Cast for Kids -- 2002 Charity Tournament

The winning team of Kirby Irvin
and Brad Nelsen

Many sports events are said to be a game of inches. If so, then bass fishing is a game of ounces and in the case of the 4th Annual C.A.S.T. for Kids Bass Tournament, it was a game of "hundredths" of an ounce. The tournament which was sponsored by Triton Boats, Mercury Motors, and Nixon's Marine of Walla Walla, Washington and featured a 2004 Triton 185 and Mercury 150 as first prize, was decided by a mere .15 ounces. Not much more than a couple of drops of water. This event was held June 28-29 at Banks Lake out of Coulee Playland Resort.
Only one pound separated the two teams going into the 2nd and last day of competition. Irwin/Nelsen lead with 14.84 with McConville/Innocenti at 13.84. When McConville/Innocenti came in with a huge bag of all largemouth, that weighed in at 15.15, it looked like they would take the win going away. But then the team of Irvin/Nelsen brought a very nice bag of smallmouth to the scale that weighed a little over 14 pounds. When that happened, it became nail biting time. The two teams knew it would come down to hundredths of an ounce, but had no idea which way it would go.

2nd place winning team of Shawn McConville and Rick Innocenti

  As the final standings were read, and checks and trophies were given out, the tension for these four anglers increased dramatically. At stake was a Beautiful 2004 Triton Boat, valued at about $25,000 for first place versus a second place check for just over $1,000. When the winners were finally named it was heartbreak for the team of Shawn McConville and Rick Innocenti, and absolute joy and jubilation for the team of Kirby Irvin and Brad Nelsen. We congratulated both teams for such an outstanding effort. It's a shame there could be only one winner.
  Big fish for the event was a nice 3.67 largemouth brought in by the husband and wife team of Scott and Vanee Curl. He said that he caught it, but we still have our doubts, but we will let it slide for now.
  Conditions for the tournament were almost perfect. The temperatures were in the 80-90 degree range both days with slight breeze, and the wind coming up only the very last part of the second day. Almost half of the 54 teams brought in limits both days, with almost all the rest bringing in 10 or 11 fish. Probably the most noteworthy aspect of the fishing was the quantity of largemouth brought to the scales. The numbers were much higher than anyone could remember in the last 9 or 10 years. It looks like the big boys are back.

Big Fish winners

A tremendous amount of thanks goes to the people that helped us put on the event. First I would like to thank Hal Rausch and all of his staff at Coulee Playland Resort for their tremendous hospitality and their generosity in putting on a free BBQ for all the fisherman. It is easily the best place in the state to hold a tournament. I also want to thank all the volunteers that helped with weigh-in. They are: Kathy & Jeff Priester, owners of Nixon's Marine, Dick Lee, Tom Melowitz, Joe Jacoby, Karen Smith, Hal Schlegal, my wife, Sue Owens, and our great bag boys Chase Ratchford and Eddie Signs. We couldn't have done it without you.
We also need to thank Bob Banta of Northwest Bass for allowing us the use of his weigh-in stage and tournament equipment. It really added to the quality of the event. And lastly, a special thank you to all the fisherman for your patience the first day when we had a delay because of a problem with the scale.

CAST Tournament 2003
Final Standings

Day 1

Day 2

Final

Team

# fish

Weight

Big Fish

# fish

Weight

Big Fish

# fish

Final Weight

Irvin-Nelsen
McConville-Innocenti
Treffry-Gerwitz
Clausen-Lippincott
Johansen-Inglima
Lee-Lee
Lind-Boyer
Gordon-Jordan
Minderman-Demand
Bolyard-Kreider
Mace-Kromm
VanSlyke-Jacobs
Hall-Warden
Terrana-Ottele
Conklin-Scheib
Enger-Llwelyn
Clow-Lawson
Batey-Ratchford
Conklin-Buchmann
McLucas-Menees
Banta-Reininger
Hastings-Muse
Buse-Ganancial
Moore-Bruce
Davidson-Spencer
Broberg-Semken
Isaacs-Gibbons
Sarceda-White
Cline-Potter
Johnson-Nevsimal
Turner-Turner
Winterer-Griffin
Steiner-Pearson
Jacobs-Jacobs
Kinney-Moody
Bowen-Weems
Clark-Herrick
Holmes-Hankinson
Walker-Walker
Hutchens-Gibney
Waters-Waters
Smith-Leary
Seibert-Campbell
Lewis-Lewis
Schwartz-Fonville
Petersen-Jones
Jones-Jones
Bess-Barnes
Schmitz-Schmitz
Hampton-Eckternkamp
Watkins-Laursen
Curl-Curl
Pruitt-Mitchell

6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
6
5
5
6
6
4
6
4
6
6
6
2
0

14.84
13.84
13.46
13.38
13.79
12.49
11.08
12.27
13.42
12.65
9.93
13.53
11.39
7.88
10.65
12.75
11.67
11.5
8.56
11.52
8.9
11.13
12.44
8.74
10.08
9.22
10.6
11.28
8.49
12.92
10.86
10.91
9.37
8.69
7.99
9.14
10.37
11.68
8.31
6.85
7.86
7.94
6.22
7.06
5.57
5.03
8.72
5.51
11.23
8.53
7.15
4.87
0

3.27
2.81
3.04
2.85
3.07

3.05
2.76

2.64

2.92

2.64

2.4

2.91
2.31

2.69

3.67

6
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
6
4
6
6
6
6
6
4
6
3
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
4
6
0
0
0
0
0

14.3
15.15
11.26
11.12
10.69
11.55
12.76
11.38
10.19
10.44
12.76
9.03
10.95
14.06
11.04
8.85
9.73
9.54
12.34
9.35
11.95
9.5
8.09
11.43
9.79
10.24
8.86
8.16
10.91
6.34
8.18
8.1
8.05
8.72
9.01
7.73
6.44
4.57
7.94
8.86
7.76
7.4
7.87
6.34
7.58
7.69
3.78
6.73
0
0
0
0
0

3.62

3.14

3.37

2.36

12
11
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
11
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
11
12
10
12
12
12
12
12
10
12
9
11
11
12
11
11
12
12
10
10
10
6
6
6
2
0

29.14
28.99
24.72
24.5
24.48
24.04
23.84
23.65
23.61
23.09
22.69
22.56
22.34
21.94
21.69
21.6
21.4
21.04
20.9
20.87
20.85
20.63
20.53
20.17
19.87
19.46
19.46
19.44
19.4
19.26
19.04
19.01
17.42
17.41
17
16.87
16.81
16.25
16.25
15.71
15.62
15.34
14.09
13.4
13.15
12.72
12.5
12.24
11.23
8.53
7.15
4.87
0