Another Story From The Past – Winning Bag in 3 Spots FIRST THING IN THE MORNING
I used to take a lot of people out fishing. I don’t recall the guy’s name, but we headed up river one Wednesday afternoon for some fun fishing. I put him on a few fish including a controversial “4” pound smallie. He’s a big guy and everybody who saw the picture said it was smaller.
On the way out of a lake I saw a 3 and a 5 swim out from under the overhangs and exclaimed a little excitedly about it. The fellow with me said he didn’t see anything in a tone I found a little disbelieving. I’d have stopped to fish for them and given him a shot at them, but the tone said to me it was time to go home.
That Saturday I had a pro/am tournament and didn’t draw a partner. I lit out up river to that lake mouth, took my time easing up against the current on the trolling motor and stuck the 3 pounder on the first flip. I let the current sweep the boat away from the spot, and shaking inside I put that fish in the livewell, rerigged, and headed back on the trolling motor again. When I got in range I stuck the 5 pounder on the very next flip. To say I was jazzed would have been an understatement. The current swept me a little further before i was ready to fish again, but I didn’t have anything else planned, so I crept back up on the spot, pitched in and on the second flip nailed a 4 pounder I had not seen earlier in the week. The first 4 flips of the day put 3 solid fish in the boat. I worked he spot and the area around the spot for a little while, but didn’t get another bite. Without any other plan I headed up river to a similar spot, and caught a small keeper and a short away. I hit one more similar spot further up and caught another keeper. The sun was just starting to just over the horizon, and it was the last keeper of the day.
Five fish limit and I was done. Oh, I fished all day trying to cull out those two smaller fish, but never stuck another keeper. I don’t think my five pounder took big fish, but I won with 15.01 pounds (if I recall correctly). It was not a big bag for around here where I have seen 18 or 19 and even a few times 20 pound bags not even get in the money, but it was solid for me. Just think. If the fellow fishing with me the Wednesday before had a slightly different tone he or I would have probably sore mouthed those fish fun fishing, and the odds of stick all three on tournament day would have been much less.