Lake Erie EverStart Tournament, Sandusky, Ohio, Day 2
Dan writes:
This morning I told my partner that if we started the day on the spot I left yesterday afternoon, we should be able to both catch a limit. As usual though in these tournaments, overnight something had changed the mood of these fish, and the color that was working yesterday was unproductive today. In addition, the fish had apparently repositioned out in deeper water, for we didn’t catch any fish up on top of the reef and the few keeper bites we did get came from out beyond the drop. The first fish though was a solid four-pounder, and the second a three, and this is what kept me out there so long — I felt I needed around twenty pounds today to catch up, so for most of the day I was fishing for big fish. By noontime I had had only one other bite, and lost it, and decided to give up on this spot and head back across the big lake. Again the ride took about an hour, and in the two hours we had remaining we fished Kelley’s Island Reef, where I caught one two-pounder and had another jump off.
My partner for today, Rick Shepherd, was interesting. He fishes some smaller tournaments back home in West Virginia, but this was his first EverStart tournament, and he just wanted to come out an see what it was like. We talked about his antique business, his work in the coal mines, the fact that he develops and maintains his own web site like I do, but perhaps the most interesting thing about him today was… he didn’t fish! Periodically throughout the morning he would pull out a rod, tie a new bait on, and just as I thought he was getting ready to make a cast, he’d put the rod back and sit down again! When I questioned him about this he said he was content just to sit back and observe, and the next time I asked the said that all he wanted to do was to net all the big fish I was going to catch. We had taken off this morning at 6:30, and it was not until 1pm that he finally made his first cast! Now I don’t know if he had employed this relaxed attitude in his fishing yesterday, but I do know that the one fish he caught yesterday was a four-pounder. And now get this – not five minutes after making his first cast out of my boat today he was calling for the net, and exclaiming “Fish on! Big fish!” The one fish he caught with me today weighed four pounds, eight ounces, and almost took big fish prize for the day!
I finished the day with three fish, nine pounds, and over two days I weighed six fish for about seventeen pounds. I had five keeper bites each day, and each day boated only three of the five. I was upset about this, and found myself adding up “what could have been,” had I put those fish in the boat. The more I’ve thought about it though, I more I’m now acknowledging that this is what happens to everybody when fishing for big-lake smallmouth. These fish are simply more adept at spitting the hook, partly because of their nature and their athletic ability, and partly because you frequently have three, four or five times more line out when you set the hook. Not only does that give you far less hook-setting power (due to line stretch,) but it gives the fish much more time to perform their acrobatics as well. The bottom line is that when fishing for Lake Erie smallmouth, you have to expect that you’re going to lose some of the ones you hook. It follows then that you have to be able to get bit more than five times a day in order to put five fish in the livewell, and I couldn’t do that this week.
Annie writes:
Up at 4:30 with Dan, boy I do not do mornings, today is especially bad, it seems like everything is wet. It rained all night, and the tent has some good puddles. I managed to put two loads of laundry in before we left the campground. I watched Dan take off and could not get back on the internet, so I went back to the campground to pack up. We decided last night that I would try to pack up the campsite, and be ready for when Dan got in this afternoon. Boy did I work my tail off, everything was drenched and I was drenched. I took my shower and got cleaned up just before I drove out of the campground. It will be very messy once we get home as everything needs to be set up again and dried out, but for now, it all fit in the truck, just don’t open any doors or it will all come tumbling out.
I was waiting on the ramp at 3:00 for Dan when he came in. He did well, and caught nine more pounds, but not enough to keep us here for tomorrow. Just as well, since the car is packed and ready to go. We drove out of town at 6:30pm, and Dan actually drove for about a hundred miles which is good. We stopped to eat and then I drove while Dan slept. I managed to get in about 300 miles before I had to sleep, it was 2:00am.