I was the 8th boat to take off this morning, and with a 25 mph speed limit on Irondequoit Bay, I followed another contestant all the way to the area I like to start in. I was able to pull in about 150 feet away and put 3 quick fish in the boat. At this point I thought I might be crowding the other fella, so I zipped to the other side of the bay, and caught a few keepers there. After awhile, I returned to the first spot to fish exactly where I wanted to in the first place (the other guy moved on) and immediately put a 3.85 in the boat. This helped a bunch..and only if I could've started there ( )

About 10:00 I put a nice 2 pound cull fish in the boat. When fishing alone, I utilize both livewells to give the fish as much room as possible. I put that 2 pounder in the passenger side livewell where I kept the biggest and the smallest. The smallest went overboard, and the 2 pounder went in. I decided to check the other three on the drivers side livewell. I open it up....one little fishy....two little fishy....thr...wait a second, WHERE'S THREE LITTLE FISHY!!!!!!! Oh no, I have culled a few times already and I don't have 5 in the boat!!!!! I must say, at that point I felt little a complete and total ASS, and the bite wasn't getting any easier.

About 10 minutes later I put a 11 1/2 incher in the boat. Nope, not gonna do it. Another 10 minutes and a 12 1/16 incher came in. I felt better, but the ones I released were still slightly larger. I did manage to cull a few more times later, and made good on my very VERY bad error. Gee wiz anyway!

As you can see, weights are not all that far apart and it is still anyones game at this point. Forecast is for very gusty t-storms tonight with sustained winds 10-20 with gusts over 35 straight out of the west. Similar weather tomorrow as well. Should be interesting to see what this does to everyone's pattern. And the boat numbers are in reverse tomorrow, so I should get to my spot first

Three classic's ago, we were at Irondequoit Bay as well. I was leading with 12.85 pounds after day one, and caught about 35 keepers that day. The next day, I caught 4 keepers all day and I dropped to fourth overall. I had my 5th fish on once, and lost it. That fish would have been good enough for 2nd place. Things can turn in a hurry!!!

I would like to thank the Irondequoit Bay Fish and Wildlife Club for the use of their private launch this weekend. They have a great facility there, and the hospitality is VERY appreciated!! If anyone is familar with the public ramp at the north end, you can relate to the terror (oh, the terror!) on a busy weekend.

Getting ready for round 2!

Day 2, I knew I had my choice of starting area today, as I was boat 2. I pulled into the stretch, and boated 3 relatively quick fish, then it slowed, it really slowed. I managed to get 2 more small keepers before leaving though.

I had to begin a "run and gun" approach to every area I knew of on the bay. It seemed like whenever I pulled into an area, I'd catch a decent fish, then it would stop, until I ran somewhere else. If that's the way it had to be, so be it!

The second area I fished was a very small area with good shoreline cover, and a few old pilings in the water. A fella was sitting in a lawnchair on the bank when I pulled in. We immediately struck up a conversation, and he told me how he grew up on the bay. He said his kids caught a few good bass the day before right where I was fishing. He then started to point out bass in the water, along the breakwall. I kinda ignored him, as I knew it is not good practice to take outside information during a tournament. Then he said "There's a good one there!". I then decided I was not asking for the info, he was just blurting it out, I have no control over that. As I am no fool, I casted the small crankbait I was using right against the bank where the good one was supposed to be. Two cranks of the handle, and I had a nice fiesty 2 1/4 pounder on. In the well it went, and out went the smallest. And yes, I DID have 5 in the well

The rest of the day went like that (not guys pointing out fish though LOL!) but I would catch one here, catch one there, but no real quality I needed for serious upgrading.

About noon I got real bored because I hadn't got a bite for awhile, and went to an area where a fellow club member stumbled on a hot walleye pattern during prefishing this tournament. I just needed to feel some bites again, and within 15 minutes I had 8 walleye in the boat all between 2 and 4 pounds.


With the itch scratched, I continued on my bass quest. I was going to spend the last hour or so in a weedbed down near our launch location, but Ted was already there, and I was "forced" to fish an adjacent area I have never fished before. A few casts, and a small keeper bass was in the boat. This spot ain't so bad I guess

In that last hour I caught about 2 limits of bass, and had 3 decent upgrades to what I had in the boat. Still no hogs, but I was happy to have what I had for the day.

The final weigh-in jostled positions around a little bit. The most surprising was Ted's fall to 3rd place from the first days lead. He did manage to hang on to lunker with the 4.22 he caught on day 1 though. I remained in 4th place, but only needed another 1/4 of a pound to take a check. It just wasn't in the cards for this tournament.

Congrats to Bill McKelvey for a solid victory!