It's the Dukester at Falls Lake!

      Even the remnants of Hurricane Florence couldn't keep the Leesville BASSMasters from hitting Falls Lake in Raleigh, NC for our ninth tournament of the season.  Air temps were around 70 at blast off, and water temps were around 80.   A persistent rain dogged the anglers for most of the day, along with a steady ENE wind as the back side of Florence made her way through the Triangle,  Moderate rains at weigh-in prevented us from getting any pictures.
      After a soggy day, Duke Bevard came away with the win (5 fish, 11.18 lbs), followed by Mark Cannon in 2nd (3 fish, 5.25 lbs), and Sheldon Godfrey in 3rd (4 fish, 4.97 lbs).  Sheldon would have edged Mark out by two hundredths, but he unfortunately had a gut hooked fish that didn't make it.  The best part is that all but one of our anglers caught fish today.  Duke caught all of his winning fish on watermelon seed Trick Worm rigged on a shaky head.
     With three tournaments left in 2018, Mark Cannon has pulled away in the points lead, and would have to zero in two of the three remaining tournaments for Wes House or Duke Bevard to have any chance of overtaking him for first place.  Wes and Duke are separated by only three points in 2nd and 3rd respectively, so that one's still a horse race.
      Our next tournament takes us to Mayo Lake on October 6 which is known for its gin clear water and grass beds.  It's unclear what impact Hurricane Florence has had on Mayo, and we'll just have to see when we get there in a couple of weeks.  Stops at Jordan and Kerr Lakes round out our 2018 season, and we'll find out who will be crowned our champion for 2018.  Tight lines and stay tuned!