This past weekend Dustin and I participated in our first ever Top Bass event. For those of you not aware, Top Bass is the longest running bass tournament series in Ontario (Since 1993). It consists of 9 events held on 7 prestigious Ontario fisheries. This is not only the most competitive level Dustin and I have competed on, but it is also the largest (team event) with 107 boats hitting the water
At the end of the day we finished in 71st place with 8.79lbs. This stung a bit, but watching the weight in we quickly noticed that many anglers we respect (including a TV personality) finished up with very similar results. This really is a game of ounces.. one more pound would have put us in the Top 50 (our goal) and 5 pounds would have put us in the money (Top 15)
Congrats to: Dean Jarrod and Gerard Cocks for taking home 1st place and $5,500 with a 19.26lb bag
(Click HERE for a full list of results)
I had only fished Scugog Lake once in my life and that was close to 9 years ago. But due to work obligations Dustin and I had no time to pre-fish other then the day prior to the event. So we deadened up some hooks and went out looking for some big bites.. we found them and and marked out a game plan for the Sunday event.
Unlike our gorgeous pre-fish day, tournament day was wet and windy and very dark. We got off to a nice start and had our 5 fish in the boat prior to 10am.. things were looking up and we began the search for one or two big bites.. but although we were able to cull a few small fish we had a hard time finding anything above the 2lb mark.. other than a musky that came to play late in the afternoon (my first).
By 3pm we were still under the 10lb mark and thoroughly soaked to the bone. We made the long run down the lake to weigh in our bag and fingers crossed we would make it into the top 50.. no such luck
Weapons of Choice
War Eagle Screaming Eagle Spinnerbait on a Dobyns DX744 paired with a Daiwa Zillion
El Grande Flipping Tube on a Dobyns 734c paired with a Daiwa Lexa 100
SnagProof Ish Popping Phattie on a Dobyns 736c paired with a Daiwa Lexa 300
Special Thanks: New Roads Chevrolet, Cadillac Buick GMC for their support in all of our 2013 tournaments. Please head on over to their facebook page and give a 'like" to a company supporting anglers!
Next Up: Top Bass on Rice Lake, Ontario July 20th
Hey, first event, chalk it up to experience. Better things to come. I like your outlook, only one 5+ pound fish out of the top 15, or two three pounders.
ReplyDeleteI love that first picture of this post...magazine material IMHO.
Thank man, this is all about experience for me, I enjoy tournament fishing but cant put in the time many do, so I do what i can and try to have fun
ReplyDeletethats my fav pic too, he didnt even know I took it till it was posted here