THE TOURNEY

[fredhatch]

Well as most of you know I fished the Firefighter Olympics Tourney this week. First off, the Winter Haven Chain of Lakes is probably one of the most easily navigable chain Ive ever been on. 2nd, they are very clean- even have trashcans on small poles at each canal accessable by boat. Also hats off to the sponsor for doing a great job, food and beer were great.
Arrived Monday afternoon, checked in to motel and went straight to the water. The water is considerably clearer than most lakes I fish. With my handy map and a few pointers on productive lakes, off I went. Covered 5 of the 14 lakes. All nice. Sawgrass, eel grass,etc. Caught a few dinks on spinners and creature baits. Spinners being the most productive. Pretty happy going into the Capt meeting.
First day- The wind started up early, 15-25 mph. Not to many places to hide. Was on the TM for the entire day. 3 small fish, not even worth weighing. Went back ate, drank and watched a major thunderstorm roll through. Flood watch included. Woke up for day 2. A little chilly, light rain. Headed North this time- a few others said the water clarity was better and the fishing was good. Great ride, sun came out, raingear came off and we had 2 fish within 10 minutes of stopping. 4# and 5#,thinking hear we go. Well then the dreaded wind started, bites were there not hitting good, changed lakes and partner grabbed another 4+ fish. Well then things went bad. Went to move farther up on the lake and the big motor was hesitant to start, couple trys and she fired. Drove around, shut down, she fired up immediately- must be a woman-tempermental! Started working a long patch of docks and eel grass when the TM took a dump. Day 1- 8+ hours not a lick of running out of juice, day 2- 3 hrs 15 min.- DEAD! Yes I charged it over night 8-9 hrs. Well now Im blowing deep into the various vegetation and the nearest dock is 100+ yards in either direction against the wind. So I attempted to fire off the tempermental one again- NOTHING! ROW,ROW,ROW MY BOAT! Just a note this sucks in 20-25mph winds. Got to a dock, no cables, no charger. But the homeowner says there is a boat ramp a mere 200-300 yards around the bend. ROW,ROW,ROW MY BOAT! Called the tournament director- again hats off, they sent a vehicle immediately to pick up my partner to fetch my truck. Well another tourney, another day of MURPHY running rampant on my a**. Total weight 13.2 pounds, total weight weighed in 0. Since the batteries were dead, my aerator wouldn't keep up, I choose to release the fish than let them die. Overall, Loved the lakes, loved the fish, will go back. Hated the wind and Murphy. By the way if you read my reply about line you'll see the other part of my misery. Will also say, Strike King bleeding spinnerbaits are great. White w/ red, chartreuse w/ orange were responsible for all the fish taken by us and by most of the other contestants. Never found out who won, all I know is that out of 70+ boats, I know who finished LAST! But hey, at least I got to fish and workout for 3 days w/o any worries. 8)

[ryan7261]

Tuff luck Scott , well at least your keeping your chin up about it. Glad to see you liked the other parts about your trip. Did ya get to use a ZILLA'S out there? P.M me if ya did, would like to hear about it.


Robby.

[macgyver]

WOW Murphy was working overtime on ya. Have ya ever noticed that once one thing goes bad, it's like the flood gates open for all the other crap to fall on you too. Glad you caught some fish, sorry about the issues, but it was better than working, even with Murphy

Lizards

[Bassin_Dude]

thats a bummer. atleast you got some fishin done. BTW, how many Scotts are on this board?