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2011 - Monthly Tournament - 2012 LAKE PANASOFFKEE (Tracy's Point) SEPTEMBER 17, 2011 |
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As one of the seven who "zeroed," do you wish to blame anyone or anything ? Yes ! No !!! Maybe ! Could it be that you couldn’t overcome fishing the shallowest lake on our agenda in one of the hottest months of our season ? If you didn’t use that as your excuse for not boating a keeper, you missed a golden opportunity as both were true. Although the lake has a few deep spots (up to 8 plus feet at current pool - 38.3’ above sea level), the average depth runs about 5-6 feet at best. There are no other lakes on our seasonal agenda that are shallower. Add 87 to 89 degree surface water temps and you’d have an excellent reason for that "blank" ! Could it be that you couldn’t get access to shores you’ve fished in past tournaments on this lake ? With the amount of floating "flora," it was tough to fish many of the canals and pretty shallow at many shoreline places. Not a bad excuse, eh ! How ‘bout this for an excuse; it appears there is some kind of issue with the vegetation ! Didn’t notice ? Are you sure you were on Panasoffkee ? A fair portion of the vegetation on the lake didn’t look very healthy. Not being a "lake doctor," I haven’t a clue, but you must admit; where have you seen the "grass" that stressed from what you saw on this "pond" ? Since there is the other side to our valiant eighteen, let’s discuss the "happy campers" ! Yeah, eleven of our group (61%) did have varying degrees of success. 
One of the "haves" that’s smiling the most is Dick Fletcher. Dick boated a limit weighing 8.25 pounds for First Place. When you compare Dick’s weight to the rest of the field, you have to draw the conclusion that he found a way to overcome all the "negatives" to win the tournament ! Well done ! Dick is always happy when he wins ! Now, since you must have been around the fish to boat a limit, what happened to the guy in the back of the boat ? 
Next, standing in the line of "haves" is Scott Ellis. Scott brought a limit to the scales weighing 7.20 pounds for Second Place. Scott is another "happy camper" when he places ! Good job, bud !
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Third Place was awarded to Nick Critelli; one of the happiest campers to just be out fishing and catching 4 @ 6.95 pounds. Way to go, Nicky ! 
Fourth Place and Big Fish went to a true student of this game we play, Jerry Bischoff ! JB weighed 3 @ 6.75 pounds with the "money shot" weighing 4.31 pounds. Excellent job ! BTW, Jerry accomplished this task out of the back of Scott Ellis’s boat ! 
Normally we don’t mention any of the other positions (just a picture) in the group of "haves," but since he was part of what I feel is an interesting observation, I included Darrell Paquin who put three in the livewell @ 3.77 pounds for Fifth Place. Darrell must be congratulated as he has struggled in our recent past and his backseater, Nick Critelli will get a check for 3rd Place. Way to come back, man !!! Not only did the Paquin boat bring in 7 fish at a little over 10 pounds but if you take into account the first five in this tournament weighed 20 fish (a shade over 71%) while the "last six" weighed the other 8, you can see that a little less than half of the "haves" did most of the damage ! The only other pair to do better than the Paquin boat was the Ellis/Bischoff pair with 9 fish @ almost 14 pounds. Nice for the "happy campers" but not so nice for the "others" ! Conclusion: 28 fish @ 45.50 pounds with two limits pales in comparison to a beautiful day back in May ’08 when this lake was a foot higher (39.2’); a damn site cooler and our band of Indians (94% - 17/18) weighed 45 keepers totaling a little over 75 pounds. Just some food for thought the next time you consider lake nominations, eh ! Finally, why didn’t I weigh a fish ? Well pilgrim, when you don’t adjust to the situation in front of you and miss the few opportunities you are presented, the results, more often than not, ends up as a "zero" ! It wasn’t the lake’s fault and it wasn’t the weather and ... |
hich "camp" are you in ? If you are one of the "unhappy campers" who didn’t weight a fish, my bet is you don’t have anything positive to say about this tournament !
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