We woke up to rain today left over from the previous night's storm. SAVAGE was in the first flight, I was in the last, but sharing a ride means we both had to get to the ramp prior to the 6:00am check-in deadline. Upon arrival SAVAGE and I parted ways, I headed to the last row of boats to find Anthony (ABA).
I found Anthony and his 591 Nitro, for those of you that don't know, Anthony is the head of boat sales at the Gander Mountain in Flint. They have a Z9 in stock! I was really impressed with the room the 591 has and the 150 EFI propelled it well. That boat had incredible lift running up the river.
The rain didn't last long after we left the hotel this morning, but once at the ramp we could see clouds moving in from the southwest. The third flight finally made our way out towards the lake, through the no wake, at Metro Beach around 8:00am. We were just nearing the blast off point when the rain started again, within 2 minutes, it began to pour! I, as always, was donned in my SavePhace (FishHedz) mask but Anthony had opted against his this morning. We had to stop out in the middle of the lake because it was tough for him to see, but being Anthony is so resourceful, he had a GPS coordinate close by that we decided to fish quick. Anthony knows this body of water like no one I know. Countless GPS coordinates, and an understanding of fish behavior and patterns that really opened my eyes. He is a run and gun type of guy too, if the fish don't bite move to the fish that will..my kind of fishing.
We continue to fish spot to spot all the way up the river. Anthony is an instructor type fisherman as well, he always explained what type of area we were fishing, I was never blind casting into dead water. We began to pick up fish all over 1 or 2 bites at every spot, but not the quality we were looking for. Anthony did pick up one nice one of the bunch but needed better fish to go with it. We actually fished one spot where he caught 6 or 8 short fish and I picked one that was just over 14", he had the right bait on compared to what I was throwing, he probably caught 4 time the fish I did, although alot were short.
Today seemed to fly, before we knew it we were way up the river with less than 2 hours left, Anthony had 4 keepers, and I had 3 (lost one keeper close to the boat, never got a good hook into him). The water was kicking up pretty good in the river we began to really wonder what the lake would be like, with the fear of being late overwhelming us we headed back to Metro. We stopped at a couple river spots along the way and made one quick drift, but decided we needed to accept what we had. We entered into the lake coming out of the middle channel and to our suprise it was almost flat! Anthony's wheels began to turn and I saw him going through his GPS, he made a hard turn and hollered, I've got a GPS spot close, we've got time for a couple quick casts. This is where preparation and thinking on your feet really pay off, because Anthony made one cast on his spot and FISH ON! He pinned a 2 1/2 pounder for his limit! TIME TO GO!!
We made it back fine, Anthony brought in around a 13.5# bag, I was only able to weigh 3 in for just over 6#. Not the day of catching I had hoped for, but what an education. I really enjoyed my day on the water with Anthony, it will stay fresh with me for years to come.
We waited around the weigh-in to get our Day 2 pairings, and with another stroke of luck I was paired with Larry Gargus. His non-boater was the Day 1 leader with just over 20# fishing Larry's spots! Can't wait until tomorrow!! :D
To be Continued....