Sweet Redemption’s A 6th Place Finish

     To understand why a 6th place finish would be sweet redemption, you have to know the history of me and the Upper Chesapeake Bay. Last year going into this same tournament I was sitting 3rd in the points standings. The Bay proved tough for most of the field including me. Unfortunately I zeroed and dropped to 18th in the points standings and missed my opportunity to qualify for the Bassmaster Series National Championship. Well this year was different.

     I got down to start pre-fishing for the ABA/BASS Bassmaster Weekend Series, Maryland Division tournament on Thursday with a buddy of mine who was fishing the co-angler side. On Thursday I ran around and checked a couple of areas that I had hit last year. Within the first 3 hours we caught 6 or 7 fish. All but one of the fish were too short. I continued on checking a few of the other spots and by 2pm we hadn’t landed another fish. On our way back to the ramp, I noticed an area that looked ideal for what I felt like the bass should be doing. Within 15 minutes of fishing the area, my buddy and me caught 3 fish that were in the 3 to 4 lb class range. I immediatley fired up the outboard and got out of there knowing that this is where I was going to spend my time on tournament day.

     On Friday a strong front came through that made searching for areas difficult. I headed back to some places around the area where I had caught the fish the night before. Between the rain and the colder air temps, I didn’t spend but a few hours out on the water. I also needed some time to make my final preparations before the tournament and get to the registration meeting. The day ended with 4 fish that wouldn’t measure if it was tournament day. By the time I got off of the water Friday, I felt like I had an area that was going to make my chances at placing good and a much better than last years finish of zero. 

     On tournament day I headed straight to the spot. The winds were at around 15-20 miles an hour making it difficult to control the boat and my presentation, but on my first cast I landed a fish that weighed around 2.8 lbs. My nerves were quickly put to rest. The fish hadn’t left and that was my biggest concern due to the front coming through. After taking a beating for another hour or so, I moved to another area that I had caught a couple of nice fish. When I got to the area there where 5 other boats sitting in an area that was only big enough for two tops. I stayed closed to the area but didn’t get anywhere near the other boats. After giving it and hour or so, I picked the motor up and ran back to spot that I had started on.

     After arriving, the wind had settled down and  recruited a few other boats to the spot. I dropped the trolling motor and began fishing. After about 15 minutes I caught my 2nd fish that weighed around 3 lbs. At that point I determined that I was going to spend the rest of the day battling the area trying to fill out my limit. At 12:00 I still only had the two fish in the boat. The good news was that tide was just starting to move back out and I was right where I wanted to be. By 12:45 I had a limit of fish in the boat and had managed to cull one of them out.

     At 12:50 the wind had picked back up so I started making my way back to the ramp. I arrived with about 30 minutes left until weigh in. I turned to my co-angler who didn’t have a fish and asked him what he wanted to fish, wood, rock, or grass? He didn’t have a fish in the boat so I wanted to give him an opportunity to get something in the boat and some points. I knew of an area with some good docks within sight of the ramp. Upon arrival there were a couple of other boats around so we stayed on the outside of the area. He made two casts with his jig before getting it snagged and breaking it off. I recommended he then pick up a crankbait he had tied onto another rod and start covering as much water as possible. He quickly made the comment, “You read my mind”. On his first cast he whacked a fish that weighed in across the stage at 2.99 lbs. A good single fish catch on a day when over half of the co-angler field zeroed.

     My limit ended up weighing 11.60 lbs. and landed me a 6th place finish with a nice paycheck. More importantly I am figuring that my tournament finish will help lift my current place in the point standings from 17th to around 7th place, but I won’t know officially until the points standings are officially posted. So now you can understand why this weekend was without a doubt, “Sweet Redemption”!  

My weekends equipment consisted of:

A 6′6 medium heavy, fast action American Eagle Xtreme Elite Series rod with a Quantum Accurist PT reel spooled with 17lb. Vicious Fluorocarbon line and a Kaotik Lures Shaker Bait Pro. When the tide slowed I picked up a Quantum Kinetic with 10lb. Vicious Fluorocarbon and a Vicious Shakin’ PT worm.