Steve Reed, co-owner of LeftCoastBass.com is on the road this year fishing the Texas FLW American Fishing Series and the FLW Tour as a co-angler. Steve will be blogging often from the road and keeping us informed from the inside of the tournament circuit.
Table Rock Results and Lake Norman
So far I’ve done alright on the tour, but still not quite where I want to be. I finished 75th at Table Rock. I caught 1 keeper over 3 days. I threw a Megabass ito 110 all day every day and never got another keeper bite.
Table Rock is a great lake, but we hit it at the wrong time. The cover is mostly deep trees and the most popular techniques are throwing a Wiggle Wart crankbait and ripping a Megabass Ito 110 ripbait.
My next stop was at Lake Norman in North Carolina. During practice Justin Lucas and I caught them good on swimbaits and shakey heads. The first day I drew a great pro by the name of Clint Brownlee. He caught about 20 fish all on a shoal. I caught 4 keepers and had my 5th fish on several times throwing a Flick Shake from Jackall. I ended up weighing 6.5lbs and was in 53rd place. My 5th fish would have been huge but it still put me in a decent place to move up. The next day I drew Rhett Fornof from Utah. He was a great guy and was on a really cool pattern. He found fishing on top and he threw a weightless fluke on them and deadsticked it. He never moved the bait after he threw it on the fish. It was a really cool deal and he caught them good. I threw the swimbait and a megabass and managed 2 keepers by 9:30. I caught another fish shortly after that totally swallowed my fluke and I had to make a decision. The fish wasn’t my smallest fish, but it was dying so I decided to throw it back in hopes of culling up. It ended up paying off as I caught 3 decent fish on the flick shake after that and on my very last cast of the day I culled out my smallest fish. I ended up weighing almost 8lbs and was in 27th place. The final day was really tough. I fished in really shallow water and had a pro who had motor problems. We lost an hour due to the engine failure and I was getting a little discouraged. I had 1 small fish in the boat at noon with 3 hours left to fish. My pro was flipping a jig and caught his limit of small fish. I decided I needed to finesse fish behind him so once again I pulled out the Flick Shake worm and went to work. I caught a solid 2.5lb fish that made me feel a lot of relief because I knew I would cash a check. About 20 minutes later I got bit set the hook and felt the fish wrap around a pylon. I knew it was a decent fish so I prayed it wouldn’t shake off. My pro backed us over to the fish and finally it came loose. It was a tense few seconds but once the fish was in the boat I freaked out. It weighed about 1 ¾ lbs and gave me a good chance for a good check. With about 30 minutes left to fish I hooked into a really solid fish. I got it all the way to the boat before it shook off. It was such a bummer to lose what would have been a huge improvement, but I knew it could happen on any cast. Four casts later I got bit, set the hook, and had a fish run under the boat. It again pulled off and left me without a bait and with a broken heart.
After weighing in I ended up in 30th place. I was very happy to do so well and learn so much.
The bait I used all week was a Jackall Flick Shake worm in watermelon candy. The fish chewed it pretty well. I also caught a lot of fish on a small hollow belly swimbait in pearl white. Lake Norman has a lot of docks and fish can be caught on docks year round. The most popular techniques there are probably throwing a crankbait and flipping a jig.
FLW Tour Table Rock Practice day 3
Today was a good day. I finally caught em.
Today Justin and I blasted off in freezing temperatures and headed to a creek of a main branch of the lake. The banks were very deep with a 45 degree slope to them and some wood. Justin caught the first fish on a jerkbait. He then caught a keeper on a wiggle wart. We switched to the other bank and I hooked up with a fish on a megabass vision 110 that was 14" long. I was stoked to have finally caught a fish after 5 practice days without one. It felt real good to have a little confidence in something.
We then ran this pattern throughout the entire lake looking for fish. We fished stuff that looked exactly the same and we caught fish. Justin caught two more keepers and I caught a 14" fish and then the best keeper of the day a 2.5 17" fish.
The pairings are today and we will see who I draw. Fishing as a co-angler this is very critical to your success.
I'll also be posting some fantasy picks this evening.
Check out my videos on youtube... Stevereedfishing
and my live videos as qik.com/streed.
Enjoy!
FLW Tour Table Rock Practice
Howdy from Branson Missouri. Well the weather has been pretty shitty. We've had temperatures in the low 40's during the day, but it has been as cold as in the high 20's. Basically, its fucking cold out here and the fishing has been equally terrible. I haven't gotten a bite in the last 2 days and its starting to get real old. I'm trying to keep myself in it mentally but its not easy when you can't even remember what a bite feels like.
Tomorrow is our last day of practice and we are trying to figure out something so we feel a little more confident going into the tournament. The word here is that its been tough for everyone. The consensus is 15lbs a day to win so for 4 days 60 lbs total. I disagree and think 56. The bite has been good for guys throwing Jerkbaits. Justin Lucas and I are pre-fishing together and I think he's on a pretty solid pattern if he can just find the right areas.
Cody Meyer on the other hand has continued to gain more knowledge of what is going on out there as each day has passed. I wouldn't be surprised if he caught them good this tournament.
Red River Practice
“THIS PLACE SUCKS,” is the sentiment of most of the pro anglers this week. With all time cold air and water temperatures for the area mixed with dangerously high, murky water and high winds with precipitation the ultimate storm for an all time tough tournament has been created. When you see the pro's you look up to cursing a body of water so badly and admitting they didn't get a bite in three days it really makes you wonder if as a co-angler you can even land a fish. I'm traveling with Justin Lucas on the tour and we both are at a loss for words. His practice seemed terrible but considering how the other guys are doing he is actually pretty solid. His practice yielded a few bites but nothing consistent. I got a bite Sunday along with two that he got. This was actually one of the more successful days we've heard of so far. We are also sharing information with Cody Meyer and JR Wright and they both are stumped as well. I usually ask myself, “WWCMD”… What would Cody Meyer do, when I'm not catching fish. Well, right now I'm getting the information first hand and he is lost leaving me without a mantra to repeat when trying to figure out the fish. I can tell you right now, 50-75 pros will blank at least one day if not all of the days. Yes, its that tough right now.
Sam Rayburn Tournament Day 2
After speaking with my pro on the phone the night before I felt confident that I could catch some fish, how many keepers would be another story. I fished with Richard Cremo a Falcon local. Richard was a super nice guy and was really helpful with questions I had about his electronics, which were two Lowrance HDS 10's, they were freakin sick! We arriced at our first spot and he immediately began to hookup on the drop shot. I wasn't getting bit yet so I decided to watch what he was doing. He landed fish after fish until finally I saw that he was retrieving with the wind and was dragging the drop shot. I cast out and brought the drop shot back to the boat in the same motion this time and hooked up as well. For an hour we were consistently catching fish however all were short fish. I finally landed a keeper fish and the following cast provided the same. I had two fish in the boat by 9am and I felt confident that I could continue to use this technique and catch more fish.
The weather changed a bit throughout the day and we went through a long dry period with no fish. Finally I hooked up again with my biggest fish of the day a 15.5 incher. I had 3 fish and felt great. Richard proceeded to put 2 keepers in the boat around the same time as well. For several hours we each went without bites until about 2:30 pm when the action started. I watched the Lowrance graphs and saw we were metering suspended fish so I dropped my drop shot straight down. I felt a slight bit of weight on the rod and reel set on another keeper. I had 4 and needed only one more for a limit, something I figured I wouldn't get. After Richard landed 3 keepers in a row he motioned me to cast to a certain spot in front of the boat. I did, and before I could even shake the worm I was on and landed my limit fish. It felt great to put the limit in the boat but one thing was missing. I hadn't brought my cull clips because I never thought I would get a limit. That hurt me a bit when the next hour produced numerous 14inch keepers which I decided not to cull with as I didn't want to keep my line out of the water in case I caught an obvious cull.
The bigger fish never came and we headed into weigh in. I figured everyone has a stellar day because the fishing was so great for us. That was not the case. When I walked up to have my fish weighed guys told me I had done real well and would be cashing a check. I wasn't sure if that were true or not but I didn't hear many co-anglers bring in over 3 fish. As I put my fish in the pre-weigh in bucket I realized I had made a big culling mistake. My smallest fish was a questionable one and a 14.5 incher I had caught would have been an easy cull. The weigh master looked at me after he measured the fish and as I looked it was an extremely close call. He looked me in the eyes and asked, “What do you think?” I answered, ‘looks good to me.' He smiled and said, “Works for me, good bag buddy.” When I weighed my fish the TD gave me quite a long time on stage to reminisce about my day and express my gratitude to my pros who were extremely courteous. As he announced my weight he told me I jumped up to 20 th place where I would finish the tournament. I was estatic. After a tough second day at Falcon when I was in position to make the top 10 a strong showing at Rayburn healed a lot of open wounds.
Practice Day 1 Sam Rayburn: Jasper, Texas
Woke up early this morning and headed to Sam Rayburn for my first day of practice for the Texas "Stren" tourney here beginning Thursday. I got on the water by 10 and fished until 4:30. I went out today and told myself I'd throw reaction baits all day, and I did. Man am I worn out. I threw a Rattle Trap for the first 4 hours and then moved to a swimbait and then swimming a jig. I wanted to see if there was a possibility of getting a reaction bite. Well, I blanked and so did my uncle. He threw the same baits but in different colors to try and eliminate the color factor and focus on the presentation and area. We mostly fished grass flats but we also went out and sat on creek channels as well.
The fishing has been pretty tough for just about everyone. I keep hearing the, "its a week away" phrase but every time we start to get some warm weather another cold front comes in and shuts the bite down.
My prediction for this tournament as a co-angler is about 21lbs to win. Thats 3 days. A limit one day and you might be in the top 10. I think maybe 10-12 lbs over 2 days gets top 10. Ive been talking to a lot of guys and following the recent results and this isn't a typical February for Rayburn. Usually, guys will put 2 rods on the deck, a 3/4 oz trap and a 1oz trap and they'll fish them all day. This year the best bait has been a carolina rig Zoom trick worm, a bait that I've honestly never thrown other than a wacky rig.
I'm going out tomorrow and fishing SLOW, i mean painstakingly slow. I'm going to crawl a jig, carolina rig a trick worm, and slow roll a spinnerbait. I'm fishing completely new water that's a long run up north to try and fish some stuff that hasn't been pounded as much by the recent 200+ boat tournaments.
We'll see where this gets me. I'll post my results tomorrow. Its been a mentally tough couple days out here. I hate feeling lost, but I'm learning a lot about eliminating water and keeping a mentally positive attitude towards solving the puzzle. Fishing as a co-angler means staying open minded, so really I would just like to gain a small bit of confidence.
Pre-Practice Sam Rayburn: Jasper, Texas
My Uncles fish
They say a bad day fishing is better than a good day working. I'd have to agree with them, but man, I am getting tired of bad days of fishing. The past two days I've been practicing for my upcoming FLW American Fishing Series event at Sam Rayburn Resevoir in Jasper Texas.
Its been tough fishing, and by tough I mean we only caught 1 fish. Yesterday we fished from 9am-4pm and today from 7:30-3:00. We found a little flat that has a nearby channel and fished it pretty hard. The result was a missed fish by me and a solid 4lber by my uncle. We used red rattle traps, in the "Rayburn Red" color. Yes, its so popular here they actually named it rayburn red...
The town is nice, but there is really only one restaurant. To be fair, we aren't actually in Jasper, we are in the lake town which is so small its not on a map. The restaurant serves good food but charges a $5 membership for a drink.... hmmm thats odd. We are staying at a no frills hotel called the "Bass Buster Inn." Yes, seriously. Its got beds, a bathroom, and a tv... and to my pleasant surprise a solid internet connection which I am very thankful for. All in all the trip had been fun and I learned a bit about the lake which will be helpful for the tournament.
As I fished today I thought about the 40 hour work week I could have and it made me extremely thankful that I'm not just some suit. I'm out living and fishing. Hopefully, I'll just make a little money doing it.
Know before you go (Lake Falcon: Zapata, TX)
After fishing Lake Falcon for a week I thought I’d give everyone a quick rundown of what to consider when making a trip there.
Guidelines:
The lake is literally split in half running north and south between the U.S. and Mexico. You can fish Lake Falcon on the U.S. side only if you wish and all you need is a Texas fishing license. If you decide to go to the Mexico side you will need a Mexican fishing license and the Mexican boat insurance. These can be obtained fairly easily and need to be done or else you could lose your boat and be imprisoned in Mexico.
Finding Fish:
Although I was able to find fish by using a map and some seasonal patterns I was unable to locate any real monsters. For this I would recommend getting a guide for the first day and then asking him to show you some patterns for the time of year and also possible locations to fish. The guides that I met were all really friendly and offer very instructional trips rather than just fish catching trips. Most guides on the lake are guys who have fished it for years and recently have started guiding due to the national publicity. A few that you should look into are:
Ricky Campbell
Rickysfalconguideservice.com
rd.campbell@yahoo.com
Ricky is an old school guy who is great at finding the big fish on falcon. I fished with him the first day of the tournament and he gave me a great idea of how to fish Lake Falcon.
Keith Combs
http://www.trophybassguide.com/
(254) 681-9566
Keith lists that he guides on Amistad on his website, but after sacking 41lbs of fish on Falcon on the last day of the American fishing series I’m sure he’d be happy to do a guide trip on Falcon.
Charlie Haralson
(956) 744-6235
Charlie Haralson is a legend on Falcon Lake and will put you on fish. In Texas he is considered the best Falcon fisherman and constantly wins or finished top 5 in tournaments on the lake.
Lodging:
I stayed at the Best Western at the Lake hotel and honestly I was extremely pleased. The place is really clean has a fair amount of boat parking and will allow you to park in non designated areas to assure you do have ample boat parking. It was really safe and in the morning they had a huge breakfast that had different types of eggs, sauasage, a breakfast sandwhich, oatmeal, coffee and juices. They also offered a free high speed internet and launching was really close.
Launching:
There are several launch facilities, but the closest and easiest is the public launch ramp just off the 83 freeway. Its very good. Another option would be Oso Blanco or there is a small launch that is $5 right before the bridge over the lake on the 83. This launch is at a hotel that is being remodeled and was safe and had no crowd.
Food:
By far the best restaurant that we tried was a Mexican place called 4 Milpas. The place is very small, but the Mexican food is very authentic and everything was cooked very well. We actually tried a few other places and were so displeased we cam back to 4 Milpas the other 3 nights. The helpings are enormous and you pay under $10 for the entire meal.
Falcon Recap
During my week at Falcon I learned a lot about the lake and different styles of fishing. If you decide to head down there you can always find fish shallow, but usually the better fish are holding off deep structure and are really grouped up. I’d say 10% of the lake has 90% of the big fish. Obviously, these locations change seasonally, but if you want to catch a true trophy you need to move if you are catching small fish. Also, be prepared to fish in trees. The bass often suspend in the trees and catching them may have proved difficult if you are not open to fishing a little differently.
Here is what I caught my fish on during the week:
D and M Piranha Swim Jig in brown/purple flash. Using a Dobyns DX 744C Champion Series Rod.
I caught 4 fish over 5 lbs on this bait during practice. All of the fish came from the windy side of island points. To get the fish to bite you had to let the bait sink to the bottom, jig it up once, and then two or three turns of the reel yielded a fish. I added a purple 5 inch Yamamoto twin tail grub to give the bait a bigger profile.
I caught a few fish on a Bass Patrol 1 ounce jig in the pumpkin/red color, with a Netbait Paca Craw trailer. Using a Dobyns DX 784 C ML Champion Series rod.
I found drains near creek channels and would drag this bait over them. Usually the fish would hit right as I approached the drain. I caught 3 or so in practice on this bait.
The majority of my fish came Carolina Rigging a Zoom Brush Hog in Watermelon Red. Using a Quantum Superlite flipping stick.
At Lake Falcon a lot of guys fish the baits really weird. The first day we were flipping the Carolina Rig into trees in 10-17 foot of water. When you work the bait, you literally guide it through the tree branches. You need to slowly work it and let it fall as it slides through the tree. Another important factor is burying the hook really deep in the bait so you don’t snag every cast. You have to be prepared to break off a lot on deep snags because the structure you are fishing is generally wood or rock.
I used 20lb test Seaguar Fluorocarbon and 65lb test Sufix Braid all week and never broke off a fish.
Yesterday was miserable.
I went into the day sitting in 18th place and only 2lbs from the top 10. I figured if I could catch 10-13lbs I would have a shot at the top 10. 50th place had around 7.5lbs so I also thought a few fish would secure a check.
The day started out freezing cold. Temperatures were in the high 20's and with windchill it was estimated at 15 degrees... oh well, everyone is fishing the same conditions I reasoned. As we blasted off my pro partner started to head down the lake and then decided he didn't want to risk it. He didn't want to go to his good water which was somewhat disappointing especially after what my previous day partner and I went through to get back for weigh in.
We started in a little cove where I had practiced a bit. The guy I was fishing with caught 1 and missed another. I was having trouble keeping my guides and reel from freezing. I constantly was breaking the ice off just to make casts.
We proceeded to mess around there and finally my pro decided to head north for another spot he had. Our second spot also failed to get us any fish. Finally we ended up at our third and final spot. We drifted over a piece of cover several times for the rest of the day without success. I am not used to that kind of fishing but tried really hard to adapt. My partner got one more keeper but I went without a bite.
The day was extremely tough but I tried to keep my self in the game by twice taking a break and sitting down to tell myself to stay mentally focused. I have experienced that last cast big fish twice and knew that those things happen and to keep my bait wet. I tried every trick in the book... I tried a drop-shot, a shaky head, a wacky worm, weightless fluke, Texas rig Senko. I finally settled with throwing a Senko for the last two hours of the day. Absolutely nothing.
As we approached weigh in I was deflated. I know how rare it is to have a shot at fishing in the top 10 and I had blown my chance. With the wind dying down that day to only 15 mph I also knew that other co-anglers were going to catch them better.
I slowly sat at home calling friends and watching my computer as I slipped down the leaderboard. 45th, 48th, 49th, 50th and finally I settled at 55th. 5 spots from making a check.
It really hurts to have that kind of melt down on the water. Shaking it off doesn't happen as easily when this is your only job. All you have to do is catch fish and you can't even do that.
It was a tough day and a tough start to the Texas Stren series. I'm heading up to Sam Rayburn in a week or so to practice. Hopefully I can come out and put together a good tournament and forget about this disaster. We'll see.
Falcon Lake Tournament day 1
Today I woke up at 5:30 and got ready to go catch some fish. I had a really positive attitude and knew the weather would put a lot of guys out of it mentally from the get go and that got me to really focus on the task at hand.
I met my partner at 6:30, launched the boat, and motored through the fog to the blastoff site. The fog was of great concern to the tournament director who worried about our safety. Because of this concern he held us from blasting off for about an hour. We headed out onto the lake at 8:30 and gunned it to our first spot. On my partners second cast he landed a 5.5lb fish. I was stoked because it mean we were around fish. About 5 minutes later I felt the familiar tick and swung big. Fish on. Got him to the boat and put him in. The fish was about 3 lbs. YES! Monkey off my back and a big confidence booster. I was using a carolina rig with a magnum fluke in watermelon red flake. I knew after that fish that I would probably not put down the c-rig the rest of the day.
About 15 minutes later I got my second fish on a Carolina Rigged brush hog in watermelon red flake. Then I followed that with my 3rd and 4th fish on the same bait. Things were working out really well and I was stoked. I needed 1 more fish for a limit and then I needed to go big with a donkey. A few casts later I got a solid bite set the hook hard and as I did I literally bent my reel handle in half. As I struggled to reel I was unable to keep the pressure on the fish and get him in. Lost my limit fish.
After moving to another spot the weather began to really take its toll. The wind was 30mph and the rain was coming down fairly hard. I missed my next two bites one of which I was able to feel the weight on before he popped off. Decent fish. So a few swings and misses and I still need my limit fish. An hour or so goes by and finally I get a bite and set the hook. There it was my 5th fish. It was a huge relief to catch that fish. For the rest of the day I continued to cull up by ounces but lacked the big bite I hoped for.
As we started to head back to the weighin we gave ourselves 2 hours to get back. As we got around a point heading into the main lake my heart sunk. The waves were 8 feet and my boater looked over to me and told me we were gonna have to call someone to come get us and we could not weigh our fish. We decided to just go fish and enjoy the rest of the day until someone could come get us. Within 5 minutes my boater got a bite and set the hook on a good fish. The fish was about 5lbs. He looked over at me and asked if I wanted to try the run. "Hell yeah, I didn't come this far to not weigh fish," I said. So we prepared the boat and ourselves for the worst boat ride imaginable. As we removed the graphs and loaded up our gear the wind died down for a few minutes and gave us a small window to run the left side of the lake. We went as far as we could until the waves started up again. With no other option we decided to keep going and just pray we make it to shore. With 8 foot waves crashing everywhere we had the roughest ride imaginable. We speared a few waves, shattered his trolling motor into pieces and each got thrown around like rag dolls but we made it to weighin with 20 minutes to spare.
As I looked around I realized many guys had 2 or 3 fish and some even had none. I was a bit optimistic. Once I got up on stage and weighed my fish I was surprised to see 13-00 pop up on the screen. I figured I had a little over 10 lbs but to my delight I weighed in higher and was currently in 7th place.
When it was all said and done I ended up in 18th place after day one. Ironically the guy I am partnered with tomorrow is one position below my boater from today. My pro Ricky Campbell weighed in with almost 19lbs and is currently sitting in 24th place.
I am very confident heading in to tomorrow and hope to go out and show Texas what us California boys are all about.
Wish me luck and watch my weigh in live at 4:00pm (Texas) or 2:00pm (California)
1-6-2010 Falcon Lake Pre-fish FLW Texas American Series
Today I got on the lake while it was still dark. We launched without a single light on the lake and headed out to our first spot slowly because honestly we couldn't see shit. Well our first spot didn't produce so we ran the lake looking for fish. For the remainder of the day we fished every type of cover, depth, and baits with only 1 fish to show for our hard work.
Today was flat out the toughest day of fishing I have ever had... I say that every time, but the most recent bad day is always your worst day ever. lol.
Got off the lake at 2:30 as we had a mandatory off limits at 3pm. I feel very deflated after a few tough days of fishing on what is supposed to be the best lake in the world.
I got a really good draw actually. I drew a Falcon Lake guide that has a few spots with fish on them. I have downscaled all of my baits and line sizes and I'm gonna just grind it out. My friend Amir is a poker player and he always says the grinders are the guys who win money in the end. They may not make the big plays but they play conservatively and are patient for their chance. That's what I'm gonna do tomorrow.
A lot of guys say they would love the chance to fish professionally, well tomorrow is one of those days that is gonna separate the men from the boys. The weather is going to be cold,rainy, and windy and bites will be few and far between.
I'll give it my all and stay positive. This is my dream. The whole thing. Bad days just make good days all that much better and I wouldn't mind a good day tomorrow to make it all worth it.
1-5-2010 Falcon Lake Pre-fish FLW Texas American Series
Today was my first full day on falcon. Last night we arrived in Zapata at 4:30 and being as dumb as I am I launched the boat and fished for a few hours until dark. No fish, but felt good getting on the water.
This morning, I revised my approach for the cold water and air temperatures and put together a plan to look for deep structure and then head in shallow later in the day as it warmed a bit.
We looked for fish out deep and then headed in shallow at about 9am.
We caught our first fish off a group of trees in 10 feet of water on a chartreuse and white chatterbait with a purple swim senko trailer. The fish weighed about 4lbs and gave us some confidence in fishing shallow. Catching one fish doesn't mean you can catch more with that technique, but its always a good start. We then proceeded to catch another about 20 yards down, a 5lber, in the exact same cover. 10 feet and trees with the same bait. Alright, so now we have a pattern. We spent the rest of the day in a small area and my uncle picked up a fish on a bluegill chatterbait with the same trailer. His fish was pushing 6 and hit like a ton of bricks.
Finally, I ended the day with a jig fish in 12 feet of water. I was using a Mann's draggin jig and tipped it with a Paca craw trailer in peanutbutter and jelly.
The fish was about 5lbs and also crushed the jig.
We ended the day with 4 fish at nearly 20 lbs. It was a solid day but wasn't the Falcon Lake everyone dreams of fishing.
The weather is going to get warmer tomorrow with average temperatures right around 60 and then take a huge drop into 32 degrees thursday with heavy wind and possible rain. The next 2 days will be colder with less wind and no rain according to the weather predictions. This tournament will most likely be very tough as the water temperatures are some of the lowest ever recorded on Falcon. Time for some finesse I suppose.
The lake is only a week away from busting wide open and with the rising temperatures next week I would expect fishing to be absolutely incredible. Missing the wide open bite by a week kinda sucks but fishing a tough tournament will weed out a lot of guys right from the start. I love fishing tough conditions and especially a lake like Falcon when I can focus on 5 bites and not worry about finding bigger fish.
Headed to the tackle store for a few items and a Mexican fishing license. They offer a weekly pass so I purchased it and paid my 40 bucks. Well turns out a yearly pass is $60 and since I'm coming back in October it made far more sense. Oh well.
Tomorrow more practice and then tournament registration. I'm extremely excited and a little anxious. I need a big fish tomorrow and a pattern to settle my nerves a bit.