BPS Tournament at Balsam Lake

Sept. 11,
I no sooner returned home from my Tromp on Monday and I had to get the boat and get prepared for Wednesday's Bass Pro Associate's Tournament on Balsam Lake . This was the fourth stop in the BPS Tournament Series. The top ten teams would qualify for the Bass Pro Classic on Lake Couchiching. My son Paul and I were sitting in 11th place going into the tournament so needed a good performance to move up to qualify for the CLASSIC.
Our strategy was to travel up a long narrow channel to Mitchell's Bay which is full of stumps and appeared to be Hawg Heaven. After 3 hours of beating our brains out and only one fish to show, we headed back to the big lake to hit a few other "spots". We ended up with only 4 bass (5 fish team limit) in the livewell and only weighed in 5.68 pounds, but enough to qualify 10th for the Classic (whew!!). It was a very tough day on the water and on shore. To add insult to injury, I backed the van up over my son's tackle bag and totally destroyed it!! Some of the Bass Pro staff were introduced to many new words that they had not heard from the Bassman before!!!
Despite all the difficulties, it was a beautiful day and much better than working. Besides, any time you can spend a day on the water with one of your sons is priceless.
Its not important how you get to the dance, but how you do when you get there. We're both looking forward to our chance at redemption on Lake Couchiching on October 15 and a chance at the $1000 first prize!