TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

The San Diego Bassmasters annual Tournament of Champions was held November 11^th at El Capitan. This tournament pits the winners of our ten regular tournaments throughout the year against each other.

The nine participants (Jeff Manning won two tournaments) faced cooling temperatures and a very crowded lake. Right now, El Capitan is the only large local lake that is open. Lake staff said that the opening line for the lake might have been the longest of the year.

A total of eighteen fish were weighed in, a indication of how tough the fishing was. In third place, with two fish was Juan Collins (non-boater extraordinaire). Juan had big fish of the tournament, a nice 4.66 he caught on a Greg Gardner jig. Juan’s total weight was 6.38 pounds.

In second place with three fish was Ed Byrd. His big fish went 3.03pounds and his total weight was 6.98 pounds. Ed caught all his fish dropshotting.

Taking first place and completing a clean sweep for the year was Greg Gardner. His big fish went 2.21 pounds and his total weight was 7.30pounds. Greg was using jigs and dropshotting, a big change of tactics for him --- NOT!!

Thanks go to Zoé Gardner for running the tournament (wait a minute…did someone make sure the basket was empty before Greg put his fish in???). Zoé wanted to thank her helpers Harold, Darryl, Skip, Bud (weighmaster too!), Dave Seaberg, Dave Mack, Cheryl, and Ron O.