With my Sportfishing license in hand I entered my first ever bass fishing tournament. What ensued was a comedy of errors.My first ever bass fishing tournament on Moira Lake has got me hooked on fishing. Childhood friend Breanne Littley, my dad and I took the plunge and signed up for our first fishing tournament the Saturday before Father’s Day. With a general idea of how jig and spinner lures operated, armed with borrowed rods lent to me by ‘Bonner’ from work and with my dad in tow, we launched the boat and took off towards areas we thought fish might be lurking beneath the reeds. It was fairly late in the morning when we hit the water. Our first stop, the mouth of the Moira River. After about 20 minutes of casting with no curious nibbles and only a fistful of weeds, morale was fading. We made the decision to move out of the river and on to the periphery of the lake. After spotting several boats clustered in a narrow bay near the opening of the river we set the anchor and tried our hand. A half-hour went by with fish nowhere to be seen. A quick glance at our fellow boaters revealed they were indulging in some cold beverages. It was time to head back to shore and get some grub; we had a long day ahead of us. Stomachs full, we regrouped and headed to Papoose Island near my cottage. We set anchor at a quiet spot just off the island, dropped our lines and waited… It didn’t take long before our lines went taut. Much to my delight, when I lifted my rod a tiny rock bass emerged on the end of my line. He immediately went in the live well - I needed some proof that I caught a bass, even if it weighed five ounces. Breanne added a sunfish to the collection. I nearly added another bass, but before I could get it in the boat it made a wild thrash and escaped the hook. My dad embraced his role on worm duty. We released our captives and took a short break before getting back out on the water. With just 20 minutes left in the tournament, time was winding down. We had yet to land anything worthy of the scale. Ten minutes to go my line became tangled. In the middle of unwrapping the line Breanne lets out a ‘I’ve got a bite!” My dad makes a mad scramble for the net. The gaping mouth of a smallmouth greets us as she lifts it out of the water and into the boat. This one is definitely the biggest catch of the day for us! My dad quickly pulls in the anchor and we take off on a mission to get to make it to the weigh-in by 5 o’clock. We pull in to the dock exactly at 5 o’clock. A girl of about 12 equipped with a scale and a clipboard greets us. A quick weigh-in reveals Breanne has landed herself a 12-ounce smallmouth. After six hours of fishing, a bass less than a pound was what we had to show for our efforts. Lucky for us the tournament was hidden weight. A local teenager took home first prize. The One That Got Away Luck was not on my side that weekend. On Sunday Breanne and I took the canoe to a small island (if you can call it that). A week of rain caused water levels to increase considerably. Only a sliver of land was exposed on the island. We beached the canoe and waded into the knee high water. The island was covered in tiny perch and territorial sunfish. The sunfish ironically were the only fish not biting. Barely ten minutes into our adventure Breanne lands a small largemouth. Elated that it was a bass I snapped a picture and Breanne released him back in the lake. I was still in search of a pose worthy fish of my own. I waded out to the same spot Breanne had landed her largemouth. I had no sooner dropped the line 4 feet away from me than a fish struck. Startled I jerked before I had it hooked. You can tell I’m new to fishing. Figuring he must still be in the area I cast a few times in the same direction. Bite. Hallelujah! Now time to get him in the net to avoid another Saturday experience. I was cautiously optimistic. Breanne unhooked him; still in the net I carefully lifted him out for a picture. Finally something to put with this blog I had been planning to write. I kid you not, as Breanne reached for the camera the fish thrashed, popped out of my hands narrowly missing land and took off. This was the last bite either of us got. Feeling pity for me Breanne netted a sunfish for me to pose with, hence the photo below. Despite not landing the big one, the tournament was a great experience. If anything it has given me a greater appreciation for the skill and knowledge it takes to be a good angler. On the other hand I also learned sometimes it’s just about luck, or being unlucky in my case.
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MeganMulti-media journalist with an unstoppable curiosity. Archives
May 2017
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