We always have a great time and It's nice to just spend some quality time with my brother, even if we don't do as well as we would like (which has been the case the last couple years). I have to tell you all that my brother and I are both extremely competitive and consider ourselves "knowledgeable" bass fisherman. So, we look forward all year with anticipation to this wonderful weekend of nothing but fishin. 2012 was not the best year weather-wise for being on the lake fishing. The only good part day was the first morning when it was calm. The remaining two days were very windy and made fishing very hard to almost impossible, especially if you were on broad lake and not refuged in a sheltered bay or river.
We launched the first morning while it was still dark and headed toward our "special" spot that we have always had great success at. It was calm so we both decided to throw topwater baits just as it started to get light. We were both throwing Rebel Pop'Rs in about 6-8 feet of water just above the submerged vegetation that this spot supports. I had a small strike which did not hook up on my first cast. My brother Devin had his Pop'R in the water also when suddenly he got a huge strike at the surface and yelled "fish on!"
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| 2012 LCI Fathers Day Fishing Derby Largemouth Category Winner- 6.02 lbs. |
Looking back now, this fish did not fish nearly as hard as one would think. He didn't even break the surface of the water to try to throw the hook. What's even funnier is that my brother and I did not realize how much it weighed because my digital scale was not working correctly the first time we weighed it. This fish was probably one of the first fish weighed in for the entire tournament as we were waiting at the weigh station the first morning when it opened. We also weighed in a 10.17 lb bowfin which I caught about an hour after my brother caught this largemouth. This combo has us in the lead for the warmwater division for the first day and a half.
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| 10.17 lb bowfin |
2012 was a year to remember and I am glad that I got to experience this with my brother. It is always a blast fishing with him and I tip my hat to him for beating out 5,500+ anglers to win first place. I can only hope that 2013 brings more excitement and big fish, but if not I won't be disappointed. I'll be on the lake with my fishing buddy. That's all that matters. Tight lines. Time to get my ice fishing equipment together. It's 0 degrees out as I'm writing this.
