Hey everyone,
Sorry for the long wait again but after I got done fishing with Jeff Kriet the second day I was completely wiped out and with the tournament hours being so late I got my tackle done and went to bed. Then since I made the 50 cut I got to fish the last day(sat) and I drew Shaw Grigsby. After the tournament I hung around long enough to get my check and start heading home. I crove to Poplar Bluff Mo. before I decided to get a room and pretty much went straight to bed as soon as I got in the motel. Then I drove the rest of the way home sunday(7 hours) and when I got home Timber wanted to mow..... grand. So I mowed for 2 hours and by that time I was ready for a nap before I went in to work Sunday night......... ok so maybe I didn't make it too work, lol. I went to bed at 7:30pm and slept till 10:30am the next morning, my god was I still tired and it pretty much took me till Thursday to recoup and not be tired as hell all day.
Ok now lets get to the fishing. With Jeff I seemed to be working too hard to try and get a bite, especially after the first day when the bites were one after the other. Jeff started with a rig and started catching fish really quick but not alot of fish like the day before. He goofed around and got a limit off the first ledge but it took him damn near 2 hours as to where it took him pretty much 5 cast the day before. I ended up getting one keeper and loosing 1 other by the time we left. The next spot Jeff gets a good bite on the first cast and it pulls off then never catches another fish off of it and I never have a bite. The wind starts blowing straight down the lake and it is starting to get rough. We pull up to the next spot and he turns the Lowrance off again and explains to me that it will run the bats down if he leaves both of the big SOB's on for very long with the livewells pumping. The rear depth finder in a situation like we were fishing is a must for me to get a feel for where to cast and with out it I felt I was fishing 100' of water all the time. Jeff would explain how everything ran but I for some reason thought he was messing with me because he didn't want me to fish the spots very well. After a few ledges I realized he wasn't messing with me at all but still with out the DF I kind of felt weird launching my jig as far as I could with out the thoght that I was casting to the middle of no where.
The wind was really blowing and since we were fishing parallel to the le everytime Jeff would make a cast his line would bow clear back behind the boat till it hit bottom. With this said I can not(this is not a rule just my own respect) cast over this bow in his line to get close to the school of fish so I am stuck pretty much casting straight behind the boat. Jeff would work up the ledge until he found the fish we would throw a bouy out and then while he was culling the wind would blow us forever(wind is really bad) so Jeff would idle back close to the bouy and when he would make a cast to the school the bow in the line would keep me from even getting close. This went on for what seemed like forever or atleast 10 keepers for him and I some how got 3 bites out behind the boat by the time we left that ledge.
Mike McClelland and Jeff room together and Mike had just pulled up to the ledge in front of us so as we were leaving Jeff idled up to Mike and BS'd for a short. Mike told Jeff to go to the spot that he had 20 some pounds the first day to try and get a big fish to make the 50 cut. So we left and went to a ledge fairly close to the spot Mike was talking about and never got a bite but then we moved to the exact spot Mike talked about and Jeff started catching fish that culled for him but they weren't much bigger. At the last spot I caught a pretty nice fish, near 4#, and Jeff told me "man I would trade 2 of my keepers for that one big fish because I know I could catch another fish to make up for loosing one". Ok, let me clarify this, Jeff in no way ment he wanted to trade he was just making a statement that he wish he had a big fish like mine. But with the statement he made it did make me feel bad because I couldn't seem to get my last keeper to make my limit and I tried concentrating a little hard. Anyway, Jeff stands back up and gets a bite that ends up being bigger then mine and puts it in the boat(we are still on Mike's big fish hole", he makes a statement that it just knocked the shit out of it and he said there is some very big fish that live in the area. It was just a couple cast later I have one just like Jeff said knock the shit out of it but when I set the hook I got nothing and it happened agian. By now I am starting to get a little frustrated and it is getting late and with only 4 keepers the pressure is building I can feel I am not fishing right but I can't seem to shake it. We have about enough time to stop at one more place and as we pull up Todd Faircloth is getting ready to leave and states that he just got there and caught 2 4lbers and is leaving for weigh in. Jeff has an upset look on his face and he pulls the boat to the waypoint and says cast right there. He actually came to this spot for me to finish my limit and actually left me the wide open spot where the fish were. I am stunned and then the pressure was real high then since he is watching every cast actually cheering me on to focus since we don't have much time. Well I never got a bite before it was time to head in and as we were sitting down he made a statement that made me happy, he said I was a great guy to fish with and he wished I had got my limit since he knew I would probably be leading the co side if I had. I knew what he ment "by a great guy to fish with" because we had talked about it several times through the day. Me not casting over his bowed line to get to the fish was one of the things I know I did out of respect that caused him to say that. The conditions made the bow in the line out of his control and I knew that so I couldn't be mad at him.
I ended the day with 4 that weighed 10.5lbs for 26lbs even and making the 50 cut in 11th place.
I again run like crazy to the tackle store to get more jigs then back to the place where they was to have the next day drawing and I drew Shaw Grigsby. I headed to the room and started getting everything ready to load since I would need to be out of the motel in the morning and I just plum run out of energy and just went to bed.
The next day I get in with Shaw and it is amazing how full of energy this guy is, I kept thinking maybe this is a show for the on lookers well let me tell you the energy never stopped all day. The first stop we made was some tired reefs and I get the first bite on a jig but it is short and Shaw gets 1 keeper off of them. We idle to the back of the pocket and start fishing grass. Shaw is using a frog and I settle in with a crankbait RC1.5 and flipping a Baby Paca Craw. If I remember right Shaw get another keeper on the frog and off we go. He stops on a ledge/point and doesn't get a keeper but says he want to go fish this grass he has been eyeing all week so we trolling motor to the grass and bam he smacks one on the frog abd puts the power poles down to stop the boat from drifting up to the fish, I am like them are cool but I don't pay much attention to them. We make another move to a pocket thaat has a roas bed in front of it with a jetty on the other side. Shaw gets a keeper on pretty much the first cast and I again never get a bite. I was being nice by not casting to the end of the jetty since I figured he would fish it and he did which he caught another keeper. I start dragging my football jig around the outside of the jetty not intruding on his space and bam I hit a sweety, near 3.75 lbs. He doesn't say much for a very short time then says man that is a nice fish, nicer then I have really been catching, well well. We start down this jetty were he said he had got several good fish off of the days before but this time with out putting a fish in the boat. As we get near the back of the jetty there is some grass patches about the size of a couple basketballs. I watch him beat the shit out of the first one with out a bite then he turned around to make a cast to another so I pitched my jig in and it starts swinning off, another keeper! (kind of made me feel good that I was using something that would get a bite after him).
We fish for awhile along this tapering grass bank and Shaw gets another one. When we get to the end we idle to the otherside of the pocket and start fishing more grass....... no bites. I switch over to a baby ring fry and shortly after get a keeper but never have another bite on it. We move back down lake to a point and Shaw finishes his limit and makes the staement that he needs to be somehwere he feels like he can get a bigger bite. He decides to go back to one of the ledges and stay there for a far anount of time. On the way he stops at one ledge and he catches a couple keepers and I get a couple of short.... imagine that. I have 3 fish and I am starting to beg to myself and one time I stated after making a cast "come on just hit it as it is falling so I can have my 4th". Well Shaw makes cast at the same time and low and behold a keeper eats his on the fall and I drag mine about 2 times and a short eats it........................ my gosh stop with the pain I am thinking. So I mess with Shaw and I say "come on 5lber come on" he laughs and says "I like your thinking". We move to the original destination and he again first cast gets a keeper and I set down and hook up a c-rig. I start getting bites but only small ones then I set the hook and realize this is no short. It is trying to rip the rod out of my hands and I am doing all I can to make sure the line doesn't break since I finally have a keeper. It is a msllmouth and as I went to lip it, it jumps right in the boat and comes off in the bottom of the boat, I am very excited thinking I might be able to get a limit from here................ NOT. Shaw wants to stop at one more place that is close to weigh in and when we get there we are sitting in the middle of the party coves inlet. Boats are going by but being nice and not getting so close we can't cast but like Shaw said we are siitting in the middle of a fairly tight area. I grab my jig and decide that I am going to try stroking the jig the whole time we are on this spot till we have to go in. About 4 cast and as I go to pull it back off the bottom I feel pressure and I keep pulling.... in the boat and keeper #5, yes! Two more cast and we head for weigh in.
My limit weighs 11.14 and I end with 37.14lbs and I am praying that will keep me in the top 12 since that is where the money starts to move and top 12 gets a trophy. Not going to happen... 13th and that is it. I will go back next year if I can that place can be addicting. Thanks for reading and I appologize for not updating it faster but I just got so wore out that I didn't have enough energy to do crap. I think some of me being wore out is all the blood thinners I am on and the amount of pressure I put on myself the second day had alot to do with it. You have to respect the guys like Shaw that are out there day after day giving it 110% and not seeming to wear down like I did.
BTW for those of you that really know me, it took me 2 hours after leaving the tournament to chill out and not be pissed that I finished 13th.
Take care, Mike
