My retirement fishing adventure last week.

[dartag]

As my retirement present to myself I planned a busy fishing week.

Monday started with fishing on Union Lake to make sure everything on the boat was in order.  Catching smallies in clear water is fun.  Monday night I fished Pontiac Lake CFB.  The fish either were not in my normal spots or I could not catch them.
Tuesday I spent re-checking everything and keeping the wife happy.
Wednesday I met Phil ( Team Houston ) at Crocker launch for a day on St-Clair pre-fishing for the BFL.  We caught a lot of decent fish but nothing to make me feel comfortable.
Thursday my son and me fished the NBAA morning tournament on Crooked Lake in Brighton.  Since I had never even seen the lake I told him we are going to have fun.  Took us a while to find the boat launch.  We fished shallow and ended up winning with 16.2 pounds.   
Friday I met Dan ( Hollada ) at Harley for another pre-fish day.  The day started off calm but with the Jobbie Nooner going on it got rough pretty quick.   We ran some deep spot and found nothing.  We ended up finding a weedbed by the mile roads that has some decent fish.  The launch was a zoo when we came if for the meeting.
Saturday morning was calm and clear.  My co-angler was Austin Sherwood from a member of the WMU fishing team.  It was his first BFL as a co-angler and he was excited.  We made it to the mile roads and no one was on the spot.  I caught 3 keepers right away.  About 7:30 the bigger fish started eating mayflies on the surface.  I caught 4 fish over 3 pounds in 15 minutes.  Austin ended up catching 3.  I ended up with 16.15 for 17th place.  My first check as a boater in BFL.  I had to get home to take the wife to a party so I hope they send me the check.   One of the highlights of the day was about a 5 foot Sturgeon swimming under the boat.  We followed him for a while.   Austin said it looked like a whale shark.
Sunday was the Monster Quest.  I fished with a former co-worker in his Ranger Z-21.  We didn't blast off until 7:30 but did catch 3 nice smallies on the mayfly bite before it quit.  We ran around catching lots of keepers but only ended up with 14.14.  It took 18 to finish in the money.   I caught a huge catfish during a rain storm.   We did win wild card money so we got some back.   This is quite an event with a bag lunch and great buffet at the end.  Lot of guys were watching the FLW weigh in.  When Skip won they announced to the crowd and there was a big cheer.

The summary for the week was I fished about twice as much as I slept.  Made enough to pay for everything and didn't break anything.  Met some neat people. 
I am liking this retirement thing.

[TimH]

sounds like a great week and congrats on the tournament success.  Enjoy your retirement and fish as much as you can. 

[Team houston]

Great job Steve. They will mail you the check.

[YpsiBass]

Sounds like a fun week.  Getting in the money just seems like icing on the cake.  Nicely done.

[Slipkey]

Congrats on what sounds like a great week, Steve!  It was nice to meet you Friday and, hindsight always being what it is, your American fish were a far better choice than my wimpy Canadian ones.   

[detroit1]

That's a pretty tough schedule...for a retired dude. I'm not retired yet and I don't think I could fish that much in one week...surely a few days away from the lake is in order.  Congrats on being able to retire, many more fun times ahead...

[gmetime24]

Very cool, sounds like a lot of fun and congrats on finishing in the money!

[t-bone]

Living the life! This will be me in 5 years (except for the winning part!)

[21XDC]

Steve... I'm very happy for you enjoying your retirement.... Sad to see my dad work 40 years at GM, retire and die at 62 yrs old..... I love seeing guys get to enjoy what they worked so hard towards... 

[Skulley]

Not far from retirement myself.  Hopefully I'll be able to sooner rather than later.  It's tough to work all those years and then not be able to enjoy it.  My condolences to you 21XDC on the loss of your Father at such an early age.  It's too bad he didn't get to enjoy it as I'm sure he would have liked to.  If your Mom is still alive, at least she gets to collect half of his pension for the rest of her life.  I'm sure your Dad is watching over her and you.  God Bless.


BD                      

[Got Fish??]

Retirement is nice, it took a few weeks to get adjusted but! I've got it now. Fishing and traveling a lot, not in any hurry to get places. I took a part time job for bait and gas money. Life seems to be good.

[dartag]

Nothing like getting to a boat launch to pre-fish and have 1 trailer in the lot.   Been a little busier this week.  People must be on vacation. 

[fiker]

Retirement is all it's cracked up to be and more.  I tend to do my errands between 10 and 2, and my "to do" list on the weekends.  I almost never fish weekends.  Too many crazies out there.
Like you said Steve it's nice having the lake mostly to yourself.