This week's lessons learned

[cassidyta]

It was an interesting weekend on the water. I was able to spend about 16 hours on the water over the course of a 3 day weekend.

Lesson 1. The bilge will not fail until you need it.

After a full year of being a boat owner, I finally launched without the plug in. My boat has 2 plugs, at the transom and one in the livewell. I had left the livewell plug out. I learned that the one time you leave a plug out is also the one time that the bilge pump won't work. Luckily, I found this out when I went to vent the gas tank while still tied to the dock. There was not too much water in the back and I was able to drain it while running to my first spot.

Lesson 2. It is possible to catch fish and not have a pattern.

I ended Sunday with 10 fish, 7 keepers, brought into the boat, and have no clue what baits to use for my tourney. Being that I was prefishing, I wanted to cover some water and try to find where the fish were and a bait that produced. The water is up 15' from the last time I fished this lake so in many ways it was like fishing a new lake for me. I spent as much time watching the finder as I did actually casting.
I caught 1 fish with a gunfish, 1 with a fluke, 1 with a frog, 1 with a jig, 1 with a crank, 1 with a brushawg, and 2 with a dropshot. 1 DS fish was caught in 22' of water next to some boulders and 1 was caught in 5' next to a tree. So after 8 hours, I have no pattern.

Lesson 3. Your drag should be set for your leader and not your main line.

I took a friend and his son out fishing for trout on Monday. Being that the son sometimes fails in the accuracy department of casting, I set him up with 20 lbs and a 4 lbs leader. This is a reel that I normally use for my ribbits and rage toads so I had the drag fairly tight. Well, he gets his first trout hit and snaps the line. I retie and watch him do it again. I am baffled at first because I have verified the drag. It then dawns on me that I am testing the drag against the main line and not the 18" leader. It was a dumb#$$ moment.

[3dkicker]

Junk fishing is a pattern. Stick with it!!! Sounds like you covered a lot of water and found hungry fish.

[carolina-rig-01]

Forgetting to put the plug in is just part of owning a boat. If any boat owner tells you that they never forgot the plug they are either not being honest with you, or haven't owned a boat very long. But it usually only takes one time before you start double checking to make sure you got the plug in.

Sounds like you are in for a junk fishing tournament. It's a helpless feeling when you are in a tournament and having to junk fish, at least for me anyways. It seems like the time goes much faster when you are hitting tons of different areas and fishing different techniques. But as long as you cover a lot of water you should be able to catch your fish because it sounds like you are getting plenty of bites.