BPS Associate Classic

As previously reported, Paul and I qualified for the Bass Pro Associates Classic on Lake Couchiching on Wednesday, October 15. I had never fished "Couch" until last Wednesday and it turned out to be a miserable day fighting rain, winds and cold and I got the old "Skunko". Paul and I had the least experience on the lake of all the teams, but were determined to give it everything we had. The good news was that we wouldn't finish any lower than 10th!!

I arrived at Pogger's house in Brooklin early enough on Tuesday night to enjoy a bit of time with the kids. Rachel is trying very hard to walk.


And she is very proud of herself along with her brother Evan.


Once the kids were in bed it was time to get prepared:



Up at 4:30 am, a fill up at Hortons and we were on our way. We arrived at the Orillia Docks around 6:15 and launched and were on the water in anticipation of the start. The blast off was delayed until 7:15 to allow for enough light.


We had a game plan that was different from the others. As they shot off for the north end of the lake, we decided to hit a few humps in the South end, but all we picked up were perch. We headed up towards the limestones and picked up a 13 incher and a nice 3 LB. smallie to get things started. The winds picked up and it was becoming a bitter day. After several hours we headed back to the South end again and while we were working a drop off I heard Pogger say "Get the net!!". He had a HUGE smallie on (6-7 pounds), but once it got close to the boat it took on a life of its own and got off. I quickly threw a "Slammer" on (the bait that Paul was using) and on the second cast I nailed a 3 1/2 Lb. Smallie. By now our knees were shaking in anticipation. We felt we had hit the Motherlode, but it was to no avail. We drifted the edge several more times, but no action.
With 5 minutes left to fish, Paul yells again "Get the Net, I've got a good one!" It was, but unfortunatley the wrong species. He had a 10 pound pike.


At the weigh-in we weighed in 8.24 Lbs. and were pleasantly surprised to see that we had finished 5th overall.


Not a bad result for the lack of experience we had on this lake. We also got a chance to show off the new tournament shirts that we got for next week's Simcoe Open.
All in all it was a great day and highlighted by the beautiful colours along the shoreline.