Wednesday, July 25
EverStart Tournament, 1000 Islands, New York, Day 1
Dan writes:
I drew a good boat number last night at the pairings meeting – number 14. That was one of the reasons I made the decision this morning to stay in the river and fish for largemouth. The other reason was of course the wind. Yesterday we battled 5 and 6-foot waves to get out to the lake, and when we got there the smallmouth wouldn’t bite. This morning the wind was still blowing, so I decided it was better to go with the sure thing, which I figured was eleven or twelve pounds of largemouth and maybe a lucky big bite to go with it.
Things didn’t work out according to plan. A cold front overnight had dropped the air temperature ten degrees from the morning before, and while not actually “cold”, the change seems to have turned the aggressive bite off. On my number one spot, where I thought I could catch a limit in an hour by flipping one small reed-island, I caught only one two-pounder and then hooked into a monster fish. When I set the hook that fish headed off into the reeds like a twenty-pound carp. I managed to stop it but by the time I did she was too far in, and as we tried to force the boat in to net her she wallowed in the tangle for a few seconds and then just hung the hook point on a reed and disappeared.
I estimate that that was a six-pound fish.
I struggled for bites the rest of the day, and knew early on that I had made the wrong decision, especially since the wind was decreasing with every minute that the day progressed. An early boat number in the morning though means an early check-in in the afternoon, and as much as I would like to have changed my decision and run out to the big lake to go smallmouth fishing there just wasn’t time to do it today. In the end my largemouth flipping produced only four keepers that weighed eight pounds.
Annie writes:
It was a pretty nice day finally, not too hot, and not too sunny. The boys and I took guesses this morning as to how much weight Dan would come in with. Jeff guessed 13.10, Chris guessed 12.9, and I guessed 11.15.
Now here’s a funny story: Before the weigh-in I went to take my shower in the bathhouse, and while I was in the shower I hear someone saying “Hello? Hello, you in the shower?”. I said “Yes,” and a woman asked, ” Are you Daniel Keyes’ wife?” Again I said “Yes,” and that was all it took – she had a whole conversation with me that lasted through my whole shower – through moisturizing, toweling off, getting dressed and doing my hair. When I finally exited the shower room, there she was, still talking. That has to be one of my strangest experiences yet.
Dan came in at 2:30 with four fish that weighed 7.15 pounds. He was not pleased with this, especially since he had lost or missed a couple of fish that would really have helped him. Jeff & Chris being here really helped though, for after the weigh-in we cooked dinner and then went down to the park to play some tennis, and after that we went out for an ice cream. I know Dan has a lot on his mind and this week has been very different for both of us. If he doesn’t make the top 30 cut it will be disappointing, but I am happy for the time we have had here with the boys.