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!

[joedog]

Great story!
Great pics!
I felt like I was in a kayak next to you watching as it all happened. Great story telling.
I know the video will be great, SO GIT UR DONE!

Thanks for the share.

[bassboogieman]

Congrats. So how's dem Ugly Sticks ya bought on sale at Dick's working out for ya? And man you've got to cull some of that tackle - or buy a new dang Bass Boat to haul it around in.

Nice job on the story - it's OK for a grown man to get excited - really it is.

[lilmule]

Yak yakkity yakkity yak fish story,but a darn good one.
Shoulda tossed a bubble gum pink frog off dem stumps,but considering how you finished n/a

[keithdog]

I really enjoyed reading your account of how everything went down. Very well written. But most importantly, congrats on taking 1st place! I'm currious about the rules of a tournament like that. Since their are no live wells, do you use stringers to measure the fish at the end of the tournament, or do you measure, release and use the honer system?

[keithdog]

Ohhhh, and also, how about an update on how that Lawrance Elite 4x DSI unit is performing for you? Are you happy with it so far? Pros and cons.

[WaffleJaw]

Thanks guys!...Bruce is my excitement that obvious?! hahahaha.

Keith its a neat systems and works....
When you pay in...Your handed a Identifier for the day...This must be present in all photos to count...We use the Hawg trough ruler as the offical ruler...When you catch a bass..Lay em on the ruler with the head facing left..Mouth closed and tail not pinched (2'' lost on this if not correct).....I keep my identifier in a ziplock and slide it under the ruler laying across my lap...When every thing looks good you take a few photos capturing the identifier , full length of the bass and showing the marks on the ruler clearly...We sharpie the lines black to help with this!....I usually take 3-4 photos to ensure a good one,release the bass,then delete the bad ones..At the end you turn in your memory card/camera to the judges.

The tip is to carry spare batteries and a spare camera...stuff happens!

If I get the video editing..Ill leave in me doing the process so you can see what its like...I recently upgraded to a new fishing pfd so it has the pockets to store my camera and identifier right there without any digging around

Heres a pick where you can see my ruler in front of my crate....Very easy to slide in and out one handed

[WaffleJaw]

Originally Posted by keithdog

I really enjoyed reading your account of how everything went down. Very well written. But most importantly, congrats on taking 1st place! I'm currious about the rules of a tournament like that. Since their are no live wells, do you use stringers to measure the fish at the end of the tournament, or do you measure, release and use the honer system?

Keith Im very happy with it!...Im still learning more on deciphering DI..Not a whole lot on youtube...And Ive seen a lot of ''questionable'' things come up!....Ive been meaning for a long time to photo the screen and post here to see what yall think...Some times the fish holding on a ledge are clear as day! other times its very,very hard to tell!...Ill try and do that next outing.

My only gripe is the images are very small in scale.....clear,but small!
I wish it allowed cards,but for $199 its a nice unit and has played a significant role for me...I have the navionics app on my phone and that is the best $10 Ive ever spent! .
I havent messed too much at all with the split screen and zoom....Something else I need to explore the advantages of...

The Elite 4 DSI is the next step up which has internal GPS / and allows map cards....But Im good for now till I learn more about DI / chartplotting and all the clicks and whistles that come with it

[Jrob78]

It sounds like you had a blast! Great story, I felt like I was there too! Congratulations on your first win, I'm proud of you man! (that's only the 2nd gayest thing I've said all day)

[bassboogieman]

(that's only the 2nd gayest thing I've said all day)

Nope, I'm not gonna ask what numero uno was.



Man, I have NEVER seen a kayak loaded with so much cra........... I mean wonderful tackle.

[WaffleJaw]

Originally Posted by bassboogieman

Nope, I'm not gonna ask what numero uno was.



Man, I have NEVER seen a kayak loaded with so much cra........... I mean wonderful tackle.

Im working on adding a few more things..Should be the last major mod....Then that void inside me will be filled......BTW my wittle paddle works great!

Thanks Joe! Not gay at all....Im at at least 10 gay comments today.....I tried to demand an employee to put his hand in my mouth...I also learned how far my powers go here.

[bamabassman]

again walker, CONGRATS to ya bro! awesum story and a fantastic read.

[Dogmatic]

Congrats, and a great read! Thank you. Have you seen these? http://www.paddlerscove.com/precisionpakyakpak3.aspx

or these...http://secondtimearoundseattle.ecrat...-mate-ultimate

...although I don't see anything wrong with your set-up.

[kennethdaysale]

Waffle The zoom feature is worth playing with. Let's say that a fish is represented by x pixels...under zoom (magnification) now that fish is represented by 3x pixels.....tahdah!The kayak does appear to be...........busy. Winning the tournament means that when you look in the mirror, what you see of course, is a perfect reflection of a walking erection just to stay with the gay comment theme

[WaffleJaw]

Originally Posted by Dogmatic

Congrats, and a great read! Thank you. Have you seen these? http://www.paddlerscove.com/precisionpakyakpak3.aspx

or these...http://secondtimearoundseattle.ecrat...-mate-ultimate

...although I don't see anything wrong with your set-up.

Thanks Dog!!,
The precision paks were discontinued and HARD to find apparently.....Ive emailed about 3-4 companies that listed them ''in stock'' .....Ive never gotten a reply back....Sucks ,but I heard they went out of business but Im not sure of the truth?....Most of the other ones Ive looked at just seem so large!...Like the NRS bag,and the one Academy carries (felt cheap too)

However ,this one I liked quite a bit...Smaller and to the point!..I could mount my three rod holder straight through the material and be done
http://www.austinkayak.com/products/...ith-Crate.html

I have a another milk crate on order to play with...The idea is to make a ''skeleton'' type cover...Ive been looking at those 5 gallon bucket organizers to maybe cut up and modify to my liking...I just havent found the right candidate yet...

[WatterBoy]

Great recap, Waffle. Really enjoyed reading it. Congrats on the win -- very cool!

[WaffleJaw]

Thanks Dean / Kenneth......

Like I said....Very disappointed that everything was fogged out on the camera lens ...I will be treating them soon...

[Bubba_Bruiser]

That's awesome stuff Pancake!