Fifty-eight disabled veterans ignored a brutally hot conditions to take part in the Paralyzed Veterans of America "Capital Clash" Bass Tournament on the Potomac River last weekend.
Members of the Maryland Bass Federation Nation volunteered their time and boats to drive the veterans around to different fishing spots. On Sunday, the boaters and the disabled veterans fished together on a boat. Shoreline anglers also took part in the two-day competition.
With concern for angler and fish safety as high as the thermometer, the Department of Natural Resources Inland Fisheries staff worked with the volunteers and organizers to minimize time in the heat and humidity.
Volunteers handed out bottled water and wet towels as each veteran and boater returned to the dock at Smallwood State Park in Charles County. Only six boats were allowed out of the water at a time for the weigh-in to reduce the amount of time that fish sat in rapidly heating live wells on pavement.
DNR equipped live wells with aerators to raise oxygen levels. After fish were weighed, they were transferred to a DNR hatchery truck for release.
"Only 10 fish died throughout the tournament. We saw 96.4 percent survivorship, which is about 5 percent better than last year," said state biologist Joe Love, the tidal bass manager. "This is truly exceptional because the heat index on Saturday alone was 115 degrees. With high water temperatures, I was expecting much lower survivorship, probably around 91 percent."
Anglers were allowed to weigh in both black bass and northern snakeheads, the voracious invasive predator from Asia. Competitors caught 275 black bass; the largest fish was 5 pounds caught on the second day by Glenn Mayes of Shenandoah, Va.
The PVA offered a prize of $100 for the largest snakehead and $5 for each snakehead brought in. Only three snakeheads were caught, but it is one of the few times that a tournament has offered prizes for the fish that made headlines in 2001, when thousands of them were discovered in a pond in Crofton. Despite a federal ban on the importation of snakeheads, they have been caught in Potomac River tributaries and other East Coast waters.
In the Open competition, PVA angler Paul Julian of New Castle, Pa., and boat partner Michael O'Haver of Crofton teamed up to catch five fish weighing 13.65 pounds to win. PVA's Dave Williams of Washington and Bill Sanders of Waldorf were runners up with a five-fish creel weighing 12.95 pounds. PVA's Kurt Glass of Grovetown, Ga., and Dave Smith of Fredericksburg, Va., took third, with five fish weighing 12.24 pounds.
In the Team standings, PVA angler Robert Satterwhite of Stem, N.C. and boat partner Dave Hanson of Waldorf took the top spot with a five-fish creel weighing 15.39 pounds. Jeremy Stengel of Washington and Dick Brown of Frederick finished second with five fish weighing 13.16 pounds. Glenn Mayes of Shenandoah, Va., and Lloyd Long of Waldorf took third with five fish weighing 13.05 pounds.
On shore, Donna Hendrickson of Garland, Texas, and Thomas Grant of Blairsville, Ga., weighed in 9.75 pounds, good for first place in the team standings. Larry Dodson of North Augusta, S.C., won individual honors, with a total weight of 15.41 pounds.
The PVA tournament trail moves on in late September to Wagoner, Okla., for the Mid-America Okie Open.