King Of The Glades Classic

[bocabasser]

saturday night was the meeting for the kotg classic. there was originally 5 locations to choose from, but 2 of them the water is so low that they were nixed from the hat. the 3 remaining locations were sawgrass, belle glade (lake o) and loxahatchee. when we got to the meeting all of the 20 boats had to choose a take off number. i was lucky enough to pull boat #3. after some talk by the td, he said this years classic will be at.................LOXAHATCHEE! we were to launch out of the 20 mile bend ramp (the one off of southern blvd). i was friggin stoked! my partner and i have been on some toads for about the last 3 months. needless to say i could not sleep a wink saturday night.

sunday comes and we get to our spot first. 2 other boats showed up and tried muscling there way in, but we did the best we could to block them. one of the boats had respect and left. the other was a complete scumbag and stayed there the whole time. every thing we caught fish on they retied to the exact same baits. trying to keep the energy positive in our boat, i did my best to block out these clowns. we boated every fish we hooked and had between 25 and 27 pounds.

here are the results:

1. mark sommer and jon farmer 28.6

2. todd kersey and mark rodgers 28.16

3. greg swinea and don demont 27.24

4. bruce austin and mike ryan 27.07

we ended up in fourth. i am 100% convinced, if that piece of $*** did not come to our area we would of had a great chance of winning. i could have protested and won, but why waste the energy on someone so negative. i cannot stand people who cannot find their own fish. imo it is weak, it lacks respect and just isn't right. i could and would NEVER do that in a tournament. nonetheless, my partner and i had a great day but we came up just a little short.

[Fishing Cowgirl]

Wow.. what an example of NO respect.

[piscicidal]

Good job Bruce. Only 1.5lbs away from being champ, and you took the high road. That's something to be proud of.

Karma has a way of catching up with people (both good and bad). Yesterday I got into it with some jerk at Holiday Park who tied up his boat at the boat ramp, blocking one of the two ramps. Pulling his boat out, I heard a horrible scraping sound as his boat and/or trailer scraped up against some concrete at the side of the ramp. Karma caught up to him real quickly.

[shallow thinker]

Great job. Those are some awesome weights.

[GLADES]

Great job Bruce. You are a great fisherman, anyone that has fished with you knows that for a fact. You'll get them next year. Maybe there should be some new rules for the classic next year since there is only 10 boats. A 50-100 yard cushion or disqualification. Honest guys spend a lot of time and money pre-fishing and a scum bug just tries to muscle in. It isn't right.

[SoFl-native]

Good job Bruce.

Could you guys get to your fish on the South side or had you been fishing the North end?

-Dale

[hookingem]

Thats awful man. Did the other boat catch any brutes? Were they within casting distance? I would have thrown a jig on the front deck of their boat. Nice bag though regardless

[bocabasser]

thanks for the props guys. the jerks who came in on us weighed in 20 pounds with a 6 pounder. as they were approaching, i put a bait about 2 inches from their bow and said "2 cast lengths is the rule". they simply laughed and moved in on us. the sad/ironic thing about those pieces of crap, is that my partner turned one of those guys on to that spot and they STILL jumped us. un-freeekin-believable. i took it hard sunday night, but yesterday i went surfing with my kids and today i feel much better. it is amazing how surfing and my kids can put things into perspective. hopefully this experience will make me hungrier for next year.

dale i will pm you later he spot i was at. i also know where the top 3 boats were.

fyi- my old club is having a little tourny this saturday at holiday park. it is only $25 per man and it is from safe light intil 3. if you are interested pm me asap, so i can get enough permits. there will be a bunch of super cool anglers and some of their wives fishing. a non stressful fun day at the park. there are lots of fish to be had. let me know.

[piscicidal]

thanks for the props guys. the jerks who came in on us weighed in 20 pounds with a 6 pounder. as they were approaching, i put a bait about 2 inches from their bow and said "2 cast lengths is the rule". they simply laughed and moved in on us. the sad/ironic thing about those pieces of crap, is that my partner turned one of those guys on to that spot and they STILL jumped us. un-freeekin-believable. i took it hard sunday night, but yesterday i went surfing with my kids and today i feel much better. it is amazing how surfing and my kids can put things into perspective. hopefully this experience will make me hungrier for next year.

dale i will pm you later he spot i was at. i also know where the top 3 boats were.

fyi- my old club is having a little tourny this saturday at holiday park. it is only $25 per man and it is from safe light intil 3. if you are interested pm me asap, so i can get enough permits. there will be a bunch of super cool anglers and some of their wives fishing. a non stressful fun day at the park. there are lots of fish to be had. let me know.

Bruce,

Robert (South Fla) and I were fishing 20mile point a couple weeks ago. We knew exactly where your spot was but we left in alone because it's "your" spot and we figured there was a chance that the classic would be held at Lox. I literally can't imagine jumping someone else's fish...much less during a big tourney like this.

Check your cell phone for a PM.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Wow. That stinks big time, Bruce. Completely uncalled for by those guys. Karma will catch up to them one of these days though. Sounds like you guys still had a hell of a day out there. 27 pounds and change is nothing to shy away from. Shame that somebody else potentially cost you the Classic win. I don't doubt for a moment that you'll be right back up there again next time around though.

Good luck this Saturday. God knows I wish I was planning on being fishing this weekend.

[FD.]

Better man than me, Bruce. I have a 1.5 oz tungsten tied on a rod in my box for just such situations or jet skiers.

Great job on the toads.

[SoFl-native]

thanks for the props guys. the jerks who came in on us weighed in 20 pounds with a 6 pounder. as they were approaching, i put a bait about 2 inches from their bow and said "2 cast lengths is the rule". they simply laughed and moved in on us. the sad/ironic thing about those pieces of crap, is that my partner turned one of those guys on to that spot and they STILL jumped us. un-freeekin-believable. i took it hard sunday night, but yesterday i went surfing with my kids and today i feel much better. it is amazing how surfing and my kids can put things into perspective. hopefully this experience will make me hungrier for next year.

dale i will pm you later he spot i was at. i also know where the top 3 boats were.

fyi- my old club is having a little tourny this saturday at holiday park. it is only $25 per man and it is from safe light intil 3. if you are interested pm me asap, so i can get enough permits. there will be a bunch of super cool anglers and some of their wives fishing. a non stressful fun day at the park. there are lots of fish to be had. let me know.

If it was on the north end then it can only be a handful of places. Hard to imagine getting poached on one of those spots. Fishing has been fun out there....minus broken car windows.