To make things even more interesting, Mother Nature decided to throw a wrench into the works with driving rain, 15 to 25 mile per hour winds and even a few hail storms for those lucky anglers who happened to be in the south fork Saturday afternoon.

By the end of weigh-ins Saturday afternoon, one angler stood apart with nearly a three pound lead over second place. Fishing in his first ever Pro/Am event, local angler John Ewing managed to find that one big bite when he nailed a 6-1/2 pound largemouth while pitchin' a jig into two feet of water. His five fish limit hit the scales at 13.75 pounds and made Ewing the odds on favorite to take home the top prize of a brand new Ranger Bass Boat powered by a 200 H.P Yamaha outboard.

Rounding out the top five on the Pro side were Jim Riley in second place with 11.18 pounds. Greg Kiefer sat in the third position with 11.01 pounds. California bass fishing legend Gary Dobyns was poised for a second day charge in the fourth spot with 10.31 pounds and I managed to end up in fifth place with a 10.08 pound limit. There were a fair number of 9 pound limits, but the majority of the filled was packed tight with 6 to 8 pound limits.

As expected, Gary Dobyns made a big charge on Sunday, but it wasn't enough to catch Ewing who managed to bring in a respectable limit of 7.71 pounds for a two day total of 21.46 pounds. "I just can't believe this is happening. I'm still in shock," said an elated Ewing as he heard the news that he had won the top prize. "I've been dreaming about this for years. Dreaming about entering one of these Pro/Ams and winning. I just can't believe it happened in my very first tournament."

So how did he do it? Ewing used a combination of split-shotting plastic worms and tossing jigs to shallow water 5 to 20 feet deep. "I started out split-shotting on Saturday to put a limit in the boat," he explained. "Once I had a few fish, I switched over to a brown jig with a Zoom chunk trailer and caught that 6 pounder. As soon as I caught the big fish, I stuck with the jig all day long. The bite was tougher on Sunday and I had to go back to split-shotting to catch most of my fish."

Gary Dobyns of Yuba City moved into second place with a two day total of 20.83 pounds good for a whopping $12,520. Dobyns also fished jigs during the two days of competition posting two consistent days with weights of 10.31 pounds on Saturday and 10.52 pounds on Sunday for a total of 20.83 pounds.

Greg Kiefer held on to the third spot with a two day total of 20.14 pounds. For third place, Kiefer earned an amazing $8,335. Jim Riley ended up in fourth place with 19.34 pounds good for $4,195 and Ed Grover took fifth place and $3,160 with 18.44 pounds.

On the amateur side, Dave Bryning won the top spot with a two day total of 22.35 pounds earning an impressive $3,225. Jim Conlow Sr. finished in second with 19.01 pounds good for $2,143. Izzy Byrd took third place with 18.89 pounds. Byrd took home $1,318. 2001 amateur angler of the year, Jim Davis got off to a great start with 18.76 pounds good for fourth place and $1,573. Rick Kendrick rounded out the fifth spot with 18.31 pounds and a check for $680.