TBC West Lake Ft Phantom - 06-19-11

This is a very deceiving picture!

Oh! It is a beautiful sunrise,
the temperature was nice,
and at this point the wind wasn't too bad.

And it was Father's day.
What a great way to spend it.

With my hubby,
fishing.

My dad first took me fishing,
years ago,
to a catfish farm.
What better place to start a child fishing!
A place where you're guaranteed to catch fish.
I loved it.
His pocketbook did not!
And then there was the crappie fishing!
He is the one that instilled the love of fishing in me!
Thank you Poppa!

But these pictures tell the true story of the day.

Look at those waves!
And that towel on his seat!
(and yes! Ft Phantom IS REALLY that color!)

So you think I just captured it just right?
Here's another shot,

OK. So that one doesn't look so bad either.

Let me show you a little film I took...

W - I - N - D - Y!!!

That is what today was. It was terrible!
It was one of those days when being air born on your trip across the
lake was the norm.
The days I hate.

We started out at some docks across from the spill way
with no success,
so it was time to move over to our favorite stick ups.
Thank goodness for our new trolling motor!
It had to work hard to keep us there.

Frank boated an under
(Ft Phantom has a 16" minimum on Large mouth)
and then broke off what we are pretty sure was a decent fish.

Then we moved back over to the docks.
He started catching lots of unders and
I actually boated one too,
but I soon succumbed to the heat and wind
and told Frank I was just going to be his netter the rest of the day.

He caught two nice keepers in this area and we stayed here the rest of the day.
He did break off again on a fish that he said he couldn't turn his head.
Fishing around the docks has it's drawbacks.
He was fishing under some stairs when he had the hit
and the fish swam under them and it cut his line.
So we went to weigh in with just two fish,
but that was better than some others!

Mattie May got to meet us at the ramp

so she helped Grumpy with weigh in!

Making sure they weigh them right!

We ended up with 5.54 and about 4Th place...

and that put us (unofficially) in fifth place for the year!
YAY US!!
Really yay Frank!
He does the majority of the work!

Our Championship tournament is
September 24 & 25
at
Lake Limestone

And our top six tournament will be
October 29Th
at

SAM RAYBURN!!!

We are very excited!
We haven't fished Big Sam in years
and are very ready to go back!

Until next time,
God Bless!

Sweetwater Lake Texas Bass Couples West 05/22/11

While his girls ran around San Antonio, Frank spent the weekend alone so he could fish our TBC tournament on Sunday.

I don't have a great report and of course absolutely no pictures, but he seems to have done well. I know it was hot and his nose got more sun than it would if I had been there to keep sunscreen on it, and he says the wind blew, but not to bad.

He caught fish all day but could not find more than five fish that was not in the slot. He had two fish over 18" and three under 14", but he was busy all day catching fish in the middle. He had one fish that weighed more than six pounds but was short and stocky. As a matter a fact, another fisherman that was nearby brought his board over to measure it just to make sure. He saw Frank fixing to put it back in the water and couldn't believe it was too short.

But that's just how our fishing goes. He ended up with five fish weighing 12.8. And that moved us into the top six. Yay, Frank!

Our next TBC tournament is close to home at Lake Ft. Phantom and there is no karate tournament that conflicts with it. Thank goodness. I've missed my allowable two tournaments so I have to show up next time! Now championship weekend, that's a different story! We'll figure something out!

Until next time, God Bless!

Hubbard Lake Texas Bass Couples West 04.17.11

Here it is a week later and I just realized I never posted about our last tournament. Probably because there wasn't much to report.

Due to extremely high winds, Frank and I decided it was best for me to stay home on this one, and after hearing all the reports I am so very glad that I did.

Frank only had one fish that weighed in at a whopping 3.04. He fought the wind all day and finished the tournament by being plopped on a rock! The trolling motor took the brunt of the hit and would not work. Thank goodness it was late in the day and he could head to weigh in.

It could have been worse and I am so glad he didn't want me to go. I am not a fair weather fisherman, but I really don't do well in the wind. And this wind was way past "breezy"!

So not much to report. Just waiting on the repairs to be made so we can get back on the water.

Next tournament - Lake Sweetwater in May.

God Bless!

OH Ivie Texas Bass Couples West 3.27.11

Good Grief! I am not sure who ordered the cold weather and they certainly don't want me to find out! It was down right cold all day! Well until about 2:30. When Frank tells you he is shivering so hard he can't tie on a new lure, IT"S COLD! This tournament was out of Kennedy, so we had to get up and over there to get in the water in time for live well check. Frank wanted to hit a place by the dam early and that's where we headed. We actually thought it was going to be a good day. He boated a 3+ on about his fifth cast. And then there was nothing. We didn't stay there much longer, nothing was hitting and the wind was killing us. It wasn't a heavy wind, just cold. We went back to flipping the hardwoods with the same worm. Had a bit of productivity, but no size. We had 4 fish in the boat early, but we needed a kicker over 18" and we just couldn't get it. Late in the afternoon we decided to head to the ramp and fish in that area until weigh in. I am so glad we did. Not only did the clouds finally break, we upgraded lots of fish. I was so glad to get rid of that little guy that weighed less than a pound. We ended the day with four fish going 7.57. I told you we would be wanting the fish we had the day before! Even though we froze it was a good day! Any day is a good day when I'm on the water with my honey! Love ya' Frank and thanks for putting up with my antics on the boat!

OH Ivie Bassin' Bunch Special Olympics Open 03.26.11

What a beautiful day. But man, did it ever start early! We usually fish this tournament but we had not planned to this year. We were not able to fine a room and with the price of gas (diesel) it just didn't make sense to drive there and back on Saturday and then do it again on Sunday for TBC. Luckily, Michelle was called that there was a cancellation at Concho Park and they invited us to stay with them on Saturday night. Yeah! It was cool Saturday morning when we headed out but bearable. We Got to the lake in time to meat up with Russell and Michelle and have some coffee and breakfast before hitting the lake.

We fished a lot of places we haven't fished in a while, holding our regular places for Sunday's tournament. We flipped worm's in the hardwood most of the day, but I did find time to throw my spinner bait.

Frank's biggest fish weighed almost 3 pounds and was just over the 18" minimum. He caught in in less than a foot of water! We were fishing very shallow and most of the time fishing muddy water because the trolling motor was kicking up a lot of mud. With two smaller fish hitting the 14" slot, he had a total of 5.94. Nice little stringer but certainly not anywhere close to putting him in any money.

I had two fish that barely met the 14" minimum with a total weight of 3.17.

It was a beautiful day, warm and a bit of wind. And we would be wishing for that nine pounds of fish on Sunday.

Oak Creek March

Well, my day certainly didn't go as planned.

Stillwater Bass Club's tournament was last Saturday, but due to circumstances beyond mine or Frank's control, I did not get to go. I got up and started getting ready, but we both decided I should stay home and he headed to the lake without me. I should say, this was not his choice, he wanted to stay with me but I sort of blackmailed him into going.

As the day wore on, he was really glad I didn't go. It was extremely windy and he stayed cold most of the day. And we all know, if he was cold, I would have been miserable.

He did end up with three fish (remember, this is a 3 fish tournament), but fell a bit short. My understanding is there was a pretty good stringer that won, somewhere in the 20 pound range! WOW is all I have to say.

Hopefully, I will be out there with him again on March 27. That is our next TBC tournament. And if things really go well, we may get to fish the Bassin' Bunch Bass Club's Open Bass Tournament the day before. Remember, this tournament benefits Special Olympics! Both tournaments are at O.H. Ivie. Maybe it will rain before then!

O.H. Ivie Feb 27, 2011

Sunday found us back at O.H. Ivie Reservoir fishing with Texas Bass Couples West Region.

The morning started out great! Extremely light wind, cool not cold. The lake is lower than I remember ever seeing it. Thank goodness for GPS and Frank knowing the lake as well as he does.

The trip up the Concho took a little longer than normal due to the water level, but we made it safely. We fished mainly around the bridge having pretty good luck. Frank alternated between a crank bait and spinner bait. I stuck with my spinner bait. We left the ramp about 7:00 AM and we had boated our first fish by about 7:30. Always makes me happy to not have to fish with that smelly skunk all day! We had four bass in this area, 1 over and 2 under.

The wind finally hit at about 9:30 AM and the fishing was downhill from there.

We moved closer to the mouth of the Concho around 10:30 and started flipping a worm, Hag's Tornado, red something (I know I should be better at remembering these things.) It took about an hour and Frank caught another one over 18". He kept flipping and I would alternate between flipping and throwing my spinner bait.

About 12:30, we moved closer to the ramp at Concho Park and continued flipping and throwing spinner baits. The wind seemed to be getting worse and the fish had completely quit biting. At one point, Frank had the trolling motor as high as it would go and we weren't moving. It was a definitely a battle with the wind and the wind was winning.

Around 1:30 we decided to count our losses and think about safety. We were loading the boat by 2:00 and it took awhile. That cross wind was a killer. We hung around the ramp, Frank helping some other couples get loaded and then headed over to weigh in.

Even though we could never come across a fifth fish, we still ended up in 3rd with a total bag of 11.08. I think Frank pulled his fish instead of mine for big fish. Tommy weighed it at 3.90 and I weighed mine at 4.04 on my de-lier. Tommy's scales always weigh heavier than mine! But it wouldn't have mattered. Russell and Michelle had big fish at 5.99! Way to go McGuire's!

Our next tournament will be with Stillwater this Saturday March 5 at Oak Creek, unless Frank has to work. I love fishing, but that guaranteed money from work is better!

If we miss this one, our next TBC tournament is back on Ivie on March 27th. As they say "Same bat time. Same bat channel!"

Until then, good fishing and God Bless!