What can I say... but I'll take second place!!!

[joshimoto son]

It still hasn't hit me, and there's so much that happened last week I really don't know where to start.

First things first... I wouldn't have it any other way... than to go down there with Poorboy, I have really gotten to know him well and consider him one of my very good friends. He made the trip for me. Thanks dude!!!

I will tell you that Brian (PB) is now going to be a bed fishing maniac!!! I wouldn't doubt that he will be chasing bedding fish around the state until there is no more sight fishing to be had. It took him a while to get warmed up to it, but by Tuesday, our third day on the water, he was actively seeking hogs in shallow dishes back in the cuts.

For me, it was like I wasn't even there. I had been preparing for this tourney since December, and when I finally got down there, all the excitement was gone, I started to worry that I wasn't as focused, that I was losing my interest in competitive bass fishing. Brian was continually asking me what was wrong and I could only reply "It just doesn?t seem real, I feel numb" I remember how it used to be for me, I would almost pee my pants right before a tournament. I couldn't explain it, all I knew was that I came there to accomplish a goal that has consumed my thoughts for almost every second of the day for the last four months and I didn't have one ounce of nerves.

I will get to the tournament now, but just to let you know... there's A LOT more to last week than just the fishing.

On the final day of practice, Brian and I each fished with one of the pros we met during the week, mainly the one pro Sean Dassau, who was sponsored by Triton, and was given a loaner boat until his new one that fell off the trailer on the way to get rigged up could get repaired.

Focused on fishing and trying to find another pattern that would back up any sight fishing to be done, we really never thought much about what time we had to register, we thought we had between 5:30 and 7:30. Well... we didn't! when we finally pulled into the Manning high school parking lot, Brian was outside pacing the pavement like a newly expected fahsure (that's father if you're not a gold member fan) he ran up to us and said that we were cutting it pretty close and that we only had a couple of minutes left to register, we didn't want to believe him because he and the other pro he fished with, Bob Morin, were both quite the pranksters. Come to find out we only had 6 minutes left to register and we made it just under the wire with a little ribbing from the ESPN staff that was checking us in.

Our whole trip was like this, close calls and coming out smelling like a rose.

After a lengthy briefing, we were then paired up with our day one rides. (Let me just take a minute to back up a couple of days)

I made mention to Brian earlier that I was probably going to get stuck with some guy with a single console Skeeter, I had a couple other adjectives I put in there but I really can't publish them. To all Skeeter owners!!! There's a couple guys out there that are ruining your reputation, I apologize for my ignorance.

So I get paired up with this guy that looks like Joe Dirt, to make things worse, he drove a Skeeter... and yes, single console. I was not happy. His real name is Shawn, and Shawn is from Florida, I asked Shawn what we were going to do for the next day so I new what to prepare for... and his reply was, "Would you be mad if I said we weren't bed fishing?" I said "I guess not, but why, do you have something against it?" He said, "No, there just aren't any..." I wanted to flip a lid... HELLO!!! Ever hear of the Elite Series? Ever drive your boat into a cut or a creek channel and see all those fish laying up there? I was sure I was doomed. My only hopes left were for Brian.

We decided to meet at the launch in the morning and then parted ways.

[joshimoto son]

Day one of the tournament

I met Shawn at the ramp early in the morning, Brian met up with his partner and I launched my boater after I had packed my gear in the boat.

At the briefing the night before, Shawn told me that he was catching post spawn fish on rattle traps in 3-5 feet of water. GREAT!!! I've never caught a fish on a trap in my life, but I brought ?em just in case, I also grabbed a black chatter bait from one of the pros I met, I figured that thing would put out as much vibration a trap, and I could through it with a little more confidence.

Well, we blasted off and let me tell you, being a co-angler in a single console boat is no fun, I was kicking myself for leaving my helmet in the truck. I couldn't see where we were going at all, too cold, but all I knew was that Shawn had figured out a short cut through some of the islands.

We finally made it to the first spot, and after I peeled my eyes open I found that we were in a big cut filled with cypress trees. Shawn said he had 13 spots to hit and they?re all just like this one. After about 90 minutes without a bite, we go to spot # 2, after 30 minutes without a bite, we move to the lower lake and spot #3, there Shawn connected with his first fish on a trap throwing it around the underwater stumps. (1.5 lber) Then shortly we had somebody move in on us after he caught the fish, they cut us off and I watched the pro boat flip a three plus pound fish using a wacky rigged senko. We fished for a while longer as my boater proceeded to get more upset by the minute about the boat that seen him catch a fish and then move in on us. It was then his turn again as he caught another 1.5er on a Texas rigged brown craw.

After fishing everything in that pocket about five times over we moved to spot # 4, it happened to be one of the same spots the pro I practiced with the day before had hit, I knew what was in there, and I also knew that everyone else did too. As this is where some of the biggest sacks from the week before had came from, it was now a community spot and all the fish were gone!

So... back to spot # 1, another two laps around that without a bite and it on to spot # 5, more of the same... nothing doing!

With 2 hours and 45 minutes left, my boater was starting to drop back and get ready to punt... IN THE FIRST DAY OF COMPETITION!!!

He made the comment that it was time to give up on his pattern and that he was going to go back to spot # 1 and try fishing a little different.

At this time... I was dying... I knew where there was fish... ON BEDS!!! and I knew they would have a little pressure but there's a good chance that some of them wouldn't be found also. I mentioned the fact that I thought if everything wasn't slaughtered by now, there might be a good chance we could scratch out our limits. Shawn just simply said Okay, and I pointed out to him where to go and we headed off.

Right now I would like to take the time to tell you why this board is so important, if it wasn't for this board... and if it wasn't for Carolina Chip convincing me to take my own boat so that I could possibly have some spots to share with my boater, the following events would have never occurred.

We made it to my spot # 1, it was picked over pretty clean... end of story on that one, but now I'm starting to feel a little concerned that I just took this guy to NO FISH.

We hit spot # 2, I had one little arm of this cut that had four bucks on bed and very catchable, plus some others scattered along the way. We get to the place with the four beds and nothing, one sub-par buck on a new bed and four empty ones... we thought.
One of the beds had a cruiser on it, it was the biggest one of the four, 3 - 3.5 pounds. Shawn mentioned that he was more interested in chasing brim than locking down on the bed and proceeded to leave the area. I picked up my flipping stick and went to flip in there when Shawn just looked at me and said, ?that fish isn't going to bite?. I asked him to indulge me... I was a rookie and that I just had to try, he said okay. So I toss my white tube up in the bed and did a little shakey shakey. Almost immediately that fish comes in on the bed, noses down on my bait and breathes on it really hard and then leaves. I reeled up and pitched in there again... the same thing, by now,  I know I can catch this fish... I look up at my PRO and he raises his eyebrow and says "I might have to help you with that fish" He then buries his push pole through his trolling motor and let's the back end of the boat swing away from the bed and five minutes later he's boating my fish!!! His biggest one of the day, about 3.5 lbs.

Then he asked if I knew where there were some more, I said yes, the next cut down has some bigger fish, but if I'm going to do this I better get to catch at least one of them!

We make our way to the last cut with about and hour to go where we saw a new bed with a catchable fish on it that was 3 lbs or better, but my pro muddied up the water with the trolling motor. I then took him to the bed where I caught the fish I have pictured below, (that was the male) I showed him where the bed was and he paid very little attention to try and see if they were still there, (the male and female were both identified and locked on the day before) So we continued to troll around and Shawn found a small buck on a bed and said, "Well, are you going to catch him?" I finally seen the fish and after about ten minutes I was winding him in on my white tube with the female chasing him down hard. I thanked him for letting me catch the fish and he told me that most pros won't do that for the co-anglers. All I was thinking is that they were my fish sucka! With a half hour left to fish, he tried to get the female to bite while I found a bed  right next to where the pro was positioned when I was fishing for my first fish, I don't know how he missed it? It was about a 2 pound buck, but he could have used it only having three fish in the live well.

He gave up on the female and went to the first fish in that cut and ran out of time trying to get it to bite. We packed up and left at least five fish in there with not much time to get back.

Shawn was an alright guy, he taught me one of the most valuable things I learned strategy wise last week, he had been there since march 19th, and he spent the first two days just learning how to get around on the lake. The short cut he used (which most of the locals used) proved to save at least 20 minutes of driving time going from one lake to the other. That's 40 minutes per day, I caught my fish with 45 minutes left and it took me 10 minutes to get it to bite... you do the math.

After day one, I accomplished my first realistic goal I set for myself, and walked across the stage at a Citgo Bassmasters event.

I only had one more realistic goal left to accomplish, and then it was time for the unimaginable goal.

[djkimmel]

GREAT WRITE UP SO FAR JOSH!!!! I'M HANGING ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT WAITING FOR MORE!!!

[joshimoto son]

Day two of the tournament

After the weigh-in was over on day one, I proceeded to try to find my day two partner, Rick Leigeber, so I went around asking some guys if they might know who he is and if he might still be around. I was lucky, after the second person I asked the was able to point him out to me and I chased him down to find out what the next days game plan was. I introduced myself and talked shop with him a little bit, he had only weighed in one fish that was 1-5 for his first day?s effort. Rick had told me that we were going to be fishing post spawn fish in cypress trees. NOT AGAIN! I had just been through this and I was fearful that it would pan out like it did with boater # 1. I told Rick that I still had fish in the upper lake that we ran out of time on and that if he wanted to, we could hit them early in the morning and then go down to his spot, ?No offense son, if we?re going to the lower lake, we?re not coming back up here to fish.? I never knew what become of the fish I had left that day. We decided he would pick me up at the dock at 6:30 in the morning and we would be off and running.

The morning of day two finally arrived and as usual, Poorboy was not wanting to wake up, I took my shower and proceeded to make the sandwiches for the days lunch. Just let me tell you that we had been eating bologna sandwiches all week and both PB and I never wanted to see another one for quite some time, so we were very excited to finally start eating turkey, (yes the simple things in life?). Every morning was a challenge to get my hibernating buddy up from his slumber, and at one point during practice I told him that he might not get any lunch one day if he couldn?t drag his rear end out of bed. As I dug the fixings out of the cooler to make our sandwiches, I picked up the nice, fresh, moist turkey, and there it was? the rest of the bologna! ?I?ll fix him? I said, I continued to make my wonderful turkey sandwiches and made Poorboy bologna. I wished I could?ve seen the look on his face when he finally realized what he was getting for lunch! Although he did let me hear about it later that day.

Okay, I?m getting side tracked, Rick and I blasted off the morning off day two and headed down to the lower lake, to go fish the cypress trees. When we arrived there was one boat already there, Rick had made the comment that he had seen him there before and weighed in 14 plus pounds on day one, I was throwing a white horny toad in the pads while my partner was hitting the trees with a green senko. We fished around the trees for a bit and started working our way back to an open pocket of water. The trees and the open pocket was near separated by two points that almost touched each other with a small creek channel running through it. As I was casting, I could feel scattered weeds on the edge of the submerged creek, something started to click, WEEDS!!! Finally, something I can relate to from back home. I asked Rick what they were catching fish on in there during practice, he said a chatter bait, and I just happened to have one tied on. I picked up that chatter bait and started to cast it around.

Now you may not believe me, but the instant we moved into that open pocket of water, something happened to me that has never happened before, that same numbness and unexcited attitude I had earlier in the week fell over me again, but it was different? and I talked to God right then and thanked him for letting me do the thing that I was meant to do and asked him to give me the confidence in myself I needed to finish what I had started the day before. I can?t prove it? you may think I?m a loon nugget, but I looked down from the sky and saw just one little tiny weed sticking up above the surface and I called my shot! I threw that chatter bait with the most confidence I?ve ever had and after about five cranks on the real, the most wonderful thing happened, I CAUGHT A FISH! It was just a two pounder, but my amazement at what just happened will stay with me the rest of my life. I was shaking, and I was focused, I picked that chatter bait up again and started throwing it with the biggest grin and the most confidence I?ve ever had. By this time, Rick picked up the identical chatter bait that I had and started throwing it. I guess you could say I was in the zone, after a few more cast I connected with another fish, it was another smaller buck, but I figured it to be a little bigger than the one I just caught, as I sized it up when it came out of the water and threw my bait back at me. ?You kind of were forcing that one? Rick told me, and it took only a second of playback in my mind to agree with him, I had been so used to pulling on those fish with 65 pound braid and a big EWG, I got a little horsy using the chatter bait.

Last year in Saginaw Bay at a Federation tournament my partner (Jaguar) got it through my thick skull that there is nothing you can do about losing a fish, ?If it was meant to be, it was meant to be.? That fish was not.

I continued to throw the chatter bait and a couple minutes later landed my second keeper, Rick was looking at me like ?what just got into you? he hadn?t even got a bite, and I had two in the box and lost one already. I didn?t have the heart to tell him that what I had going on was more than just throwing the right bait?none the less he was very happy and told me that he likes to see everybody catch fish, ?this is what it?s all about Josh, having fun!? he said with a smile on his face. I missed one more fish and caught a short fish on a fineness worm and by 8:30 am, my day was over, the sun popped out and I never had another bite all day.

But the day wasn?t over yet, Rick kept telling me about this fish around the corner that he saw the other day that wasn?t quite locked on yet and that he thought it was in a spot that nobody would find her, we fished around for another hour or so and Rick decided to see if he could find that fish. ?It?s a big fish Josh, and she?s the reason I came down here, I figure she?s between eight and ten pounds. I just hope I can see her, this wind might make it difficult.?

So we put on the vests and idled around the corner to a main lake spot. There was just a dock and a single cypress tree out on the main lake just up ahead of us as Rick shut off the big motor and slowly started to troll up to the tree. ?Dang it!!!? he said, ?I left my other glasses in the truck and my eyes aren?t what they used to be, I hope I can find her? she?s big.? There was a small chop on the water and I fan casted around while my partner tried to find his fish. He made a few casts around the tree and said that she must be gone. As we trolled up to the tree he said, ?See if you can find her Josh? if not we?re outta here? I looked down at the tree and sand? nothing but a piece of cement block and a big root growing out from the bottom of the tree? then the root swam off of the block. ?HOLY $&*@? I said, ?there she goes!!!? I said she?s there all right, I?m positive of it.

I explained to Rick exactly where she was and he knew from the other day right where I was talking about. I told Rick that I?m not real good at judging fish, but if I had to guess I would say that fish is only about five pounds. ?If that?s her, she?s bigger than that? he replied. Rick dug out a 4.5? watermelon centipede and rigged it on a spinning rod with ten pound test and proceeded to cast around the tree. Me? I sat down on the back deck and tried to figure out what I was going to tie on next. As I was rigging up a lizard, I heard Rick?s drag start to peel out. ?I GOT HER!!!? he yelled. Then Rick started talking to God!!! ?Oh please let me get her in! Please God don?t let her get off!! Oh Lord no, NOT AROUND THE DOCK!!!!? Kind of funny how religious a guy can be at a moments notice, huh?

Rick coaxed her away from the front of the boat and away from the dock as the fish started to swim to the side of the boat. At the moment I was thinking, ?now I?ll be able to see just how big this fish is? that old girl come almost completely out of the water. I?d have liked to crapped myself, I?ve never seen a fish that big in my life, and now? I was nervous. ?You?re gonna have to help me with her Josh! I can?t get her by myself? Earlier in the morning I had already explained to Rick that I was one heck of a net man, but going ?had to hand combat? was a completely different story. ?I?m not used to doing this Rick, but I promise, I?ll do the absolute best I can.?

Rick played her out a bit more and did a little more praying as she swam from one side of the boat to the other side of the boat, then to the back of the boat, back to the front, now to the other side, then underneath it. ?Come on baby wear down!!! Here she comes Josh, get ready!!! I was not ready!!! I was there and in position, but definitely not ready for what I was about to see. The biggest fish I?ve ever laid eyes on popped out from underneath that boat, and I forced my hand in her mouth and put the death grip on her jaw and hauled her in, where we both immediately started doing the ?I got a big fishy? dance. You would have thought we just won the lotto or something. For the next ten minutes neither one of us was worth a darn, we couldn?t even tie a hook on, we were shaking so bad.

?Son!!! That just made my day, I never would caught her if you hadn?t have spotted her, Thank you!!?? That made me feel really good to hear him say that. There wasn?t much else that happened that day, Rick caught one more fish off a cypress tree that was about 2.5 pounds and then we headed back the weigh-in where again, we needed two bags. Ricks fish weighed nine pounds even, and he was almost sure that he was going to cut a check for big bass, that is until about thee minutes later someone weighed in a fish that went 9-5 and our time together was over. I told Rick that I would put a picture of his fish on our board, and I?m going to follow through with my promise.

Rick is from Mobile Alabama, and is the maker of the Easy Retriever, it?s a very simple yet effective device for getting your lure back from the depths, please do me a favor for my new friend and check out his website www.easyretriever.com if anything, email him and tell him that you saw his fish on our website.

After day two of the tournament I had moved into 26th place and accomplished my second and last realistic goal, to make it to the last day and cut a check. There was only one goal left, and that was my ?un-realistic goal? to win the whole darn thing!

[fiker]

Josh, I'm so happy for you.
And so jealous.

I can't wait to hear your next installment.

more, more.

[joshimoto son]

After the day two weigh-in there was a meeting for the top fifty boaters and top fifty co-angler to get their pairings and flight times. After the first two pairs were called,? I happened to be called off third.? I?m thinking that this might not be good because in the last two days of competition, the biggest sacks had been coming in the last flight of the day, but any other time I would be happy to get such an early draw. Oh well, lets go see who Cecil Wolfe is? from where I was, I could only see his hand raised up above the crowd of anticipating anglers waiting for their name to be called. As I made my way through the crowd I saw this tall gangly guy with a Stratos hat, I again introduced myself and shook his hand, and then stood there in silence as my boater said nothing, after a really long and uncomfortable pause, he finally said, ?Well? were you wanna meet??. I replied, ?Here at the launch is fine with me.? Yet another long pause?. ?Okay? What time???. I?ll be here at 6:00 am, ?Sounds alright with me? he uttered.

I couldn?t quite get it, what was wrong with this guy? I immediately classified him in the ?Goober? category. The kind of guy that?s always standing around with his teeth hanging out just waiting for the next accident to happen, and that?s what I referred to him as? Goober.

I asked him if he was going to be fishing post spawn fish in the cypress trees, and he said, ?No? I?ve been site fishin all week, but with the weather we got comin in?. might not be able to do that.? Something must have been killing this guy to talk to me, I don?t understand why it was so hard to get the words out. I later found out that he is not a big Skeet Reese fan, and I?m sure my bleached out hair was making him cringe.
I then asked him, ?Well if it?s as bad as they say it?s going to be, do you have a backup plan??? ..No? he muttered. UHHHGGGG!!!!! WHY!!!! I was screaming inside my head, how did this guy ever make it into the cut? Okay calm down? you?re going to get a check no matter what.
I asked Cecil what color his Stratos was and he spouted, ?I got a white Javelin, wit red pin stripes? and a white GMC Jimmy.?? I just figured Stratos hat? Stratos boat, silly me.

PB and I left the launch and headed back to say goodbye to our new friends we met earlier in the week, as neither of the Pros we fished with for one day of practice made the cut and were headed home. We said our goodbyes and then grabbed a quick dinner at BK for a Whopper with cheese and an order of Onion rings. Just a little piece of advice, NEVER eat BK onion rings the night before a tournament, ESPECIALY if you?re going to be in your rain gear all day? whew!!!

After our meal we headed back to the motel for the night where I would prepare for anything and everything that might happen on my last day. When we reach our motel we found that we had some new neighbors staying next to us who were down for a weekend of catfishing. It is then we met some more of South Carolina?s finest people. Four of the nicest guys you would want to meet. The first guy we met was Sean, a soft spoken guy that permanently wore a smile on his face and then next was Pole cat? yes, Pole cat!! I wished I could remember the other two guys? names, but honestly? Pole cat!!! PB and I stayed up and shared storied and barley pops with out new friends as I finalized my preparation. We could start a whole other topic on the people we met down there, but Brian and I had these guys so charged up about bass fishing and genuinely enthused about my final day appearance, I think they were more excited about it than I was. They wished me the best of luck and told me that they had a good feeling about me doing well the next day as I turned in for a few hours of sleep.

A few hours later the alarm went off (I told ya) and I grabbed a quick shower, and then started to make my sandwiches, ham this time. I tried to wake up Poorboy, but he was absolutely comatose, the plan was for him to ride with me so he could have the truck for the day? nothing doing, he?s out! So on my way to the launch I went.


Day three of the tournament

I made it to the launch right behind my day three boater, apparently, the pit stopped I had to make on the way there because my stomach is onion ring intolerant, worked out to be perfect timing. I stashed my rods and tackle in the Javelin and quickly saw that this boat also had one console, so in turn, I quickly ran back and grabbed my helmet.

While we were sitting in the water waiting for the blast off, I asked Cecil what place he was in, ?third? he said. Then it dawned on me, boat three? third place? duh! This guy has a chance to win this thing. I also found out that Cecil grew up fishing Santee Cooper and has won lots of tournaments out here. Wait a tick? he?s a local! Cool, he knows the lake, we might actually catch some fish. I had to ask him the question that was burning in my mind since I found out that he was sight fishing the whole tournament, did his co-anglers catch any fish behind him? ?Yes, day one guy had 2-3 pounds and my guy yesterday had 6, but I can?t guarantee anything.? Good news again, most co-anglers who were behind anglers that were sight fishing never even got a chance to catch a fish. The day is looking brighter, figuratively.

The weather forecast for the final day called for sever thunderstorms, rain and 20-25 mile an hour winds. It was strongly suggested that if any of the anglers were going to be fishing the lower lake (Lake Moultrie), I estimate about 13-15 miles down from the launch, to be back at the upper lake by noon, or else we might not make it back to the launch. The upper lake (Lake Marion) is a lower units worst nightmare, if you don?t know where to run, you could end up in 25-30 feet of water with trees and stumps scattered all over, The lake is infested with spots like that, and with the potential of 4-6 footers, you stand the chance of landing on a submerged tree that could flip your boat over.

The morning temperature was a balmy 50 degrees as I put my helmet on and we blasted off and headed for the lower lake. I could tell that Cecil was a native; he took the short cut through the islands and slalomed in and out of trees likes an Olympic skier without the use of a GPS. Some of those places we squeezed through didn?t even have enough room for two boats to pass each other. I looked for a seat belt, but I couldn?t find one.

After a long trip down to the south west corner of Lake Marion we came to a spot that was commonly referred to as The Hatchery, an area about 1-2 miles in diameter littered with stumps and underwater ponds. It is one of those ponds that my boater was attempting to reach, but the wind for the first approach was wrong and would not allow us to make it in there, so we had to back out and go in another way. Once we moved around to go into it at another direction we bounced off of stump after stump and even road up on a few of them and slid off. I remember being glad I was not running my boat.

Then finally we reached our destination and started to fish, based on a hunch from my buddy I started throwing a spinner bait that he told me was going to work down there. I had just one problem, nobody that I talked to had caught a fish on a spinner bait yet. The water really looked ripe for a spinner bait, so I stuck with it. Cecil caught the first fish of the day on a buzz bait, an anemic looking one pound buck, but hey it was a start. Still throwing the blades I had a hit in the Lilly pads and immediately threw back in there and got connected again, a 1.5 pound buck. After I dropped him in the live well, I looked at my spinner bait and noticed that my trailer hook I just put on was gone and that there was paint covering the point of the hook left over from painting the head. I told myself there should have been no way that I should have caught that fish, but I did.

?It was meant to be.? I said, and then it hit me again, this calming, relaxed feeling that everything is going to be okay. My buddy told me not to give up on the spinner bait, it will work, but after my boater caught a 2 pounder and then a 3 pounder on a watermelon craw worm, it was time to abandon the spinner bait. I picked up another rod rigged with 15 pound mono and dug through my bag to try to find something to mimic what he was throwing. The closest thing I had was a bad of green pumpkin Mizmo Lizards, I Texas rigged it with a quarter ounce bullet weight and sharpened a 4 / O EWG.

Cecil told me that he didn?t know if there would be any fish in that spot and that he was going there on a hunch hoping to site fish, but with the wind almost up to full potential, site fishing was out of the question and he employed a different strategy. ?These fish in here are post spawn right now? he spoke! He actually said something! ?most people don?t know how to fish this area, you just can?t go trolling around, you gotta sit in one spot and fish around, the fish are moving from stump to stump, we?ll just let ?em come to us.?

My very experienced partner would trim his big motor down and burry the skag in the mud and anchor us in one place while we would cast to various stumps. It was at this time I was starting to feel bad about the whole ?Goober? thing.

Cecil methodically hit ever stump and I would follow behind him or cast behind the boat, I watched to see how he was working his craw worm and he was moving it very slowly, but keeping a rather tight line. I remembered a long time ago, that a guy told me that you?ll catch more fish on a slack line than you will a tight one, so I threw my lizard out by some of the stumps let the wind pick it up and very slowly moved my bait with a big ?bow? in my line, It was on that cast I felt a little tick, not used to feeling a bite. I reeled down and set the hook and it was solid! Then the fish took off and the fight was on, this is where I got religious again just like my partner did yesterday. I couldn?t believe my eyes as I pulled her into the boat. ?That?s a hoss? 5-6 pounder, nice fish Josh? Cecil congratulated me. ?How many pounds are you out?? he said. ?6-11? I reported back. ?Well you just caught up to him Josh.?

I had two fish in the box by 8:15 and I could catch one more, and then cull from there. The realization that I could hit my un-imaginable goal just became a reality. At this point, I would like to tell you that I was still calm, but I won?t lie, I was shaking like a leaf in sub-zero weather, still focused, but shaking uncontrollably.

I tried my best to retie in a hurry but that just wasn?t happening. Finally, I rigged back up again and hit that spot a couple more times with no luck. I then picked up and fished on the other side of the boat. With a big loop in my line I had a small Lilly pad draped over my line and it was not letting me pull the lizard through the stumps the way I wanted to work it. As I was trying to shake the darn thing off I went to put my rod tip under the water to get my line out from underneath it, and before I could get it down there my line started running away from me. I immediately set the hook, ?Good fish!? that?s all I could say, then the ritualistic ?Please God?s?? and I flipped a four pounder in the boat.

I thought I was shaking before, that was nothing compared to the feeling that I might just win this tournament. All I kept thinking is that I have to cull out that little one with a five pound fish and I would be setting on easy street.

Cecil asked me what I was using and I showed him and offered him some, as he declined. It was 8:30 and I had? lots of time left to catch another one, I regained my composure and proceeded to catch three more fish that required a balance beam to decipher the heaviest one, all about two pounds.

Finally, my boater asked if I was still willing to divvy out some of my lizards and I was more than happy to share. ?You got two of those females I needed, must be they can see that color a little better? as he rigged up the new bait. It wasn?t five minutes that he tied into another fish, his biggest of the day, about 5.5 pounds. He then caught a three pound fish and finished out his limit.

By 10:00 am the clouds started to break up a little bit and the sun would pop in and out, fishing started to slow down. Cecil traded his one pound fish for a two pounder and we fished there until 11:30 were we started to make our way out of the stump field. With my fingers crossed I kept thinking, ?please let us get back safe and on time? over and over again. We trolled out of the shallow water and went to crank up the big motor to idle out the rest of the way and it would not fire! The time it took him to crank that engine six or seven times felt like an eternity until he finally got it fired up. We just looked at each other, and that?s all that needed to be said.

We made it out of The Hatchery with the anticipation that each of us could win our division. Cecil was only nine pounds out of the lead with 15-16 in the box, and I figured I had at least five pounds over the leader. The rest of the day was extremely pains taking for both of us.

We headed to the upper lake to guess what? Yes? fish post spawn fish around cypress trees. Except this time, Cecil was actually able to catch two fish around them and upgrade one of his fish by a mere dip on the balance beam.

Keeping our eye on the bad weather coming, we decided to make the trek across the lake and spend the last hour fishing around the launch. We had seen one 3-4 pounder looking like it wanted to find a spot to bed down on, but it would not take.

So with seven minutes left to go we cranked up and went to check in, but the boat would not get up on pad, I had to crawl up to the front of the boat to bring her down and with two minutes left to go we finally checked in and asked for two bags yet again.

Now I thought that the day might be winding up kind of quickly, but that wasn?t going to happen! It appears that they hold the top five Pros back to weigh-in at the end of the tournament, now I had to wait for a potential 90 plus anglers to weigh their fish before I could go up there. So we just sat in the boat and listened to the emcee call out the weights. That was fun! I?d rather run into the hitch on the back of my truck.

FINALLY! It was our turn to get in line, Cecil had already heard of a couple weights that was going to keep him from claiming first prize, but I had not. I was nervous as I could get, thinking about what I would say, what I would do, what does this mean? Everything was going through my head. As I was standing there, talking to Cecil about maybe pulling off the win, a tournament official overheard me and come up and asked me if I had a good bag of fish, I didn?t want to jinx myself, but I said I had a pretty good one. ?Let me see? so I opened up my bag and he pawed around and tried to get an estimate of what I had, ?I?ll be back? and the he left. He went and checked some of the other co-anglers that were quite a ways up there in line and came back with his finger pointing at me, ?you weigh in last? it?s gonna be close? GREAT! What does that mean!!! I again have to wait even longer. The last co-angler to weigh in and I?m about ready to have a heart attack.

Well, it all ended shortly after that, apparently the official didn?t check down the line far enough, someone weighed in a nine pound sack and took the lead with 20-13, I knew I did not have enough to over come that, the only thing I had left to hope for was second and that?s exactly what I got.

It was a great trip and one that I will never forget, I want to thank Brian for going down there with me and everyone here on the board for being so supportive and wishing us well.

Thank you!!!!


Joshimoto son

[joshimoto son]

Couple more pics I'm proud of.

[Dan]

Great Job!!! Great story. For all of us who either couldn't or didn't get to go, identifying with your story keeps us pumped. Thanks for the ride!!!

[djkimmel]

Man! I'm ready to go fishing right now! Yeah, so it's dark out... and the neighbors would think someone is breaking into my boat... but I'm ready! Ditto on the Great Story!

[joshimoto son]

Thanks guys!!!
I'm glad you liked it.
I'm also glad you just wanted to hear about the fishing. I bet I could encorporate this into the whole trip and end up with about 40 to 50 pages. It would be April 29th before I could get done.

I'm just keeping you interested until Poorboy can free up some of his time to get a couple stories in there.

I'm going home now, I haven't ate anything all day.

Night ya'll

[Bulletproof]

Once again Congrats on your success!!

The stories were right on the money, I was right there with ya!


Thanks for sharing your memory!!!!!

[Catchem]

Great tournament Josh !!!


I bet Scotty Ferris is proud of ya...    ( I hope )

Dude, great story !!! It is one thing to do the darn thing, and then tell it like I am in the boat with you watching it....... WOW.... I will tell Zona you are comming for his desk dude.....   lol


See ya soon,

Nick Neves

P.S.   I think I know where you got those Mizmo Lizards.... LOL  and I am still "shocking" my lab.... COOL TRADE HUH....

[MaizeNBlue]

Congrats Josh, I'm really very happy for you, jealous as all hell, but happy for you. Anyone that can put up with PB for a entire week, deserved to do well. Thanks for the daily journal, I enjoyed reading your progress. Again, congrats.

[Cheetam]

Rule number one when making it "Big Time"...tell everyone you caught all your fish on a home-poured stick bait and/or finesse worm and it was said bait that had your partner on day three begging for some! Oh, and they are available for purchase at www.joshimotosonhandpouredbaits.com! 

Good job dude...and I'm glad to see you smiling in those pics...

[joshimoto son]

Catchem!!!
You're absolutely right... I got em from you, I've been using that stuff for quite a while.
By the way... I'm out of green pumpin lizards.?

Scotty is really happy for me. He has been my mentor since the day we met, and I told him a long time ago that no matter how successful I get, he will always be a part of it. In fact he is the guy that told me "You'll catch more fish on a slack line than you will on a tight one" I've seen him whoop my but on more than one occasion using that technique.

Thanks Nick!

[joshimoto son]

Rule number one when making it "Big Time"...tell everyone you caught all your fish on a home-poured stick bait and/or finesse worm and it was said bait that had your partner on day three begging for some! Oh, and they are available for purchase at www.joshimotosonhandpouredbaits.com!?

Good job dude...and I'm glad to see you smiling in those pics...

Thanks Jeff,

I kept telling PB that Preston Clark is my cousin... he didn't believe me. I said we have the same last name!!! We must be cousins.

[Bassman24]

Josh,

Congrats.  First for surviving a week with PB and second on your great finish. 

Also, I have read many tournament journals and this by far was one of the best I have ever read.  It was worse than watching 24.  You ended with Day one and I was like..."Don't stop there."  Thanks for sharing the experience. 

Good luck with the rest of the season.
GT

[spinninbug]

Now maybe you can understand why I so look forward to reading our newletter every month.  Josh does a wonderful job with that also.  It's almost as entertaining as his tournament story was.

It's it amazing though when your out fishing and thinking how you will thing think to yourself what would Scotty do?  He's pulled me though a couple times,  but then again so has Josh.  Both great guys to fish with and learn from.  I'm going to really miss fishing with them this year.

Any way great story Josh!!

[stackenem]

Congrats Josh that is a heck of a ride . Something you will never forget.