Saturdays Tournament began with choppy water

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Saturdays Tournament began with choppy water, winds, and dirty bottom clouds as the shotgun start assembled off Randolph's Landing at 7:30 a.m.

Many of the boats went racing across the lake to go fish in the Diversion Canal while a handful went up the safe channel to destinations untold. I was riding with Larry Feagin and Norman Hubbard in a 17 foot Grand Prix, open bow, walk through windshield v hull boat. Larry caught his first fish at 9 a.m.

The sun was breaking through the low gusty clouds and the "sizzle" of the summer day began. Temperatures easily reached over 90 degrees. As the day passed the winds slowed and the waters calmed.

Early in the afternoon while we were catching bait in Little Simmons thunder could be heard in the distance. The sky grew dark. The winds began to bend the tops of the trees and white caps formed in the creek as the rain began. It stormed for almost 6 hours.

There were only 6 fishermen who weighed in at 6 p.m. Saturday for The Biggest Fish. Bob Steelman won with a catch of 16.3, which in comparison is not a monster but, his catch was a great feat considering the difficult fishing conditions of the day. That's what I love about fishing tournaments. You never know what is going to happen.

Late Saturday evening as the storm passed into the lower lake the colors of the sun were brilliant- and then a magnificent rainbow stretched all the way from Ferguson to the Santee Dam. It was beautiful and we all thought it was a good indication of better fishing.

Norman caught his first fish around 5 a.m. Sunday morning.