Tightline Shootout - Report & Pictures - Aug. 4th 2007

[Shaun Rickard]

I would like to start out by thanking John, Vito, Chris, Pat, Jamie, Arie and the rest of the team for doing a great job on organizing a fantastic event this weekend. The Tightline team made some great improvements to the event this year including a much speedier weigh-in and overall the entire proceedings went much smoother, great job guys This certainly is a top notch tournament and my team looks very much forward to fishing it again next year. I would also like to thank James Cunningham who was our Observer for the event, we had a lot of fun sharing stories with you on the boat all day. All the spotters for the Shootout are volunteers and our hats go off to the great job they do.

 

The fishing was a little tougher than it has been and many anglers struggled to get their 6 fish limit, ourselves included. My team mate again this year was my good mate Mike Haugh from Pickering.

 

Mike and I started out by taking the long run from the blast off point at Bluffers Park Marina to pickering where pre-fish had proved to be very productive. Our excitement turned to dissapointment after we fished for 2 hours without so much of a sniff from a Salmon, we're not sure if the west winds the day before and cooler temps played a part in the fish's reluctancy to bite but whatever the reason our fish were simply not active. After another 2 hours or so we only managed to baot one King over 20lbs and lost another before getting it to the boat. On that note I decided that we should pull lines and head west to Toronto to fish the drop off close to Toronto Islands. This paid off with us getting 2 more fish over 20lbs and one in the mid teens within the last 2 hours of the tournament, but it just wasn't enough to get us in the money. Despite only weighing in 4 fish over the 20 inch limit we had a lot of fun on the water fishing a truly great and well run tournament.

 

Despite running a vartiety of lures and presentations during the course of the day, including one of my favorites the Smart Fish and Fly combo, all our fish hit the meat (Cut Bait) fished down deep behind Luhr Jensen Coyote Flashers.

 

Below are some pictures from the days events, including shots of the teams that took 1st and 2nd place. Congratulations to Team Hot Rods who took 1st and Team Maestro who took 2nd.

 

The first fish of the day and the blood begins pumping

 

 

 

 

 

Al Slocombe (Big Al) From Al's Adventures on his way to the weigh-in :thumbsup_anim:8)

 

 

Yours truly at the weigh-in

 

 

A special thank you to Kodak who put up some great prizes for the event.

From left to right: Yours Truly, our Observer James Cunningham and my Team Mate Mike Haugh

 

 

Team Hot Rods collecting $10,000 for 1st place - Great fishing guys

 

 

Team Maestro collecting $5,000 for 2nd place - Good shooting Drew

 

 

Below are some shots of my very good friend John Cooper and I pre-fishing for the tournament. John lives in the UK and had never fished for salmon before, I can honestly say that after landing his first King he is definately hooked

 

 

John Cooper with his first ever Chinook Salmon

 

 

Cheers, Shaun

[Roy]

What a great report! Thanks for showing us your tournament adventure, Shaun. You have some super shots in there. Congrats to the organisers and volunteers. Looking forward to next year's show.

[fatherof3]

very nice report thanks for sharing

[tbayboy]

Great stuff Shaun, sounds like a great day had by all. Some beauty fish there.

[fishindevil]

Great tournament report shaun !!!!!!!!!! glad to see the winners take home all that cash....and all those those pics of the salmon were great,big size fish too ,thanks for sharing,john sure runs a good show,and glad everything ran real smooth....cheers

[spoonman]

Shaun great report bud and a couple more fish would of put you in the money for sure. There is always next year. Great pictures and once again a great tournament put on by the Tightlines crew.

Cheers

Al

[iceguy]

Thank's for Pic's Shaun! My Buddy and I team "Reel Affair" Somehow fluked into 3rd for the tourney picked up a cool 1500 bucks .What a awsome time in a tourney you always walk away with a least some lures and you always learn someting. I put together a Tighlines Result Video. Enjoy!

[mattyk]

thanks for sharing.

[Crazyhook]

beauty pics Shaun!

[mcallister.grant]

Looks like it was a great tournament. I would have liked to have been the one holding the $10,000 stack!!!!

[Shaun Rickard]

Thanks guys, we had a lot of fun.

 

Iceguy, congrats on placing 3rd, great job If I'd had a picture of you guys I would have posted it. I don't seem to be able to play your video? I'd love to see it if possible.

 

Cheers, Shaun

[Roy]

Shaun, copy and paste this into your browser window:

 

http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x276/Iceguy_2007/

[Shaun Rickard]

Thanks Roy, that worked

 

Cheers, Shaun

[Shaun Rickard]

Great videos Iceguy

 

Thanks for sharing and hope to see you there next year!

 

Cheers, shaun