The first Sunday in December 12 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our November tournament at Jackson Lake. After 8.5 hours of casting, we brought 35 keeper bass weighing about 43 pounds to the scales. Most were 12-inch spotted bass. There were three five fish limits and no one zeroed.
Jay Gerson won with five weighing 5.72 pounds, Zane Fleck placed second with five at 5.35 pounds and Sam Smith was third with five weighing 5.05 pounds. Niles Murray came in third with three weighing 4.31 pounds and Carl Heidle had big fish with a 2.78 pounder.
I think I set my goals too low. My goal each year is to win the point standings, and I had a comfortable lead going into this tournament, with just two left. In my mind I thought if I just landed a keeper in each of the last two tournaments I would win.
When I landed a 13-inch spot at 7:45 I relaxed, I had my keeper. Then it hit me that with 12 fishermen I could lose over half my lead with a last place finish. So I started trying harder but could not figure anything out. I finally caught my second keeper at 2:00 and came in 11th place.
That finish did cause me to lose almost half my lead. So, with one tournament left this year, I gotta do better next Sunday!