Pete Marino
03-24-2014, 10:28 AM
Okay so coming off of 3 wins in a row and going into the National Bass event at DVL the week before last (3/16) with Barry I told him I wanted to go for the win.
I had a GREAT February with 3 wins in a row so I wanted to start March off with a bang. Long Story short on that tournament, I spent about 4 hours of the day trying to catch 2 bass that were in the 6 lb range. If I caught both fish we would have gotten 2nd place for sure but it didn't work out and I wasn't able to catch either big bass.. I also spent too much time running around looking for bedfish when I should have been just spending all my time grinding it out on one of the two patterns I was on the week leading up to the event. So because Barry and I missed a round in that series we've decided to just go for wins. Go big or go home as they say.. Its not something we traditionally do but because we were so far down in the points it wouldn't matter if we finished 8th or 30th. As long as we weigh fish we'll make it to the Championship so all we care about now is wins in that region. When all was said and done we went home that day with our tails between our legs and a lousy 30th place finish out of 65 teams to show for our efforts by swinging for the fence. I made a lot of bad decisions that ultimately cost us badly but that's the cost of swinging for the fence I guess.
Fast forward to this past Sunday when the ABA hosted round 3 of their DVL region series. This time Me and my wife Carissa were in 2nd place in the points going in, so the mind set was going to be different.
I knew that the weights would be down from the prior week because of the changing conditions and pressure all week on the lake and also from the pressure the lake was going to receive on Saturday the day of the tournament, so I put a game plan together and planned on sticking to it. And part of that game plan was to stay off the bank, not look for bedfish and just fish slightly deeper then normal for this time of year.
So when Carissa and I arrived at the lake in the morning, the skies were overcast and their was a slight cold breeze blowing lightly across the lake and I knew that in early Spring when conditions are like that the bass push off the bank some. Don't get me wrong, later in the season if there is a slight breeze and overcast then the bass will be all over the bank in big numbers but in EARLY Spring the cold breeze and overcast tends to push a lot of the bass just off the bank out into 10-20ft.... (In my opinion)
So I go get signed in and go back to the truck and me and Carissa have a little talk about what the game plan was for the day and what I thought it would take to win.
I told her that our magic number was 20lbs.. I told her that I thought it would take 20-22lbs to win this event and that if we had a 4lb average we'd be in contention for the win or at least top 3.
So we get launched and we wait for our number to be called..#8.... and off we go. I told Carissa that I was excited about the conditions because with the cool temp, light breeze and cloud cover the sight fishing bite would be slow at best.
The plan for the start was for us to both throw both the Swimbait and the Alabama rig. Within minutes I get a HUGE follower on the swimbait....she followed it all the way to the boat, she was easily over 12lbs..A true Giant.. but she turned away and swam out of sight... a couple casts later a solid 7 lber does the same thing and follows my big bait all the way to the boat but turns and dsappears into the depths.
About that time Carissa's Alabama rig gets smoked but it doesn't hook up...:Shocked::Shocked: She tells me that it bit it so hard that it pulled itself off.. So instantly I put down the trout bait and pick up my Bama rig and fire it out to deep water. I work it back to the boat and BOOOOM, Im ON!!! And Carissa nets our first keeper of the day.. Solid 3 lb fish.. So we continue to throw the Alabama rig for a little while and I pick up my Texas rigged worm (Great prespawn technique)...
I fire out a cast to deep water as Carissa sticks with the Alabama rig hunting for the bass that crushed her bait a few minutes earlier.
As My texas rig hits bottom I tighten my line and shake it lightly in place for about 5 seconds and then drag it a couple feet.. and I repeat that cadence for about 5 yards. Then I go to shake it again and my line feels "mushy"... that can only be one thing so I reel down and CROSS ITS EYES!! FISH ON!!! And Carissa nets our 2nd keeper. :Cool::Cool:
She puts that keeper in the box and I notice I have a slight fray in my line so I need to retie...so instead I grab my dropshot, shorten the leader to 4 inches and fire out a cast.
As my bait hits bottom I go to tighten up my line and it stays slack....:Confused: That can only mean one thing as well...as I franticly reel into the slack and set the hook and Im ON!!! Carissa nets our 3rd keeper... 3 keepers 3 different techniques and baits...lol :Cool:
After that bass I take the two minutes and retie both my texas rig and dropshot and while doing so Carissa says..."NET"!! As I jump up and net our 4th keeper of the morning.. :Big Grin::Big Grin:
Then I fire out my Texas rig again and shake it lightly in place...I feel it slowly dragging through the grass and I tell myself... "Hey moron.. there isn't any grass here!", at that exact moment I feel thump.... The grass was actually a bass and it let my bait go...."what an IDIOT", I say out loud...:LOL: So I kill the bait and wait 10 seconds.. Pop it once and kill it again...just then I felt a tiny tick as my line slowly started swimming away...And I brought the pain!!!! NET!!! And Carissa nets our 5th keeper, that's our limit and its still only 8 am.
Then Carissa throws her dropshot out deep and dead sticks it for about 1 minute... Just as she was about to move it...."TICK"...and her line begins to move...She reels into it and sets the hook and I net our 6th keeper of the day..And it culled one from earlier...
After that we both caught about 2 more each in the next 30 minutes but non of them were keepers so we make a move.. "Time to go to work", I said....
So we head to our next spot and I fire out a cast then put the troller down.. I take off my jacket and I go to tighten my line but its already tight...So I set the hook....BOOOM fish on!!!! As Carissa nets a SOLID bass close to 4 lbs!!! Id rather be lucky then good any day!! :LOL::LOL::LOL:
So we continue to work down the bank working our baits in about 10-15 ft of water and the onslaught began.... It was WIDE OPEN for us over the next couple hours... We culled out most of the bass in the well multiple times and our weight was growing with each fish we put into the box. Then I notice the breeze blowing against the bank so I pick up my Alabama rig and fire out a 50 yard cast. About 1/2 way in my rig gets SMOKED as I fight the fish to the net.. "Its a giant", I say.... 10lber!!!!... 10lb Stirper that is.. ugggg...:mad::mad: Then I made the mistake of letting Mr. Stripey flop around on my front deck with the Alabama rig and it was a disaster.. I told Carissa I have issues... I had a hook in my shoelace, one in the carpet and one in the striper which was also stuck in the net... GOOD GOD!!!
As Luck would have it, about that time Carissa says "NET"...And I just look at her helpless and I said..."You're on your own"...So she worked her bass to the boat and reached down and lipped a solid DVL bass and another cull fish for us...With no help by me...:Embarrassed::Embarrassed::Embarrassed: lol..
FINALLY I get that blasted Striper out of my boat and Im back in business. One more cast with the Alabama rig...as I fire out a long cast and begin the retrieve...About 1/4 the way back my rig gets touched by something and set the hook......Im on and its a GIANT.... "Its not a Striper", I tell Carissa!!!! It takes me to deep water and back shallow.... I then tell her...I don't think its a bass...so I start to horse it a bit. I get right over it and out of the darkness appears a 30 lb CARP with 2 of my 3 hooks snagged in its side..!!! Are you freaking kidding me!!!!:Shocked::Shocked:
I work that big scaled beast to the boat... I WANT MY ALABAMA RIG BACK.....I grab the beast and manage to get it unhooked with having to hoist it into the boat...."that sucked I said!!".. :Nut Kick:
Back to back big fish...both wrong species. That's all I needed to see to know it was time to put down that rig...:Neutral::Neutral: So back to the worm I went..
So over the next couple hours we both caught bass after bass...some helped and some didn't.. Our weight was looking good and I knew we were close to 20lbs at this point. No real excitement or at least nothing like what had happened with the Striper or the carp... until... it got to be about 2pm... I just told Carissa that we need about another 1 or 2 lbs and we'd have a shot at the win because I figured that would give us about 21-22 lbs.
I was happy about what we had but I had a feeling we needed a little more.
So we head to an area where we caught 5-6 fish earlier and I fire out a cast with the texas rig in about 18 ft of water... I shake it lightly in place and begin to drag it and my bait stops!! I reel down just to be sure as I instantly see my line twitch....And I cross its eyes!! About 1/2 way to the boat a SOLID 6lb DVL fatty comes flying out of the water then surges again for deep water... "THIS IS THE ONE WE NEED", I SAY!!! I get it turned and pointing straight at the boat as she surfaces again...she jumps and my bait comes unbuttoned!!!! Nooooooo!!!!!!!:mad::mad::mad: And just like that she was gone....
:Explode:
"That was the tournament win", I say. Carissa's response was simple yet short... "Keep casting, we'll get another chance!"
I was numb... I hadn't lost a fish all day and the one we needed came unbuttoned..... That one hurt but I kept casting...
Then about 15 minutes later I fire my Texas rigged big worm to deeper water in about 25ft... I drag it slowly and feel a HUGE..THUMP!!! Im not letting this one get off so I swing as hard as I can.. FISH ON!! And Its a TOAD.... The fish surges to the surface as I plunge my rod tip into the water.. "Oh no you don't" I say. As this giant surges back down to the deep water... I take it out to 50 ft of water and get over top of it with my boat.... NOW IM IN CONTROL!! I put some good pressure on her and get her turned back up to Carissa who was waiting with the net... Just as the fish comes into Carissa's view I hear her exhale and she dropped the net..... 20 lb CATFISH!!!!:Shocked::Shocked::Shocked: I reach down with the pliers and unhook it without saying a word....:Head Bang:
There's silence in the boat for the next 5 minutes as I rerig my bait and fire out another cast and look at the time... 5 minutes and it time to head in.. :Neutral::Neutral:
I break the silence and say... " a win just wasn't meant to be today"... Then Carissa says, "we might still win" and I say...If we don't win its my fault for losing that 6lb bass... Even though I didn't feel like I did anything wrong...it simply wasn't hooked good..
So we head in and It appears that it was a tough day for a lot of people.. I hear that the leading weight is 20.70 lbs And I tell Carissa It might be close... We hadn't weighed any of our fish all day, we just put them on the balance beam so I had no idea what we actually had.. I told Carissa that I thought we had about 20-21 lbs and she said that she thought we had about 19-20lbs...
We put our bass on the scale... 19.36 lbs.... :Neutral::Neutral::Neutral: Which put us in 2nd place with the whole 2nd flight yet to weigh in...
Boat after boat came to the scales and our weight held up for 2nd place.. Much like that bass that jumped off, this was the tournament that got away for us.. but at the end of the day with me catching a 10lb Striper, 30 lb Carp, and a 20 lb Catfish.. as well as Bass.... I got the DIAMOND VALLEY GRAND SLAM!! hahaha oh yeah I also caught my shoelace when that Striper was going nuts on my deck..:LOL::LOL: We still managed to walk away with 2nd place for the day and we were happy about that!!!
And we gained a couple points in the Angler of the Year standings we are now in 2nd place, just a mere 2 points back from 1st place with 3 rounds remaining..
All in all with all the drama... It was still a good day!!
Pete:Cool:
I had a GREAT February with 3 wins in a row so I wanted to start March off with a bang. Long Story short on that tournament, I spent about 4 hours of the day trying to catch 2 bass that were in the 6 lb range. If I caught both fish we would have gotten 2nd place for sure but it didn't work out and I wasn't able to catch either big bass.. I also spent too much time running around looking for bedfish when I should have been just spending all my time grinding it out on one of the two patterns I was on the week leading up to the event. So because Barry and I missed a round in that series we've decided to just go for wins. Go big or go home as they say.. Its not something we traditionally do but because we were so far down in the points it wouldn't matter if we finished 8th or 30th. As long as we weigh fish we'll make it to the Championship so all we care about now is wins in that region. When all was said and done we went home that day with our tails between our legs and a lousy 30th place finish out of 65 teams to show for our efforts by swinging for the fence. I made a lot of bad decisions that ultimately cost us badly but that's the cost of swinging for the fence I guess.
Fast forward to this past Sunday when the ABA hosted round 3 of their DVL region series. This time Me and my wife Carissa were in 2nd place in the points going in, so the mind set was going to be different.
I knew that the weights would be down from the prior week because of the changing conditions and pressure all week on the lake and also from the pressure the lake was going to receive on Saturday the day of the tournament, so I put a game plan together and planned on sticking to it. And part of that game plan was to stay off the bank, not look for bedfish and just fish slightly deeper then normal for this time of year.
So when Carissa and I arrived at the lake in the morning, the skies were overcast and their was a slight cold breeze blowing lightly across the lake and I knew that in early Spring when conditions are like that the bass push off the bank some. Don't get me wrong, later in the season if there is a slight breeze and overcast then the bass will be all over the bank in big numbers but in EARLY Spring the cold breeze and overcast tends to push a lot of the bass just off the bank out into 10-20ft.... (In my opinion)
So I go get signed in and go back to the truck and me and Carissa have a little talk about what the game plan was for the day and what I thought it would take to win.
I told her that our magic number was 20lbs.. I told her that I thought it would take 20-22lbs to win this event and that if we had a 4lb average we'd be in contention for the win or at least top 3.
So we get launched and we wait for our number to be called..#8.... and off we go. I told Carissa that I was excited about the conditions because with the cool temp, light breeze and cloud cover the sight fishing bite would be slow at best.
The plan for the start was for us to both throw both the Swimbait and the Alabama rig. Within minutes I get a HUGE follower on the swimbait....she followed it all the way to the boat, she was easily over 12lbs..A true Giant.. but she turned away and swam out of sight... a couple casts later a solid 7 lber does the same thing and follows my big bait all the way to the boat but turns and dsappears into the depths.
About that time Carissa's Alabama rig gets smoked but it doesn't hook up...:Shocked::Shocked: She tells me that it bit it so hard that it pulled itself off.. So instantly I put down the trout bait and pick up my Bama rig and fire it out to deep water. I work it back to the boat and BOOOOM, Im ON!!! And Carissa nets our first keeper of the day.. Solid 3 lb fish.. So we continue to throw the Alabama rig for a little while and I pick up my Texas rigged worm (Great prespawn technique)...
I fire out a cast to deep water as Carissa sticks with the Alabama rig hunting for the bass that crushed her bait a few minutes earlier.
As My texas rig hits bottom I tighten my line and shake it lightly in place for about 5 seconds and then drag it a couple feet.. and I repeat that cadence for about 5 yards. Then I go to shake it again and my line feels "mushy"... that can only be one thing so I reel down and CROSS ITS EYES!! FISH ON!!! And Carissa nets our 2nd keeper. :Cool::Cool:
She puts that keeper in the box and I notice I have a slight fray in my line so I need to retie...so instead I grab my dropshot, shorten the leader to 4 inches and fire out a cast.
As my bait hits bottom I go to tighten up my line and it stays slack....:Confused: That can only mean one thing as well...as I franticly reel into the slack and set the hook and Im ON!!! Carissa nets our 3rd keeper... 3 keepers 3 different techniques and baits...lol :Cool:
After that bass I take the two minutes and retie both my texas rig and dropshot and while doing so Carissa says..."NET"!! As I jump up and net our 4th keeper of the morning.. :Big Grin::Big Grin:
Then I fire out my Texas rig again and shake it lightly in place...I feel it slowly dragging through the grass and I tell myself... "Hey moron.. there isn't any grass here!", at that exact moment I feel thump.... The grass was actually a bass and it let my bait go...."what an IDIOT", I say out loud...:LOL: So I kill the bait and wait 10 seconds.. Pop it once and kill it again...just then I felt a tiny tick as my line slowly started swimming away...And I brought the pain!!!! NET!!! And Carissa nets our 5th keeper, that's our limit and its still only 8 am.
Then Carissa throws her dropshot out deep and dead sticks it for about 1 minute... Just as she was about to move it...."TICK"...and her line begins to move...She reels into it and sets the hook and I net our 6th keeper of the day..And it culled one from earlier...
After that we both caught about 2 more each in the next 30 minutes but non of them were keepers so we make a move.. "Time to go to work", I said....
So we head to our next spot and I fire out a cast then put the troller down.. I take off my jacket and I go to tighten my line but its already tight...So I set the hook....BOOOM fish on!!!! As Carissa nets a SOLID bass close to 4 lbs!!! Id rather be lucky then good any day!! :LOL::LOL::LOL:
So we continue to work down the bank working our baits in about 10-15 ft of water and the onslaught began.... It was WIDE OPEN for us over the next couple hours... We culled out most of the bass in the well multiple times and our weight was growing with each fish we put into the box. Then I notice the breeze blowing against the bank so I pick up my Alabama rig and fire out a 50 yard cast. About 1/2 way in my rig gets SMOKED as I fight the fish to the net.. "Its a giant", I say.... 10lber!!!!... 10lb Stirper that is.. ugggg...:mad::mad: Then I made the mistake of letting Mr. Stripey flop around on my front deck with the Alabama rig and it was a disaster.. I told Carissa I have issues... I had a hook in my shoelace, one in the carpet and one in the striper which was also stuck in the net... GOOD GOD!!!
As Luck would have it, about that time Carissa says "NET"...And I just look at her helpless and I said..."You're on your own"...So she worked her bass to the boat and reached down and lipped a solid DVL bass and another cull fish for us...With no help by me...:Embarrassed::Embarrassed::Embarrassed: lol..
FINALLY I get that blasted Striper out of my boat and Im back in business. One more cast with the Alabama rig...as I fire out a long cast and begin the retrieve...About 1/4 the way back my rig gets touched by something and set the hook......Im on and its a GIANT.... "Its not a Striper", I tell Carissa!!!! It takes me to deep water and back shallow.... I then tell her...I don't think its a bass...so I start to horse it a bit. I get right over it and out of the darkness appears a 30 lb CARP with 2 of my 3 hooks snagged in its side..!!! Are you freaking kidding me!!!!:Shocked::Shocked:
I work that big scaled beast to the boat... I WANT MY ALABAMA RIG BACK.....I grab the beast and manage to get it unhooked with having to hoist it into the boat...."that sucked I said!!".. :Nut Kick:
Back to back big fish...both wrong species. That's all I needed to see to know it was time to put down that rig...:Neutral::Neutral: So back to the worm I went..
So over the next couple hours we both caught bass after bass...some helped and some didn't.. Our weight was looking good and I knew we were close to 20lbs at this point. No real excitement or at least nothing like what had happened with the Striper or the carp... until... it got to be about 2pm... I just told Carissa that we need about another 1 or 2 lbs and we'd have a shot at the win because I figured that would give us about 21-22 lbs.
I was happy about what we had but I had a feeling we needed a little more.
So we head to an area where we caught 5-6 fish earlier and I fire out a cast with the texas rig in about 18 ft of water... I shake it lightly in place and begin to drag it and my bait stops!! I reel down just to be sure as I instantly see my line twitch....And I cross its eyes!! About 1/2 way to the boat a SOLID 6lb DVL fatty comes flying out of the water then surges again for deep water... "THIS IS THE ONE WE NEED", I SAY!!! I get it turned and pointing straight at the boat as she surfaces again...she jumps and my bait comes unbuttoned!!!! Nooooooo!!!!!!!:mad::mad::mad: And just like that she was gone....
:Explode:
"That was the tournament win", I say. Carissa's response was simple yet short... "Keep casting, we'll get another chance!"
I was numb... I hadn't lost a fish all day and the one we needed came unbuttoned..... That one hurt but I kept casting...
Then about 15 minutes later I fire my Texas rigged big worm to deeper water in about 25ft... I drag it slowly and feel a HUGE..THUMP!!! Im not letting this one get off so I swing as hard as I can.. FISH ON!! And Its a TOAD.... The fish surges to the surface as I plunge my rod tip into the water.. "Oh no you don't" I say. As this giant surges back down to the deep water... I take it out to 50 ft of water and get over top of it with my boat.... NOW IM IN CONTROL!! I put some good pressure on her and get her turned back up to Carissa who was waiting with the net... Just as the fish comes into Carissa's view I hear her exhale and she dropped the net..... 20 lb CATFISH!!!!:Shocked::Shocked::Shocked: I reach down with the pliers and unhook it without saying a word....:Head Bang:
There's silence in the boat for the next 5 minutes as I rerig my bait and fire out another cast and look at the time... 5 minutes and it time to head in.. :Neutral::Neutral:
I break the silence and say... " a win just wasn't meant to be today"... Then Carissa says, "we might still win" and I say...If we don't win its my fault for losing that 6lb bass... Even though I didn't feel like I did anything wrong...it simply wasn't hooked good..
So we head in and It appears that it was a tough day for a lot of people.. I hear that the leading weight is 20.70 lbs And I tell Carissa It might be close... We hadn't weighed any of our fish all day, we just put them on the balance beam so I had no idea what we actually had.. I told Carissa that I thought we had about 20-21 lbs and she said that she thought we had about 19-20lbs...
We put our bass on the scale... 19.36 lbs.... :Neutral::Neutral::Neutral: Which put us in 2nd place with the whole 2nd flight yet to weigh in...
Boat after boat came to the scales and our weight held up for 2nd place.. Much like that bass that jumped off, this was the tournament that got away for us.. but at the end of the day with me catching a 10lb Striper, 30 lb Carp, and a 20 lb Catfish.. as well as Bass.... I got the DIAMOND VALLEY GRAND SLAM!! hahaha oh yeah I also caught my shoelace when that Striper was going nuts on my deck..:LOL::LOL: We still managed to walk away with 2nd place for the day and we were happy about that!!!
And we gained a couple points in the Angler of the Year standings we are now in 2nd place, just a mere 2 points back from 1st place with 3 rounds remaining..
All in all with all the drama... It was still a good day!!
Pete:Cool: