Last Saturday 14 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our November tournament at West Point. We brought 41 bass weighing 58 pounds to the scales. The top four all had limits, but three fishermen didn’t have a keeper.

Doug Acree won with a good catch of 13.02 pounds and had big fish with a 5.43 pound largemouth. Frank Anderson was second with 9.17 pounds, Mike Cox placed third with 8.40 pounds and Buddy Laster came in fourth with 7.84 pounds.

With all the rain upstream last week I knew the lake would be very different from the one I won on the weekend before. And I was right. The lake had stained up and water was being pulled hard to keep the lake level down. I have had good catches there on rocky points with current rushing past, and I just knew that would work this time.

AS we took off at 7:00 AM, fog was starting to form on the lake. Another tournament took off just ahead of us at Pyne Park but I was able to go to my first two places but did not get a bite. I noticed the river upstream of the railroad bridge had thick fog. I went across the very foggy water very carefully to my third stop, watching for other boats and floating logs on the water. Wood was everywhere.

At 8:30 I heard a lot of boats running. A big tournament took off from Highland Marina, but it was so foggy in that area they were held until it was safe. At least 40 boats ran past me, headed down the lake. I knew they were going to clearer water.

I should have taken the hint but stubbornly kept fishing the heavily stained water. At 9:00 I landed a keeper spot on a crankbait from a rocky point with current so that gave me hope. But at 11:00, without another bite, I realized I had to go to better water.

Whitewater Creek was a decent color but after three hours fishing it without a bite, I made a major change, running way down the lake to a fairly clear creek. The last hour of the tournament I caught one keeper, missed two bites where the fish just made a fool of me, and, with five minutes left to fish hooked a keeper that came off as I lifted it over the side.

Some days are like that, nothing goes right. I was very weak and tired, so bad that if William Scott had not helped me put my boat in and take it out, I would not have been able to fish. That is my excuse and I am sticking with it!

Folks in the club are great like that, very helpful. They are more of the good people you never hear about.