Mid Tenn - Saturday

The last of it, I promise!


Friday Night - After weigh-in, where it was publicly revealed that I had
learned to fish, or at least had the ability to cast to the general area
where on a good day a fish may be hanging out, we returned to the
coolers....I mean cabins, and a congratulatory beer or two were hoisted.
Many more lies...er..fishing misinformation were spread as were the laughs.
Spinner Bait Joe finally called the troops together so he could play Santa
with all the donated goods and we adjourned to his cabin. Santa had quite
the bag of goodies and though he never come out and asked anyone to sit on
his lap.........we received many different lures and prizes. I myself
received among other things a bottle of scent which sent chills down my
spine. For those of you not around for the Wally World/Nightcrawler scent
story, a quick summary..Bottle/flip top/squeeze air/too full/up
nose/vomit/week of smell..ack!!!! Back to the meeting, Joe finished,
touched his finger to his nose and up the chim...we divided up the names and
began to draw partners for the next day. As the high priced free-agent,
leader after day one, I had hoped to be paired with someone willing to fish
the place and speed that Drew and I had fished earlier in the day and as if
the fishing gods had heard my cries, Steve Huber pulled my name from the
hat. Now some may think, How can I catch fish behind Steve Hoover? Not me,
I've fished with Steve, I know he's not just a good fisherman, he's also
good sport so I was very excited for the morning to roll around. No so
excited as to go to bed early, get a good nights rest, have unclouded
judgment and a smooth casting hand, oh no, that's not what has gotten me
this far, and I'm superstitious so it's back into the cooler and the
beer/bull tap is opened. The next few hours are filled with good times and
stories and off to bed I went, assured in having met my daily allowance of
Bud Light and the ability to sleep through the Husqvarna called Drew.



Friday - Geez am I tired. Steve and I jump into the White Rocket and hit
the blast off. Steve follows my unmapped directions...uh...there..um...a
little further....keep going I think....there, right there. Steve backs off
the engine, my face regains its shape, somewhat, and we begin to fish. A
few dozen casts and nothing hit the Trick Worm. I quickly feel that
sickness in the gut that I have again been given the slip by the little
somebeaches. As we're drifting down the shore I tell Steve the spot where
Drew and I caught most of the fish was another hundred yards down the shore.
The look on his face was frightening and amusing at the same time. It was a
cross between "I should strangle you right here, no one will ever find the
body" and "Ya know, I half expected something like that from you". Needless
to say, once we hit that short 50 yard section we began to pick up fish. Oh
Oh Oh, I almost forgot, we had a camera man with us, to film for Steve's new
show. Now that is pressure, having to catch fish to keep the lead while
also trying not sprinkle...hell, deluge the air with expletives when I miss
a hook set. I tried my best and I can only hope that from the six hours of
tape that he'll be able to find sixty usable seconds. The Wal-Mart story
alone should be enough to earn me a SAG card! I think we may even have a
catch or two on tape, and one of those is an extraordinary effort by Steve
to pull a fish from some rather nasty cover. That one should definitely
make it through the editing room. Again, back to fishing. I picked up a
quick three on the Trick Worm, fast enough to make Steve call for a throw
from the back of the boat. We turned the boat and began the trek back up
through the Fish Farm, and Steve picked up the one from the tangled mess.
I'm not exactly sure what it hit on, but I think it may have been a white
Gulp nasty smelling stick type bait. We took turns throwing tubes, senkos,
worms, spinner baits, and generally anything else we thought would help. We
ran up the creek to try one of Steve's spots but with two other boats it was
a bit crowded so we ran across to a different inlet. This place looked like
it would be pushing maximum density for fish but noooooooooooooo. That's
not to say we didn't try each and every nook and cranny back there. Heck,
Steve even threw over impassable blow downs, with the quip "We'll worry
about it if it happens". Well, it didn't happen and we reluctantly left and
continued the cruise down the shore. Steve picked up another fish along the
way but my memory has the consistency of yogurt. I can't remember what it
was caught on but it still had us believing we could put a few more in the
well. That was not to be and we fired up the big motor and returned to the
dock for weigh-in. Not having a limit, I didn't figure I was going to be
anywhere nears the lead when it was all said and done. A quick survey found
that though I may have only had three, I was definitely going to keeping it
close. I stopped Heavy (Kevin) and asked how he and Drew had fared and he
told me Drew had a monster in the well. He knows how Drew and I like to
trade barbs and jokes, so I figure Drew has put him up something so I play
it Joe Cool. That is when I see Drewcilla walking up the dock with that
great big Cheshire cat grin, and now I know Heavy was telling the truth.
How big? Huge! How huge? Over five! Come on. Really!! You rotten
$%#^$&%^$%^. It's going to be a long ride home listening to that story over
and over and over again. I see Randy had caught a nice bag, and so had Joe,
which put a big cluster at the top. A quick mental addition exercise showed
Randy and me that we were not very good at addition and we'd forgotten the
weights that were called out. I do remember the huge smallies brought in by
Mark and Ken. The colors were so nice they looked like airbrushed mounts.
I hadn't caught anything other than Spots all week, and looking at those
fish made me quite jealous! The only honest man amongst us, Papa John
finished pulling out all the various weights, jig heads, spare motor parts
from the fish and weighed them all, then we headed back for refreshments and
the awards.

Randy and I couldn't take the suspense and hounded Charles as he punched the
day's weights into his program. We were close in what we thought the final
weights would be but couldn't be sure and would have to wait for Joe's
announcement.

We met up at the restaurant, the non-alcoholic restaurant, for the
ceremonies. It was there I learned I had won my very first Bass
tournament!! I was happy just to have bragging rights back home to use
against Drew, but Joe handed me a trophy and then I was given the most
beautiful fishing rod I had ever seen. The colors and wrapping on this rod
are nothing short of spectacular. I will be using it this weekend, all the
time pointing out to Drew how I won it, where I won it, what I caught them
on, blah blah blah blah blah..........

Thanks Charles and Joe for putting on another great event. I call it an
event because that is what it is, not just a tournament. I hope the
readers, if there are any, can take from this a sense of the amount of fun
we have when we get together. The new joined in with the old I believe
everyone had a blast. If they didn't, it's mandatory they give it one more
try and have to fish with Randy, Drew and I for a full day!!



Till next time boys, the Champion is signing out!!

With your premission of course, I'd like to use your stories on the MTC
site. Whatcha say?


"Sean Barton" wrote in message
...
The last of it, I promise!


Friday Night - After weigh-in, where it was publicly revealed that I had
Snip

Till next time boys, the Champion is signing out!!

Sean

Congrats, and nice yarn.....

Going to be at the NWC in Aug?

Jim

On Wed, 4 May 2005 22:12:34 -0400, "Sean Barton"
wrote:

The last of it, I promise!


Friday Night - After weigh-in, where it was publicly revealed that I had
learned to fish, or at least had the ability to cast to the general area
where on a good day a fish may be hanging out, we returned to the
coolers....I mean cabins, and a congratulatory beer or two were hoisted.
Many more lies...er..fishing misinformation were spread as were the laughs.
Spinner Bait Joe finally called the troops together so he could play Santa
with all the donated goods and we adjourned to his cabin. Santa had quite
the bag of goodies and though he never come out and asked anyone to sit on
his lap.........we received many different lures and prizes. I myself
received among other things a bottle of scent which sent chills down my
spine. For those of you not around for the Wally World/Nightcrawler scent
story, a quick summary..Bottle/flip top/squeeze air/too full/up
nose/vomit/week of smell..ack!!!! Back to the meeting, Joe finished,
touched his finger to his nose and up the chim...we divided up the names and
began to draw partners for the next day. As the high priced free-agent,
leader after day one, I had hoped to be paired with someone willing to fish
the place and speed that Drew and I had fished earlier in the day and as if
the fishing gods had heard my cries, Steve Huber pulled my name from the
hat. Now some may think, How can I catch fish behind Steve Hoover? Not me,
I've fished with Steve, I know he's not just a good fisherman, he's also
good sport so I was very excited for the morning to roll around. No so
excited as to go to bed early, get a good nights rest, have unclouded
judgment and a smooth casting hand, oh no, that's not what has gotten me
this far, and I'm superstitious so it's back into the cooler and the
beer/bull tap is opened. The next few hours are filled with good times and
stories and off to bed I went, assured in having met my daily allowance of
Bud Light and the ability to sleep through the Husqvarna called Drew.



Friday - Geez am I tired. Steve and I jump into the White Rocket and hit
the blast off. Steve follows my unmapped directions...uh...there..um...a
little further....keep going I think....there, right there. Steve backs off
the engine, my face regains its shape, somewhat, and we begin to fish. A
few dozen casts and nothing hit the Trick Worm. I quickly feel that
sickness in the gut that I have again been given the slip by the little
somebeaches. As we're drifting down the shore I tell Steve the spot where
Drew and I caught most of the fish was another hundred yards down the shore.
The look on his face was frightening and amusing at the same time. It was a
cross between "I should strangle you right here, no one will ever find the
body" and "Ya know, I half expected something like that from you". Needless
to say, once we hit that short 50 yard section we began to pick up fish. Oh
Oh Oh, I almost forgot, we had a camera man with us, to film for Steve's new
show. Now that is pressure, having to catch fish to keep the lead while
also trying not sprinkle...hell, deluge the air with expletives when I miss
a hook set. I tried my best and I can only hope that from the six hours of
tape that he'll be able to find sixty usable seconds. The Wal-Mart story
alone should be enough to earn me a SAG card! I think we may even have a
catch or two on tape, and one of those is an extraordinary effort by Steve
to pull a fish from some rather nasty cover. That one should definitely
make it through the editing room. Again, back to fishing. I picked up a
quick three on the Trick Worm, fast enough to make Steve call for a throw
from the back of the boat. We turned the boat and began the trek back up
through the Fish Farm, and Steve picked up the one from the tangled mess.
I'm not exactly sure what it hit on, but I think it may have been a white
Gulp nasty smelling stick type bait. We took turns throwing tubes, senkos,
worms, spinner baits, and generally anything else we thought would help. We
ran up the creek to try one of Steve's spots but with two other boats it was
a bit crowded so we ran across to a different inlet. This place looked like
it would be pushing maximum density for fish but noooooooooooooo. That's
not to say we didn't try each and every nook and cranny back there. Heck,
Steve even threw over impassable blow downs, with the quip "We'll worry
about it if it happens". Well, it didn't happen and we reluctantly left and
continued the cruise down the shore. Steve picked up another fish along the
way but my memory has the consistency of yogurt. I can't remember what it
was caught on but it still had us believing we could put a few more in the
well. That was not to be and we fired up the big motor and returned to the
dock for weigh-in. Not having a limit, I didn't figure I was going to be
anywhere nears the lead when it was all said and done. A quick survey found
that though I may have only had three, I was definitely going to keeping it
close. I stopped Heavy (Kevin) and asked how he and Drew had fared and he
told me Drew had a monster in the well. He knows how Drew and I like to
trade barbs and jokes, so I figure Drew has put him up something so I play
it Joe Cool. That is when I see Drewcilla walking up the dock with that
great big Cheshire cat grin, and now I know Heavy was telling the truth.
How big? Huge! How huge? Over five! Come on. Really!! You rotten
$%#^$&%^$%^. It's going to be a long ride home listening to that story over
and over and over again. I see Randy had caught a nice bag, and so had Joe,
which put a big cluster at the top. A quick mental addition exercise showed
Randy and me that we were not very good at addition and we'd forgotten the
weights that were called out. I do remember the huge smallies brought in by
Mark and Ken. The colors were so nice they looked like airbrushed mounts.
I hadn't caught anything other than Spots all week, and looking at those
fish made me quite jealous! The only honest man amongst us, Papa John
finished pulling out all the various weights, jig heads, spare motor parts
from the fish and weighed them all, then we headed back for refreshments and
the awards.

Randy and I couldn't take the suspense and hounded Charles as he punched the
day's weights into his program. We were close in what we thought the final
weights would be but couldn't be sure and would have to wait for Joe's
announcement.

We met up at the restaurant, the non-alcoholic restaurant, for the
ceremonies. It was there I learned I had won my very first Bass
tournament!! I was happy just to have bragging rights back home to use
against Drew, but Joe handed me a trophy and then I was given the most
beautiful fishing rod I had ever seen. The colors and wrapping on this rod
are nothing short of spectacular. I will be using it this weekend, all the
time pointing out to Drew how I won it, where I won it, what I caught them
on, blah blah blah blah blah..........

Thanks Charles and Joe for putting on another great event. I call it an
event because that is what it is, not just a tournament. I hope the
readers, if there are any, can take from this a sense of the amount of fun
we have when we get together. The new joined in with the old I believe
everyone had a blast. If they didn't, it's mandatory they give it one more
try and have to fish with Randy, Drew and I for a full day!!



Till next time boys, the Champion is signing out!!