Took one on the chin today

[grab the net]

Fishing a two day tournament this weekend.

Day one, Almost late, to top it off, kill switch was tripped, took about 2 minutes of panic to figure that out and get started down the lake to the take off.

Get to take off with about 3 minutes to spare before take off at 0700. Find out I am boat # 4. Thats good news.

Take off goes fine, wide open flying down the lake, motor cuts out, look at kill switch again, it's good, re-start motor, kills again, check gas tank, starboard side empty, switch to port, restart engine, several boats fly past, now I feel like I am boat # 10, not good.

Get to my starting spot, only one there, good, figure out after about an hour why I am the only one there. Time to move.

Start to move down a shore line out of increasing east wind, yea 5- 10 mph, right, seems a little stronger. Still no fish. Blow up on a buzzbait, but no take, how can they miss the trailer hook? No interest in the throwback senko so keep moving. Fatal mistake now being made, instead of slowing down, I am speeding up thinking I need to cover water.

See another competitor coming my way down the same shore line. Watch him pop three fish in about 3 mintues off the outside weedline. Line twist in reel, large mess, in a hurry, end up cutting and retie. I did this about 5 times over the course of the day. Seeing the other guy catch fish makes me start to doubt what I am doing. I give him a lot of room and leave the area wishing him luck with a wave.

Next stop more of the same, nothing, get bit off by a pike, retie. Miss a pike, See lots of boats moving now, makes me think people are having the same luck I am.

Several stops later and still no fish, its 11:30 and I am now officially panic stricken. Stop have a cup of coffee and a cookie, try an settle down. Try to slow down, works for about a half hour, find my self fishing way to fast again.

One other blow up on a buzzbait late in the after noon, about 2:00pm. Fish came out of the water and dove straight down on the buzzer, no hook up, no interest in the throwback. End of day, I never have to turn my live well pump on I blank, never even had a fish hooked.

Never completely blanked in a Tournament before, humbling experience. I knew I was in the panic mode way to early and knew I was fishing to fast, but could not help myself today.

2nd day will be a lunker hunt for me and about half the field, 7 people did not weigh out of 20. A couple others weighed 1 or two fish for 2-4 pounds of wieght.

Leader is my fishing partner, good news, 17.12 lbs for 4 fish. He had big fish for the day, 5.69 piggie. 2nd place is about 2.5 lbs behind, 3rd is about 3 lbs behind.

Hope to redeem myself tommorow. Slow down, slow down, slow down.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Dude-- tie the yarn around the casting thumb.. slow down take a deep breath.. realize everybody has the same connditions! You will slow down and the others will not... Good luck!

[ikeslayer]

i want to know the end of the story. i hope it has a fairy tale ending. Also what circuit and lake and that stuff were you fishing. ike

[grab the net]

Day 2,

Weather conditions were the same as day one, east wind, but cloudy all day, no sunshine. Fished much better today, but can't really say I fished that much differently. Fish were in places they weren't the day before, docks and trees. Didn't make much sense with no sun, but it seemed everything was a little more active. Sunfish were pecking, pike were a nuisance all day. Did slow down, it took 9 casts to same dock to get my biggest fish. Everybody caught fish.

I managed to catch 10.03 for my four, biggest just over 3. Dropped a bigger fish on a dock that took me into those criss crossed chains underneath,could not get him coming my way fast enough, could see him for second, then pop went the fireline.

Did win a sidebet for pancakes and coffee at the cafe from a buddy. Beat him by about an ounce, he had 9.95.

My fishing partner ended up in 2nd, 28.62lb for 8 fish. 1st place was 28.95 lbs. He was Mr. consistency, about 14.5 lbs per day. Just over a 3.5lb average.

We were fishing Sauk Lake. IT is an invitational, limited to 20 boats, 1st place pays out $1,000. Daryl Schmeisser runs it. Some very good Central MN hooks fish it. There is a waiting list, if somebody drops out next guy on the list gets a call. Very seldom does anyone drop out. Well run, very friendly, but good competition, only first names are needed on weigh in board.

It normally takes an average like that to win, sometimes more, 3 lb average just gets you a pat on the back. Denny's Super 30 Tournament of Champions is there next weekend. Some guys were out pre-fishing? (Following people around)

So that is my story, looking forward to the fall fishing, my favorite time of the year, usually when I catch my biggest fish of the year.