I fished my first tournament on my boat last year. I was going solo, just like I normally fish. I prefished the day before and marked spots.
Next morning, there was a mom working the event and saw I was solo. She asked if her son could join me. She said he was really good and a nice kid. I said, let me meet him. He came to my boat and we hit it off. I was going to make some room for his stuff, but he decided to only bring one of his favorite rods.
I didn’t hog up anything. It was an opportunity to work with a young man and have fun. I let him drive the boat and fish up front. He kept me on spots so I could fish, lol. He ended up uses my gear, rods/reels, lures, and my techniques and we put fish in the boat.
Near the end he was wearing out. I might moved to another spot and caught a bigger fish. He was almost wanting to lay down, I get it. It was hot and nearing the end. I told him to work the spot, he was not paying attention and then he reeled in with out realizing he had a bass on. It was the big of the day.
We didn’t win, but could have placed higher. One or fish just didn’t make it. We tried hard to keep the fish strong. Secondly, I made a mistake... my new partner tried to warn me. I kept the wrong fish, had I listened, I would measured the two smallest to keep he right one. I brought one fish in that wasn’t up to spec and we points deducted for it and the two weak fish...
i fished with a total stranger that I met at 4am, day of the tournament and it was a good experience... I can’t even say I would have had that experience with someone I’ve known for years. It it was a great experience and it saved me from some extra work so I could fish. He had fun. He was respectful of my boat, my gear, and me. We talked about family, school, and future goals.