Two bass win at Dillon

Sunday was probably my last tournament of the year. I hope it won't be the last time fishing before winter.
Each year, Bub Cooksey, owner of Rayco Rent To Own and Bob Mathie, owner of Bob's outdoor supply, sponsor a little friendly pot tournament for the "regulars" that stop at Bob's for talk and coffee many mornings. This year, 10 of us participated. It was a few less than usual, but I think the cold spell that hit Friday kept some away.
The water temperature had dropped below 50 degrees, but we still managed to weigh some bass.
Shaun Majors and Bob Fulks won the contest with two bass weighing 4 pounds, 7 ounces. They also had the big bass of the tournament at 2 pounds, 14 ounces.
Bub Cooksey and Rick McDonald finished second with two bass weighing 3 pounds, 14 ounces; Wayne Hanley and his daughter, Tara, were third with a 2-pound, 4-ounce bass and Tim Majors and Dana Moran were fourth with a 2-pound, 2-ounce fish.
Unfortunately, I didn't put a bass in the boat. When we started in the morning, most of the guys went into Big Run, so I headed up the lake. I eventually made my way up into the river.
Big mistake.
The water was even colder up there and there was northing going on.
I finally wound up in Big Run with about an hour or so of fishing time left and promptly lost what may have been the big bass of the tournament.
I had it on a crankbait and didn't think it was very well hooked, so I reached for the landing net, which was naturally just out of easy reach. I was trying to keep tension on the fish without horsing it, but just as I finally reached the net, it came off.
To make matters worse, a couple casts later I lost the crankbait.
Bub also gave out a special award to the angler who caught the largest fish that wasn't a largemouth or smallmouth. Tara Hanley weighed in a 3-pound, 12-ounce channel cat, but then Jerry Mosman hauled an 11-pound, 3-ounce carp out of his livewell.
"I wanted to get some kind of award," Jerry said.
Jerry won the Cranberry Marh Bass Cub Angler of the Year award this season, but I bet he'll hear more about the carp this winter than he will about the title!