February 14, FLW Tournament, Day Two
Dan writes:
Late in the day yesterday I had found a brush pile on the edge of a flat where it drops off into the main river channel, and decided this would be a great place to start today. We spent two hours on it this morning, fishing the shallow side, fishing the deep side, and fishing the drop for fifty yards in either direction. It’s a great looking area, and there have to be fish nearby, but we could not make them bite.
After that we jumped around from spot to spot, but by 1:00 we found ourselves back at that brush pile without a fish in the boat. We fished the brush some more, then wandered off down the bank towards a point about two hundred yards away. We had not moved in this direction earlier this morning because there was a boat sitting on the point the whole time we were sitting on the brush pile. Now, halfway down to the point, I caught my first fish, on a Terminator Jig. My partner quickly caught another, then hooked and lost a bigger one. Next it was my turn to catch two quick fish, both of which were short and had to be thrown back, and then I caught a nice, fat smallmouth. All of this was in just one pass down the bank between our brush pile and that point.
At the end of the point we turned around. Fishing it back in the other direction we had only one bite, on my partner’s jig, and he missed it. It was now time to race back to the weigh-in. What I wouldn’t have given for an extra hour or two on this spot, though. Between take-off this morning and two o’clock we had not had a single bite; between two and three o’clock we had had seven.
My two fish gave me a two-day total of seven-and-a-half pounds. Just one more bite on that bank we just left may have put me in the money. That, after the practice we had here, would have been quite an accomplishment.
Annie writes:
On the way to the launch this morning the temperature was 25 degrees. The ramp was glare ice. There were people and trucks sliding everywhere. Workers were salting the pavement, but it was of little use on the slope, for every trailer that pulled out would wash it away and the dripping water would then freeze up again. I started backing Dan in, slid a little, backed a little more, slid a little more, then became afraid that the trailer would jack-knife. On the steepest section of the ramp the truck just continued to slide, but the boat finally came off the trailer and without further incident I was able to get back up and get out of there.
Back at the campsite, I was planning to go back to bed, but it was so cold and I had so much to do that I stayed up instead. I went to take my shower, as the bath houses are heated and have plenty of hot water. At 9:30 I was going to wash yesterday’s dishes, which I had let soak overnight, but I found I would have had to go through a layer of ice to get to them. So, the dishes will soak until the water thaws. I went out and did laundry, I cleaned the tent, and then headed to the weigh in. Dan came in with two more fish. This was great. No matter where we finish at least we did not zero either day, and in a tournament this tough I am happy with that.
After weigh-in we loaded the boat and went out to eat with a group of friends. It was nice to again enjoy a big meal, as opposed to the one pot dinners we have been eating in the tent.