PONTOON
10-11-2009, 06:17 PM
I’ve got to dedicate this report to my good friend Chris “Trollmiester” Hagopian, The First recipient of the “King of the Cats”.:Thumbs Up::Thumbs Up:
The past few weeks Trolly and I have been saving our reports to make a report of the last three weeks up until the big tournament. We did quite well and knew that if we could keep it up one of us would have a good chance at taking home the crown. I have saved pictures of the catches we made but that all seems irrelevant now and this report is for Trolly.
Leading up to this day Trolly has been working very hard making sure we had fresh bait. He would go to the pier and fish until it closed to get us the freshest bait possible to fish with. Usually I make it out to help him but with my work schedule the past couple of weeks I wasn’t able to make it out to help him. Trolly never complained and told me not to worry he had it handled. That’s just the kind of guy Trolly is. He’s one heck of a good friend.
After enduring a long week at work Saturday finally came and we couldn’t wait to get to the lake and get to fishing. Once we arrived we found there were already a few FNN andTeam57 members there just as excited as we were to get out on the water. It was good to get to talk with Erica and Sue, two of the ladies who made it into the event, as well as Troutdog, Omar, NV Cattracker, Bob Barr, Bluehunter and Catmando. (Who just the night before the tournament landed a 60 pound Titan). Troutdog, I tossed the bonito you gave me out in your honor like I promised and it just got ripped. But as it always goes, it’s just another fish story.:Rolls Eyes:
Before we headed out we were all asked to gather near the picnic area where we met with Daniella to discuss the rules and then welcomed us with some great food to get us through the night. It was an awesome way to welcome all the qualifiers.
Just before we all filled our plates we were entertained by Good ole Trollmiester who just couldn’t say no to a dare from Whitney to give the “Cinnamon Dragon” a try. Now I saw this tried the night before and it wasn’t pretty and I tried to intervene but Trolly would have nothing to do with some advice from his good buddy and went for it. I tried to tell him there was no way he could swallow half a shot glass of cinnamon but he tried anyway……..check out Troutdogs video clip to see the results.
After this and some really good food we headed off to the docks to load the boats and meet with Daniella one more time before she sent us on our way. Everything was going fine, we all got our boats loaded, the engines were running and the excitement was building with everyone revving the engines waiting for the signal to go……well, all except Team Trolltoon ……in our haste to load the boat Trolly kicked the kill switch clip off and our motor was dead! Trolly yelled over to me, “Terry, Terry…..we’ve got a problem our motor isn’t running. Then he yelled for Daniella to hold the start. Daniella, with a cool way about her settled Trolly down and had one of the dockworkers get our boat going again.
Daniella gave us all the green flag and we were off! It was an awesome sight. Just like one of those high dollar bass tournaments you see on television. It was amazing to see everyone racing away from the dock to fish for the crown. Only one thing wrong with this picture and something I quickly figured out was that the reason I had such a good view of the start was the fact that WE WERE GOING BACKWARDS! I told Trolly, hey man, turn this thing around! Well he did and it looked like one of those big NASCAR restrictor plate race crashes. We got a little closer to some of our good catfishing friends.:LOL:
We headed out toward the dam, anchored down and started the night in deep water. I made a promise earlier to Troutdog that I’d toss out the bonito he gave me earlier and on the other rod some mackerel. Trolly tossed out mackerel on both of his rods and the waiting game began. We did quite a bit of waiting and BS’ing before the first bite but Trolly was the first to score with a small fish that kind of raised our hopes that this wasn’t going to be a skunk. Shortly after Trolly got his first fish on the boat Troutdogs bonito just took off. I jumped up in anticipation of sticking a big one but it was a swing and a miss. All I got was a bonito head. We both refreshed our bait and casted back out. This time while we were waiting we noticed another boat stealthily coming out to the dam area and slowing down to set anchor for a try at the deeper water. We were listening to the talk back and forth and realized it was Sue and Erica. We waited and watched as they tried to anchor and heard one of the say the “Dang anchor is caught on the buoy line and it’s stuck” (Not the exact quote but close enough):LOL:
Trolly and I decided we had better give them some help and just as we got ready to reel in and go give them some help we saw Jerry was already on his way in the patrol boat to help them out. Since they only had one anchor they took of for another spot where I understand they both limited out! Way to go you two!:Thumbs Up::Thumbs Up:
It was around 2:30am when Trollys new baitrunner sounded off and he hooked up with his second fish. As he was reeling it in I could tell it was a pretty good fish so I reached for the net to get it ready. Trolly told me not to worry about the net because it didn’t seem like too big of a fish. Well that all changed when it finally came to the surface and Trolly told me “okay, we need the net” I had already had the net ready and was reaching up to turn my head lamp on when Trolly says to me “don’t turn your light on….don’t turn you light on” I said okay and made a swipe at the fish but couldn’t see where the heck the fish was…..yeah, you guessed it…..Trolly said to me “okay, turn your light on”. Once the fish was in the boat something came over me that my bud just might have a chance with this fish because we just hadn’t heard too much commotion on the lake all night that might indicate someone had caught something big..
The rest of the night made a move but all we got was a fish I landed that was in the four pound range. Before we knew it the time to reel up was upon us and we called it a day.
Once we got back to the dock I noticed a lot of tired and disappointed faces and something came over me that Trolly might have a chance. I knew he had done it from the yell he let out when he got the news he had this biggest fish weighed in so far.
Well, I know this was a long report but it is just another one of those Team Trolltoon outings. Fish or no fish I always have a blast with My Good Friend. Neither one of us has ever cared who caught the biggest fish between the two of us, we’ve never kept score and we have just as much fun with the net as we do with the rod and reel. It’s always two good friends having a good time.
This day is different Trolly, this My Friend is your day and I am honored to have been the one to net the fish that won you the Title of “King of the Cats”. If there was one thing you said to me during this trip that gave me real confidence that something good was going to come out of this was when you told me….”Let’s do this for our Mom”s….I’m sure they are both smiling right now.
Like I’ve told you many of times before…..Thank you for allowing me the pleasure to fish with you on your boat…..most of all a great Friendship. Congratulations My friend.:Thumbs Up::Thumbs Up:
For me it was not only great to see my friend win the title but it was another great day spent with some of my FNN/Team 57 friends and getting to become friends with some people who’s fishing skills I respect.
I also need to add something here for a Gentleman who has been not only a Good Team 57 Friend but who has supported the Team Trolltoon efforts for a long time now.......Dana, Thank you for all of your support and encouragement along the way.
Finally, Daniella, thank you very much for putting this tournament together and thank you to your staff who make Irvine Lake a place where Families and Friends can come and have such a great time and enjoy a day of fishing.
Here’s a few of the pics I’ve saved for this report………
This first one is one of the neatest things to witness at the Vine….Sunset before the catfish bite…..
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/090913-Irvine/100_3346.jpg
A few of the fish we caught leading up to the tournament........
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3351.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3364.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3383.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3403.jpg
Some of the participants before getting the night started.......
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3409.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3410.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3411.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3412.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3413.jpg
The awards ceremony and breakfast..........
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3414.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3417.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3418.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3424.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3427.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3428.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3429.jpg
"King of the Cats 2009"..........
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3434.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3435.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3436.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3438.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3440.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3446.jpg
The past few weeks Trolly and I have been saving our reports to make a report of the last three weeks up until the big tournament. We did quite well and knew that if we could keep it up one of us would have a good chance at taking home the crown. I have saved pictures of the catches we made but that all seems irrelevant now and this report is for Trolly.
Leading up to this day Trolly has been working very hard making sure we had fresh bait. He would go to the pier and fish until it closed to get us the freshest bait possible to fish with. Usually I make it out to help him but with my work schedule the past couple of weeks I wasn’t able to make it out to help him. Trolly never complained and told me not to worry he had it handled. That’s just the kind of guy Trolly is. He’s one heck of a good friend.
After enduring a long week at work Saturday finally came and we couldn’t wait to get to the lake and get to fishing. Once we arrived we found there were already a few FNN andTeam57 members there just as excited as we were to get out on the water. It was good to get to talk with Erica and Sue, two of the ladies who made it into the event, as well as Troutdog, Omar, NV Cattracker, Bob Barr, Bluehunter and Catmando. (Who just the night before the tournament landed a 60 pound Titan). Troutdog, I tossed the bonito you gave me out in your honor like I promised and it just got ripped. But as it always goes, it’s just another fish story.:Rolls Eyes:
Before we headed out we were all asked to gather near the picnic area where we met with Daniella to discuss the rules and then welcomed us with some great food to get us through the night. It was an awesome way to welcome all the qualifiers.
Just before we all filled our plates we were entertained by Good ole Trollmiester who just couldn’t say no to a dare from Whitney to give the “Cinnamon Dragon” a try. Now I saw this tried the night before and it wasn’t pretty and I tried to intervene but Trolly would have nothing to do with some advice from his good buddy and went for it. I tried to tell him there was no way he could swallow half a shot glass of cinnamon but he tried anyway……..check out Troutdogs video clip to see the results.
After this and some really good food we headed off to the docks to load the boats and meet with Daniella one more time before she sent us on our way. Everything was going fine, we all got our boats loaded, the engines were running and the excitement was building with everyone revving the engines waiting for the signal to go……well, all except Team Trolltoon ……in our haste to load the boat Trolly kicked the kill switch clip off and our motor was dead! Trolly yelled over to me, “Terry, Terry…..we’ve got a problem our motor isn’t running. Then he yelled for Daniella to hold the start. Daniella, with a cool way about her settled Trolly down and had one of the dockworkers get our boat going again.
Daniella gave us all the green flag and we were off! It was an awesome sight. Just like one of those high dollar bass tournaments you see on television. It was amazing to see everyone racing away from the dock to fish for the crown. Only one thing wrong with this picture and something I quickly figured out was that the reason I had such a good view of the start was the fact that WE WERE GOING BACKWARDS! I told Trolly, hey man, turn this thing around! Well he did and it looked like one of those big NASCAR restrictor plate race crashes. We got a little closer to some of our good catfishing friends.:LOL:
We headed out toward the dam, anchored down and started the night in deep water. I made a promise earlier to Troutdog that I’d toss out the bonito he gave me earlier and on the other rod some mackerel. Trolly tossed out mackerel on both of his rods and the waiting game began. We did quite a bit of waiting and BS’ing before the first bite but Trolly was the first to score with a small fish that kind of raised our hopes that this wasn’t going to be a skunk. Shortly after Trolly got his first fish on the boat Troutdogs bonito just took off. I jumped up in anticipation of sticking a big one but it was a swing and a miss. All I got was a bonito head. We both refreshed our bait and casted back out. This time while we were waiting we noticed another boat stealthily coming out to the dam area and slowing down to set anchor for a try at the deeper water. We were listening to the talk back and forth and realized it was Sue and Erica. We waited and watched as they tried to anchor and heard one of the say the “Dang anchor is caught on the buoy line and it’s stuck” (Not the exact quote but close enough):LOL:
Trolly and I decided we had better give them some help and just as we got ready to reel in and go give them some help we saw Jerry was already on his way in the patrol boat to help them out. Since they only had one anchor they took of for another spot where I understand they both limited out! Way to go you two!:Thumbs Up::Thumbs Up:
It was around 2:30am when Trollys new baitrunner sounded off and he hooked up with his second fish. As he was reeling it in I could tell it was a pretty good fish so I reached for the net to get it ready. Trolly told me not to worry about the net because it didn’t seem like too big of a fish. Well that all changed when it finally came to the surface and Trolly told me “okay, we need the net” I had already had the net ready and was reaching up to turn my head lamp on when Trolly says to me “don’t turn your light on….don’t turn you light on” I said okay and made a swipe at the fish but couldn’t see where the heck the fish was…..yeah, you guessed it…..Trolly said to me “okay, turn your light on”. Once the fish was in the boat something came over me that my bud just might have a chance with this fish because we just hadn’t heard too much commotion on the lake all night that might indicate someone had caught something big..
The rest of the night made a move but all we got was a fish I landed that was in the four pound range. Before we knew it the time to reel up was upon us and we called it a day.
Once we got back to the dock I noticed a lot of tired and disappointed faces and something came over me that Trolly might have a chance. I knew he had done it from the yell he let out when he got the news he had this biggest fish weighed in so far.
Well, I know this was a long report but it is just another one of those Team Trolltoon outings. Fish or no fish I always have a blast with My Good Friend. Neither one of us has ever cared who caught the biggest fish between the two of us, we’ve never kept score and we have just as much fun with the net as we do with the rod and reel. It’s always two good friends having a good time.
This day is different Trolly, this My Friend is your day and I am honored to have been the one to net the fish that won you the Title of “King of the Cats”. If there was one thing you said to me during this trip that gave me real confidence that something good was going to come out of this was when you told me….”Let’s do this for our Mom”s….I’m sure they are both smiling right now.
Like I’ve told you many of times before…..Thank you for allowing me the pleasure to fish with you on your boat…..most of all a great Friendship. Congratulations My friend.:Thumbs Up::Thumbs Up:
For me it was not only great to see my friend win the title but it was another great day spent with some of my FNN/Team 57 friends and getting to become friends with some people who’s fishing skills I respect.
I also need to add something here for a Gentleman who has been not only a Good Team 57 Friend but who has supported the Team Trolltoon efforts for a long time now.......Dana, Thank you for all of your support and encouragement along the way.
Finally, Daniella, thank you very much for putting this tournament together and thank you to your staff who make Irvine Lake a place where Families and Friends can come and have such a great time and enjoy a day of fishing.
Here’s a few of the pics I’ve saved for this report………
This first one is one of the neatest things to witness at the Vine….Sunset before the catfish bite…..
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/090913-Irvine/100_3346.jpg
A few of the fish we caught leading up to the tournament........
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3351.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3364.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3383.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3403.jpg
Some of the participants before getting the night started.......
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3409.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3410.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3411.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3412.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3413.jpg
The awards ceremony and breakfast..........
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3414.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3417.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3418.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3424.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3427.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3428.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3429.jpg
"King of the Cats 2009"..........
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3434.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3435.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3436.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3438.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3440.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TeamTrolltoon/091011-King%20of%20Cats/100_3446.jpg