Final Day on Truman

Day two of Truman classic and last tournament of the year, with points counting towards Angler of the Year, meant this was an important tournament . The day before I caught them really good. So, I was leading with 15.31lbs on a spinnerbait, and most of it came out of the same pocket.

Day two plan was to start in the pocket. The weather was supposed to be sunny and calm, but the two days before the weather was cloudy and windy. I had focused on dirty water throwing a blade. When we got to the pocket, it was still early. My partner hooked up on the first cast. I figured we were going to catch them. Ok, I can do this. Then finally way back in the pocket, there were three trees making a triangle. I cast to the back of the tree. Set the hook on a really big fish. Of course, it swam around the tree the wrong way and got hung up on the tree. We tried to fit through the trees, but the boat was too big. The fish kept jumping, and then the line went slack. I just lost a fish in the 5 pound range. Just blew the tournament and angler of the year. Next 10 casts, I caught two more small keepers. I was not in a good mood.

Finally, I caught a limit, but my only big fish was 15 inches. Not good. We moved to another pocket without any luck. The night before I was studying the map of the lake, and saw a good pocket the wind would be blowing into. We decided to go try the pocket. I noticed right away there were a lot of shad. As we worked to the back of the pocket and started working our we back out, I hooked up with a good fish on the spinnerbait. I wasn’t sure it was a bass. But as it got closer to the boat, I got a good look at it. It was a big bass around 4 pounds. Just want I needed. As my partner netted it, I right away felt I had a chance. Just still wishing I had the other fish. As the day went on, I was able to creel one more time. I had a little over 10 pounds. I was not sure that was going to win me the Classic and Angler of the Year in the club. But after everyone turned in their sheets, I would end up with 25.39 pounds for the weekend. The one big fish of the day got me the win and back to back Angler of the Year in the Club. It felt so good to win a tournament on Truman in the fall. Also, I caught big bass both days. Great finish to the season. Thanks to my non-boater for keeping me focused and calm after losing the big fish.

Twins Win Back-to-Back

The second qualifier of the year was on LaCygne lake. Just before the event, there was a cold front coming through. One big problem with LaCygne, the Florida-strain bass don’t like cold fronts. So going into the event, we knew it would be tough fishing.

We had prefished the Monday before the event. The first spot we stopped, Kyle’s second cast he caught a 5 pound bass. After that, we could never find anymore keepers.

On Saturday the day before the tournament, we decided to go over to prefish. I really don’t like prefishing when the high school is fishing, but we really didn’t have much choice. First spot we stopped at, I caught one keeper right away. I figured maybe the fish are biting. I would catch two more keepers and shake off about three more fish. I was confident we could catch fish Sunday. Only problem, I was the only one catching keepers. So, the boys were not very confident.

Tournament day had 26 teams going out to try to catch fish. First spot, nine teams started in the area we planned on starting. We watched one team catch a keeper on topwater. After fishing 2 hours without a bite, we decided to move. We fished a couple of other spots without even a bite. Just before break, Kyle caught one small non-keeper and broke off a good fish. Nick was able to catch a white bass on a Rattletrap. After break, Kyle was picking out a backlash, and when he started reeling his line got tight. He was hooked up with a fish. I netted the fish and both boys were like “Dad though not a keeper.” I was going to check it anyway. The first time I checked the measurement, he didn’t make it. But the third time he barely touched the line. It was fish number one. I told the boys we will have to check again. They were so excited! They had been fishing very hard and to finally get a keeper was big. We fished a couple of other spots without a bite. Finally, we decided to go back to were we started with 30 minutes to go. I finally adjusted how we were fishing. Nick was watching his line when it moved just a little bit. He slammed back and had to horse the fish out of the cover. It was keeper number two. We had only 25 minutes to go, I put the boat on high and had the boys pitch to anything that moved. I felt so stupid. The pattern the day before showed us the fish, but I didn’t have the boys fish it right. Fishing is like a puzzle when you think you have all the pieces figured out something changes.

On the way to the ramp, I told the boys “Should get a top 10. Getting points is very important to qualify for the state championship.” As we were getting the boat out of the water, we talked to some other teams. Fishing was very tough. There were not very many fish weighed in. As we got up to the stage, found out we were the only team with two keepers. As the fish hit the scale, it showed their fish weighing in at 3.77lbs. The boys had won back to back events. What a great start to the season. The twins fished so hard, never quiting. We tried so many different things in the last two hours: crankbaits, spinnerbait, topwater and soft plastics. You never know when that fish will bite so you should never stop and until it’s over. Two more events to go next spring and the state championship.