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| 2001 Tournament in Review |
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As Originally posted on ROFB Newsgroup... Sept 10, 2001
Well, the First Annual R.O.F.B.M.P. Northwoods Classic is now history. It
was, to put it in a nutshell, more fun than I've ever had standing up :)
Thursday was Practice Day. Ronnie and Warren tried out Boom Lake, finding
some small bass. Jerry and Sean also were on the water, finding out Boom
Lake is not friendly. Jerry came off the water with a truly custom
prop/skeg on his outboard, having located some "Structure" the hard way.
Everyone went out for dinner together on Thursday night and the gentle flow
of conversation became a raging torrent, only somewhat subsiding when the
food was served. The rain pounded outside, some 3-4 inches falling and a
tornado touched down only a couple miles south of Rhinelander.
Friday, the first day of the tournament, dawned cool and overcast. Warren
and I fished the first day of the tourney, finding small bass on soft
plastics. There was no spinnerbait bite at all, I got my fish on either a
hard jerkbait or plastics, although I did lose 2 keepers on a Zara Spook.
Ronnie and Bob fished together, Ronnie boating a nice smallmouth that had
good length, but no weight (2.0 lbs) and Bob boated some short fish. Ronnie
also had the pleasure of doing battle with a 30" muskie that decided a tube
jig looked good enough to eat.
Charles and Rob Storm fished together and Rob brought in 2 largemouth for a
total weight of 2.7 lbs.
Jerry and Sean luckily managed to finish the day with the spare prop intact
:) Everyone found fish, it's just that they were a little short of the 14"
minimum size limit.
The weather made me glad that I had good raingear. It was cloudy, windy,
rainy and we were chased off the lake for a while due to lightning activity.
Friday night, we all went to the Al-Gen Supper Club for the fish fry. I
think that the guys were impressed with the dinner because afterwards,
everyone was complaining about how stuffed they were. I told you it was a
good feed.
Saturday was the day that we drew partners. Bob was to be my partner, but
Ronnie wore him out on Friday so Bob was unable to fish Saturday. I went
out by myself, running and gunning, searching for active bass. Not finding
any, I decided that they were laying low and were going to be buried, either
in thick cover or deeper water. I found a location that had both, a
floating bog.
Pitching 4" Lake Fork Ring Fry directly to the bog's edge and letting the
lure fall to the bottom, I began getting bites. At 11:00, I felt weight on
the line and set the hook. A brief, but intense battle ensued and I was
soon putting the "ol lip lock" on a decent largemouth. I removed the hook,
admiring it's coloration, how heavy it was and figured that the length was
somewhere around 17".
As I let go of the fish, I thought "&*##&$##**((@, I'm in a tournament"!!!!
That's right, I'm so used to catch and release that I threw back a 2 1/2
pound bass!! GAWD, WHAT A DUMMY!!!! A slightly humbled Steve went back to
pitching the bog edges. I was soon rewarded with another largemouth, this
one a chunky 2.3 pound fish that was released into the livewell.
I had another pickup and set the hooks into a fish that felt even heavier
that the previous two but lost it when it managed to get back into the bog,
wrap up and pull free of the hook. :(
4:00 came all too soon and I put the boat on the trailer. Everyone else
arrived on-time, except Jerry. At 4:10, I was about to put my boat back in
the water and begin a search when he came slowly up to the landing. It
appears that Jerry really wants to keep the prop repair guys in business
because he had "customized" his spare prop as well!
The weigh-in began. It seemed that the fish were a little more cooperative
on Saturday. We had 5 people weighing fish.
Ronnie had another smallmouth, a 2.2 pound bronzeback, my partner Gil
weighed a 19.25", 3.0 lb. largemouth, Steve Novak, the owner of
http://www.lake-link.com weighed in a 1.5 lb. largemouth, Charles had 2 in
the box, a 2.2 and a .8 largemouth and my single fish weighed in at 2.3
pounds.
After totaling up the scores, the tournament finished like this:
Ronnie Garrison - 1st place 4.2 lb. Ronnie took home the "Steve Huber
Signature Series" flipping stick, a trophy, first place cash and other door
prizes.
Charles Summers - 2nd place 3.0 lb. Charles (ever the bridesmaid, never the
bride), got the second place trophy, second place cash and 4 videos from Dan
Warme. Now maybe Dan can help him go from 2nd to 1st.
Gil Daugherty - Big Bass, a trophy, Big Bass Cash and the reproduction
mount.
Rob Storm - Biggest "Non-Bass" with a 34" northern pike. Rob took home a
trophy and a BassPro IM8 rod/Pflueger Summit reel.
Sean Barton - The One That Got Away trophy for his inability to tell the
difference between a log and a large muskie. (Sean, when the line is going
sideways, it's not a log, OK?)
Jerry Barton - The Hard Luck Award. Actually Jerry and I tied for this
trophy, but I decided that while I was just stupid, Jerry's experiences on
Boom Lake, coupled with the fact that he came real close to getting a
Wisconsin State Patrol "High Speed Driving Award" put him in the top
position for the HLA. Besides, his experiences were going to involve repair
bills.
Rob also went home with the "Traveled the most Miles" trophy and everyone
went home with some great door prizes.
I'd like to thank Jerry again for the wonderful Appreciation Plaque that he
had made up for me. It's already on the wall and it brings back some great
memories.
So, now that the first NWC is in the books, I'd first of all like to
encourage everyone that "thought about it" to make plans to attend next
year's event. It will be the same weekend, the weekend following Labor Day.
So mark it on the calender, cuz it happening again.
I expect to see some more Wisconsin guys up here as well! I mean, if Ronnie
can tow his boat all the way from Georgia, some of you can drive a couple
hours north, can't you?
I'd also like to thank our sponsors and encourage everyone to go to the
R.O.F.B.M.P. Northwoods Classic website http://www.uglybass.com/rofbmp and
patronize these businesses if possible.
As soon as I get all of the pictures, I will forward them to Brian and he'll
post them on the site for all to enjoy.
So, to everyone that attended, it was my distinct pleasure to see each and
every one of you (and your wives). I only wish that we could have spent
even more time together and that I could have fished with all of you.
Thank you for making this event a success.
Steve
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You have found the internet's home to the upcoming R.O.F.B.M.P. "Northwood's Classic". We're hoping to put all the information
in one place, to make things as smooth as possible... Let's go fishing...
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