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| on the leader board - no order - 51.50 and 51.25 took it |
Yep, I should have stretched some fish tails a bit more yesterday as I took third place of the bass division in the annual No-Mo fishing tournament; lost by a half an inch. First and second place received prizes; bummer. As Ricky Bobby says though, it you're not first, you're last. Some nice parting gifts would have been cool though; ha. No, there will be no bitterness in this post as I had one of my better outings in some time and beat roughly 60 other anglers. A good omen for the upcoming Mother Cup next month.
My lake of choice for the tournament (any public water is eligible) this year was Lake Orion. I consulted with the local fishing expert, Doke, who regularly tackles the lake. My game plan was actually to try and get a pike, a sloppy carp or sheepshead along with a big bass to try and take the mixed division (three ways to win: best three of the mix, best three bass or biggest overall). In the first hour, I had my big bass as the pink wacky worm brought in a 20 inch, four pound largemouth. Good morning to me as the heart was pounding pretty good at that point. Who needs coffee? I gave it the college try for the pike and sloppy carp or sheepshead but the bass were the only ones taking so...bass division it was. I was almost going to rely on a rock bass for my third but thankfully brought in a 15 inch largemouth late in the morning to get what I thought was a pretty good trio; a total of 51 inches. I recall previous year's winners being in the fifties so as Lloyd Christmas says in Dumb & Dumber, "So you're telling me there's a chance... YEAH!"
The check-in for the tournament was at Kensington. You write down what you had and they put your name on the main board if your totals are top five. The names are not in any particular order but if you are listed, you have a chance of getting called to have your pictures verified (everyone has the same ruler with the blue bracelet as the marker). If you got called, it meant you were at least top two. It was not to be for me as 51.50 and 51.25 took the top two. If I only could have stretched those tails just a bit more!
I'd like to thank my friends for this fortuitous day on the water as the little things they do (or yell) while fishing in the past seemed to rub off on me today. Everything from working the lake "points" to not "horsing" the fish (that's where the yelling comes in). Thanks dogs.
Trail Head
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| got this fat-bellied largemouth in the first hour |
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| skunk hat award for this guy - as in, "skunked" on the water today |
