Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

June 7th, tournament day 1

I met up with my pro Gary, early in the morning. I pride myself on not being one of those co-anglers that has to take everything they own into the other guy?s boat. I take four or five rods and a really small tackle bag, just big enough to fit the lures that are working for me and a couple waters and a sandwich.

When talking to Gary at the registration meeting the night before, Gary was really excited about the pattern that he had going and that he was catching a lot of fish. It seems that he had found the same pattern that we had found. I was really excited too! Gary was throwing a frog to catch his fish and I knew I could follow up behind him and clean up by throwing that worm.

When he said that we weren?t going far, he wasn?t joking. We blasted off and wrapped around the corner of the marina and started fishing some chunk rock with scattered vegetation. It was a little windy and his boat control was lacking a bit. With no takers in the first 20 minutes he moves to spot number two. Way back in a cut, around a dock and some wood scattered along the edge? and oh yeah, somebody?s house sitting in the middle of the bay!!! It appears that all the wreckage from the tornado they had last year has not been completely cleaned up yet.

?Where?d you catch your fish Josh??

?Right where the front porch punched through the rafters, next to the can light and signature series Nascar ceiling fan.?

You gotta be kidding me! You should have seen how far that house had to travel in the air to get to the middle of the bay.

Back to fishing.

Gary was catching shorties on the toad and I had no takers yet. The shallower we got the more bites he would get and the smaller the fish would get. I learned that week that it doesn?t take long for a spot to tell you if it?s gonna be a good one or not. Once we started kicking up dirt with the trolling motor, I turned around and started fishing on the deep side of the boat. Which as luck would have it, I caught myself a squeaker!

So within the first hour and a half I?m on the board by catching a fish in the deeper water, and if we get any shallower, we?re going to need a hover craft.

Gary is a really nice guy, and was excited as one can be fishing his first Stren Series. Huh? Yeah it was Gary?s first time and he?s fished a couple BFL?s before and wanted to try a bigger tournament. It appears that the dying pattern that we found earlier in the week has turned belly up for Gary and by 10:45 he had hit all of his spots and was ready to punt and go up to the dam and crank the rip rap.

I really felt bad for Gary. I could see the excitement quickly leaving his face and the shear disappointment starting to set in. I?ve been there too many times. He brought his whole family down from Indiana with him and his wife was there at the launch to see him off. I wished there was something more I could have done. I didn?t suggest anything to him directly, but I did fabricate some funny stories to share with him that lead to some explicit details of what type of water we were fishing and where.

By the time Gary asked for suggestions, it was too late, we only had just over an hour before we had to weigh in and there wasn?t anything in the immediate area we could run to and find the type of stuff we were fishing.

So? joshimoto son got to go up on stage and weigh his two pound one ounce fishy and be happy that he didn?t get skunked.

It?s really luck of the draw, and you could get the guy who?s going to finish near the bottom and you could get the guy who?s going to finish near the top. For me to make the cut or even get a check, I was going to have to make one heck of a come back.

It?s a good thing I didn?t know what place I was in after day one. My buddy told me after the tournament that I was somewhere in the 160?s overall after day one. I wouldn?t have guessed I was that far down the line. Yuck!!!

Day two on its way