regular guy's perspective
Hope you don't mind if I walk on your thread here Kenny. I took some pics and just thought I'd share what I learned.
First off, when you get 'volunteered' for one of Ken's gigs you're in for a pretty good time. It didn't hurt that Lee S. and Phil Synhorst were there also.
I'm a guy who's been against the idea of competive fishing since day one. I don't count fish, ever. Never liked even the idea of Bass Tournemants. But I gotta say, Ken's one hard guy to say no to and I like to think of myself as having an open mind.
So there I am, arriving at Buckley Cove in the wee hours of the morning, wondering just what the hell am I doing here anyway when I spotted Lee. I yukked it up a bit with Lee (which if you know Lee is a constant state of affairs with him) and checked in with KD and the gang. They gave me a two way and sent me out to greet and direct anyone else coming in. Hah. What a job. I stand around and yak with fly fishers then just say "head on over to the light". Charlie G. showed up and then it was just a BS session until his ride, Noel, showed up.
After the launching was done we staked out our turf and put up the banners and canopy.
This is the weigh in station long before anything happened.
Then the waiting hours for the crew. We put up the banners and got the lunch stuff ready as much as we could then just had some hours to kill.
I hit the side of the boat ramp for a couple of 'gills while we waited. If I'd of known just how this works I think I'd of brought my 'cat' and fished the marina a bit.
Here's the banners that we got up for the event.
Once the teams started coming back in we got to work in earnest. One guy on the ramp to help direct, one guy at the turn, one guy right before the weigh station and of course the weigh in crew. A lot more manpower than what I would have guessed.
Here's Phil at the first turn from the ramp to the weigh in, he handed out the fish bags and gave instructions as to where to go.
Then this guy, I wish I could remember his name, maybe someone will help me out, made sure one angler was out bagging the fish while one stayed behind the wheel. It was all designed to keep the line moving.
This is the line waiting to weigh in.
My job was running empty bags from the weigh in back to Phil to hand out, we re-use the same bunch of bags. Although I had to do a lot of running it allowed me so see everything from the bikini's on the ramp to the weigh in and even the release of the bass. Good call Ken, that was great.
So for regular guys who've never seen it here's how it works. The Bass are in live wells to start out. Then they're transferred by the anglers to plastic bags which also hold water. They have to put water in the bags then try to catch the bass in the livewells all over again. And the Bass always seem to have other ideas. The Bass in the bags are put in a sink and then transferred to an empty bag to be weighed. The fish bag is then put into the white basket which is on the scale and weighed. After that they are taken right down the bank and released.
Here's some shots of the weigh in.
I'm not sure what's happening here but it looks like Hatch is wondering how a severed head got into his livewell.
I think a caption contest may be in order here.
I was trying my best to stay out of John's way since he's a real photographer and all.
Some more weigh in shots. Remember, I was in a hurry running bags so I was taking these on the fly.
My favorite team was determined right here.
Kenny auditioning for American Idol. Or dancing with the stars. Or something. And John doing his thing.
It was a much more lighthearted event that what I'd imagined. We had some challenges at times but nothing big. I may have to revise my opinion of Bass Tourny's now. This was actually kind of fun. Probably not as fun as fishing in it but still okay. We had Lees' "Gourmet" dogs and burgers for lunch. If you don't think they were "gourmet", well, take that up with Lee. He's Italian you know.
Ed
Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it.
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