Third tourney, 1st place!!

[WaffleJaw]

Guys I haven't been incredibly active on here the last several months,I still check in everyday and this is still ''home''
Ive been getting very involved with the local kayak events and clubs around North Texas and entering the new tournament trials...Its been a very humbling experience but a blast to be a part of...Plus getting to fish along some really good anglers!

So this past Sunday was the 2nd tourney for the Bass club...20 anglers enter on Lake Purtis in Eustace,TX...A smaller but bass loaded lake!...I drove out and prefished it with two other club members a few weeks prior...Didnt do to well...We each caught two all on crankbaits....However, I found a nice,stump loaded cove at the north end that I really liked and caught my better fish in.Plus directly across was the island......This cove was my spot for the tourney!
Reason being is the launch points were mostly at the south end...So I figured everyone would immediately start fishing the first two coves , the damn, and the two lite piers...We use a shotgun start,and Im usually one of the last guys on the water because I like to rig rods once I get there (Im rigged to carry 5 rods,now)...and think over my game plan to see what I may wanna change upon the conditions.

Which was rainy and cooler all day!!...My game plan was to fish it like a fall pattern.

It was still pitch dark..My headlamp on and 360 light on in the kayak....I looked out into the lake and through the fog saw all those kayak lights heading exactly where I thought!!....My problem was it was so dark I wasnt comfortable making the long paddle to my cove navigating through the stump field..It sucks to have a shallow stump hang you up!!..
So I started a spook at the west side of the damn to kill time....Then made my move for a 20 minute paddle....I arrived with no one in sight except three guys fishing the island...Which I knew they were launching near there.
But my cove was still and empty......Lets get to work!!
I ran KVD 1.5's and 2.'5s all through the opening and through that cove deflecting over every stump I could and covering as much water as I could....No takers.
Paddle back right before the mouth in about 5-6' of water....Lets slow down....I had a finesse jig tied on...But I also had a T-rig....I felt the T-rig I could stick and move a little quicker....I rigged up a Grande Bass rattlesnake in Chart/ Pepper.....A little different than my norm GP color.

2nd cast, At a long hump back lay down....he took it! but ran directly at me and I couldnt catch up for a solid hook up...missed.....But! He gave me plenty of info!

I brushed clipped to a stump and worked that 4-6' of water in that cove and ended up making my limit in less than two hours on that Grande RS.
And missed a few others....Now in these CPR tourneys we go by inches,not weight since we dont have livewells...The beauty of this is fish under 14'' still count as long as they can be measured on the Hawg Trough ruler..Which I think starts around 8''


I was doing good!, but had two 11'' basses I needed to cull to feel confident to try and place....Its such a strange feeling to look into the distance at the other kayakers wondering how well they were doing...By this time a few guys made it to my cove and fished the opening....We talk about how others were doing......So far, I was the only one on limited that I knew of...However,others werent far behind and the rumor was someone landed a 5lber (which turned out to be more like 3lbs)

A power drive to try and cull........Right after I eat this Payday

I covered that cove up and down....And thought maybe I need to move out to new water...I paddled and fished the opening thinking to try deeper spots around the island across the lake...I had 2.5 hours left...

Then I remember I made this mistake twice of leaving a spot that was producing.There was no change in temp or weather...The smaller bass were still breaking surface every so often and flipping the bait fish up....They were still there!....I turned around and went back in and changed to a GP mega rattlesnake...Then after that we were gonna start finessing that area.....

It didnt take long.......3rd cast...
I think I could feel my pupils dilate when I felt that ''thump''...Sinking my Trokar hook into a solid bass!...Theres my cull...A solid 17.25'' bass! making it my longest of the tourney...
The bite left after that...I went to my finesse rod (finally using the Prolite reel after having it for nearly a year) and worked a 4'' Yum dinger...Missed a few smaller ones...By this time it was an hour to weigh in and I had a long paddle back in the light rain...

Meeting at the pavilion, I was anxious to see how I did.Especially when more guys started arriving shaking their heads in disappointment on either not making limit,or catching a dinkfest....

The cigarette in my hand started shaking a bit.

I knew my buddy made his limit..He's placed in every tourney Ive fished...He's consistent and a machine, and I still had one 11'' fish on my camera.

But of course we didnt wait for the tourney director and we added up our totals ourselves....Im more competitive than I admit...

He counted around 67''.....I counted 77''

And it held for 1st place! (77.5'' total)..My buddy got third,and another new friend got 2nd with 69''

It was a hard grin to shake off.....My beard covered it well,but it was there......I sat on the bench after shaking hands and thought about it over and over again....Everything Ive learned from this site to TOW with my own experience......It was nice to go in with a plan,but even better to stick to it,grind it out and have it pay off.....

Sadly though, I didnt take a whole lot of personal photos...And after my memory card was checked in,the photos were cleared off...An accident for sure.....The other horror was I got it all on film from the playsport...haha...however the rainy weather fogged up the lens the entire time.....Im trying to clean it up with adjustment...But my laptop is so old and outdated that film editing it nearly impossible on it..But Ill see what I can pull off and post here tonight....

Heres just a few I snapped....The day before preparing the kayak....Then two at weigh in....Also my newly made rod holders for the back of my seat to swap rods while standing without a long reach

.It was a long,wet drive home....I never turned on the radio...Just silence with that reel replaying...Locking in that memory forever and glancing at the light scratches covering my left thumb


But then I had jury duty the next day....and that sucked balls!