Our Tournament and our rules

[Cudz]

We had our fishing tournament on the lake and it was a blast. The lake has 5 major species that we were after; pike, walleye, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and crappie. The rules were simple. Team 1 vs Team 2 (each team had 4 members). 10 points were awarded for catching one of the species of fish and an extra 10 points for the team with the largest of that species. Therefore each species was worth a maximum of 20 points. Both teams were equiped with a tape measure and a camera.

 

The tournament got started late due to the fact that there might have been a few people who had a few too many the night before. Anyway both teams were off by 11am. By 1:30pm both teams were back for the breakfast break. At that point my team was behind. Both teams had caught only pike and smallmouth but unfortunately the other team's pike and smallmouth were bigger and therefore they were winning 40 to 20. I was fishing a lot of gunk before breakfast and I had about 4 largies on but none were landed so I knew after the break we were goiong to eventually land one.

 

Anyway the break lasted until about 5:30pm. Both teams set off again and immediately we went gunkin for buckets. After getting one close to the boat and losing it I thought we were done. A few more casts proved otherwise. My teammate gets into a big largie and we land it. It is an 18" 4 pounder. I am stoked at this point. We have our largie so now it is time to get a crappie and try and improve on out pike and smallmouth sizes. I pull us off the spot and go to another.

 

The spot looks great. After only 3 minutes my least experienced teammate hooks up with a giant 14" crappie. We land it and now I am over the moon. Knowing we had almost no chance to catch a walleye, I decided we would have a better change to increase our score by catching bigger pike or smallie. We move again.

 

I find another spot that looks promising. I tell the inexperienced fisherman to use a tube jig to catch a smallie. After I teach him how to bounce it off the bottom he gives it a try and immediately hooks up with a big fish. I am expecting a smallmouth for sure but I hope it is at least 18" to beat that of the other team. Instead of a smallmouth my inexperieced teammate has hooked into a 21" walleye. Are you kidding me? We land it and I am freaking out. Too funny. We had caught all five species and had 30 minutes to spare.

 

As the other team approached the dock I saw that they had one 17" walleye. I asked if they caught a crappie or a largemouth and they said no. I knew it was all over but they thought they had won. I pretetnded that we didn't catch anything. It wasn't until I showed them the stringer and the pics that they realized they had been owned that day. Woohoo!!! It was great to beat my old high school fishing partner on his lake (which I have never fished before) using a boat without a fishfinder or depthfinder. When I showed him the stringer he actually went down on all fours while shaking his head (true story, I even think I saw tears). We are very competitive.

 

My team won the tourney 80 points to 50 points. Too much fun. I think I am banned from the lake for yelling though.

Check out some of our fish. These are only from my team.

 

Cheers

[modny]

thats a nice calico bass

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Congrats on the win. Thats a nice crappie. But you gotta work on your slop fishing or get a stiffer rod! Sounds like the bass were given you a hard time.lol

[Victor]

Congrats on a great day with a mixed bag of species!

[Cudz]

Congrats on the win. Thats a nice crappie. But you gotta work on your slop fishing or get a stiffer rod! Sounds like the bass were given you a hard time.lol

I didn't know the lake well so I bought 5 rods with. Unfortunatly my 7' heavy rod got broken the night before (bad luck). I ended up putting that reel with 30 pound power pro on a 6'6" medium caster (my crankbait rod). My only other baitcaster was on a 6'6" mh and the reel was spooled with 10 pound fluoro. My friend actually managed to get a hook set and pull that hog out of the slop with 10 pound fluoro. Not bad. my two other rods were spinning rods. We worked with what we had. I need to replace my big rod now.

 

I caught another slab that morning before the tourney started (off the dock) and I thought it was big until I saw the other one. Mine was 12" and it hit a 3.5" tube.

Edited June 30, 2008 by Cudz