Fishing Cowgirl Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 We did it! Still hasn't sunk in yet, but My Hubby (Fishing Cowboy) and I, won Anglers of the Year in our tournament trail. It was a close race going into the final tournament on Saturday, with us 1 point ahead of 2nd and 2 points ahead of 3rd. It is such a great club, of 27 more or less teams. Saturday was the make it or break it and Fishing Cowboy couldn't fish it with me, because he was hired by the PRCA to work in the Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeo. The race was on for more than a month to find a partner to fish with me. It seemed everyone had another tournament, or other commitment. We found Austin, a son of one of the other club members, who could. fish with me. But on Saturday, we all meet at a Restaurant to eat and draw which lake we fish. (No exemptions, 14" minimum, only one over 22" per angler.) But Austin didn't show up until after the 5 AM drawing time and everyone was figuring I would fishing solo and offered to help with launching the boat. I would just say, put my head down and fish. (Some ramps are pretty small). But he showed and we had a great time! We had a large lead over 4th place and knew we just had to catch a better bag than the the other two teams. What a great year and great club. From freezing cold, soggy rain days, 100 degree days, stormy days where the wind and rain was blowing so hard, trying to get back to the ramp, we weren't the only team running through areas and saying we"didn't remember seeing those Shiner poles before!" Me throwing my "oh why not baits", from what the director called a "crackhead looking worm" to an Ospry nearing dropping a bass on my head, bird's getting tangled in the line, gator fights by the boat, me hand lining in a 4 lber because the line wrapped around the eyes of my rod, to falling out of the boat going after a rod, (me again). I think that is just the bonus parts of being able to fish. The scenery, camaraderie, and pitting yourself against the fish. I guess it will sink in next month at the Classic when we get the plaques and jackets. http://weekendwarriorsbassclub.net/ 4 Quote
Super User BassinLou Posted March 31, 2015 Super User Posted March 31, 2015 That's awesome!! Congratulations!! Quote
Super User 00 mod Posted March 31, 2015 Super User Posted March 31, 2015 Congrats to both of you! Jeff 1 Quote
Super User Dwight Hottle Posted April 3, 2015 Super User Posted April 3, 2015 That is outstanding. Congrats to you both. A well deserved win. 1 Quote
Super User Darren. Posted April 3, 2015 Super User Posted April 3, 2015 Excellent! Congrats to y'all! 1 Quote
Fishing Cowgirl Posted April 9, 2015 Author Posted April 9, 2015 Thank you all, It is now starting to sink in a bit. We picked out our jackets for the embroidery at Bass Pro with the director. Grey and a lighter weight jacket. I;ll post photographs after we get them. We will get them and the plaques on the 26th, when the two day classic is done. We don't know where the two lakes will be until the morning of the 25th when both are drawn. (Second lake is off limits.) Can't believe it is already pushing 90 degrees, it will be a hot summer! Quote
Super User Nitrofreak Posted April 9, 2015 Super User Posted April 9, 2015 Lots of hard work and preparation on your part rewarded you with a sweet prize to show for it , thank you very much for sharing this awesome news with us ! Congratulations on a job very well done you guys and God bless !!!! You know what this means right , your going to have to be even more prepared to defend !! 1 Quote
Fishing Cowgirl Posted April 28, 2015 Author Posted April 28, 2015 I hope everyone had a great weekend of fishing, we certainly did. It was our Classic Weekend for our Tournament trail, everyone gets a paycheck, how much depends on which bracket you end up in on day one and on day two where you place in that bracket. You fish against another angler to determine brackets, since we were first we fished against the team that qualified (8 tournaments minimum) with the least weight and so on. We drew the lakes Saturday morning and it was Lake Gentry and day two lake was Lake Marion. (Day two lake is immediately off limits until day two). Being Anglers of the year, we were first boat out and we decided to hit the canal from Alligator Lake, since they had the locks open and there was some current. We usually don't fish that spot. I started throwing a crank bait and caught a couple keepers (14" min) but they were certainly skinny. Kevin caught two more throwing a Fat Ace stick bait. After catching more shorts, we decided to go to the other end of the lake where the canal runs into Cypress. We caught #5 and #6 culling a skinny bass. These were fatter here. We decided to take a breather for a quick drink and some crackers, and it was about 8:30. I sat there with my cracker and told Kevin, "I'll throw this Fat Ace out and let it sit while I eat". I hand my finger under the braid and he was saying he didn't feel any hit his bait, they were just there when he picked it up. About that time I had a cracker in my mouth and felt this little "TIC" on my line. I said "Oh. a fish" and did what he describes as my "ejection seat" move, jumped up and could see the grass start to lay down. I set the hook and told him this is a "better one". Then I could really feel it pulling drag and I keep it set tight. He was grabbing net and after a few seconds which felt like forever, I hauled in a 6.54 lb bass. Then I was looking around for my cracker and realized I'd swallowed it nearly whole. The lump I felt down in my throat didn't go away until that night. He had stepped all over his crackers getting the net. But what a cull! We had a Big Bass pot for each day and on that lake, we felt pretty good about out chances. At weight in, we met another Team, good friends and they came in second to us, and we call them Freaks of Nature when it comes to fishing, they said they had one that would go about 6 lbs too. Their story was just as good. About 5 minutes before weigh in, One pitches in to a mat and breaks the line setting the hook. They see the line still on the water but slowly moving. One grabs the line and fights the fish, hand lining it in. The whole time praying it isn't a mudfish (Bowfin) as they pull the weeds and grass off, saying watch the teeth. It was a nice bass. Their Bass weighed 6.58 lbs. They won Big Bass and well deserved. But what good fish catching stories. Day two lake was moved to Lake Kissimmee as the back up lake, since 20-30 MPH winds were predicted out of the west and Lake Marion was an West to East lake. The issue was safety as there wasn't anywhere to get out of the wind and the waves on a small Florida lake could easily sink some of the smaller boats. We were last boat out this time and two other tournaments were also out of the same ramp, so we got a very late start, mostly because trying to get launched and parked. We went to our one island where we could deal with a little less wave action and all such areas were very crowded with other boats having the same idea. We managed a decent bag for the conditions, with a couple of 3+ lbers and solid 2 lbers. He even told me to "sit down and eat some crackers more than once, LOL" We managed a 3rd place finish in our bracket and received our Angler of the year awards. Again what a great year and fun way to finish it out, with some many great anglers and friends. http://weekendwarriorsbassclub.net/ Quote
Super User Nitrofreak Posted April 29, 2015 Super User Posted April 29, 2015 Thank you very much for taking the time to write all of that for us , what a great read it was !!! Congrats on your AOY and a successful season !! Quote
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