Finally got a chance to throw something up here while the boat is drying out....WOW, what a ride, and ending up where we did just blows me away; Chris and Tim were outstanding; Chris had a game plan and strategy and Tim was a yellowtail toad magnet for the day; and being the 2nd time I had the boat on the water, I just wanted the boat to perform with no problemos...
BAD KARMA / GOOD KARMA started the night before when I was returning home from 1st test run on water and a quick stop by H&H Marine - got in boat to check on part and raised the antenna
and that damn bridge over morena reminded me I forgot to lower it
snaaaap! brand new Shakespeare Galaxy 5225 XT with the top foot dangling....called wife, who just happened to be at Lowes and asked her to pick up a roll of white electrical tape; made it to Capts. meeting with Tim...after meeting, more maintenance prep and an hour sleep; met up with Chris at 3am to get gas at station that had all lights on -that was closed--but found a $20 bill on ground
; finally got gas and then ran to Vons on Midway to get food and beer - store guy tells me I can't buy beer until after 6am
- forgot about that law..... finally got to Dana and shoved off; quick stop at bait barge and out the jetty....everything running good to LJ where we start to troll and I get a small hook in my finger - chris trys to yank it out with pliers and it breaks, but with enough metal showing that I can finally- with a prayer- coax it out....no love in LJ, we start moving north trolling and Tim hooks a couple of calicos....about 7:30am we get slammed on Tim's rod and the thought is a thresher, until it gets to the boat and we see colors - big yellow! I'm trying to get everything out of the way so chris and tim can boat the fish and while moving the net out of the way I get it wrapped around reel handles, cleats, you name it..jeez!!! despite me, they bring this bruiser over the rail and it's pandamonium...take a picture!!! Radio BD Tourney control and see if dash for cash still unclaimed!! we're coming in!!! we zip through the boats at LJ while thinking out loud if anyone realizes what's up with us...The Grrrls posted they saw us zip by...we new we had a potential contender fish for a prize position too...we radioed BD for status on dash for cash fish one time and they stated they had a boat comming in - YIKES..competition! "it's Tail Chasers" they radioed back....sigh of relief - we barreled around the end of the jetty full tilt to the 5mph marker, looking back for anyone behind us...it was ours! did a quick oil check at the weigh station (I got some beer
) and back out, smug in that we just put $1,500 in our pockets, yeah! We zip back out and after a couple hours back at our grounds, I asked Tim and Chris, "isn't this the place where we hooked up the first one" and WHAM! Tim's rod goes off...thresher talk again...then, "BIG YELLOW!!" Tim brings it in after a great fight and Chris gaffs him on board...camera time! After this toad is on board, we are beside ourselves - high-fiving and hugs all around...we feel were contenders...we start heading back around 4 and pick-up a couple yellows off the kelp (Tim finally let me and chris catch one
); smooth ride in...back at the weigh station, we enjoyed the excitement over our catch; but we kept a guarded attitude and we heard rumors of bigger fish on the way in....we hung out in the parking lot until after 8pm and felt pretty good when we had no confirmed reports of bigger fish...what a day.....slept real good that night...I know Chris and Tim will be posting more details, so that should do it for now....BD put on a great tourney- it was great to meet these people in person; we are grateful for the bountiful luck we received that day; we met alot of great people standing in line at the captains meeting and at the awards banquet; thanks to everyone who wished us well in our bounty and my personal thanks to Chris and Tim who made this one of the best days of my life and fishing career. (all photo's wouldn't upload, so I will put in another post)
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