All in attendance were treated to another fantastic tournament weekend at Irvine. Started it off right camping with the Team57 guys Friday night, it was great to see so many sites filled....the Vine was buzzing with excitement. Campfires, bbqs, music and smack talking filled the air. I hope we get to enjoy this for many, many years to come. Had the pleasure of meeting "Big Willy" from FNN, welcome to the group bud....no turning back now!
After grabbing a few hours of sleep and a cup of coffee I met up with "SeeChrisFish" at the newly opened ramp at Trout Island and headed off to our first spot on the Red Clay Cliffs. No love from shore, but the boaters anchored up were slaying it....a friend of mine brought out a group of his friends and anchored up in the area, they were wacking them good so I had high expectations.
Got word from the Pedro Crew "Hometown", "HookumDano" and his pup "Mr. Chuck" that the troll was doing them right and they had put a beautiful fish on board before 9am! (It turned out to be the eventual 1st place winner)
Way to go brotha!
57 Friends for life....(left to right) Chris, Hometown, HookumDano and Mr. Chunk!
After hearing some of the troll reports Chris and I packed up and made a quick run to the docks to pick up some extra gear. Ran into ol skool 57 member "ManVsWild"....great seeing you Tony, it has been too long! Funny how time can go by and you see someone and you pick up right where you left off....fishing, the eternal bond among friends.
Chris and I weren't as lucky as some of the other guys on the troll, but we sure gave it our best shot and of course when the fishing is slow you can always enjoy the beautiful view at Irvine Lake!
Saw our fishing buddys "Rooster" and "Trollmeister" out there doing their thing...
Diana aka "Sturgeon Warrior Princess" at the office....
Fast forward to 1:30 and it just wasn't in the cards for us, but we had some encouraging reports from some of the other guys so we packed it in and headed to the weigh in....great turn out!
After it was all said and done five of the Team57 guys cracked the top 10! (1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th place! ) Congratulations boys!!! (left - right) BobberBoy", "Jake at the Lake", "HookumDano", "5150" and "Hometown"
"5150", "The Pedro Pirate" and "Jake"....nice going on the browns!
My favorite story of the day had to be John's fish aka "BobberBoy" who was stuck on the couch and did not plan on coming out until Hometown talked him into it and I picked him up on the way to the lake! Not only did John grab 3rd place, but also an extra $150 for the blind bogie....congratulations my brotha.
All in all a GREAT day on the lake and a memory to last a lifetime....thank you Irvine Lake for making this a day to remember, we'll see you Saturday at the scales for the Bite-On tournament!
Thanks for reading.
TD