KOTC quick recap: 57 takes 3rd

[troutdog]

My fishing partner "Hook'um Dano" and I had been looking forward to the end of the year "King of the Cats" tournament since the early part of August, since we had both qualified by the 3rd catfish event. Not an easy task with the talented field of regular catfsh anglers out there, but we were fortunate enough to get a decent fish and crack the field of 40.

Got to the lake a few hours early to chat with some of the guys, go over the game plan and enjoy the festivities. Got a surprise visit from Bebop while he was dropping off a rod to Trollmeister (sweet stick btw Bob!) I always make a point of parking my rig adjacent to the tree planted in honor of "Fisherman57" Dana Rea or next to the memorial plaques Irvine Lake set aside to honor those that are no longer with us. It is still hard to believe it has been 5 years Bob gave the tree a thorough inspection and decided that it was time to remove one of the support posts as it was no longer serving its purpose.

"This tree has strong roots and will continue to grow....just like Team57" - HT



As the afternoon slowly turned to evening some of the guys came out to show their support and give night fishing one last shot in 2014.

(left to right) Hometown, Hook'um Dano, myself, Hitts0n and The Pedro Pirate




We were really torn about what game plan to go with for the night. Fish the deep water with the masses for a fish or two knowing if we did get one it would probably be a better model, or go back to the scene of the crime last weekend where I skunked out but missed a freight train bite and knew there would be little to no boat traffic....we decided to go with the latter and by the end of the night we had the spot all to ourselves

It was tough getting to our destination in the Flats and we ran into some initial problems navigating in the dark, but it definitely paid off when it was all said and done. We were short bit within an about an hour and several times thereafter, but we couldn't get them to stick...downsized the baits a smidge, switched over to my go to circle hooks and it was finally fish on around midnight. A solid 4lber, but we both knew we'd have to do better if we were going to place. We repositioned a little later just slightly to better fish the spot yielding the most action. An hour went by and I land another fish, this one smaller than the first. Okay cool dinner for the folks. At 3am Dano finally joins the party and lands a solid fish fish that gave me hope of a possible top 5 finish. We finished the night/morning with 4 fish, I had 3 but Dano got the one that counted most... Congrats buddy!!!! We were blessed that night and from what I heard did better than most I was told.

....talk is cheap out fish the guy its as simple as that

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED with a solid 6.07lb kitty. A 3rd place finish for Team 57 and my partner Danny Pinnel, good for some cash and a new catfish rod...thank you for the added incentive Devin



I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the Irvine Lake staff for all your hard work and support throughout the year, I know your job is NOT easy. Dinner and breakfast was excellent btw, thank you....Daniela's milanesa, Roger's tortilla soup and Val's desert tray = da bomb!

I also wanted to thank the staff for upholding the integrity of this event to the best of your abilities, rumor around the breakfast/award ceremony was someone tried weighing in a questionable fish???

Daniela, Jimmy, Valerie, Rob, Donnie, Todd, Rogelio, Matt, Jerry, CJ and the entire crew thank you again for a great summer of catfish chasing....we had a blast fishing the best lake in Orange county and hope to do so for many years to come!

Thanks for reading, see you at the lake!


TD

[rich3913]

nice article TD!