anybody got to the Nationals

[dartag]

any stories.  talked to my brother each day.  he caught a few in practice then zeroed all 3 days.  they had over 500 fishermen and weighed in just 1021 fish total for the 3 days. guess there were lots of long faces.   at least the weather  was nice. 
sounded like the only michigan angler that did good was Andy Nowyorkas who finished 19th.

[McCarter]

Skip Johnson finished 12th i think.  Or somewhere around there.  Skip is a District 7 guy.  Just started fishing with us in 06 and won a couple.  He is a really cool guy and obviously a heck of a fisherman. 

One of these years, Andy will win the national event.  He comes close just about every year.  Plus, KY lake is his favorite lake.  He just needs things to go his way once in a while.

PB himself

[Skip Johnson]

Actualy I placed 13th and got a nice check that covered all my families trip expenses in a cool little cabin right next to andy and his wife julie, rich and drew stayed with them!
it was a great week with terrible fishing and realy cool neighbors, I hoped to finish top 100 and placed even better than I hoped for!

I blanked on day 2 and had a 7# plus spit the hook just outside of net reach on day 3.

I had several patterns but knew only 2 would get me in the money so I helped a couple guys with spots, one guy got 5 fish at my topwater spot on day 2 at a spot that I took him to on day 1, I told him to go there becouse I had a big fish spot that I wanted to spend the day in!

wish I would have gone there on day 2
he beat me there on day 3, as soon as he seen me pull up he left! I wish he would have stuck around becouse he blanked on day 3 and was just a couple ounces out of the money!

I got 1 quick fish there and went and sat on my big fish spot for 4 hours and hooked the fish story, couldnt get bit there again so I spent the next couple hours running down isolated boat docks for 3 more fish.

I drew great guys all 3 days, I blew through over 5 dozen plastics catching no less than 100 fish over 6 days but only about a dozen fish made the 15 inch minimum.

all in all I loved every minute of it, it was realy hard to figure out and I cant wait to go back.

this year has been a good workout for me, I totaled a skeeter, theres no smallmouth in sandiego so I had to transition to fishing totaly different patterns here in michigan.
Ive met a bunch of cool peaple here and cant wait for spring now that I have an idea whats up with these bass.

[Anthony Adams]

I blew my Motor on day one fairly early in the day ruining my day and getting DQed on day one.

Day two I drew a nice guy from New York and he had nothing going.. I gave him one look at my Camera phone to show him the 4 Bass over 5lbs I & Jaye caught in practice and he was all for whatever I wanted to do.

We got to my #1 spot on Day two and found they was pulling water hard .. On my second cast I hooked one over 6lbs only to have it spit a jig in my face about 5 feet from the boat. 3 casts later I put a 5+ lber in the boat .. Knowing a 5lber had a shot to win big bass I was hoping the fish would hold and I could win the $5100 big bass prize I was very excited.... A few casts later my co-anlgler hooked another huge bass (close to 6lbs) only to have it break his (booyah) spinner bait in half .. I hooked one more big one after that and once again it spit the jig in my face... a couple minutes later they shut down ... we had about 20 minutes of hot and heavy action and then nothing ..

My pattern was to go after big bass and hope for 3 big bites a day... I fished hard for those big bass bites and each day I got them but had trouble putting them in the boat.

This seems to be an ongoing problem with me lately and I need to find a way to resolve this problem...

It also seems when I do well and I manage to get those big fish in the boat then my boat breaks.. If only I could solve these two problems for 2007...

I think I need to buy a brand new boat..

Hmmm Triton X2 ....

[McCarter]

Sounds like you need a better rod.  Maybe one with some back bone.  Maybe an AIRRUS!

PB himself

[bshaner]

I was reading on another board that some boaters walked out of the tournament on the 3rd day or something?  What's the scoop on that?

B

[Skip Johnson]

on day 3 the wind blew 20 to 30 overnight from the north so it had about 50 miles to build swell, they were 3 to 4 fters but were doubling up so I guess some were 6 to 7 fters, I had to run in it from my cabin to boat check about 5 miles, I speard 2 waves and one got me real good, I was running half plane when one pushed me into the one infront of me, it knocked my console lowrance out of the bracket, kinda freaky in the night, when I pulled up to boat check my boat was still half full, it was 51 degrees so it kinda sucked! I was ready to get back out and fish but they held us up till about 9:30 so we had a short day 3!

I think the guys that pulled out probobly decided it wasnt worth it for crappy fishing or just got scared.

[Anthony Adams]

I heard it was about 10 boats who pulled out. Most of them pulled out before the ABA decided if they would fish or cancle day 3. Many of those guys expected the ABA to cancle but the lake laid down some so the ABA choose to fish.

Big Bass each day was $5180 bucks and cant understand why anyone would not fish for a chance at that one big lucky bite.

[Cheetam]

Sounds like you need a better rod.? Maybe one with some back bone.? Maybe an AIRRUS!

PB himself

My grandaddy always said, "don't blame the tools, blame the carpenter"...

[fishon1219]

Sounds like you need a better rod.? Maybe one with some back bone.? Maybe an AIRRUS!

PB himself

My grandaddy always said, "don't blame the tools, blame the carpenter"...

I always heard it's not the arrow, its the native-american(wording changed to be politacly correct)