Due to weather, the first fishing tournament was cancelled however; the second tournament was a great success. An evening tournament was held on June 30. We had 4 teams, totaling 8 participants, fish in the event. I hoped for a larger turnout but I suspect the low water is keeping many fishermen on dry ground.

My guest Scott Peterman and I won the tournament with 10 bass weighing in at a little over 10 pounds. Randy Johnson fishing with his son Scott, came in second and would have won but they had to remove their biggest fish as Randy won the Adult Big Fish award with a 2 13/16 pound bass.

I believe we were all very impressed with our newest fishermen, Eugene Lee and his brother Taylor Lee. Both young men fished throughout the tournament and caught fish. They were extremely excited but demonstrated great fishing ethics and the best manners I have seen in any youth in a long time. Taylor Lee won the Youth Big Fish Award with a 13-ounce largemouth and both brothers landed 4 bass in the cooler. I hope they can fish in the next tournament and bring more young people to the event.

We raised $150 from the tournament for the BLHA shad-stocking program with extra donations from Tom Dyer and me of $50 each. Including a $79 balance after the purchase of the last batch of shad in 2006, we have a total of $229 allocated for the next purchase of shad. All bass caught in this tournament were harvested and over the weekend, Scott Peterman and I removed 91 bass from the lake. Remember, while the bass are getting larger, we still need to remove bass under 2 pounds and continue to add shad. Our plan to move from a bass-heavy lake, with bass literally starving to death, to a lake with a healthy bass population is working and we need to continue down this path.

The next tournament will be September 8 starting at 7 am at the picnic grounds. Hope you can attend.