Don't like a slot limit

Well I didn't do so hot on Bridgeport this past weekend. I only weighed 2 fish that were 2.46lbs. Bridgeport has a slot limit for largemouth between 14 and 18 inches. With that, we can weigh 12 inch fish. Everything except the two I weighed that day was either around 11 1/2 inches or they were right in the slot around 16 or 17 inches. It is really disheartening when you have to release a 3 pound fish in the middle of a tourney because of the slot limit. Most of the guys that I talked to don't really like to fish bridegport either, but we continue to schedule it because it supposedly brings in other guys from a recently disolved district. Now i don't know about that since it brought in only 3 guys out of our district and we still had 1 less than the last tournament. I get a couple of months off now. Our next tournament isn't until Feb 22nd at Graham.

I like fishing Graham, there is no slot limit and it is a power plant lake so the fishing is pretty good there usually. I told the wife that I wasn't going to fish the Bridgeport tournament in April and she wanted that in writing! Who knows I may go back and fish it after all. I know that next year when we are doign the schedule my vote goes for anythign other than Bridgeport. We have 2 lakes that are closer than Bridgeport and there is no slot limit. We could fish Amon G Carter or Nacona and drive less and probablly have more weight.

One more thing and I will get off of my soap box. Why is it that you have to have at least 20 people in order for it to be a max points tournament? In my opinion that does nothing but handicaps the folks that fish in smaller districts. Just because I fish in a district that only has 15 guys show up doesn't mean that I wouldn't do as well in a district that has 50 guys show up. Points are points and they will fall where they will. I could (not that it will ever happen) but I could win all of our scheduled tournaments with 15 guys in them, including the 2 day and would still be trailing someone who fished in a district that has 50 regulars and only had 2 wins. It just doesn't seem right to me.

Well that is my rant for this week. The entire family is trying to get over a cold. My step mother in law just left on Sunday and my Mother in law arrives for Thanksgiving on Saturday. Ya'll have a good one!!

getting ready for a tourney

Well I have the 2nd tournament of the 2009 season Sunday. I finished 2nd at the first one of the year, but that was on the lake that fish pretty regularly. This weekends tournament is at Lake Bridgeport in Chico Texas. I have only fished this lake 1 time last year, and struggled to find a big bite. The lake has a lot of hybrid stripers and it has spots, largemouth, and smallies in it also. It has a slot limit for the largemouth at 14 to 18 inches. So you are basically fishing for 12-13 inch fish. It is not uncommon for less than 10 pounds to win.

Lake Bridgeport has a whole lot of steep bluffs and chunk rock along the shorelines. I know that I need to find that smallmouth bite to really have a chance at any kind of weight. I am not real comfortable with that because I haven't fished for smallies in a lake in a long long time. Even when we were at Dale Hollow for the Military Team tourney we fished for Largemouth mostly because the smallies had a slot and you could only keep 2 per day per team. I plan on cranking the ledges with either a 4 inch swimbait or a chrome rattle trap and then drag a craw colored jig also. We will see what happens.

Tomorrow I have my youngest daughters first birthday party and my oldest has a veterans day parade to go to in the morning. Well, I need to get going now. Hope ya'll have a great weekend!

First time

Well this is my first time attempting this, so I guess I will give you a little background. My name is Reney and I am from a small town in WV. I have been in the Air Force for 16 years and was just recently selected for promotion to E7. I am married and I have 2 beautiful little girls ages 8 and 1. I love to fish and I have all of my life. I would fish every chance that I had in the past, but the tournament bug has bitten me and now that is what I really look forward to doing. My wife gets a little peeved at me sometimes because she says I fish too much. I told her at least I wasn't hanging out that the bar every weekend.

I bought a boat last year and have since been fishing a lot more than I used to. I started fishing a local Wednesday night tournament with a buddy of mine. We usually did pretty well, but just always seemed to come up a little bit short. If they had enough people show up to pay 4 spots, then we finished 5th. If they had enough to pay 3 spots, you guessed it, we finished 4th. Finally this past summer I won that tournament. That was probablly the greatest thing that ever could have happened. It really boosted my confidence level a notch, and just last month at the district 112 American Bass Anglers (ABA) tournament that I fished I finished 2nd. I think I could have won that one,but I made a mistake and culled the wrong fish, but that is a whole other story in itself.

This past May I hauled my boat all the way from Texas to Tennessee to fish in the 17th annual Military Team Bass Fishing Tournament. My partner and I fished the biggest tournament that both of us had ever fished and ended up 35th out of about 97 boats or so. We were 5 pounds out of 18th position, which was the last position to make a check. Over the course of the 3 day tournament, we lost probablly 12 to 15 lbs of fish. My buddy Shane did manage to catch the big bass of day 2 which ended up being the big bass of the tournament.

Well, that is a little bit of background on me. I will try to post a little bit every couple of weeks to keep you all updated. Not only about fishing, but about the happenings in my life as well. Until then, keep those lines tight!!