MFC Tournament #11 Brownscreek/Guntersville

Heading into this tournament, I was 6 points in the lead against the #2 competitor in the club. What this meant was, as long as I didn't loose and he didn't win, I would have it sewn up even with the last tournament on October 1st coming up.

However, the old Stratos had popped another regulator/rectifier. So, it was out. I still had a guest pass to use, but Josh was married off the night before the tournament. Bertus' boat was still down. I started down the list of potential guests, and one by one, they answered in the negative. My only option was to go into the draw. That's not a BAD thing, but it does put you at the mercy of your boater. I drew one of the older members of our club, one that I hadn't fished with before. So, at least I would learn a few things.

The rain and cold weather the week of had given me high hopes. That morning, it was overcast with good chop on the water. I maintained that I wouldn't mind loosing as long as we caught a ton of fish. What I didn't expect was another rough day on the water.

We caught 3 short fish early, 2 of those on cranks in 7 feet of water. One on a spook.

Then the bite died. We fished one large hump in front of the Guntersville Bridge. After trying everything from C and T rigged plastics, Pop-Rs, frogs, I swapped to my custom swimbait.

At about 9 am, I was throwing the swimbait up to the weed line when I had my first hit. My custom rod (7 foot heavy) let me know that this was a quality fish. I had 10 pound test line, so I had to maneuver him to the boat.

About five minuets later, casting to the same spot, had another hit from an identical size fish. Fought him for several seconds, but he let go. When I got the swimbait back to the boat, I inspected it. It had grabbed the sides of the swimbait. It was so convinced it was real, that the bass didn't want to let go as I was hauling it.

so, I don't want to waste anymore of your time. That was it. One measuring fish. But, it was a good size one and I figured I had a chance at least at big fish. I was right. My one fish was enough for big fish and 3rd place. Of the 5 boats that fished, a total of 8 fish total were caught. No limits weighed. Sad Sad. But, I got a check and the points. However, the fisherman in second place has now closed the gap. The last tournament will be winner-take-all.

Special thanks to my boater for his hospitality!