Monthly Club Tournament

January 16, 2010

Crooked Lake

     I will begin this letter with my entry in the Bassmasters 1st Southern Open on Lake Okeechobee out of Okeechobee, Florida. I mention that because it is at the northernmost area of the lake and the fact that I ended up on the southernmost portion of the lake with my first day’s partner, J.T. Kenney.

     The 40 mile trip across the open waters of the Big “O” were rough and bumpy, but we got to where J.T. was fishing and he began to catch fish right off the bat using his flippin’ stick. It was the only rod he had on deck all day. He was using a 1 ½ ounce Tru Tungsten weight and a 3” ugly otter bait in June Bug. He must have caught three limits and was first the first day with 15 pounds 13 ounces.

     I managed to get one bite and a two pound fish. That was it for me. I was in 31st place the first day and was looking forward to catching a couple of more the second day.

     I drew Felton Jackson the second day and the best part of that was that we didn’t go far. The bad news was that we didn’t catch any fish. He ended up in 158th of 199 anglers. I finished up 86th of 199 co-anglers.

     It was cold, windy, with rain from time to time, and basically miserable, but that is fishing when you have to fish. Same happened on Crooked Lake for me on Saturday.

     I contacted the TD on Wednesday on the way to Okeechobee and told him that I might be fishing and that I had just passed US 27 and found it closed and let Dick know that. He said he already knew that and that he had advised the club of an alternate route that Chuck put in an email to let people know where to turn to go to the lake.

     I contacted the TD again on Friday after not making the cut down south and that I would be fishing with CBC Saturday. He said I would be fishing with Matt Sparks.

     I met up with Matt at the lake and he graciously moved his seat to the back of the boat for me too use, and I thank him greatly for doing so. Kudos my good man !

     We went out and fished all day in the wind and high seas.

     I was anxious to see how the new “kid” performed on the lake. Let me tell you now to be forewarned that he will be winning his share of tournaments in the future. I was pleasantly surprised at his ability to fish and his willingness to share his knowledge and ask for advice when needed. He handled the boat very well and we slowed him down a couple of times to properly move between waves as they were very high at certain places on the lake.

     I was able to show him what a jack (pickerel) was as he had never had one in his boat, or so he told me. He was able to catch a 13 + inch bass. I was impressed with him and will be glad to be his partner again anytime.

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     I see Norm Whitten’s picture plastered on the front page of our website and what a pretty picture it is, don’t you all think so ? Norm finished First AND had "Big Fish" with a total weight of two pounds and seven ounces. On a tough tough day like this you are de man. Congratulations on the win.

     Second Place went to Jerry Bischoff, also with one fish weighing in at one pound 14 ounces, and he was tied with the other Second Place finisher, David DeBardeleben. Good day for both of you. Actually it was a great day for both of you !

     Seven people caught seven fish. Wow ! Is that right, one per person ? Goes to show what a really difficult day it was ! Congratulations to all of the “catchers” on this day.

     Still plenty of room for changes in the top ten for the “Classic” ! Good fishing to all who would be “Classic” contenders. Two months to get it right.

     On a final note before the meeting next Thursday I fished the Bassmaster Weekend Series first stop at Kissimmee out of Camp Mack on the 23rd . It was the first stop of the five event forum.

     My wife was with me and she said it was time to go "catching" instead of just fishing. I thought that was a good idea and took that theme out on the water with my angler, David Thomas. We went to north cove and guess what we did ? We flipped with 1 ½ ounce sinkers in the morning.

     He began catching small keepers right off the bat. Was this going to be Déjà Vu? I had just flipped the week before in Okeechobee. He had three in the boat before I got a bite, but I finally got one in the boat, and earlier than the week before.

     Co-anglers can only bring three to the scales so I was shooting for that. Three fish of 12 inches seemed insurmountable for me lately, but I flipped away.

     I caught two other keepers by noon and was somewhat happy. It was good to be “catchin'” instead of just fishing. I lost a three pounder flipping also later on !

     In the afternoon we decided to go a bit offshore as I had seen what I thought was schooling fish up near a point, but I also saw ducks in the area and thought they might be the reason for the splashing. I was wrong.

     We got around that area and began worming. My partner caught his biggest fish on his first cast in that area and culled the smallest of his limit.

     On my next cast I also culled my smallest fish. I then got another bite close to the boat. I saw the fish to be about five pounds and he dropped and then picked it up again. I set the hook and my “carrot stick” exploded about a foot above the reel seat and broke the line right there at the same time. That fish cost me dearly.

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     Don’t buy no “carrot sticks”. I Heard from others who had the same experience ! Boyd Duckett of the Elite Series used to be sponsored by “carrot sticks”, but he quit them because of the lack of quality.

     I finished 10th on the co-angler side with six and a half pounds, and my angler finished 11th on the anglers side of the draw with 13 and a half pounds. It was a successful day “catchin'” and I may finally have that monkey off my back. We both got a check from the tournament as they paid 13 places.

     Well, that’s all the blathering I can do at this time so I’ll call it a day and see you at the meeting.