1000 Islands

1000 Islands 7/23/11 -- 1000 Islands
French Creek Marina, Clayton, NY


This tournament started out a little different then my previous ones, mainly because my troubles happened off the water and not on the water.

Off the water trouble one - I received a speeding ticket from a NY State Trooper while I was traveling on RT 81 through the County of Cortland NY.

Off the water trouble two - While registering for the tournament online I was informed that it would be in my best interest to purchase a Canadian fishing license along with my New York fishing license, due to the possibility that my boater may fish in Canadian waters. Now below that information was the name of a tackle shop that would go over to Canada and purchase a fishing license for you. Now let’s fast forward the moment when I arrived to the tackle shop.

I walked into the store and I was greeted, which at that point I said, I would like to purchase a New York and a Canadian fishing license. And the employees answer to that was, I can give you a New York license but I cant give you a Canadian license because we only go over to Canada twice a week and we have already been over there twice and my boss is not going to go over again. So at that point I was pretty much screwed, or was I?

Before I left my house that morning I had thrown my birth certificate and my social security card in my car, just in case I would need it for some unforeseen reason. Good thing I did because that was going to be my ticket to get into Canada and back into the United States, but there was still one problem. The Border Patrol may not let me back into the United States without a passport. So, I weighed my options, weighed them some more, and then a little more, and then I drove into Canada. Luckily for me the store that sold the licenses in Canada was right across the border and since I had a very valid story I was allowed back into the US. Now that I had both licenses it was time to head over to my pre-tournament meeting which I was currently missing. When I arrived to the meeting my tournament director was calling out the pairings for the tournament. He called mine and partner’s name and the first thing out my partner’s mouth when we got together was, “You didn’t buy a Canadian fishing license did you, because I am not fishing Canadian waters”.


The next day I caught 2 fish weighing a total of 2 pound 9 ounces.


THANKS FOR READING,
CHRIS

Fishing sponsorship

Hey Guys,

I have been trying to get a fishing sponsorship for awhile now and I have been coming up empty handed, so I figured I would post something.

If anybody has any experience on getting a sponsorship or can possibly offer a sponsorship I would love to hear from you. As you can see from my blog I live to fish and if a sponsorship were to come my way I would do all I could to promote and sell the sponsoring product. Once again any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
CHRIS

Party Boat

I went fishing on the Sea tiger 11 today.No keepers. Anybody do any fishing this weekend?

CABELA'S

Lake Cayuga

Lake Cayuga
Cayuga Lake State Park, Seneca Falls, NY:

Lake Cayuga is where my next tournament took place. Unlike my tournament before this one I was fortunate enough to keep all my line on my pole.

My day started off with a decent boat ride out to a weed bed in the middle of the lake, where my boater had pre fished for a few days before the tournament. After we arrived to our spot and got ourselves situated we started to fish. Fishing that morning would be a little slow until about the three hour mark, which is when I hooked into about a three pound large mouth. Catching a fish that size first thing in the morning is nice, it allows you to relax a little bit, and most importantly it breaks the ice. Now that I had caught a fish, I was confident that the fish were there, but I was not confident on the amount of fish that were there. The reason I say this is because I had the only bass in the live well after about three hours of fishing, and all we kept catching was pickerel. So, after a few more hours went by which during that time my boater had landed a decent size small mouth we moved to another spot. Moving to another spot was not in my boaters plans, considering the days leading up to the tournament he had done very well in our present spot. But we moved anyway and unfortunately our new spot was no better than our old spot, so we moved back to our previous spot. Although, this time instead of going back to the same location we went about fifty feet to the east of that location. Bingo! After about a half hour in our new spot I had caught over a 2 pound small mouth and my boater landed two more keepers.

That would be all I caught that day. My total weight was 5 lbs 2 ounces.


I did learn a valuable lesson that day though. Which was, just because the fish are not in the same spot that you left them in a few days prior does not mean they are not close by.

Thanks.

Thanks everybody I just went over 500 views!!!!

Sandy Hook... Striper fishing

 

I went surf fishing down at Sandy Hook in NJ on 11-26-2011. I didn't catch anything but I still had a great time, the weather was beautiful.

CABELA'S Right now through 12/6 Cabela's is offering $20 off orders of $150 or more

Cabela's Outdoor Adventures

Fishing Stories

I would like to try and get my viewers more involved in my blog. So if anybody has any fishing stories that they would like to share please feel free to send them to me and I will post them on my blog.

Fishing buddy

What does everybody think about a system that would allow people to find someone to go fishing with in your area. The system would give a time, location, date, and phone number of the person posting.


Please comment!!!!

Lake Champlain

                                                              Welcome back!!!!                                                                                        
 I am going to start this writing talking about the hours after my pre-tournament meeting and of course about my tournament.

   So, after my pre tournament meeting was over my girlfriend and I headed to Gander MT so I could get a reel that I had just purchased lined. Little did I know that over an hour and a half later I would still be there waiting for them to line my reel. Finally, my reel got lined and my girlfriend and I headed back to the hotel so I could get some sleep. The morning came and I was ready to fish. As usual, I met up with my boater and we waited for the tournament to begin. Around 6:30 am we were off to our first spot. Before I go any further, let me quickly tell you this.(The night before at the hotel I had rigged up some rods with the setups that I wanted to use, one of these setups would be attached to the reel that I had to wait an hour and a half to get lined which by the way, was also going to be the first setup that I was going to use in the morning). Now that I have you up to date lets continue with the tournament. My boater and I arrived at our first spot, and it was time to finally break the ice and catch some fish. I first took my vest off, and then I took the strap off my poles which prevents them from flying out of the boat while we are moving. With the strap being off I reached for the pole that I wanted use, and then it HAPPENED.

 My reel, it had no line, how could this be. I quickly ask my boater if he had mistakenly taken my rod and after a quick check he hadn't. Now, I was completely stumped. After about ten minutes my boater and I finally came to the realization that my reel which was a bait caster, had opened up while the boat was moving and spooled all of my line out. But, thankfully I always bring at least five poles with me so I was able to suck it up and keep on fishing. Which was great because at the end of the day I had finally broken the ice and I caught three fish weighing a total of 3 pounds 9 ounces.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. While I was getting on the boat that morning my jeans ripped for my back pocket all the way down to my knee.

Stay tuned- 5 more tournaments left

Comments appreciated.......

















                                                                                                         

Kerr Lake

 Kerr lake, which is located in Henderson, NC was my next and last stop in the Piedmont division. And just like my past two tournaments I caught nothing. Moving on to the Northeast Division.

Some pictures from my Tournaments

Click here to view these pictures larger

Steps needed to become a co-angler in the BFL

1. Read about the rules and contingency awards
2. Find a division that is near your location
3. Get in contact with a boater through the FLW forum
4. Get your boaters I.D. number
5. Go to the tournament registration link under tournaments
6. Then select your circuit, division, and tournament
7.Sign up as a co-angler and enter you boaters I.D number
8. Once that is completed wait for your confirmation from the FLW ( by email)

Now that you are signed up it is now time to do some research about the lake that you are going to be fishing especially if you never fished it before. For example: the color of the lake, temperature, and what the fish are currently being caught on. A good idea would be to pre-fish the lake, which I personally have never done before a tournament. Pre-fishing is pretty easy if you have a boat but if you don't, you can try and contact a boater who is fishing in your tournament through the FLW forum and see if you can link up.

I hope this has helped anybody who looking at becoming a co-angler. If you have any further questions feel free to ask. Thanks

Pick your day to fish

This is a great site to use when trying to figure out the tides.

http://www.tides4fishing.com/

Jordan lake

Jordan Lake was the next up for me after I fished at Smith Mountain. I fished this tournament in the beginning of April and was hoping to at least catch a fish this time, unlike at Smith Mountain. So the Friday before my tournament, I headed down to Fuquay Varina, NC. The ride was long, but my girlfriend came with me so it wasn't to bad. That night at the pre-tournament meeting I met the guy that I would be fishing with the next day. He briefly discussed with me what we would be using and at what time to meet him at the launch site. We shook hands, and said see you in the morning.

The morning came,we met up,launched the boat,and waited for the tournament to start.

Around 6:30 we left the marina and went to our first spot. When we arrived to our spot my boater picked up his pole which he had rigged with a white spinner bait and on his first cast caught about a 4 pound large mouth. I netted his fish, and thought to myself, this is going to be a good day. Now all excited I picked up my pole which I had rigged the night before with a white spinner bait and started to fish. After a few casts I noticed I had something on my hooks. So after further investigation I realized that I had never taken off the the little pieces of safety plastic that they sometimes put on the hooks. Luckily after a little bit of encouragement from my pliers the plastic tubing came off pretty easily. Back to fishing I went and imagining that on every cast I was going to catch a monster. Unfortunately that monster ended up never coming that day neither did the monsters babies for that matter. But I did leave that day with more than I could ask for, knowledge. My boater taught me so many things that day and if he reads this I just want to say thank you for making me a better fisherman. And for all the guys/girls out there who read this and are thinking about fishing in the BFL give it a shot, because even if you catch nothing I guarantee you that you will leave with a little more information about fishing then you came with. THANKS

7 more tournaments to go. Stay tuned

amazon

Weigh-ins

                                 I  wasn't able to cash a check at this tournament, but I did get some points.

Some party boats out of the Atlantic Highlands

http://www.seatiger2.com/http
http://www.atlanticstarfishing.com/
http://www.partyboatangler.com/

Fishing off the Sea Tiger 11

6.3 ponds. This Fluke was caught off the the coast of New Jersey

My first fishing tournament

So this year I started fishing in the Bflw which is a branch of the Flw. My first tournament was in May, down in Virginia, at Smith Mountain Lake. And let me tell you what, I was excited. That day in May finally came and boy did it have a surprise for me! My morning started off with me meeting up with the guy that I was going to be fishing with that day. After we met up I loaded all my gear into his boat which was already in the water and we waited for the tournament to start. As we waited, which seemed like forever, all my partner kept saying was “boy you’re going to freeze”. And all I kept saying to him was no I'll be okay. Although in the back of my mind, all I kept saying was man I hope I have enough clothes on and after about twenty times of saying that to myself I was finally convinced that I did, until my partner handed me this helmet and said, put this on its going to be a cold ride. So I put the helmet on and off we went to our first spot. Upon arriving to our spot my heart was racing, I was so excited; I got up grabbed my pole and then it happened!
   I had gotten the biggest rats nest in my reel and let me tell you what it was big, about twenty minutes big. So after about twenty minutes and 100 yards less of line I was ready to fish, at least I thought I was. Little did I know that while I was tearing apart my reel like a rabid animal my lure had gotten hooked into my fishing bag. So I proceeded to get the set of treble hooks out of my bag which surprisingly I did fairly quickly. Although upon getting the last hook out from the side of my bag I ended up hooking one of my gloves that I was wearing, I wish I was making this up. Now that every hook that was dangling of my lure was now stuck in my glove, I had to take my glove off and work on getting the hooks out. After about the five minutes that it took I was now ready to fish. It was about time considering in a half hour I had gotten the rats nest from hell, lost about a 100 yards of line, hooked my tackle bag, and hooked my glove.

 Fortunately my day went pretty smoothly after that but unfortunately I ended up catching nothing that day.