Tom and I went fishing out of Joppatowne on Sunday, May 16. Cheryl and the boys were coming back from the annual visit to Erie and wouldn't be home till at least 6pm. I couldn't go anyway since I had a wedding to do on Sat; which ended late and didn't get to sleep till 1:30am. So, with 4 hours sleep, I woke up about 5:30am to meet Tom to go fishing.

It was a good day out on the water. We weren't catching anything until we went into the quarry. There I caught 2 shorts and 2 good sized bass. Tom caught 2 nice sized ones. He was complaining that I out fished him. I was a happy camper. I didn't think Tom intended to be out the whole day. He didn't pack a lunch, but luckily, I made 2 humongous sandwiches. Tom said there must've been a pound of meat in them. Afterwards while we were getting out of the quarry to the launch, some self-centered idiot decided to block the channel by idling his way to his next stop in the middle of the channel. Tom did his best to get his attention for him to get out of the way but the guy just ignored us. Tom stopped by the guy's boat to ask why he didn't drive to the side to wave him by. Soon a shouting match started up. Got kinda ugly. Nothing happened; just both boaters going to the MD Bass Federation to state their case.

Yesterday was the River Ratz Open Tournament. I went out with Gary to fun fish while waiting for the tournament to end. I caught an 18" bass with a belly. This fish would probably qualify as a HAWG. I wish I had a camera. It probably would've weighed in at least 4lbs. Gary kept on catching catfish all day. 5 catfish in all. One of them bent a hook. I cannot believe the power of these fish!

At the weigh-in for the Open, most of the competitors came in with 6 fish... SIX BIG FISH. I started to wonder where do they go? All of us didn't have much luck in bites in the Suskie. The lunker was a 6lb bass. Unbelieveable!

2nd Place

I had a great day! I caught 3 bass today and came in 2nd place under Tom. We had the 2nd RiverRatz tnx at the Potomac today. It didn't rain, but the wind was gusting to 40 mph. The water was rough and was beginning to swamp Gary's boat. I caught my first keeper with a green watermelon, blk fleck Senko. Since the wind was kicking up, I had to use heavier sinkers, which gave me the idea to use a Carolina rig. I put on this worm I got from Bass Pro's bargain table. I only paid about $1 for an 8 pack, but the Potomac bass seem to like it. It's called Biffle's Baffle Worm. I caught 2 more bass, plus a few shorts. I was psyched!!! The action died down, then Gary and I went several other places but neither of us caught anything.