Yep, yesterday was a beautiful day! I was up by 4:30 to head for our club tournament.

By 5:30 – after a quick fruit and yogurt breakfast, I headed towards Little St Germain.

The tournament started about 6:45 am and ran until 3:00 pm. It was a cold and NASTY day with lots of light rain and cold wind from the north. I had pre-fished a large weedy flat and decided that was where I was going to spend the day.

Right off the bat I caught a nice spinnerbait bass. But after a while decided I would move to an eastern shore.   There I caught a few fish but didn’t catch any keepers.   I talked to one of my fellow club members and started using a technique that was getting him fish. It worked for me as well and I pretty quickly hit my limit and started culling.

I joined this club (Hodag Bassmasters) for a couple of reasons.   I wanted to learn more about fishing and I wanted to meet more people up north. It was important to me that the club be an open, sharing, and fun club.   The fact that a club member actually trolled over to me on his own volition just to share with me what he was using – during a tournament even….well, that’s about more than any person could ask for….and I promised him I would return the favor sometime!   It was an incredible demonstration of sportsmanship and positive club member interaction – just the kind of club I wanted to join!

All the members of the club are good fishermen. So I wasn’t surprised that there were several limits brought in. I squeaked in at 4^th place and was thankful for that! First place was about 4 pounds above me. Outside of the weather I really had a fun day.

While we were weighing in our catch I got a text from my brother that the rest of the family had arrived. I headed for the cottage, slid the boat in the garage and then headed for the sun deck. I could already smell cigars in the air.   It was good to reconnect with Fuzzy, Jackson, Gene, and Bill.

We chatted for a while and then had our normal brat fry. It was too cold to eat out on the deck so we ate inside. The BS’in was flowing fast and deep.   After dinner we headed out on the pontoon boat to catch a few bass.   Jackson, Fuzzy, and Phil were the only ones fishing and they caught a dozen largemouth.  

About 7:10 we decided it was getting too cool and besides, the Blackhawks were playing game 7 of the conference finals against the Ducks.

The Blackhawks prevailed (5-3) and are headed for the Stanley Cup Finals! It was a great game. I did have to stop twice and take shots at some pesky muskrats…..put it this way, there’s one rat that won’t get to watch the rest of the playoffs!

More entries to come over the next few days – pictures will be included!