Had my second big tournament of the year this weekend. This time at Eufaula, AL.
Extremely diverse conditions this week. Left at 2:30 A.M. Thursday to get to the lake in time. It was pretty cold and foggy, had to run by GPS as I had less than 30 feet visibility.
The first placed I stopped, caught several nice fish and finished the day with a good catch. The high that day was around 80!
Woke up Friday morning to pouring rain, opted to roll over and wait it out. Did not catch near as many Friday, but saw lots of gators! Couldn't get a good close up, they were skiddish, but that's not a bad thing when you are in a boat that looks like a zebra! They give me strange looks, they may have been talking with their African cousins and found out how good zebra's taste!
Anyway, got paired with a local that hasn't fished a tournament in 3 years, and was just going for the ride. Well, he got more than he hoped for. The fish I found on Thursday was a 25 minute ride up the river in 25 MPH winds. We ran into a wall of rain as we neared our spot. Shortly after arrival, the rain turned to sideways snow. Always nice when fishing in March! Did I mention is was 80 degrees 2 days before? We only caught a few there and moved further up the river to a few other locations.
After catching a few more fish, we returned to our first spot. My partner had a 5 fish limit at this point and I had only 4. Within 5 minutes, I caught my 5th fish, then another fish that allowed me to cull a smaller fish. While unkoohing my fish, my partner said "get the net, big one!". He wasn't kidding, a beautiful 6 pounder.
Time to head back, we managed to stay out of the really rough water til we neared the launch site, we hit 3' white capped waves. Much like a riding a bull!
We had surmised my partner had a 15 to 16 pound limit and would probably get a decent check. We weighed in, and his sack weighed 17.63! He was in first place and had big fish thus far. Did I mention there were 173 very good anglers in this tournament? Pretty cool stuff. Unfortunately for him, a professional angler fishing the tournament came to the scales with 19 pounds and bumped my partner out of first place. Too bad for him, but still a great finish.
I finished somewhere in the top 20, which is good for me on this lake.
No more fishing for a few weeks, I get to go to NYC with Moody Jr. High for a week next week! Fired up about spending many hours on a bus trip with 200 teenagers! Outstanding!
Wish me luck!
Have any sedatives?
7 comments:
got your bags packed for ny yet? woohoo ... can't wait!
What goes around comes around. You're just paying for your raising, Son. Love it and you! :)
when are we going fishing? seriously. 9 weeks away, i think. we have time, don't we? glad you had a good showing in the tourney. but maybe you should've asked to fish from the back of the boat...just sayin man.
Only 90 teenagers, not 200. Plus there are 80 parents going. It's not like you have to take care of all those kids by yourself. Don't try and fool anyone. You will have a good time. Proud of your fishing by the way.
Wifey
My partner gave a nice plug on the Alabama BASS Federation Nation website concerning his catch! Rare!
" Terry Volf of Bluff City Bassmasters finished in 2nd Place with a weight of 17.63 lbs. In addition to his 2nd Place check of $1,200, he also received a bonus of $250 for being the highest registered Non-Boater. Terry used several patterns-all involved pockets up river. Some fish came off grass, others from secondary points in the pockets. Most of his catch came in 3-4 ft. of water off a spinner bait and a Branch Baits Beaver Tail in a watermelon seed and pumpkin pepper color dipped in JJ's Magic chartreuse dye. His bigger fish came when he pitched the Beaver Tail and slowly dragged it in. Terry also said his partner, Scott Holmes' jet boat gave them a great advantage. While others had to idle in and out of stump-filled pockets, the zebra-colored jet boat moved them in and out quickly and safely. You can see Terry's spinner baits and Branch Baits Beavertails on his website, www.fishtalesandthings.com. "
Nice haul ...gotta hand it to ya. I wouldn't be out there in that kid of weather.
I like it about 85 on a bank with a radio and a cooler full of beer.
Post a Comment