The Pre-Spawn Mayhem Tournament has come and gone. It was a great day to be on the water. The morning started out at an unseasonable 29 degrees. Thankfully, it warmed up to comfort level around 9:00 and the fishing became more enjoyable. We had a total of 10 boats but right before blast-off we had to return an entry to one team due to a lost boat key. The tragedy in their situation was not only did they not get to compete but they had driven 2 hours for the tournament.

Many reports from anglers fishing Guntersville had stated that the bite was slow but it was starting to pick-up. I knew this was going to be put to the test with the caliber anglers that had entered the tournament. We started out in a creek with no luck and later moved toward the channel in some more shallow water and found a few fish that were willing to bite. It seems as though I have forgotten how to set the hook and lost a couple of good fish in result. We tried the rattle trap with little success and switched to plastics to get a few bites.

As always, I knew that somebody was catching the fish. We went back to the ramp around 2:30 to get the scales ready for the weigh-in. I had guessed that it would take 18 pounds to win the tournament. There was several good bags weighed that were in the 10 pound range. I was thinking that I might have guessed a little high until Ronnie and Terry struggled to carry their bag to the scales. They unloaded big bass after big bass into the basket and tipped the scales at 23 pounds. Their biggest fish was 7.3 pounds. Needless to say, they were the recipients of the winnings.

In reflection, a bad day fishing is better than a great day at work. It is always fun when you are around true sportsmen that love the compete and have class while doing it. I would like to thank everyone that came out to join us and I hope that the next tournament will be as fun as this one.