On the holiday I text Josh about a pre fish on Friday, and he tells me the family has the flu
. He says he'll keep me posted. Thursday I get the text he's out, unless he feels better Sat. so the wifey and I head to the boat, and off to Pedro we go. We arrive at the Travel lodge and things begin to look up as there is pretty much no one there. We get a room on the upper level for a change and there is plenty of room for the boat and the Roush. We settle in and wait for tomorrow.Pre Fish Day:
After making the drive to Fleming, arriving around 7 am and there are NO trucks and trailers in the lot.
With the BAM next weekend I would've thought the place would be packed. With the wife bundled up like a tick about to burst, off we go to "check" spots Josh and I fished last time. First spot, dropped the trolling motor and holy moly Batman, the active target actually is still working. 
Still can't see my stuff, but the picture is clear as a bell. So, not knowing what I'm looking at I do see fish. After and hour or so with no bite off to spot 2. Again see the fish on both graphs, but no results. This is getting bothersome to say the least. So we head up river and deep into woods. Here they are. All the guys must have launched at Moccasin because there are at least 12 boats or more up here. The stained water is gone, the trees/bushes are now underwater (being in flakes boat I couldn't GPS the spot 
). After a few hours and several stops in woods it's back to the ramp and hotel. Trying to keep a positive spin on the "empty day" a befuddled fisherman am I. Where do I start? My gut tells me in woods. OK settled. (I think the Mikes Pizza helped. 
Tournament Day:
Fishing alone at my age is a feat in itself, with the ramp, lake level rising etc. So as they say the early bird gets the worm I'm the second boat in line. Woo Hoo! I can launch tie up and attend the meeting. But now things start to change for the better. The TD tells me because I'm alone he tells me what the meeting is about so I don't have to leave the boat tied up. Thank You Howard. Launching is no problem. Of course there was only me and the first guy.
I'm in the first flight so I'm already making plans on when to arrive back, when a little voice tells me "Go to the outhouse cove.....go to the outhouse cove", so when my number is called off to the outhouse cove I go. Upon arrival, there is no one there, Great! Up on the deck I go, and out comes the darter head. First cast nothing. (mind you, I have fished this rig for the last month and a half and did not change the line) Second cast and one of those line twist loopy things appears. No problem. Grab the loop and viola it untwists. Next cast the mother of all loopy line twists occurs. I mean to tell you its through 5 eyelets of the rod and onto the reel. WHT I exclaim. As I'm starting to unravel the mess the familiar tic, tic happens. Oh No, tic tic tic, I finally get enough of the loop away from the rod and with line in left hand acting like a clposed bailreel, I sweep the rod up. And.....................For a moment I felt the rod load up, but when I hand retrieved the bait, the fish had pulled my pants down. I estimate it to have been a 6 lbr!
No way. So 15 minutes later after fixing the line and re tying, I decide to pick up a little swim bait. After several casts with it, I'll be darned if the same thing didn't happen again on this rod. 
That's it I'm off to woods. Upon arriving at woods there are 2 boats fishing the left side. As I motor past the last boat, he tries to cross in front of me to the other bank. I pass him and ama t the transition of rock and red clay. I'd say 75 yds at least. Casting the darter head the other guy keeps encroaching closer and closer. I don't mind. After 30 minutes of a couple of tics but slow reaction time, I see a fish on active target and when I drop my line straight down and see a fish start to swim down (but still can't see my bait) the good ol NO SOURCE magically appears on the screen. About 1 minute I set the hook on a stick I think as I feel weight but no fight....like a stick, when all of a sudden the reel screams to life and I catch a 3+. Woo Hoo.
Shortly after I get another fish about 11/2 lbs and a 3rd, all in about 30 minutes, but that6 proverbial black cloud begins to form over my head as the wind shifts and the floating grass and debris make it to difficult to fish as the grass just maneuvers down the line to the bait.The rest of the day is a blank.
With a 2:45 weigh in, I better head back to the ramp around 2:15. Sure enough there is 1 boat there so I tie up and get a ride up that treacherous heart attack ramp. I return the favor to the next guy who arrives. First in line at weigh in. # fish for 6.82. At least we're still in the TOC title race now being held on the Delta.
Congratulations to back to back winners Nick and Jordan with 16.72 (shoot missed it by 10 lbs
), Vic and Russ for 2nd, with 15.80, Pao and Fred for 3rd with 15.10 and Angelo and AJ for their 5.36 BFNext up The Delta on March 22.
See Ya on the water.
TL
FE
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