Congratulations to everyone that did well in a TOUGH tournament! I know we sure learned a lot this year... even after getting spanked.

One of the best thing's that happened over the weekend?  Learning to adjust, which of course, we did not do a good enough job of.  We were on fish, just like everyone else, but should have spent much less time waiting for the bite.  Congrats to everyone that fished, and finished high in the standings.  Thanks to the O'Day's, Jesse for the grub and to my fishing bud's.   The BEST thing was simply seeing my fishing family again this year.  Nice to see everyone survived winter well!  Had a few laughs and just enjoyed the week-end for what it was.

Nick,

Yeah they were tucked alright. Maybe Daryl/Bob should ge a Tucks Wrapped boat .

Now thats funny right there.

Russ

Those Largies seemed to be either cruising or tucked up in the trees....the 5 lber we had, the whole boat was engulfed in a tree...A BIG thanks to Mark for leaning out with my 8 foot stowmaster, I thought he was about to fall right in the water!!!

Team Vicodin....I think you should get the boat wrapped by a pharmacuitical company!!!!.......maybe WONDERFOAM??????  HAHA

I only have one thing to say, SLOW DOWN! as stated by Daryl. I can't reiteratte that statement enough. We watched boat after boat fly threw bays. Mark can attest to this statement I had said to him earlier in the day in Crab.

Those fish are there you just got to do it the Harnish Way, flip way back in the nastys.

Russ

Well said, BOB. I only have one thing to say, SLOW DOWN! ha If I had air brakes I would have used them. Great job, great minds think alike and aren't afraid to change.

I also want to thank the unknown boater who gave us the great idea behind our pre-fishing technique.

Well done Bob(McLoven).

Daryl

Thanks Daryl...that almost brings a tear to my eye...net boy is my forte'.  

"Team Vicodin" did very well and I believe it was attributed to both of us putting aside our egos  and working together so we could maximize our collective fishing knowledge.  We made some really nice adjustments during Friday's pre-fish even though we weren't seeing nearly the fish everyone else was.  We stuck to our game plan and it paid off even though there were times Saturday we were questioning this strategy.

The best adjustment in my opinion however came Sunday with only an hour to go before weigh in.  We had four fish in the boat and were doing OK but we felt we needed to find some bigger fish really quick so we decided to abandon our general area altogether and go look for structure that mimicked what we had been fishing the the past two days.  Since everyone in the first flight (second day) only had 5 1/2 hours of fishing, the pressure of this decision was gut wrenching but we decided to go for it anyway.   It paid off...Daryl stuck a 5.02 and another cruising 3 1/2lber that swam right towards our boat.  We ended up getting 17.12 on the second day and 13.52 the first day for a total of 30.64lbs which was good enough for 12th place out of 122 boats.

I really enjoyed staying at Jack and Diedre's place...it was a lot of fun hanging out with all you guys. thanks so much Jack for being so hospitable....we all had a great time!  

I hope to see everyone at the Moses tourney...we should really whack em!  
Bob

Quote:


        In case you don't remember, Nick Barr is in your club and I find it to be sad that he is not mentioned and given any recognition in this post. Is it just because he is fishing with a non memeber? He was an instrumental part in the Barr/Chevrier team placing 16th. In an event that is an "OPEN". Nick caught all 3 of our fish on Saturday and I blanked out so don't be thinking karma came anywhere near me on that day. Oh sorry I assume you must be refering to me since I am the only non club member that was fishing with a member. So I will step up and give Nick accolades because he rocked in this tournament. It was Nicks suggestion that we change direction late in the day and go try and supplement our meager stringers on both days with some smallies at a hole he has near the dam. And no, it was not on the road bed with the other 20 to 30 boats that were not far from us. The second day I was a big contributor to the effort but Nick anchored our stong finish by both catching our biggest of 2 largemouth (his weighing 4 pounds 15 ounces vs. mine at 4 pounds 5 ounces) and our needed sixth fish to fill our limit on Sunday. I might add that that sixth fish I put in the live well with about 2 minutes until we had to be in. (Never give up)
     I also do not recall Baker saying he would bring in 50 pounds I do recall him saying that someone would. Someone being defined as a person entered in the tournament which could have been anyone. I and a couple of other folks I know were saying the same thing. So we were wrong shoot us!
      Oh and Russell I enjoyed your presentation and the appreciation expressed to those who make that whole event go well every year. My hats off to you for expressing thanks on the behalf of everyone that has fished in that tournament over the years. You said it well and I appreciate it.
     So my congradulations to all that were in this tourney for it was in no way an easy one. Very, very tough fishing and hard to keep a good atitude when you are seeing so many giant fish and you can't catch them.
     A special thanks out to Nick Barr for giving me the opportunity to fish this OPEN when I did not think I was going to have the opportunity to. I learned some things from you and I hope that you were able to learn something from me.

To everyone that said congradulations to me yesterday I say thank you all. It means a lot coming from a caliber of fisherman such as all of you.........

I want to thank everyone for the congrats. Believe me it was a little bit of everyone's knowledge that helped us put a pattern together.

I want to thank Jack, the owner and operater of the O'Day Spa, Resort and Ranch for his hospitality, it was truely appreciated. I look forward to fishing this tournament again and seeing everyone through out the year. Also, to Kirk for his culinary skills.

Thanks again Jack for the hospitality

Go Team "Vicodine", Bob is the best netter anyone could hope for. Thanks for the good time.

Daryl

That would be 45 lbs that won it close to 50 that I predicted and I publicly suggested that someone would get 50 lb as announced at opening of the Open on Saturday. As Daryl said Maderos/Baker won the pre-fish hands down but our fish either moved or got lock jaw.

At least we stuck around and congratulated our team mates as others bugged out early again.

The weather was great and laughs were had by all.

Congrats to Nick/My old partner Mark Chevrier and Payseno/Snodgrass for cashing.

Hey I look at it this way atleast I passed my karma on so someone else could step up for a change and cash  a check

Russ

It was a pretty tough tournament for all......there were lots of fish to be seen...but oh so little to be caught. As always I enjoyed the laughter and comeraderie. Me and the Flippin Technician (Chevy) took home 16th, right behind Daryl and Bob with 28 1/2 pounds.

I totally enjoyed the weather!!!!! WAY BETTER THAN LAST YEAR!!!! and I am still not sure about the WONDERFOAM...that stuff may be toxic..lol

Best clubber showing was by Payseno/Snodgrass who took 12th Place in a VERY tough tournament.  Kirk and I weighed two fish on Sat and 1 on Sunday for just under 8 total pound.  23 pounds to make the top 25 .  We had a couple of "clubber" boats who weighed the big "goose-egg" both days.  Several people saw tons of LM's back in the dunes but just couldn't get them to eat anything.  43.5 pounds won it!!!!  No idea exactly what they were doing but it happens every year, someone predicts 50+ pounds, weighs in less than a quarter of that and passes the "Karma" onto someone else that's not in the club!!!!  BTW, THANKS A BUNCH FOR THE ACCOMODATIONS JACK, I really appreciated the warm bed,  hot shower, hot coffee and a ton of laughs.  See you all next year to take another beatin'!!!!!!!

Well, how was the tourney?

Stu

Good luck you all at the "Holes"!!
Hopefully we can get the dates aligned next year so we can do both together!!

Russell,
i do have to say that those burgers you and Chevy cooked last year turned out pretty well. That Baby Ray's BBQ was the ticket.  Chevy I think it'll be quite the site to see me back over there. Yarding largemouth after largemouth out Russell's little honey holes. Wait every spot on potholes is Russell's little spot, that he found 10 years ago when he got 3rd. Wait Russ what year was that again?