The Local Fishing Club

So I joined the local club this year. (Southcentralmichiganbass.blogspot.com) Kind of as a change of pace and really just to see how good I am on these smaller waters. The people that fish this club are really cool and pretty darn good too! Our first tournament of the year was a paper tournament where you go on the good faith of the other anglers. I finished second but what I was the most excited about was my friend Craig finished 7th. He is a beginning tournament angler who's love for the sport has somewhat reinvigorated me. Last year was a long year with lot's of $$ spent and at the end of it all, I feel like I may have lost a little appreciation for what fishing is all about. This year I plan to relax, listen to the birds chirp a little more, and just enjoy fishing with my friends. I'm sure my competitive drive may rear it's head a time or two, but really I hope it doesn't get in the way of the shear enjoyment of being on the water.



-Matt

It's been a while!!!

So sorry it's been a while since my last post. Maybe I should change the website from yourbasspro.com to youreverythingbutbasspro.com. Last weekend we fished the last regular season tournament for the "fishers of men"trail on Lake Erie. Considering that all we had to do was show up to make it to regionals, we looked at the day as a practice day for the regional tournament that is being held on lake Erie in two weeks. Although we went into the tournament with the mindset that we were just practicing, we surely wanted to catch more than on lousy fish.

A bad day, but still better than a sharp stick in your eye.

Stay tuned, in the next couple weeks I will journal the practice and preparation for our final big tournament of the year.

Wonderland Marine West Open Tournament

Last weekend was the 9th annual Wonderland tournament out of Erie Metro park near Flat Rock Michigan. This event brings out the best once a year for a winner take all team event. For the last 4 years, Nick and I have had average to slightly above average results. This year fortunately we were able to finish 16th out of about 110 boats. Our best finish yet for this tournament but still somewhat bittersweet. When you get as close as we have been this year, it's somewhat hard to swallow b/c it's been a while since we have experienced a win.

Mother Nature brought us 5 foot waves and cooler than normal temperatures, our decision to optimize our fishing time by staying close to the ramp turned out to be an extremely wise one. About half way through the day, we took a wave over the front of the boat that nearly caused me to lose balance and go in myself. If it hadn't been for quick thinking to immediately fall on my butt, I would have been swimming. One of the coolest things I experienced actually happened in the same conditions the day before. My buddy Craig Deck and I were pre-fishing when I hooked about a 12 lb sheephead. He asked me if I needed the net and I told not to worry about it. I simply timed the waves just right and when the peak of the wave went higher than the gunnel of the boat I slid the fish on the deck. Craig was amazed!! Plus he had just caught his first drop-shot fish so he was already in a good mood. Think GOD, because his tournament day turned out to be a nightmare, but we won't elaborate on that.

Above is a picture of my little boy Spencer. He was trying on my fishhedz mask while I was vacuming the boat last night. There was so much standing water that I had to empty Dad's 5 gallon shop vac four times.

This Saturday I have a Fishersofmen tournament on Erie as well. Wish me luck!!

Non-Fishing Weekend

Last weekend we were blessed to be able to go on a camping/canoeing trip with a group of my best friends. We canoed the upper platte river in Honor Michigan. Everyone had a great time!! I can honestly say that If I wasn't fishing, camping would be the next best thing to me! Attached is a picture of the beautiful women that joined us, our wives.

You win some, You lose some...

Last weekend we had an opportunity to go to lake Erie in the Loraine, Vermillion area and prefish for the upcoming BFL. What a bust. Unfortunately we only caught a handfull of smallies and a boat full of Drum (Sheephead, Poorman's lobster, etc) You can't go out and catch them good everytime. Lesson learned!!!

Another good Article about a father daughter trip to lake St. Clair

Guys and Gals, You must go to www.bassproz.com to read the article about Cecil Cole and his daughter Cierra. Cecil is a well known fisherman from the east side of the state. Whenever he has a chance, he takes his daughter with him. In this instance, he fished with her in a fishers of men tournament. It is a really good article, and another example of why it is important to introduce youngsters to the sport of fishing.

The reason why I fish...

As a youngster, my dad fished every weekend. I always knew that there was a spot in the boat for me. He never pushed me to go, but always invited me. I never will forget the gleam in his eyes when I would catch a big one. Because he never forced me, I never lost interest in the sport. While on vacation as a kid, while he was on the boat, I often times fished from shore and anticipated him coming back to take me.

Not too many kids these days are interested in fishing as much as the one I met over memorial weekend.
At about 6 in the evening the day before our the BBT memorial 100, Nick and I were looking for spawners and Nick took me to a channel which he said usually has fish. "There is a catch", he said. "The cove that I am going to take you in usually has a sprinkler on keeping fisherman out. This little boy's dad keeps the sprinkler on all day until him and his friends have a chance to fish for the bedding bass that lay all throughout this cove."

As we rounded the bend, sure enough, the sprinkler was on. Knowing how determined Nick is, he went under the sprinkler and found the mother load of keeper bass. About 4 to be exact. All of them around 2 - 3 pounds. About 3 minutes in the cove, out came the boy's dad to talk and describe why he keeps this sprinkler on. Little did he know that Nick talked to him 2 years ago about the same thing. The gentleman was extremely nice and asked that we don't catch them because of his son David who is an avid outdoors men. He said that his son would be back in a minute and would love to talk fishing with us. He even went out of his way to ask us if we wanted a cold drink. Although we were both really thirsty, we kindly declined on his offer but told him that if he can get his son out by the time we double back from fishing the remainder of the channel, we would love to give him a few baits and talk with him. In the back of my mind, I surely thought with a little barter, we might get them sprinklers off for the tournament the next day.

As we turned around to head out of the channel, out came David with a grin from ear to ear. We talked to him quite a bit and even offered the bounty to possibly fish his cove the next day. Nick offered him a 7'0" American Eagle baitcasting rod and a pinnacle reel (the exact combo that he lost over the side of the boat 3 weeks later) in return to fish his spot in the morning. David rubbed his hands together like he was making a business deal, thought about it pretty hard, but decided against it. We told him that even though we were going to stay away from his spot, we couldn't promise him others would do the same. He still agreed that his friends would be really mad at him if he let us catch all of the fish out of his little honey hole. David's Dad again invited us in their home to talk fishing, and perhaps get something to eat or drink. We obviously couldn't deny them twice so we went in to take a tour of their home, which was absolutely beautiful. We exchanged numbers, used their facilities, and were off on the water to launch the boat before it got dark.

The next day we entered their channel to fish another spot and saw two tournament anglers get under the sprinkler and catch a few of David's pet fish. I didn't quite feel sorry for David by the end of the day though. We shortly ran in to him and his Dad in another marina where David was catching anything he could put his eyes on. While Nick and I only had 2 fish in the boat. Attached is a picture of his stringer from that day. He himself could have cashed a check during that tournament.


David is the reason why I fish. I can only hope that my little Spencer grows up to be just like him. I sure know that I will sleep better at night with him in his bed, excited to get up and fish with me in the morning. Now I realize why my Dad had that gleam in his eyes while fishing with me.