Thursday, July 26
EverStart Tournament, 1000 Islands, New York, Day 2
Dan writes:
The guys who went out into the lake yesterday just slaughtered ’em, and the Top 30 cut after Day One was fifteen pounds. It was do-or-die for me today, therefore. No thoughts of flipping for largemouth anymore – I needed a twenty pound sack to catch up and make the cut, and the only way I know to do that here is to get out on those big smallmouth.
So last night when I met my partner for today, the first thing I told him was to bring his rainsuit. As for myself, this morning I donned two rainsuits, my waterproof socks and gloves, and my motorcycle helmet. I was planning on a nasty ride, and I got it, too. An easterly wind was kicking up 6-7 footers for the entire twenty-mile ride from Clayton to the big lake, and it took about fifty minutes just to make that part of the run. Fortunately, the big lake itself wasn’t as bad, nor was Chaumont Bay once we made it there.
The fishing was tougher on everybody today (some of the guys who caught 17-20 pounds yesterday didn’t do squat today,) and the miracle catch I needed today didn’t happen. I weighed eleven pounds even, and finished the tournament with 19 pounds, in 77th place.
I believe I found the fish in practice that could have made the cut for me here. I also think that if I had made the right decision yesterday, to fish for smallmouth regardless of the wind, then there is a good chance that I’d be fishing with the Top 30 tomorrow. As it is though, it’s just another lesson learned, about toughness, and about doing whatever it takes to be competitive in this sport.
Annie writes:
It was freezing this morning. When I went to take a shower it was in the 60’s and very windy. That is quite a change from the 80-degree mornings we have been having. I spent much of the morning trying to organize things for us to leave. The chances of Dan catching 20 pounds today to make the cut were pretty slim. He actually came in at the end of the day with 11 pounds, which gave him 18 pounds total. I was happy with that, and I am also happy that we get to go to my cousins wedding in Canada on Saturday since we did not make the cut.
Dan’s back is really bothering him this week. This worries me, and I hope that it is from the rough water here, and that it will be better in a couple of days.
We had a good night. The boys went out on their bikes adventuring in the town for their last night, I got more organized and did some business and emails on the computer, and Dan worked on repairing his boat – the trolling motor mount broke in the rough water today and he almost lost the whole thing. Fortunately the service trailer is here and we were able to get replacement parts.
This is our last night in the tents, and it’s going to be another cold one, so we all bundled up a little tighter before heading off to sleep tonight.