Lake Couchiching was the fourth stop in the BPS Associate Fishing Series. This would determine the top 10 teams to qualify for the BPS Classic next month. Paul & Terry weren't available for this tourney so I invited my fellow BPS associate and French River buddy, Bernie Zweerman (Professor "Z") along for his first taste of tournament action. Bernie is a Walleye specialist and was looking forward to focusing on bass for a change.
I left the house at 3:00 am with boat in tow and picked up Bernie outside of New Market. We arrived to a beautiful sunrise at the launch site in Orillia just after 6:00 am.
There were 18 boats for this tournament and excitement was running high as many were on the bubble for qualifying for the Classic.
Blast off was at 7:00 and we sat back to catch a shot of everyone taking off and to let the water settle down a little.
Those who had pre-fished the tourney had found it to be a tough bite and it proved to be an extremely tough day for us. We first tried a shoal that had been good to Paul and I in the past, but nothing was happening. We moved on to the narrows between Cooch and Simcoe and worked the weed edges to no avail. It was a fairly calm day so we made a run to Strawberry Island on Lake Simcoe where there were some good drop offs and structure, but came up empty handed again. By noon the winds were picking up and we bombed back to Cooch to work the North end of the lake. Things were starting to get scary as the big "S" word started to loom larger!!
We got about 2/3 of the way up Cooch when we spotted four people in a boat that had broken down. The rear cowling was off and one guy was paddling with futility. Bernie and I looked at each other and knew what we had to do. (It is against the law not to help a stranded mariner). We approached them and they told us that their I/O had seized. They needed a tow back to their marina which was located near Casino Rama (you could see the hotel on the horizon). It took us about an hour to tow them there. We were having a bad day anyways and maybe we could also use this as an excuse if we got skun%#* 8O)
You can see my balaclava thingy in these two pics. Its is made out of some sort of light UV resistant cloth. I may look a little gay, but believe me it is very effective in keeping the sun from reeking havoc with your skin and keeps you cool at the same time. That little rag cost me $20 in Florida but is worth every penny!
After we returned the stranded mariners back to their marina, we returned back to some more futile fishing. We eventually returned to the same shoal that we started at in the morning , arriving at 2:15 pm with 45 minutes remaining in the Tournament!! I finally picked up my first and only keeper (over 12") at 2:30pm to avoid the BIG S!!! I've never been skunked in a tournament yet and narrowly avoided it once more. All of a sudden the action picked up as I caught another smaller bass, the largest Perch I have ever caught (see below) and a Rock Bass. The feed was on, but unfortunately time was running out.
I pulled the trolling motor out to move and do one final pass over the shoal and low and behold "Where is my trolling motor prop?????" It had spun off somehow. Too late to change it, so I power back to the other side of the shoal to do one last desperate drift. Unfortunately, I miscalculated and end up heading for the shallowest part of the shoal and my boat hull starts banging on the rocks. Now I am in panic and melt down mode (it wasn't pretty) as I struggled to push us off with my paddle while Bernie tried to use the handle of the net to help as best he could. We finally pushed ourselves off and managed not to sustain any significant damage.
We made it back in time for the weigh-in, but only had the one fish (1.86 Lbs) to finish a disappointing 15th.
No matter the result, I still had a great (and eventful) day on the water with Bernie, something we'll probably talk and laugh about for years.
The good news was that you only use your best 3 tournament weights to qualify for the Classic and I ended up finishing 4th overall for the season and Paul and I will be fishing the Classic on Pigeon Lake on September 9!!!
Can't wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment