MTC Fishing Long Day 1
 

I arrived on Tuesday after driving all night with the Newcomer Ken. We got
to Center Hill just in time to be greeted by the wonderful rain that seemed
to hang around all week. No surprise as the only one of these classics I
have been to that it didn't rain at was in Florida last year. No matter, I
was off from work and looking forward to meeting old and new friends and
getting some fishing in.

After a long trip to the local Wal mart for supplies and a license it was
back to the cabin to greet everyone who were straggling in. We saw Jerry's
boat and after a few calls found out he was also getting supplies. A quick
nap and back outside, I noticed Jerry was back and others were starting to
arrive.

I had secured plans to fish with Ronnie the next day and hopefully get on
some fish. Only Ronnie was the only one to get on fish, about 15 of them, a
few keepers and a bunch of shorts. Despite the windy cold conditions
watching Ronnie fish and trading fish tales was probably one of the
highlights of the trip.

I made plans to fish with Jerry the next day as I knew me and Jerry would
share another great day on the lake as we had in the past. The next morning
brought me and Jerry to the tackle store early in the a.m to secure some
more stuff before we headed out to the water. Well conditions didn't improve
as the wind and rain came down making it uncomfortable to say the least, we
met up with Kevin and Charles. Charles suggested we get on a pizza pattern,
Sounded good to me and Jerry so we decided to call it early, get a hot
shower and get some food and we did just that. Two days of practice and not
a fish to show for it. I knew come tournament time I would need to change
the way I was fishing if I was going to weigh fish.

That night I made plans to team up with Charles for day 1.

Day 1 came, and as we sat in the boat waiting to take off, Charles
suggested we fish inside the launch area to start the day. I agreed. Within
3-4 casts Charles had his first keeper on a white buzzbait right off the
boat dock, things looked promising. In that same area I hooked into a small
spot on a tiny brush hog, same bait Ronnie was using in practice. I was
hoping that the brush hog would produce a limit of spots that I could
eventually cull. Needless to say, I could get a bite after that on them. I
switched to a Texas rigged green wacko and managed my first keeper of a rock
ledge in about 6-8 feet of water. The fish were real subtle, I didn't notice
a line twitch just a little weight, seemed that was the case for most of the
fish during the week as others told similiar stories.

We fished a bit here and there and Charles and I decide that with the
lightning directly over us, it probably wasn't a good idea to be fishing.
We pulled up to a muddy shoreline and took cover. It was probably about
15-25 minutes later before we left. We found a nice little spot off the main
lake that produce another fish or two but the rain and lightning didn't
stop, so we headed back to the launch and sat it out a bit. We met Kevin and
Jerry there and hung out a bit before yet again returning to our search for
more fish. Back to that little cut with all the wood, The rain continued to
beat down on us but we knew we were on fish. Charles caught his 2nd, 3rd and
4th keeper and I managed two more out of there. We caught them all on
senkos, something Charles had never done before. Again a very slow
presentation brought all the fish in. The day closed out and we had 7
keepers in the boat. We had hoped it would hold up enough to secure a first
place teams finish but we knew with all the good anglers out there that it
was anyones game.

We arrived back in time for weigh in and saw quite a few disappointed
looks, that was until Sean Barton showed up with a limit of fish, his
partner for day 1 only had 1 fish and it didn't seem like any other team
would come close. As it stood the 6 fish Sean and Drew caught were good
enough to edge us out of first place teams by less than an ounce. I felt
good though taking second place during the first day teams event, I knew in
order to move up from my 5th place standing that I would need a few good
fish on day two. But I was still in it and that's more than I could have
hoped for. I looked forward to rigging up that night and getting ready for
Day two. Charles drew me as a partner for day two, but after realizing that
Chris and Dave were not included in the draw it was decided that a switch
was in order. Dave and Charles switched partners for day two. I felt good
as Dave was on some good fish during the week.

Dat two to be continued