The Luther Cifers and Tina Shank crew put on another fantastic tournament. The laid back atmosphere with ego free competition matched the shoot-the-breeze, camping, and cookout ambiance.
It was once again all for a great cause. Actually two great causes...
Heroes on the Water and Project Healing Waters will receive the money raised by the tournament.
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| Almost 90 attendees |
The food is one of the things that make this tourney stand out. The ribs and ribeyes for the captain's meeting, a whole pig after weigh-in, along with a ton of other yumminess is kind of unheard of for tourney food. The other thing that really sets this event apart is the fellowship. The campfire "after party" was definitely one of my favorite parts, even in the rain.
As far as fishing goes, Joe Underwood was nice enough to invite Richie Bekolay and I to a spot he found the day before.
We found plenty of fish, but my biggest bass only went 16.5". Richie went on to win the Slam division with a 20" largemouth, 13.75" crappie, and 9" sunfish.
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| Me, John Oast and Richie Bekolay with his trophies and a brand new Trident 13 |
I somehow got lucky and snagged biggest fish of the day.
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| 31" Grass Carp |
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| I won an 8' Park n Pole. Photo credit: Aaron Dryden |
After a good night of passing around bottles and telling fishing lies, I stumbled out of my tent the next morning and hit the road. Two and a half hours later, I launched at Rudee inlet to resume my search for saltwater citation species number three. Recent stories of big bluefish up to 38" got my hopes up...
Unfortunately, I was only able to reach 35.5". I say unfortunately because I want that citation so bad, and coming up half an inch short really hurts... but I really shouldn't be upset at my new personal best blue.
Hopefully they'll stick around for little while longer, but I have my doubts.
Crossing my fingers…
