Dartag's FLW Adventure

[dartag]

I will try and give a short summary of my week fishing with the pros.

Pre-fishing.
I got hooked up with Arch Cornette from Alabama on Sunday.  He was fishing on st-clair since he had read so much about it on the Internet.   He was fishing the American shoreline.  He did not want to get a Canadian license.  He had found some the day before so we worked that area.  About 9:00 the fish started eating the mayfly's and we had about an hour of non-stop action. He had fish do this on shad but never flies.  Most fish we 2-3 pounder with lots of there buddies following.  He was used to fishing down south with lots of structure so this type of lake fishing was all new to him. 

Monday I fished with Bob Sherry from Ill.  We launched Monday at the Erie metro park and ran to st-clair.  He had not run the river in a few years so he just wanted to get familiar with the river.  We started on the South shore but the water was really dirty.  We caught a lot of small fish.  Later he went to some waypoints he had gotten.  Nice rock piles in 14 feet.  He had the new Humming Bird Side Scan which is fantastic to see what is there.  We even saw a lawn chair somewhere around 9 mile.  We did catch some bigger fish out deep.  We ran back down the river about 5:00 and hit a storm right about the Ren Cen.  The waves were building fast.  Under the Ambassador Bridge they were 4 footers.  We hit rain about the Gorsse Ile bridge.  I will say my Fish Hedz mask is got a great workout this week.
Tuesday we went  up to Crocker Road and launched there.  We were in a caravan with 3 other wrapped trucks and boats.  It was interesting to see the people's reaction as they passed us on I-94.  We fished the mile roads to Metro Point and out by the shipping lane.  We used the side scan to locate rock and drifted over them.  I could catch good fish by casting to where the rock was and letting the bait soak.  I caught 2 around 3 pounds that spit up some big Crawfish.  We fished until around 5:00 when a storm approached.  Our rods started buzzing and the line was floating.  After a couple of good shocks we decided to head in.

My pre-fishing consisted of getting up at 4:00 AM and getting home around 8:00 each day.  About 12 hours of which were spent on the water.  My bottle of Excedrin and Advil in my truck needed a refill.  Little did i know what tourny days would bring..

To be cont.

steve smith

[1javelin]

Please do write more!  This is getting interesting!!

1Jav

[djkimmel]

I yelled at dartag across Cobo, but did not hear any further details myself... hope he doesn't keep us waiting...?

[dartag]

Think I will call this " The good, The bad, and The UGLY "

The good.
Wednesday was the pre-tourny meeting at the holiday inn in southgate. I took my son along so he could meet some of the pros he sees on TV. After sign in there was a row of sponsor tables where you could get free samples and a bunch of hats. They had a buffet dinner that was really great. My son got to meet some of the pros and they were all very nice to him. They all wanted to know if he fished and to keep at it.

The meeting lasted about an hour then they did the parings. I was boat 131 with Rob Kilby from Arkansas. We met the next morning and got in the long line at Elizabeth park for the launch. We headed to St-Clair and started along the south shore. He caught 3 right away on a jerk bait while I kept the little fish busy on drop shot. I caught my first keeper about 7:30 the caught a 3 pounder on the next cast.

We moved a little deeper and I had a limit by 8:45. Rob was sticking with the jerk bait but the bite had slowed down. We headed across the lake to some waypoints we had. We were about a mile out and I could see he was talking to himself. I could see another boat straight ahead. We shut down and started fishing heading in the direction of the boat. We circled around behind it and the pros started talking. At the time I did not know the pro in the other boat but he knew who my pro was and told him he knew who had given him the waypoint.

I kept the small fish busy at the back of the boat. I landed a 3.5 pounder for my first cull fish. We moved in shallow and caught a lot of small fish. Rob was able to catch a nice one that was following a small one I had on. We wandered around and before you knew it we had to head back. The river was rough so the ride was slow. When you pass the check in boat they give you your bag with a number on it. We pulled the boat out and sat in the lot until they call your number. I had 16.5 for 34 place.


since this was the best part of the week i will stop now.

to be cont..

[Dan]

Nice job! If I can't fish I love to read stories like this and I'm very familiar witht he "Good, Bad, and the Ugly. I'm headed over to Sandusky tomorrow to prefish for a week for the upcoming BFL. I'm really looking forward to fishing the big water. I've been over there a few times, but never really tore them up. My traveling partner won a big three day tournament, the BASS Northern Divisional, over that way so hopefully we'll get to try out his spots and catch a couple of green fish. We'll be staying with another buddy of mine that has a walleye fish camp at Turtle Creek, OH so at the very least we'll be eating some walleye dinners.

[dartag]

The Bad and Ugly

I met my day 2 pro Kyle Mabrey from Alabama. He told me he was in contention for Rookie of the year and did not know where we would be going tomorrow. He said it would not be St-Clair because he had not even practiced there.

On the ride home I listened to the weather radio and the forecast was 15-20 mph winds and 2-4- foot waves. When I turned it off the Bonjovi song from the Deadliest Catch was on my radio. Little did I know how fitting that would be. We met at the ramp on Friday and he told me he was still not sure where we were going. He did most of his pre-fishing with Dave Lefebre..

Just before we blasted off he told me we were headed for Ohio waters.  The ride out the river was smooth till the channel where the waves started. Halfway to Colchester there were boats turning around and heading past us. We continued spearing about every other wave. We were doing ok until we hit the first big one and took on a couple hundred gallons of water. We had to idle until the boat pumped out the water. Dave was following and stopped to make sure we were ok. He told Kyle there would not be enough time to make it to Ohio to fish so he was going to fish the calm side of Peele.

We filled the boat 4 more times . I just sat there singing " I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride ", We finally made the back side of peele where it was calm. He punched I a waypoint and we headed down the shore. We stopped so he could get his rods out and headed shallow where there was a boat already fishing. He said that guy is on my waypoint. As we got closer I could see who the pro was and the co-angler was Kevin ( aka fishon1219 ). I started fishing and making funny faces at Kev while our pros discussed whose water it was.

We left there and fished along the shoreline. I caught one nice and lost a real nice one.  About noon he decided to head back and fish the river to try and get a limit. When we rounded the point we were greeted with 4-6 footers. We worked our way across but we were down by Kingsville so the ride up the shore was rough. It took 2.5 hours to make the run.  We hit a spot in the river and he was able to finish his limit. I got a keeper and lost another one.

We made it back to the ramp where there was a camera crew waiting for us. They were filming footage in case he did win the Rookie title. The 2 other guys in contention were also waiting to see how he did. Everyone we passed asked how he did and wished him good luck. He knew he did not have enough and was really bummed. I weighed 2 fish for 4.14. I stuck around until I was in 90th place and since there were 40 more bags to go decided to head home. XM radio was nice enough to play the Bonjovi song for me on the ride home. It made me laugh so that was good. By the time I got home the weigh in was over and I found out I finished 103,  7 ounces out of the money.

All things considered it was a great week of fishing.

I logged around 52 hours of boat time
About 400 miles of boat travel time.
573 miles on my truck in 6 days..


The most inspiring thing was my son was able to meet Clay Dyer. He is a pro with no legs and only one half of an arm. It showed my son anything is possible if you want it.

Best quote of the week I heard. " God made this place, but the Devil has his say also "

[djkimmel]

Similar to the time I recall an angler on stage at a Tristate tournament, commenting on 'surviving' fishing his first tournament on the Detroit River telling Phil that he thought he actually saw Jesus out there that day...

[dartag]

I think even he was smart enough not to be out there that day.  it was amazing to see all that white water and no other boats.

[cameraguy]

Nice job with the stories, Dartag.  Interesting reading.  Thanks for sharing your experience.

[MadWags]

Great read. Thank you.