peregrine and Rick Burton faltered with below average finishes, while Luther Showaker made a move with a good finish.  Rick Burton was able to drop a 4-point tournament and replace it with 6 points, courtesy of his 10th place finish at Smith, so he takes over the lead by one point.  Mike Peregrine is close behind in second, as his 13th place finish did not garner any additional points.  Luther Showaker made the biggest move amongst the leaders on the strength of his 4th place finish at Smith.  He is now training the lead by only 2 points.  On the Co-Angler of the Year front, Dave Evans widened his lead over Aida Lopez with his 3rd place finish, while Mike Taylor all but locked up the Junior Angler of the Year with a 2nd place finish.

The next event is at Lake Prince on September 24th, immediately followed by the closing event of the 2011 regular season at the Northwest River on October 1st.  Note that Classic voting will begin on September 25th following the Lake Prince tournament, and will close on October 1st.  Voting will take place on the Intents board.