Amidst all the Day 1 superlatives for Mille Lacs Lake, like 23 bags of 20 pounds or more, this might be the most impressive: a 4-pound average for the 243 bass weighed-in Thursday. That’s a rare jewel of a number, particularly when it’s over 95 percent smallmouth bass hitting the scales.
Here are the details: The 50 anglers caught 46 five-bass limits and 243 fish total. The total weight was 973 pounds, 4 ounces. When you divide 973.25 by 243 you get 4.00. Or to be exact, it’s 4.00514403.
Remember, it’s not like there were a bunch of giants weighed to skew that average. Big bass was Jason Williamson’s 6-1.
Last week on the Mississippi River, where 107 anglers competed the first two days, 50 on Day 3 and 12 on Day 4, the average bass weighed-in was consistently around the 2.5-pound mark all four days. And that was with a mixture of largemouths and smallies. That 2½-pound average holds for most Elite Series tournaments. Obviously, Mille Lacs Lake is special.
One final note: All 243 bass were released alive. That’s rare too. Fish-care is a major point of emphasis in B.A.S.S. tournaments, but it’s inevitable that a few die because of deep hook-sets or some such. None died yesterday.