Molson Bike Tour (North): Mother Cup '14 - Murphy's Law for Team SOL

The annual Mother Cup took place this past weekend on Lake Skegemog, however, based on the final tally and some other instances, it appears one team forgot to show up. More on that later; let’s emphasize the positives. Seadog Al C.’s wallet got a little heavier as his boat took the money three of the four sessions. Needless to say, the man knows how to work the east lake stumps and yet is courteous enough to bring the boat around when one of his boat mates gets snagged on said stumps (EVERYONE gets snagged – fact of life on Skegemog). Not to be outdone, fellow Seadog Jim M. brought in a four-plus pound bass in the second session to claim big fish for the weekend.

Things might have been different for the opposing Sons of Liberty (SOL) team; however, I don’t know where to start on what went wrong. I’ll try though.

First off, as reigning champions, I was expecting some fanfare right off the bat with the raising of their championship flag from 2013. The flag was nowhere to be seen this weekend.

Second, while I managed to not duplicate my fall in the water this year (thankfully), apparently two, yes two, SOL’s didn’t learn from my mistake. Both managed to do their Mark Spitz impressions on separate occasions while not trying to be like Mark Spitz. One SOL cell phone also swam; it wasn’t so fortunate.

Third is not really a reason; just karma. The person named after the "Mitchell sucks at fishing" song was their shining star for the weekend. All with a boat having mechanical issues. The person who wrote the song...was one of the Mark Spitz wannabes mentioned previously. Like I said, karma.

Lastly and probably the dagger of them all, a key transaction Saturday afternoon may have backfired on the SOL team. The third session was initially set as "open" meaning the only prize was for big fish and big boat; no team impact. Boat captains would choose fishing partners randomly and fish that evening. Both teams even signed off on these rules/fishing times prior to the weekend but…the SOL captain had an idea at the last minute. Only two boats had a mix of Seadog/SOL so he made a transaction with about 30 minutes to fish time; one Seadog and $20 for one SOL; the session would be for team points/pounds as well. Guess who won the big boat that evening? The boat that dropped the SOL member. Heck, half the people fishing that evening didn’t even know it was a team session until the weigh-in. With that, the fat lady was warming up on the Seadog side. Who are we kidding, she was singing for everyone in northwest Michigan to hear. On the other, there was talk of a coup of the captain of the SOL’s by its members. I’ll bet he was sweating while starting his car this morning (ha ha). Maybe he was hearing about the coup and that was the reason he pulled an Isiah (Pistons-Bulls reference) at the closing ceremonies by leaving early?

big fish

Coup or no coup, the weekend was great as usual with a good mixture of laughs that evolved into crying. The Raj/Champ combo may have lacked in the fishing area but never disappoint in fire pit slapstick. There was even a handstand completed. Entertainment at its best by some 40-somethings.

A shout out also to Team Millennium (graduated in the 2000’s – hence Team Millennium), aka Tom C. and his buddy Brandon. The two would not be intimidated by their elders and caught their share. Tom C. even had big fish going there for a bit until Jim M. said NO SIR!!!

All was well for me until Dave/Judy’s neighbor managed to turn on his sprinkler system at 4 AM Sunday. Guess who was in the line of said sprinklers? Yep, I knew something was up as rain normally doesn’t directly hit the side of a tent. After getting out of my tent, finding the sprinkler and getting it moved, I was soaked and now too worked up to get back to bed. I hung at the fire pit until it was time for the morning session. I had a half thought that the SOL's were the ones that turned on the sprinkler but that dissolved quickly as I doubt they would be trying to bring down the guy who catches one keeper fish a session. I am a hell of a net guy though.

Thanks, as always, to Dave and Judy for the lodging and the hospitality.

Trail Head

Final Totals:

Seadogs - 89.7 pounds

Sons of Liberty - 49.16 pounds

most fish weight - Al C.

big fish - Jim M.

Golf Outing - Dan H. and Roger