Custom Baits - Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: weltonio on 05/07/12 09:20 UTC
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I did not win anything but I thought I would share a wonderful weekend of fishing for those who would like to enjoy.
My 1987 16' Alumacraft boat with a 30 hp motor got to tag along with me to work on Friday. This has always been a special boat to me because it was passed down to me from my Pawpaw. He passed away at a young age but I hold many fond memories of him and I in this same boat many years ago. I recently noticed a small sticker on the side that says Airborne 51 from his services in WWII.
I had intentions on sleeping in the truck or boat Friday night on the water. The lake was off limits until 12:01 and you could not start fishing until 6:00am. The tournament lasted for two days and the top 10 heaviest bass were awarded handsomely. First consisted of a prize and money package of over $100,000 including a loaded out 21' I class Skeeter with a 250 Yamy. This brought out everyone with a boat or fishing pole from miles around including myself. Upon arival to the lake I managed to rough it for at least two hours. The Cinco de Mayo festivities appeared to begin early because of the loud music and traffic at the marina that I had chosen. This spured me to find the closest hotel, if there were any available. Luckily I caught one on the first cast with ac, tv, shower, and a bathroom. I thought to myself that I was really hardcore.
I got up early and was on the water at 5:30am. Apparently I had a good spot picked out because there were already two boats anchored there. I wondered how long they had been there. The doubts ended soon about giving up my spot by a 2 lbs bass caught on a square bill crank bait around 6:15. By 7:00 I had 10 bass caught around the same size using an underspin rigged with a Wutz-It. As the day went by the bass moved out deeper into the river. I was not going to take one to weigh in unless it was 5 lbs or better. Before I knew it I was anchored in the middle of the lake fishing for those giant bass lurking in the safety of the depths. The lake bottle necked down to the area of the weigh in and I was right in the middle with boats zooming by at mach 3 speeds. After several hours of boats zooming by I decided that the fish were scared to death because of the invasion...Off to calmer water.
I put the trolling motor down and zig-zagged around the seemingly desperate fisherman. By this time there were only 2 hours of fishing time left. I was throwing another underspin rigged with a swim shad. I recieved several dirty looks as I picked up fish from places where people had been working all day...a victory in itself. My last cast snagged on a trot line around 2:45. By the time I got int un-hooked there would be no way I could make it to weigh-in on time. I finished the day out with 25 largemouth and 5 sand bass.
I chose to only fish one day of the 2 day tournament. After church on Sunday, I took a couple of guys fishing out on Lake Fork. As I was backing the boat into the water I was listing to the final hours of the tournament live on the radio. The leader of the tournament was being interviewed with 17 minutes left for someone to bring in a fish bigger than 9.68 lbs to spoil his victory and claim the grand prize and take home the new boat. That could of been me.