Boot'Legg Chronicle
Boot'Legg Open Tournament Trail | Volume V | Aug 2004
Welcome to the Peninsula's Boot'Legg Open Tournament Trail
Where we cater towards the Weekend Angler!
-- All We Want To Do Is Just Fish, That's All --

"No Thrill at Waller Mill"


1st Place - Otis West of Newport News, Va.

This was a complete onslaught to a one way victory for Otis West. Invited by one of the Tournament Director's, Otis had some reservations about fishing the tournament, especially without a partner which is usually his son, Otis Jr. With a little encouragement, Otis mustered up enough confidence to compete against the rest of the field ALONE and with his knowledge of of the lake and talent for fishing, he was able to bring the field down to its knees. He was the only Angler that day to weigh in fish. Other anglers caught fish, but from what was caught and what Otis was able to present, there was no contest. Although Otis was only able to muster up for keeper fish, that is all he needed.

Otis was fishing the Upper end of the lake, where he found a cove were the shad were behind coralled in the shallow waters by the bass. Once there, he tied on a crankbait and started dredging the bottom of the cove and began pulling into his fish. He caught several fish, but was only able to manage 4 keepers in the area. Unfortunately, the weather started taking a turn and made Otis pull off of his fish and he started heading back to the docks due to the lightning in the area. But that is all the time he needed to secure his win for the day. He was able to catch other short fish during the day, but he never limited out. It didn't matter, it was all he needed to secure a win.

Other anglers were catching fish, mostly on plastics, but not enough to come up with any limits or weight. Otis beat the entire field so bad, that none of the other anglers weighed in their fish and conceded to defeat for that day. Good Job Otis!!!

 		August Events
There are a July/Aug Boot'Legg Event scheduled and several other area Club events. Check the schedule on the Boot'Legg Website for details.

Website Updates...
The website continues to keep updated in order to keep our Local Angler's informed of the latest area results.

As always, if there are any questions, comments or suggestions they should be forwarded to our Asst Director & Web Designer Neal Robinson at the following...

EMAIL:
BnBassin@cox.net

CELLPHONE:
(757) 870-5431  
 

Boot'Legg Trail
August 2004 - Beaver Dam Swamp Tournament
Scheduled for August 14th was the Little Creek Reservoir Tournament, but due to passing hurricane over the weekend it had to be postponed. Efforts were made to not only reschedule the tournament, but to reschedule the tournament on an entirely different lake. With the approval from the Beaver Dam Staff, we were able to make the change and schedule the event during the following weekend (August 21st, 2004).

This was our largest tournament for the Beaver Dam Trail this year. Although the fishing excitement was in the air, big weights were not expected. Catching fish wasn't the problem; catching larger fish was the bigger problem. Yet the biggest problem of the day had to be the afternoon storm that came up on the anglers so fast that there wasn't much time to do much of anything except take cover. Fortunately, all the anglers made it back to the weigh in safe.

Here are the Top 3 Places and Big Fish winner...


1st Place - Orece & Neal Robinson - 11.56lbs


2nd Place - Anthony Quintero & Mark - 10.06lbs


3rd Place - Quillie & Robert Countiss - 9.86lbs
Big Fish - 4.94lbs

Top 10 Peninsula's
Points Poll Rankings
Standings as of | August 2004

Sorted By Best 5 Finishes
RANK CAPT
NAME 		TOTAL
WEIGHT 		BIG
FISH 		TOTAL
PTS 		BEST 5
PTS
1. Gerald Gentry 95lbs 6oz 5lbs 0oz 1603 985
2. Jerry Jenkins 73lbs 5oz 4lbs 11oz 1409 983
3. Kevin Mills 75lbs 12oz 4lbs 0oz 1596 981
4. James West 67lbs 10oz 5lbs 0oz 1027 977
5. Sam North 140lbs 11oz 7lbs 4oz 2821 974
6. Jerry Patterson 71lbs 4oz 6lbs 12oz 1972 973
7. Neal Robinson 118lbs 14oz 6lbs 12oz 2194 972
7. Orece Robinson 89lbs 7oz 6lbs 12oz 2001 9972
9. Rex Shell 56lbs 14oz 3lbs 10oz 1773 971
10. Huck Palmatier 71lbs 8oz 7lbs 0oz 1971 970

Not much movement on the Top of the list here, since it is harder to get the better scores as the season comes near an end. The biggest movement has to be from James "Jimmy" West, who has moved up from out of nowhere into the Top 5. Orece "Hawg Gitta" Robinson and Jerry "Lunker Hunter" Patterson have recently jumped into the Top 10 as well. Other large tournaments are coming up, which will allow for some anglers to gain more points and try to move up in the Point Standings.

Gerald Gentry has reigned supreme so far at the Top of the Points Poll Standings and others will have to fish pretty hard in larger tournaments in order to unseat him. The OVERALL Points goes to Sam North (2,821); he also holds the No. 1 spot on the Weight Rankings (Best 5 Tournament Weights) as well and the most OVERALL weight. Of course, Sam has fished 17 Tournaments, which boost his opportunities to better his score.

Previously, most of the Top 10 Anglers were from the Bass Jons Club. This has changed within the last few weeks of fishing. However, they are all still well within the Top 20 Rankings. With the upcoming events, things can shift for the better for those anglers below the Top 20, especially with the season coming to a grind, folks will be jockeying for AOY positions for their respective Clubs and fishing hard to place well.

Because there are some issues with the Poll Rankings, I have decided to create a Weight Ranking as well. But that is for those that like the Weighted System, which isn't what I am going by. I am only using the Point System, but for those that wanted to see the Weighted System, it is available on the Boot'Legg Website. Understand also, the Poll Rankings have NOTHING to do with the Boot'Legg Trail. This is an effort to see how the Poll Ranking System would work around this area and to see how anglers like the idea. So far, so good, yet there are a few that dislike the idea.

Although I would like to Poll more anglers, I will have to limit what I Poll next year. Those limitations will have to be the actual LAKES being fished. If there are tournaments being held on the lakes that are to be selected (Tidewater Area), I will Poll them. Selecting Angler's fishing outside of the Tidewater Area (Kerr, Gaston, Chick, etc.,) where some of the smaller Jon Boats are unable to fish, it won't work out too well if there is to ever be a Tidewater Classic. I will still rank Clubs like Howmet, but ONLY when they fish the smaller lakes that have been chosen as far as being part of the Poll Ranking system. MORE TO COME...

Tournament Director & Sponsor: James Williams
Assistant Director & Web Designer: Neal Robinson
Assistant Director: Brian Hollis
Assistant Director: Gene North
Web Provider & Affiliate: Bass Jon's