Boy I'll say it was tough! But the Tourney was FUN! I'm surprised there weren't any fish caught in the open water early on.
My first (possible) hit was before light on a Zara Spook in open water as I was headed for the cover on the South(?) bank. I saw that a bass was chasing a small school of something. I threw were I thought they'd be soon and 3 minnows jumped about 3' from the lure. I jerkeded it and the bass broke water where the plug had been not even a 1/2 second before. It surprised me so much I set hard and had to dodge my own bait. Yikes!
After that my next 2 hits were also in open water. I was flipping a powercraw/jig in the shoreline cover and saw activity behind me both times and just threw the bait out at them and swam it in a stair step fashion to the bottom. The first time the hit was hard about 3' down but I came away from it with only a clawless craw. The second time it came on the bottom and was just a mush bite and I hit back so late it was pathetic.
The last bite was a classic flippin mush bite and I was late on the strike again. After that I sent Mark Serano (I think) in after it with a Senko and he missed a mush hit too.
All in all I learned a fair amount and had a lot of fun even though I tubed bare legged(it was a COLD morning).

Tight lines,
Wade