Tuesday, August 25, 2009

I Finally WON!!!

I finally won the Central Iowa Anglers "Traveling Trophy", by winning our fishing "outing/tournament" on Saylorville Lake on Saturday.

A cold front had put the damper on fishing, and most boats/anglers had difficulty finding active fish. We found some, finally.
The scoring for our tournaments is a sophisticated "Points System". Fish of various species have to meet certain size criteria to be eligible for points, and species determines how many points/fish, and there is a maximum number of points per species possible. I blew away the competition.
The attached pictures show me with the biggest fish I caught...a nice largemouth bass. Also lost another nice bass next to the boat, caught some really nice 14" white bass (plus a few smaller ones), and also a small crappie and smallmouth bass. Beautiful day to be on the water!

The other pictures are of the patch I earned, and the Traveling Trophy that my name will be engraved on (in the picture with me with is Ron White, whose boat I fished from, and who worked hard to find us some active fish!).
I've come in 2nd place several times for our tournaments, its nice to finally WIN one!!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Fly Rod Grass Carp!

One of my "fishing goals" for 2009 was to catch a Grass Carp on a fly rod. With the help of some friends, I finally did it! Measured out at 36.5", and the calculated weight is @ 25 pounds!

Here's pictures from the battle (photos taken by Julie...THANKS!)
Jenni was the designated "netter". Tough job, but she did great!



And here it is!

The fish was returned to the water after the quick photos & measurements. I rescusitated the fish, and it soon swam of strongly.
GO TEAM!!!

Here's the fly I used. Its a boa yarn leech that I tied. The pattern was originated by Rick Zieger.