Fished my first bass tournament this past weekend. What a blast! Camping with a good friend, meeting new friends around the campfire, and fishing. Does it get any better? My fishing partner and I started for Boyer Park around noon and arrived around 2. We set up camp and after I rigged up the 5 rods I brought. I went with a Sammy for the morning topwater bite, a Strike King bleeding shad lipless crankbait, a white spinner bait, a swimbait, and a grub on a jighead. A couple hours later, other anglers were showing up and would continue well into the night. We lit the campfire and the anglers next to us came over to BS. They were 16 year old kids, but from what my buddy said, these kids could fish. I would observe this first hand later. We ended up hitting the sack about 11 for a not very restful night.
Day One:
The alarm goes off at 4 AM. We wanted to get a head start launching the boat so we didn’t have to deal with the cluster later. After launching and tying off the boat, we headed back to camp for some coffee and OJ with our camp neighbors. At about 6, we head back to the boat to await the 6:30 blast off. We got our boat number the previous night, and I was asked to draw a chip to see who would go out first. I drew 10. We were 6 out of 27 boats. So we had a while to wait. Which kind of sucked since half the boats were headed to the same spot. But it also meant we would be 4th to head out on day 2. So our number is finally called. After a short maze to get out of the no wake zone, my buddy puts the hammer down and off we went. We ran for about 20 minutes and arrived at the spot we wanted to start out at. Of course, there about 5 other boats there. So we settled for a spot across the river. The water was relatively calm, with a slight chop. It’s Sammy time! After a few casts I get a strike, but the fish misses. A few twitches later it hits it again, but misses again. That was the only strike both of us got on top. Time to switch it up. I go to the lipless crankbait. After a number of casts…BAM! Fish on! I get it to the boat, and it’s not very big. But it’s my first tourney fish and not a bad start. A while later, my buddy hooks and lands his first fish of the day. About the same size as mine, but again, at least he’s on the board. We troll down a ways and turn around. I catch one more very small fish on the grub. We decide that we’ve fished this stretch thoroughly. So we shoot across now that there aren’t as many boats, hoping to catch some fish that were missed by the others. We start fishing this grass line by ripping spinnerbaits through any little break in the grass. My buddy hooks up but loses it. Next cast, the fish drills it again. This time it’s in the boat. A nice smallie. A while later, as I’m reeling in my lure, my buddy gasps looking at where my lure is in the water. I look down, and a GIANT smallie is following my lure. As luck would have it, it saw the boat and broke off the chase. This was easily a 4+ pounder. We continued to fish that stretch without another fish. We make another run to an area called Deadman’s, where there is another grass line similar to the one we just fished. This when my buddy really heats up. After throwing a spinnerbait at the grass, he switches to a crawfish crankbait when the bottom turned rocky. He pulls 2 fish off that stretch. We then make our way to the other side, and he pulls another. He’s got his limit. While he unhooks that fish, the boat rotates and points me right at the rock point where my partner just caught his. So make a long cast with the lipless crank, and WHAM!!! It gets inhaled. Good fish on! I get it to the boat and it’s a 2 lb largemouth, a rare thing in this area. It ended up being my big fish for the weekend and only one of two largemouth caught in the entire tournament. We fish another part with not even a strike. We work our way back on the same rock shore where we both pulled fish. I’m not getting anything. I need to change something. I opened up my tackle bag and a medium depth (6-8 ft) neon blue, white, and orange crankbait was just begging to get wet. So I tied it on, and gave it a go. Second cast I nail fish number 4. One more for a limit on the first day of my first tourney! A while later while my partner was pitching soft plastics at some metal pilings, I was cranking along the drop off. I hook and land my first limit. I was stoked! After finishing up with Deadman’s, we made our last run past the marina to the other dam. We each pulled fish out of there, nothing spectacular, but we each got to upgrade some fish. Off we ran to weigh in. We pull up and we each get our bags. After putting my fish in, my weight was announced. 4 lbs 6 oz. Not all that bad for a first timer. My buddy weighed in at 5 lbs 4 oz. We figured out that his last fish pushed him ahead of me. Later on the standings were posted. I was in 34th and my buddy was in 27th. I was excited to not be in last and really looking forward to day 2.
Day 2:
Again we woke at 4 and got the boat launched. Even then, it was obvious that this was going to a much tougher day. The wind was whipping up the river bad. It was a very rough run out to our first spot. We started fishing and the boat was being blown backward even with the trolling motor at max power. We fished there for about an hour with no luck. We move to the grass line from the day before. Nothing. We decided to run to Deadman’s. I start cranking with the lure I used the day before. As soon as we round a point to some protected water, fish on. Not big, but I wasn’t skunked. We work along, with my buddy picking up a fish on a crankbait. After working that area for a while, we decide to make a run to the dam and spend the rest of day there. About halfway there, the engine sputtered and quit. Oh no! It would start then die. No gas!!! We put some gas in the night before thinking we had some fuel. We were wrong. So, we trolled over and started fishing. We were screwed either way, may as well salvage something. I decide to try a bait that I hadn’t thrown in a while but had a lot of faith in. The chatterbait. I chose a chartreuse color with a whit grub trailer. I spot a nice little reed point and cast past it. When it got to the point, fish on! About the same size as my other one. We spot another boat and troll around them. Later on, they stop to see if were ok. After telling them we were out of gas, they offered a tow. So we tied the boats together and headed back. Along the way, my buddy’s fish weren’t doing to well. He decided to release them. Mine were alive and kicking so I kept mine. We made it back just in time for weigh in. I put my fish in the basket. The scale read a pitiful 1 lb 1 oz. I ended up finishing 38th out of 47 anglers. I was happy with that. My first tournament and I didn’t finish last.
All in all it was a great weekend. Sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to capture as much of it as I could. Enjoy the pics as well.
