Kellogsville Sportsperson Hardy Dam Tournament

[spinninbug]

Well I got up at 2:30 to drive over to meet fasttrack for the tourney on Hardy,  I was meeting him at the car pool lot,  I was just going through Big Rapids and my cell rings and he just wanted to make sure that I was on my way,  I was about 5 minutes away.  So when I got there Marc and his buddies were waiting for me,  I pulled in and turned the truck and boat around and got out and met Marc for the first time,  they were checking out my boat and I started laughing,  someone the night before and I think it might have been FF Jeff asked me if Marc had asked me to send a picture of my boat! 

So we loaded up his stuff in my boat and off we went to the launch.  We had talked several times about what we were going to do and where we were going to go,  you know made plans for our day.  So we pretty much had that down.

So we get the boat launched and parked and go and get all signed up.  Then we were just standing around chatting waiting to get started. This is when I informed Marc that I don't touch pike only if I have to like if Terry isn't fishing with me.  I was pretty excited and pretty confident in our choices that we had made.  So off we go (I made him drive my boat,  I just get to nervous with that many boats I have fished with another girl in a 45 boat tournament but we volunteered to be the start boat so I didn't have to worry about racing everyone).

We get to our starting spot and so did a few others,  but I was still confident. I make my first cast,  then my second,  I said fish!! Yep you guessed it Pike!  So Marc nets it and takes it off for me.  Whew got that out of the way!  Then Marc hooks up with a nice smallie,  I was waiting with the net,  the fish went under the boat and was gone!  Dang.  But hey we are in a good spot,  I'm throwing my spinninbug and he's throwing a fluke,  then he changed to a floating  rapalla this thing really starts working and we finally get a couple in the livewell.  Marc missed one that swirlled behind his bait and I followed up with my spinninbug and got it. We worked good together as a team and were doing really well I thought.  I think we might have gotten three in that spot,  nothing great but good solid fish.  So we work that area for a bit and decide to go to the second spot we wanted to fish,  just around the corner.  We get there and there is another boat sorta working the same shoreline,  so we go past them to the spot I wanted to fish,  they weren't in the spot we wanted to go to really,  just in the spot I wanted to start at.  So after a few casts Marc hooks up with what would be our 5th fish,  a small largemouth.  Just made 14 inches,  he said hopefully we won't have to keep that one and I know it wasn't more than two more casts and he hooks up with a good smallie,  we get her in the boat and whew we can cull that largemouth. 

Terry called me what felt like every 15 minutes (not really but he was so excited for me and wanted to remind me of different places to go and things to try)

By this time my nerves had finally settled down,  you know fishing with someone new that you've never fished with before can be a little nerve wracking.  So we are having a great day and decide we are going to go up the river.  Terry and I had done so well up there that I was sure we were going to be able to upgrade some of our fish.  Well the river didn't pan out so great.  We spent some time up there checking things out. Weren't able to upgrade any of our fish.  So that was disappointing.  We decided to go back to the flats that we had fished earlier,  we had alot of activity there and saw alot of good fish that we just couldn't get to take.  So off we go.  Get to have a snack going through the no wake and we are good.

Well we get back to our spot,  Wendy has to pee....I have this down to a science but usually my husband is in the front of the boat,  so I said look foward I have to go.  So that went well. 

So I get back to fishing,  I wasn't going to tell this but I know if I don't Marc will so here goes,  I hooked up with a great smallie,  I said fish!!  It's not hooked really,  and poof it was gone.  I was a little frustrated knowing that fish would have really helped us.  So I tried my best to brush it off.  Kept fishing and couple minutes later,  hooked up with a good largemouth.  I really wasn't expecting that,  but it was a good solid fish we and we could cull another smallie,  if I just hadn't lost that smallie we would have had alot nicer sack. 

We worked around back to our starting spot and I believe we caught a few more.  But nothing that would cull what we already had. 

So it's time to head back for weigh in.

We get there and the scales weren't working,  so on to plan b,  well it's our turn and we get up there,  weigh our big fish,  3.9 and we had 13.6 total.  I was happy with that.  Marc buddies Jeff and Tracy had 14.5.  Well we were in the running for second big bass for a while anyway. 

Well we ended up third but lost out on second big bass.  So as Marc would say,  we did great and we got wood!  The first three places get plaques. 

All in all a great day on the water fishing with a great partner and we had a really good time too.   It was great meeting and fishing with Marc.  Met some other really nice people in the process too,  I just think we might be doing some more tourney's together too. 

Feel free to fill in what I missed Marc,  I'm sure I missed some!

[fasttrack]

You did just fine telling the story - and just fine in the boat on Saturday. It was a pleasure meeting and fishing with you! A top 3 finish out of 33 boats is always great too. We can always talk about the ones that got away - I think we had on at least three that would have easily given us the win, but oh well, no complaints here.
Yeah, ya never know what to expect when fishing with a new partner but I agree that I think we complimented each other well. And thanks for bringing the nice Champion to fish from - way roomier than my 16.5' boat. I'm just glad I didn't hit anything while running your boat all day! Hopefully I can keep my streak going in this club. Dating back to the last half of last season I've been fortunate to have 3 wins and 2 third place finishes in the 5 events. Looking forward to the next time Wendy!

[Team houston]

Nice report. Good job.