Fishing For Freedom Event At Longshoal Marina, Truman Lake

[Fishes in trees]

The annual Fishing for Freedom event at Truman Lake is scheduled this year for October 12 & 13.  I've went the last couple of years as a boater and had a good time.  I was just wondering how many other local guys on this forum are going to participate in this event.  I'm going to get down there on the Wednesday prior to the event and make it into an extended fishing trip.  I don't get to Truman very often, so I am planning to burn up a couple of tanks of gas, just running around the lake, seeing the sights.   Maybe my co-angler will actually catch a fish this year.

[Fishes in trees]

Just returned yesterday evening from my Truman Lake trip.  Hadn't been on Truman since last year.  It is a pretty lake this time of year.  3 days of pre- fishing.  Didn't catch very many fish, but it was great going fishing and knowing that I didn't have to go to work the next day.  All the COE ramps were closed - government shut down - gotta love that.  One day i ran from Long Shoal Marina to past Berry Bend & back.  A little over 40 miles round trip.  When I gassed up at Caseys at the end of the day I had to put 4 3/4 gallons into the tank.  More evidence that Yamaha 100 HP 4 stroke motors are gas misers.

 

Anyway, day of tournament I drew a recently retired career army vet who had recently completed PTSD counseling.  Didn't have a clue on how to fish other than some distant childhood memories using a Zebco.  SE, we turned the day into a casting lesson day.   Using good spinning equipment ( provided by me ) he learned to throw deep diving cranks, by the end of the day he was getting similar distance to what I get out of the same equipment.  Using a different rig, he learned how to pitch jigs using 30 lb braid.  Overhead/side arm casts were ok, pitching was still a work in progress at the end of the day.  We spend about an hour drop shot fishiing deeper humps for white bass/wipers, but no luck there.  Overall, we caught a few fish here and there, no keepers.

 

 

The point of this outing isn't really to catch a bunch of fish, it is to give some vet/active duty soldier a day out on the water just to chill out.  That got accomplished  Overall the event this year had 138 boats, up some from last year, organizers said that they plan to get bigger next year.   Overall I drove home feeling that I had spend a few vacation days ( and some gas money & motel room money ) on a good cause, and I most  likely will participate in the event next year and I

would encourage other area boaters to participate.   A fancy bass boat isn't required.  A boat that is pretty much safe on Truman Lake is.   My LOWE WF 180 worked great.  For a complete report, go to the Leavenworth Bass Club pages and look at all the pages they got on Fishing for Freedom.

 

In another aside, after I got down to Truman, on Friday evening, I got invited to a BBQ sponsored by members of a different regional fishing website and around 35 different boaters showed up.  Only a handful of them knew each other prior to this event.  It was kind of eye opening how after a half an hour or so, guys were talking to each other like they were long time pals.  Made me say , "huh?"

 

Anyone who is looking for a fall fishing trip, this event is scheduled for the same time each year, the weekend prior to Columbus Day.  I'd recommend it.