"Don't Worry" - Clearwater Bass Club

"Don't Worry"
by Capt. Jerry Bischoff

It was Saturday, June, 26, 07. My partner Steve and I were competing in the Extreme Trail tournament on Lake Tarpon. It started as a good day, 3rd boat out, and a well thought-out plan (so we thought). I felt pretty confident, and told Steve, "DON'T WORRY," as I had just won the Clearwater Bass Club tournament, the week before on this lake.

Our first stop was a flat 3 foot area with a nice drop-off to about 10 feet. I started with my famous worm, and Steve chose a spinnerbait. Right away, he had a couple of hits, and a minute or so later, had two fish in the livewell. I told him, one more and I'm switching over to a spinner. He did, I did, and we started loading the boat. We had 5 nice fish within minutes and started culling with three more. We got real excited, and then the bite stopped ! But, we had 5 "sister" fish, for about 10 or 11 pounds. Not bad, for the first hour. l told him, "DON'T WORRY," I knew a place where we could find a "big" kicker fish.

So we moved out. No one was near the next hole, so we started fishing. About on the third cast, I felt a small tap. I set the hook, and it pulled back on me. I knew we had our "kicker" if I could get it in the boat. I told Steve, "DON'T WORRY," I'll bring this baby home. After a couple of threatening runs, it finally gave up and Steve put the net to "HER". It looked to be around 7 pounds. And it weighed at 7 lbs. 2 ozs. Now. we had about 15 lbs. after culling a "sister." We whooped and hollered like two crazy guys. It was 8:00 am, and we were on our way to a win.

I told Steve, "DON'T WORRY," we'll find some even bigger fish, it looks like our day. We fished for about on hour and a half, not getting any bigger fish than we had, then our day changed.

Steve said he hadn't heard the livewell go on for a while. We checked the wells, and no water moving. The right well, with the big fish and one "sister," stopped. We got them out and put them on a stringer, and kept them moving. The left well was overflowing into the bilge. The bilge was full of water. I turned on the bilge, but, no power. I turned the key on the big motor, and still no power. We grabbed the booster cables and got the big motor going. We were still one livewell down, with the big fish dead, and the "sister" just hanging on.

Steve called a friend that lived nearby on the lake to see if he had a portable aerator on his pontoon boat out back. He did, so we idled over to get it. While maneuvering to get next to the "toon” I backed into a new dock post (l didn't see it !). It left a couple of "memories" in the paint on the motor. We quickly got the "baby" pump, and started to assess our situation.

We had one livewell, 4 live fish, 1 dead BIG fish, a bilge full of water, and a dead battery. Not bad, huh ? I told Steve, "DON'T WORRY," it's only 9:00 am and we ONLY have 6 hours to weigh-in.

We jumped the start battery again, and got the left well pumping, and started idling up the lake. Steve said he had a spare battery in his boat, which was about 3 miles up the lake. Well now, things get better. We got the battery, got the livewell going good, got our composure back, and started fishing again.

I tell Steve, we need some bigger fish. He says, "DON'T WORRY" and proceeds to put a 4 1/2 pounder in the net. We said "good by" to another one of the "sisters." About two minutes later, I felt a soft tap, and a strong run. A good hook-set gave us a nice 5 1/2 pounder. We culled another little girl, and started whooping and hollering. Kinda like a couple of "older" idiots. It was now about 11:30 am and we had over 20 pounds in the boat.

We decided to get closer to the ramp, so we idled, and idled, and idled. We decided to get on plane, big mistake ! The motor went into cardiac arrest, and over-heated. So we trolled, and trolled, and trolled some more. We fished, as we went along. We caught a couple of 1 1/2 pounders and threw them back.

Jerry's smilin' now even though he and his partner, Steve had one hell of a day fishing. It was that ''Don't Worry'' attitude that carried the day ! Congratulations, Jerry and Steve !!!

A couple of other boats saw us, and must have thought we were crazy, they were kinda right. We got back to the ramp at 2:30 and waited for the weigh-in. I told Steve, "DON'T WORRY," we're good, it's our day.

With 29 boats there were many bags of 11, 12, 13, and 14 pounds. Steve took our bag up and it was 21.24 pounds minus ½ lb. for a dead fish putting us at 20.74 lbs., with 1st Place and BIG BASS at 6. 95 lbs. It was hard to believe, considering the sweet-sour day we had. But, we counted our money anyway.

After many congrats, Steve helped me jump the start battery and just then the bilge pump went on emptying the boat. I yelled at Steve as I motored out, I told you, "DON'T WORRY." The moral of this true story is, NEVER GIVE UP !