All I can say is WOW, I heard today that this afternoons buddy tournament out of KY dam had 3 fish over 9 lbs weighed in. That place is unreal. Almost as highly regarded in my eyes as Lake St Clair.
We had such a good time down there that we are planning on taking a whole week next year.
A few of my favorite places that I would reccomend to anyone going down there would be the Catfish Kitchen in Draffenville, the Aurora BBQ pit in Aurora and the Cabin bait and tackle shop near eddyville.
If anyone wants to travel with us next year, look me up. The more the merrier.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tourney Day, March 22, 2008
The day started with the typical tournament day jitters. The cool thing about this tournament was that we had a caddy. My Dad dropped Nick and I in the water left for the day and at the end of the tournament I called him on his cell and he came and picked us up.
After Dad dropped us off, we met up with Nick's buddy Tadd by the docks in the marina. I have to say that it was pretty cool to put a face with a name. I heard him on the phone a half a dozen times but this morning was the first time I met him in person. The thing that stood out about our conversation was when Nick told him that I found some good fish yesterday and he said, "Well (in his southern draw), you guys might screw around and get 19-20 pounds and cash a good check in this thing." We wished each other good luck and seperated in order to launch.
Nick and I touched fists and said our typical "Do what we do" pre launch routine.
The temperature in the morning was a blistering 39 degrees so we pulled our phishhedz masks over our face and headed down the river 38 miles to our first stop. Despite Nicks flu symptoms, I didn't take it easy on him and he let me know it once we finally stopped. That Legend Alpha 199 handled everything like a charm and like I promised, we passed at the minimum 6 boats.
Once we arrived to our first spot at about 7:30am I hurried to make the ceremonial first cast while Nick was still complaing about how I broke his back. I was a little scared when we didn't get a fish until about our 20th cast. Unfortunately it was too short, but we then proceeded to, as Nick would say, catch the fire out of them. We had a limit by about 8am. During that time we caught a double of 2.5 pounders. It was pretty exciting to say the least, but it was hard to stick to the plan because we couldn't get any size out of them.
By 10:30 we decided to make a short run to another unnamed creek for some more fish that I found the day before. I was optimistic that we may be able to get some more bigger fish from it but this was also the spot that Dad and I wore em out on the day before.
We were able to upgrade to about 16 or 17 pounds before we made our final move to a deeper ditch a little closer to a main lake point. At first I could tell Nick wasn't feeling it, or he was just a little under the weather. Regardless, after he boated and landed his 6.7 pounder, I could start to see a little skip in his step through the way he was carrying himself. About 5 minutes later I proceeded to catch two 5 pounders almost on back to back casts. By that time Nick and I both were getting the shakes with the possibility of really making some noise in this tournament. We had one 3.4 pounder that we had to cull to really make this thing interesting and both of us knew it.
This is the point that I will never forget. I was trying to hold the boat in about a 20 mph wind and believe me, it was taking almost all of his 101 lb thrust minnkota. I was slow rolling my revenge spinnerbait in the front of this brush, right over the ledge of the trough when I felt some tree branches or sunken brush in about 6 foot of water. I told Nick that I was going to slow down and fish it again b/c I was afraid he was getting a little frustrated with me back boating him. On that next cast I hooked a bass that immedietely pulled drag and headed straight for the bushes. At the same time that I reached down and turned the trolling motor up to maneuver the fish to deep water, Nick jumped to the front deck. He assisted me through words on the propper way to keep him from wrapping me up and before I knew it, he landed the fish in the net and sat the fish on the deck and proclaimed, "It might be over, It might be over." We culled the 3.5 pounder and for the next 2 minutes decided back and forth to either keep fishing and risk not making it back on time or allow ourselves 1.5 hours to get back and hopefully not put to much strain on the fish. We decided to batton down the hatches and head for the weigh in. Kentucky lake was looking a bit like Lake Erie but again the Legen handled it like a charm.
We arrived to the marina with about 30 minutes to spare. I called Dad to come pick us up when he immedietely asked me, "So you must have had a bad day then didn't ya, you are coming in a bit early?" "Yeah" I told him, We are ready to go home. Boy was he surprised when Nick loaded the weigh in bag with what we knew was our biggest weight to date. It took both of us to carry our bag to the scales and to prove how nervous we were. A gentleman from Jet A Marina told us to hold up our fish so he could get a picture and Nick and I proceeded to hold up our bag as opposed to what everyone else in the tournament was doing by getting their fish out and showing them off for the camera. When we arrived to the stage the announcer proclaimed, "Looks like a nice bag here" and proceeded to state that the leading weight was 24 pounds even and went as far as to ask me what I thought we had. I told him that I thought we had around 24 pounds and when he uncovered the digital reading and I read 23.14 I was excited and a little bummed at the same time. It was the wierdest feeling I ever had. How could I be bummed for weighing in our personal best and knowing that we had the potential of cashing a good check? Nick on the other hand, couldn't talk, mainly b/c he thought he was going to thow up. Was it the flu or nerves or a little of both. He will never admit it was nerves, and personally I have never seen him not able to talk on stage! We ended the day in third place and missed first and $5,000 by a minimal 4 ounces.
That night Dad and I reflected on the tournament and Dad proceeded to ask me if we used this bait or that bait, or how he would have done this instead. We both realized that hind sight is 20/20 and we all knew that Nick and I did the best that we could.
In reflection, Maybe we could have stayed and fished a little longer but neither Nick or I made a single mistake that day, and our decisions to leave biting fish to find bigger fish acually paid off.
Stay tuned to my next blog, I will talk about the drive home and the non-fishing things about or trip that made it special.
After Dad dropped us off, we met up with Nick's buddy Tadd by the docks in the marina. I have to say that it was pretty cool to put a face with a name. I heard him on the phone a half a dozen times but this morning was the first time I met him in person. The thing that stood out about our conversation was when Nick told him that I found some good fish yesterday and he said, "Well (in his southern draw), you guys might screw around and get 19-20 pounds and cash a good check in this thing." We wished each other good luck and seperated in order to launch.
Nick and I touched fists and said our typical "Do what we do" pre launch routine.
The temperature in the morning was a blistering 39 degrees so we pulled our phishhedz masks over our face and headed down the river 38 miles to our first stop. Despite Nicks flu symptoms, I didn't take it easy on him and he let me know it once we finally stopped. That Legend Alpha 199 handled everything like a charm and like I promised, we passed at the minimum 6 boats.
Once we arrived to our first spot at about 7:30am I hurried to make the ceremonial first cast while Nick was still complaing about how I broke his back. I was a little scared when we didn't get a fish until about our 20th cast. Unfortunately it was too short, but we then proceeded to, as Nick would say, catch the fire out of them. We had a limit by about 8am. During that time we caught a double of 2.5 pounders. It was pretty exciting to say the least, but it was hard to stick to the plan because we couldn't get any size out of them.
By 10:30 we decided to make a short run to another unnamed creek for some more fish that I found the day before. I was optimistic that we may be able to get some more bigger fish from it but this was also the spot that Dad and I wore em out on the day before.
We were able to upgrade to about 16 or 17 pounds before we made our final move to a deeper ditch a little closer to a main lake point. At first I could tell Nick wasn't feeling it, or he was just a little under the weather. Regardless, after he boated and landed his 6.7 pounder, I could start to see a little skip in his step through the way he was carrying himself. About 5 minutes later I proceeded to catch two 5 pounders almost on back to back casts. By that time Nick and I both were getting the shakes with the possibility of really making some noise in this tournament. We had one 3.4 pounder that we had to cull to really make this thing interesting and both of us knew it.
This is the point that I will never forget. I was trying to hold the boat in about a 20 mph wind and believe me, it was taking almost all of his 101 lb thrust minnkota. I was slow rolling my revenge spinnerbait in the front of this brush, right over the ledge of the trough when I felt some tree branches or sunken brush in about 6 foot of water. I told Nick that I was going to slow down and fish it again b/c I was afraid he was getting a little frustrated with me back boating him. On that next cast I hooked a bass that immedietely pulled drag and headed straight for the bushes. At the same time that I reached down and turned the trolling motor up to maneuver the fish to deep water, Nick jumped to the front deck. He assisted me through words on the propper way to keep him from wrapping me up and before I knew it, he landed the fish in the net and sat the fish on the deck and proclaimed, "It might be over, It might be over." We culled the 3.5 pounder and for the next 2 minutes decided back and forth to either keep fishing and risk not making it back on time or allow ourselves 1.5 hours to get back and hopefully not put to much strain on the fish. We decided to batton down the hatches and head for the weigh in. Kentucky lake was looking a bit like Lake Erie but again the Legen handled it like a charm.
We arrived to the marina with about 30 minutes to spare. I called Dad to come pick us up when he immedietely asked me, "So you must have had a bad day then didn't ya, you are coming in a bit early?" "Yeah" I told him, We are ready to go home. Boy was he surprised when Nick loaded the weigh in bag with what we knew was our biggest weight to date. It took both of us to carry our bag to the scales and to prove how nervous we were. A gentleman from Jet A Marina told us to hold up our fish so he could get a picture and Nick and I proceeded to hold up our bag as opposed to what everyone else in the tournament was doing by getting their fish out and showing them off for the camera. When we arrived to the stage the announcer proclaimed, "Looks like a nice bag here" and proceeded to state that the leading weight was 24 pounds even and went as far as to ask me what I thought we had. I told him that I thought we had around 24 pounds and when he uncovered the digital reading and I read 23.14 I was excited and a little bummed at the same time. It was the wierdest feeling I ever had. How could I be bummed for weighing in our personal best and knowing that we had the potential of cashing a good check? Nick on the other hand, couldn't talk, mainly b/c he thought he was going to thow up. Was it the flu or nerves or a little of both. He will never admit it was nerves, and personally I have never seen him not able to talk on stage! We ended the day in third place and missed first and $5,000 by a minimal 4 ounces.
That night Dad and I reflected on the tournament and Dad proceeded to ask me if we used this bait or that bait, or how he would have done this instead. We both realized that hind sight is 20/20 and we all knew that Nick and I did the best that we could.
In reflection, Maybe we could have stayed and fished a little longer but neither Nick or I made a single mistake that day, and our decisions to leave biting fish to find bigger fish acually paid off.
Stay tuned to my next blog, I will talk about the drive home and the non-fishing things about or trip that made it special.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Kentucky Lake Practice day #2
Well, Let me first apologize for not updating on a regular basis.
Friday my Dad and I practiced on Kentucky lake south of the 68-80 bridge. We launched in the Blood River and fished around in the mud soup for about 1 hour. Needless to say, I was getting very discouraged. Especially since my right hand man and tournament partner was back at the hotel with the flu. By flu I mean endless fever, gut wrenching pain, and lung shattering coughs.
Dad and I decided if we were going to make any sort of progress in our tournament practice, we needed to find some clearer water. Nick talked to a guide the night before named Tadd Ladd who is also a friend of his and throughout the conversation, Tadd told him that the LBL (east) side of the lake was going to be clearer and warmer and not to be afraid to look shallow. We headed over there and still managed to suck up the earth!! At about 11 am we headed back to the end of ginger creek to the buck brush just for the heck of it. Boy was that the best move I ever made. Dad and I proceeded to catch or shake off about 6 fish. Mind you we only caught 3 the day before. We recognized about 300 little black birds diving under the water we assumed feeding on minnows. At first I was a little pessimistic on our pattern and proceeded to check another creek to perhaps solidify what we found and maybe put something together for tomorrows tournament. The back of the other creek also had little black birds feeding on minnows and about 25 bass that made our thumbs look like hamburger. At about 2pm we decided that we had enough proof that the fish were back there and decided to go get Nick for dinner and register for the tournament. At the time, we weren't sure if he was going to be able to fish, but if he didn't maybe Dad could stand in for him, or worst case scenario, I fish by myself. At the registration we managed to spend about $300 in new Ranger clothing and a few other necessities. Nick bought me a real nice ranger jacket and when I thanked him for it, he responded "Thats alright, I will tell you why I bought it later." Sigh, man this vacation is getting expensive but when we overheard we were getting almost 8 inches of snow at home, we decided to spend our sorrows away. After registration we stopped at the store and gassed up, pick up some bottled waters, and I think Nick bought out the store in flu medicine.
That night we put together our tackle and a nice strategy for the next day. Nick informed me that I was driving the boat and running the trolling motor. I felt very comfortable with his decision but a little nervous. I began psyching myself out b/c noone else I saw was fishing in the brush and I overheard someone at the marina talking about how much fish love jigs in this lake and how he was catching as many as he could on main lake and secondary points. You know what they say about dock talk and how you are supposed to ignore it, well a few times that night I was having mental battles with myself about wether or not our day was a fluke, or if I was really on to something. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but this wouldn't have been the first time I caught them good in practice and flunk in the tournament.
Stay tuned and I will post our detailed tournament day results as well as some interesting drama.
Friday my Dad and I practiced on Kentucky lake south of the 68-80 bridge. We launched in the Blood River and fished around in the mud soup for about 1 hour. Needless to say, I was getting very discouraged. Especially since my right hand man and tournament partner was back at the hotel with the flu. By flu I mean endless fever, gut wrenching pain, and lung shattering coughs.
Dad and I decided if we were going to make any sort of progress in our tournament practice, we needed to find some clearer water. Nick talked to a guide the night before named Tadd Ladd who is also a friend of his and throughout the conversation, Tadd told him that the LBL (east) side of the lake was going to be clearer and warmer and not to be afraid to look shallow. We headed over there and still managed to suck up the earth!! At about 11 am we headed back to the end of ginger creek to the buck brush just for the heck of it. Boy was that the best move I ever made. Dad and I proceeded to catch or shake off about 6 fish. Mind you we only caught 3 the day before. We recognized about 300 little black birds diving under the water we assumed feeding on minnows. At first I was a little pessimistic on our pattern and proceeded to check another creek to perhaps solidify what we found and maybe put something together for tomorrows tournament. The back of the other creek also had little black birds feeding on minnows and about 25 bass that made our thumbs look like hamburger. At about 2pm we decided that we had enough proof that the fish were back there and decided to go get Nick for dinner and register for the tournament. At the time, we weren't sure if he was going to be able to fish, but if he didn't maybe Dad could stand in for him, or worst case scenario, I fish by myself. At the registration we managed to spend about $300 in new Ranger clothing and a few other necessities. Nick bought me a real nice ranger jacket and when I thanked him for it, he responded "Thats alright, I will tell you why I bought it later." Sigh, man this vacation is getting expensive but when we overheard we were getting almost 8 inches of snow at home, we decided to spend our sorrows away. After registration we stopped at the store and gassed up, pick up some bottled waters, and I think Nick bought out the store in flu medicine.
That night we put together our tackle and a nice strategy for the next day. Nick informed me that I was driving the boat and running the trolling motor. I felt very comfortable with his decision but a little nervous. I began psyching myself out b/c noone else I saw was fishing in the brush and I overheard someone at the marina talking about how much fish love jigs in this lake and how he was catching as many as he could on main lake and secondary points. You know what they say about dock talk and how you are supposed to ignore it, well a few times that night I was having mental battles with myself about wether or not our day was a fluke, or if I was really on to something. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but this wouldn't have been the first time I caught them good in practice and flunk in the tournament.
Stay tuned and I will post our detailed tournament day results as well as some interesting drama.
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