AOY.....or at least in my own mind

Posted by ken on September 15, 2014

Just back from Grand lake in NE Oklahoma having fished the last BFL in the Okie division. I went into the last tournament leading for AOY and missed winning it by 5 points. First congratulations to Chris McCall for his AOY win, also very pleased that two Texan's finished 1-2 in AOY standings. Regrets...well really just two, I let a 3-4 pound fish eat my Shibuki and pull me down into some brush that, at least for this tournament, cost me the AOY. If you have not seen the Shibuki it's a must have, it is a popper style bait (made by Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits), mid-way size wise between a regular and the old big Pop-r. However what's crazy cool about the bait is that if you get a rhythm it will walk just like a zara spook. I should, coulda, woulda tightened my drag down but frankly i thought I had her clear of problems and was just letting her pull drag to tire her out. Frankly if I hooked another fish in the same circumstances I'd do the same again, I caught my limit, Chris beat me by a pound and that's all it took, great, fun, tight race with a friend. if there is a real lesson to be learned this year it was from the first tournament. I had two fish, one a solid 15" fish and the other I could wriggle and make touch. The tournament was crazy tough, 37 boaters out of the entire field even weighed a fish. Unfortunately I did not know the rules and was afraid that if the fish measured short they might throw out my next fish, which would have meant no points. I was wrong, half pound penalty for short fish, I would have gotten 1 point less if he hadn't measured but he would have, which would have been 10-15 points more (yes I looked) if the fish weighed even a pound. The lost fish happens, the lost points are on me, know you rules, know the dead fish penalty, the short fish, etc....I've won AOY's in BFL and team tournaments before so this stings a little less, but still left a mark.