Big Vern
08-26-2002, 10:25 AM
First of all, I'd like to thank the all of the people responsible for their hard work in running, organizing, and putting this tournament together. I'd also like to thank all of the sponsors for their generous prizes, and I'll thank them by frequenting their stores and products.
Anyway, here goes...
A few weeks ago, I found myself clicking on the MSBA Charity tournament banner on the front of this website. Now, I'm not a very accomplished angler, but a quick run through the application showed me that $25 gets a t-shirt, a shot at some sweet prizes, and the good conscience of knowing that the proceeds will benefit a worthy cause. So, I pick up the phone, and dial up my friend, Jeff. "Any interest in a Bass and Blues tourney in couple weeks. 25 bones and you get a t-shirt too", I say. "I've blown money on worse", Jeff chimes, and it's officially a go.
After a couple weeks of report scouring, gear collection, and strategizing, we finally made it to tournament weekend only to have the weather throw a curveball at our plan. We headed out into the harbor in seas that made life very uncomfortable for us in our relatively small craft. What made things worse was that the wind and weather made it unrealistic to fish the waters we knew how to fish, and we were forced into looking for spots in unfamiliar water. Needless to say, we spent day one of tournament looking at a nice skunk.
We continued to stick to our plan on Saturday, and headed out early Saturday morning to the rips of Monomoy. After watching everyone around us hooking up and managing nothing more than a short and about 27 dogfish, we finally realized that we did not have the right bait, and it was time to head back to shore skunked again. That's when it happened.
On our ride back in, we saw a huge flock of birds working just to the left of our course, and I recognized it as the tell-tale sign of a working school. We took the turn, and headed right at the flock trying to throw the skunk off the boat. As we near the school, it becomes very apparent that a major bluefish blitz is in progress, and my buddy, Nate, explodes with "Oh My God! These are good fish. Get the poppers!". Using the only three wire leaders we have, we all tie on poppers, cast, and are immediately rewarded with a triple header. We boated about thirty fish between 6 and 9 pounds from the school before we ran out of leader and lures, and are forced to head back to the dock to stock up and head out again.
After a couple hours rest, we hit up our home tackle collections and the tackle shop to insure that we won't be caught shorthanded this time. A half an hour later, we're back at the spot where we found the school before, and it doesn't take long for us to spot the birds. It took even less time to grasp that this flock was about ten times the size of the one we found in the morning. We glided up to the school, shut down the boat, and drifted amongst the largest bluefish blitz I have ever seen. It never let up as these blues were absolutely hammering peanut bunker schools. The boiling water extended out from the boat for as far as we could see, and over the next three hours we must have landed 100+ blues from 6-10 pounds. The action was so absurd that the cast-and-not-catch-a-fish" game got old, and we sought other amusement. We found it by rigging up a Michelob Light can with a 1 oz. sinker, a hook, and an o-ring. Then, we caught and landed an eight pound blue with the Michelob Light can! However, with our arms beat down, our hands cut up, and the light waning, we headed back in with 9.5 and 10 pound blues in the boat, and slept very well Saturday night.
Sunday morning found us looking for the ones that got away. A couple hours of searching put us on schools of 4-7 pounders, but we were never able to find the good school again. Now, we started to wonder if our blues might actually put us in the money, so to speak.
I was wholeheartedly impressed by the awards ceremony. It was an absolute blast. The prizes were legit, and there was a raffle table with some serious prizes as well. A couple of Budweisers after arriving at the ceremony, they announced the winners, and lo and behold, both of us placed in the blues division. The 9.5 pounder came in 18th, and the 9.95 pounder ran 14th. I picked up a new Okuma spinning reel, and a bag of good lures (Not clearance junk, but real lures I'll actually use). My friend grabbed a boat rod, and the bag of lures contained two of the exact same lures that he had broken off during the blitz. What is more, we even won some more lures in the raffle, had a great time, and enjoyed the ceremony with a great crowd.
This tournament ended up being much more than the excuse to fish the whole weekend with a full pardon from my fiance that I originally envisioned. I had a great time with my friends, was rewarded with a load of prizes for my luck, and, most of all, was rewarded with one of the best fishing experiences of my entire life.
Anyway, here goes...
A few weeks ago, I found myself clicking on the MSBA Charity tournament banner on the front of this website. Now, I'm not a very accomplished angler, but a quick run through the application showed me that $25 gets a t-shirt, a shot at some sweet prizes, and the good conscience of knowing that the proceeds will benefit a worthy cause. So, I pick up the phone, and dial up my friend, Jeff. "Any interest in a Bass and Blues tourney in couple weeks. 25 bones and you get a t-shirt too", I say. "I've blown money on worse", Jeff chimes, and it's officially a go.
After a couple weeks of report scouring, gear collection, and strategizing, we finally made it to tournament weekend only to have the weather throw a curveball at our plan. We headed out into the harbor in seas that made life very uncomfortable for us in our relatively small craft. What made things worse was that the wind and weather made it unrealistic to fish the waters we knew how to fish, and we were forced into looking for spots in unfamiliar water. Needless to say, we spent day one of tournament looking at a nice skunk.
We continued to stick to our plan on Saturday, and headed out early Saturday morning to the rips of Monomoy. After watching everyone around us hooking up and managing nothing more than a short and about 27 dogfish, we finally realized that we did not have the right bait, and it was time to head back to shore skunked again. That's when it happened.
On our ride back in, we saw a huge flock of birds working just to the left of our course, and I recognized it as the tell-tale sign of a working school. We took the turn, and headed right at the flock trying to throw the skunk off the boat. As we near the school, it becomes very apparent that a major bluefish blitz is in progress, and my buddy, Nate, explodes with "Oh My God! These are good fish. Get the poppers!". Using the only three wire leaders we have, we all tie on poppers, cast, and are immediately rewarded with a triple header. We boated about thirty fish between 6 and 9 pounds from the school before we ran out of leader and lures, and are forced to head back to the dock to stock up and head out again.
After a couple hours rest, we hit up our home tackle collections and the tackle shop to insure that we won't be caught shorthanded this time. A half an hour later, we're back at the spot where we found the school before, and it doesn't take long for us to spot the birds. It took even less time to grasp that this flock was about ten times the size of the one we found in the morning. We glided up to the school, shut down the boat, and drifted amongst the largest bluefish blitz I have ever seen. It never let up as these blues were absolutely hammering peanut bunker schools. The boiling water extended out from the boat for as far as we could see, and over the next three hours we must have landed 100+ blues from 6-10 pounds. The action was so absurd that the cast-and-not-catch-a-fish" game got old, and we sought other amusement. We found it by rigging up a Michelob Light can with a 1 oz. sinker, a hook, and an o-ring. Then, we caught and landed an eight pound blue with the Michelob Light can! However, with our arms beat down, our hands cut up, and the light waning, we headed back in with 9.5 and 10 pound blues in the boat, and slept very well Saturday night.
Sunday morning found us looking for the ones that got away. A couple hours of searching put us on schools of 4-7 pounders, but we were never able to find the good school again. Now, we started to wonder if our blues might actually put us in the money, so to speak.
I was wholeheartedly impressed by the awards ceremony. It was an absolute blast. The prizes were legit, and there was a raffle table with some serious prizes as well. A couple of Budweisers after arriving at the ceremony, they announced the winners, and lo and behold, both of us placed in the blues division. The 9.5 pounder came in 18th, and the 9.95 pounder ran 14th. I picked up a new Okuma spinning reel, and a bag of good lures (Not clearance junk, but real lures I'll actually use). My friend grabbed a boat rod, and the bag of lures contained two of the exact same lures that he had broken off during the blitz. What is more, we even won some more lures in the raffle, had a great time, and enjoyed the ceremony with a great crowd.
This tournament ended up being much more than the excuse to fish the whole weekend with a full pardon from my fiance that I originally envisioned. I had a great time with my friends, was rewarded with a load of prizes for my luck, and, most of all, was rewarded with one of the best fishing experiences of my entire life.