Chickahominy River Tournament

[Sam]

Boater and I won our cub's tournament on the Chickahominy River this past Saturday, October 20th.

 

I was a nonboater due to a medical issue (inner ear infection and the doctor was worried I would get dizzy on the water) and had three of the five keepers for 11.8 pounds. The boater had the tournament's big fish (3.5 pounds) and the last one I caught about 10 minutes before the tournament ended put us over the top to beat the second place team by 4 ounces.

 

Chick was high and dirty, with a lot of wind that messed up the tides. Never did find clean water, even in the back of the creeks. And the wind held up the incoming tide so we did not enjoy the outgoing tide, which is what we wanted to fish, as it never went out.

 

The water was choppy and we were in the rain from 7 AM to around 2 PM, with excellent topwater water conditions. Only problem was that the bass did not want any topwaters. We threw poppers, buzzbaits and Whopper Ploppers with no strikes. I chucked a Chatterbait, too. Same went for all the other guys in the tournament. I guess the bass missed the "How to Fish Topwater" articles in Bassmaster Magazine.

 

We nailed all of our keepers, except one on a spinnerbait that we later culled, on plastics. 100% plastics. That is all they wanted. Green pumpkin with black flake; moccasin blue; Carablue; and Junebug.

 

We also had some drama at blast off, during the tournament, and at weigh-in.

 

At blast off, there was a very nice young man in a beautiful Triton who was wearing a red fishing jersey with "Roll Tide" scrolled across the lower back in large letters. Of course, I could not help my self and told him to yell "Geaux Tigers" when he set the hook. He did see the humor in it and we had a nice conversation about college football. Then, as he tried to start his Mercury motor and move out for his 39 boat Hookers Tackle Shop Classic tournament, his motor would not start. We got my boater's Ranger ready to go and left the ramp to join our other club boats in the creek for blastoff so I have no idea if he got the motor fired up. What a bummer. All the planning; getting up and driving to the Route 5 ramp in the dark; paying the launch fee; launching the boat by himself; paying his entry fee; and the motor would not start on a beautiful boat. Don't want that to happen to anyone. Hope he got going and had a good tournament.

 

During the tournament one of our club guys in another Ranger in the early morning got his bait snagged and he stepped from the deck onto the Ranger's gunnel rail to look down for the snag. Just then, the boater moved the boat via the trolling motor so the nonboater could try to get unsnagged and the nonboater slipped and went into the drink.  He did admit that he hit bottom. Of course, no one brings a second set of clothes with them or a towel other than for winter tournaments, so he had to fish the rest of the day in windy 50* temperatures.

 

At weigh-in, I noticed one of our guys who is a little on the heavy side sitting next to his parked Bass Cat boat and trailer on the road's shoulder. Knowing that he had medical problems and was scheduled for shoulder surgery, I thought he was stretching. But them my friend and I who were watching the weigh-in decided to go over a make sure all was OK when he did not move for about two minutes.  No, it wasn't good.

 

He had stepped on the trailer's upper step, slipped, and fell onto the ground. He could not get up. So me and two other guys lifted him onto his feet. He said he was OK but I bet he is hurting today. I thought he may have broken his hip shoulder, ankle or leg. He seemed to be OK after we got him up and he joined us for the final few guys at our weigh-in.

 

This is my second tournament in a row that I won. I skipped the last one due to an inner ear infection and the guy I was going to fish with finished second. But two firsts in a row is pretty good. One more to go on the Historic James River. Would like to make it three in a row.

 

Only negative for me was the big one that got away. She clobbered the plastic and I missed the hook set.  I guess I can add her to list of "The Ones That Got Away" which is pretty long.

 

All in all, had a great tournament and learned a few new places to fish the Chickahominy River in future years.

 

 

 

 

[flyfisher]

Sounds like a good day to me and a good streak you need to keep going.

[volzfan59]

Congratulations Sam! I currently not in love with AL or Roll Tide right now. Your Tigers beat my wife's favorite team last night. Rough time at our place last night.

[TOXIC]

Great recap.  Congrats!!  That river has really been producing!!  My buddy yanked a 9.8 out of there 3 weeks ago.