Crooked Lake Club Tournament

Yesterday our club visited Crooked Lake in Central Florida. We started the day at safe light as the sun just started to climb up over the trees. It was a beautiful morning, but we knew the wind was going to start at anytime.

I was fortunate to draw the same person I prefished with, so I knew where we were going and exactly what we would be doing. We headed off as Boat #1 and immediately went across the lake to a canal we fished last Saturday. The day started off great. I caught a short, caught a keeper, and lost a nice fish in the first 5 minutes of fishing on a 5" Watermelon Quiver Stick by Mizmo. I was targeting isolated lily pad clumps and making very long casts before the boat got close. After the first hour, my partner had a limit and I had 3 small fish.

We caught fish all day; I culled 4 or 5 times, but could never get a kicker fish. The two biggest fish I had all day came off. I was really disappointed as we came in to the weigh-in, thinking I had blew my chances of getting a check. I was one of the first to weigh-in, my tiny limit weighed 5.87lbs.....wow...this is Florida, where are all the hawgs? My partner had 8.00lbs even. I went to get the truck, so he could get the boat and people were telling me I finished 3rd. Huh? Really? I thought. It seems like everyone pretty much had limits in the 5lb range, mine just happened to be the 3rd biggest. I'll take 3rd anytime, no matter how much weight it takes. I can't wait for the next one!