Of all the days you have fished, what was the absolute most memorable day you have ever had so far while fishin'?
It can be a day you took a no0b fishing.
Maybe you took a kid fishing.
Maybe it was a day that you just couldn't do anything wrong.
It could be a day you saved someones life on the water?
You get the point......
For me so far, the best day I ever had on the water was during the last tournament my BASS club had in 2008.
The day started kind of slow. I was riding in the back of the boat that day. Our club does a shotgun start so after everyone took off, we dropped the TM to start fishing a laydown right near the ramp.
Well guess what? The previous tourney was in Erie during some BAD weather and the boats TM was shorted out. So we had no way to motor around this log.
As the boat's owner was messing with the TM, and it was determined I could not do anything to help, I started throwing a DD22 at this log.
Within 5 casts I caught my first fish! I apologised profusely to the boat owner for catching a fish because he was occupied. I felt just as bad as I did good.
So after a good 30 minutes with no luck trying to fix the TM, he decided to fish anyway. So we crank the big motor and get on the upper side of the log so we can flow with the wind over this log.
We drifted over the log with nada. So we started the motor again and moved to the upper side again. Same thing, we drift over the log, but this time I get number 2! As I am reeling her in, he is struggling to get the net which was buried under assorted items laying on the deck. After he gets the net and is about to net the fish he says "what else can go wrong today?" I didn't say anything until the fish was in the net, but I was thinking he shouldn't have said that. Luckily nothing else negative happened that day.
After it was measured, clipped, and in the well he starts the motor and goes over to the other side of the log again. It comes across my mind that maybe he has an anchor! So I ask, and sure enough, he does!
So we anchor on the upper side of the log and start fishing again. I caught another fish, while the owner is still haulin' water.
After around 20 more minutes we motor to the lower side of the log, and anchor again. On my first cast I caught number 3! A nice smallie that was around 3 lbs.
So as I am catching fish the owner is trying and trying, but just isn't getting bit. So I ask him if he has any DD22's, and he didn't. So I tossed him one of mine.
I told him exactly where to cast and how to retrieve the crank. He makes a cast as I watch in anticipation. All of the sudden, BAM! Fish on!!!! So he starts yelling get the net, get the net!! To date that was according to him, the biggest LM he has ever caught.
I immediately make a cast to the same spot and hook up with number 4. Next cast, number 5. Next cast number 6. Fourth cast in a row, and I caught number 7!!
All of the sudden after I catch number 7 the fish seem to stop biting my crank. But they sure like the crank I gave to the boat owner.
He catches 3 more fish in a matter of 20 minutes or so.
After fishing for about an hour with no fish, we decide to take a run up the creek. We get maybe 100 yards from the creek mouth and the wind was blowing like crazy, so without a TM we decide to turn around.
We made a run up to the dam but decided to turn around and look for a similar spot to the lay down we did so well on. We found a similar area, but there was not a single log, laydown, or stump to be found so we went back to the original laydown.
We had about 20 minutes left until check in and the finish for the day. I ended up catching one more fish but it was the shortest keeper of the day and was tossed right back in.
With the exception of the short run down lake we made, we stayed in that spot all day. I caught my very first limit of fish, and culled out another 2, as well as catching another keeper that was smaller than the smallest I had in the well already.
I don't know what it was that contributed to my 1st place win that day. It may have been the person I was fishing with. Of all the guys in the club, he is my favorite to fish with. I don't know if it was just dumb luck. Maybe it was the Save phace mask that Burley trusted me enough to ship before I sent the payment, just so I could use it at this tournament. Or it could have been the fact that for that tournament I wasn't fishing to win, but rather for fun. I wasn't doing too well last year so that tournament wasn't going to make much of a difference in the final standings, but it actually did. The win may also be attributed to the fact that I took my culling beam out of my bag for this tournament. Maybe the beam was bad luck?
Actually I knew the fish would be there and what they would bite. I didn't know however that there would be so many fish on that spot.
I ended the day in first place with a total weight of 15 pounds 11 ounces! After I went through our clubs records, I found that bag was the heaviest ever brought in to the scales from that lake.
The boat owner ended the day in 3rd place with 4 fish and a total weight of 13 pounds 8 ounces.
2nd place was secured by Lisa Diehl aka Pittsburgh Reeler! She had a total of 3 fish with a final weight of 14 pounds 2 ounces!!!!
So what was your best day on the water?
