Tips for Troops Kent Lake

[dartag]

Awesome event yesterday.  Fishing was great even though the weather was cloudy and drizzly.  We found fish in a couple spots and ended up winning with 13.5.  We caught a lot of keepers and culled a few times.  My Veteran Doug was new to spinning rod fishing but picked it up right away.  The food and gathering at the end was fun. 

Luckily they ended up with enough boats so no one was left on shore.

Next year is there 10 year anniversary and they hope to have a more anglers and boats.

[21XDC]

Awesome event, and great finish!

[djkimmel]

Congratulations dartag and thanks for making a difference!

[TimH]

Dartag, once again another Tips Up for Troops has come and gone without me finding you before or after the event to meet up and talk.  One of these years our paths will cross there.  This year I was paired up with a veteran who served 23 years in the Army, during which time she was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan for several tours.  In previous years, the veterans I was paired with had fished before at some point in their life, but this year was different.  She had never fished once before and this was a whole new experience for her.  I spent the first hour teaching her how to cast and going some basics.  She caught on quickly and we began to cover some water.  Now as some of you might remember from a previous post, my fishing experiences this year have been poor and my overall confidence is shot.  However, I honestly couldn't care less if I caught something at Tips Up, I just wanted my veteran to catch something so she can go up on stage for the weigh-in.  We spent the next several hours going all over the lake trying different techniques to get something to work.  By 11:15AM we had nothing in the livewell.  If this had been a tournament, I would have been just about ready to flip off the lake, but again, I was committed to her catching something.  I spent the next 15 minutes on the trolling motor watching the graph looking for some specific features that have proved good on Kent Lake in the past.  Once I found an area that looked promising, I tossed on a drop shot and immediately had a heavy thump.  I set the hook and handed the rod off the veteran to reel it in.  She fought it like a champ and brought up a 3lbs largemouth.  Two casts later I feel another thump, set the hook, and handed her the rod.  This time it was a 2 1/2lb largemouth.  A few more casts later, another thump so I set the hook and handed her the rod to reel in the fish.  Another 3lbs largemouth.  In literally 15 minutes when went from zero to having 8 1/2 lbs in the box.  I cast back out and instantly felt a thump, so I set the hook and proceeded to break it off.  Given that there was only five minutes left, I knew I wouldn't have much time to re-tie and fish, so I encouraged the veteran to keep fishing.  With about one minute left to go, I see her rod tip bounce and her line start to move.  I told her to set the hook and start reeling.  About a minute later, she brings up a largemouth that was just over 14".  In the end, we ended up with just shy of 10lbs.  Most importantly, she caught her first fish and said she plans on fishing again in the future. 
Tips Up for Troops is a great event and was exactly what I needed to help me refocus on the important things in life.  I highly encourage everyone to participate in this event next year.  You won't regret it.

[dartag]

Tim H we will figure out how to meet before take off next year.   Only drawback to the day was they mixed up the weights and didn't call us up right away for the win.  I talked to  Rick and  they got it straight.  They did announce us as the winners but everyone had walked away. 

Looking forward to next year.

Steve Smith
Commerce, Mi

[t-bone]

Tim - great job and your approach for this tournament is spot on. It should be all about the veteran.

I had something similar, I had a veteran with no bass experience and he brought a young boy with limited experience.
I spent the first half hour talking to them about casting and the technique they were going to use (dropshots and senkos). I walked them through how everything on how the boat worked and they were amazed at the sophistication of a bass boat.

I told them my goal is that everyone catch fish and contributes to the legal fish we weigh-in. As we all know Kent lake can be either a B*ITCH or you can have a great day. Also the lake is extremely weedy, so getting them to catch em without getting frustrated with weeds can be a challenge.

I got a lot of bites but I tried to explain the technique I was using and why I might be getting a bite when they aren't. By the end of the day, we all caught fish and each one of us had a fish in the livewell (5 for 9lbs).
The young boy would fish in spurts and when he tired of fishing, I would try to keep him active. He wanted to start the engine when we moved, try the powerpoles, I got him moving us with the trolling motor, got him to hold a fish for a picture (wouldn't do this at the beginning), etc. By the end of the day, he asked for my phone number so we could fish again.

These guys don't fish hard like we do and you need to slow down, give them breaks, take them to the restrooms to stretch legs or body parts that might be injured - just generally make sure they are comfortable.

I left knowing that everyone had a good time, everyone learned some new skills and made some new friends. I think we all are winners when we support these veterans and provide them with a nice day on the water.

[TimH]

Very good points T-bone.  I just noticed your profile says you have a 520c with a 250 Evinrude and Ford F-150.  Were you the one with the gray truck and gray boat?

[t-bone]

Yes - that was me!

Very good points T-bone.  I just noticed your profile says you have a 520c with a 250 Evinrude and Ford F-150.  Were you the one with the gray truck and gray boat?

[TimH]

Yes - that was me!

Very good points T-bone.  I just noticed your profile says you have a 520c with a 250 Evinrude and Ford F-150.  Were you the one with the gray truck and gray boat?

Nice!  That is a very impressive rig you have there. 

[djkimmel]

Great job guys. I hope I have my truck fixed and boat back this summer so I can help out next year. Working on the truck and hoping to get the boat situation straightened out soon (maybe...). Meanwhile, it's great to have friends who take people fishing and care that they catch fish too like all of you!