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But then Monroe has a good day like this, in the final round at Clearlake, and Mr. Consistency cashes another check. His non-boater for the day is Bob Sweeney, who has lung disease and a bad back. In the afternoon, as the day grows hot and Monroe complains that the theme from Shaft is stuck in his head, he steers his boat into the weedy corner of a marina, where he pitches over the railing of what looks like a small footbridge. Within minutes he sticks a keeper, and in one deft motion flips it up over the post, and into the boat. Then he does it again. Can you dig it? "That was cool," Sweeney says later. "I was sitting back there laughing. Just laughing. I had to get my breathing machine out."
Monroe winds up with five fish weighing 11 pounds, 9 ounces, giving him 22nd place overall and a $1,450 check. At the weigh-in, Fishburne, again the MC, says, "Ish has not been a happy camper this week." But at the moment Monroe doesn't look unhappy, and for the next few minutes he and Fishburne banter about Monroe's girlfriend, and then Monroe steps down from the stage. A black man shakes his hand, and a white guy sitting in a canvas chair says, "See you next spring, Ish." Monroe walks along a roped-off path with his bag of fish, and all around him the fans have taken up nice, cool spots in the shadows of trees, and the kids bounce from dock to dock with lures in their hats, as if they had just been hooked.
