The Fishing Contest

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to complete in a fishing contest/derby. Now I admit that that participating in an event like this may at first seem like a long way from MySideOfTheBar, however I soon found out that I could enjoy both a cocktail as well as a cigar while wetting a line so I had to enter.



I have not fished much in recent years, but as a young boy I used to fish all the time. In fact I have many stories about fishing as a youth that will be coming to the Blog in the future.
The tournament directory was J.C. who was assisted by D.B. The rules were simple:

Entry Fee: $10.00
Starting Time: 10:00 A.M. on the start of the air horn.
End Time: 3:00 P.M. with the sound of an air horn.
You had to fish from the docks at the condo.
Only Condo Owners
Crappies Only
Prizes awarded to and split between:
Most fish caught or first one to the limit (15 Crappies over 9 and a half inches long)
Largest Fish.

As was the norm for a Sunday we took a walk to breakfast so two of us, myself and S.O. started late arriving back at the contest around noon. Much to our dismay we learned that K.B. was already at about 13 keepers and only needed 15 to max out. None the less we paid our entry fee and with drink and cigar in hand started to fish.

I would like to say a special thank you to Central Patti for keeping my drink glass full so I could optimize my time fishing.

About the time I caught my first small undersized fish I heard the K.B. had indeed maxed out and won the prize for most fish. So that left only the biggest fish prize left.
I walked around on the docks fishing for an hour or so without much luck. I was using a small yellow and black jig with Crappie Nibbles. I contemplated switching to a white jib as that was what K.B. had used, but I would have had to walk back to my dock locker and thought better of the idea. As another half hour passed I was still not having much luck when S. and S. M. gave me a few pointers on how deep to fish and the best spots on the dock. No sooner than I followed their advice then wham, I had a fish and as I pulled him out of the water I realized that I had not a clue what to do next.

S.M. gave me some more pointers and I had the fish off the hook and was trying to figure out the size. S.M. who was an experienced angler also had a great tool to measure the fish and I discovered I had a keeper of 9 and a half inches long. S.M. also produced a fishing basket for me to keep my whopper in and in a few minutes I had the line back in the water. I hooked a few smaller fish and then caught another keeper of 9 and three-quarter inches long. Wow, what a great day it had been. I learned though the fisherman gossip chain that R.W. had landed a Crappie around 13 inches long so I had some work to do if I was to win the remaining prize.



Well I would like to tell a big fish story by saying I pulled in a whopper just before the horn sounded, but there were simply too many witnesses so I will have to give a small recap of the other angler’s success.

The largest fish went to R.W. who landed a 12 or 13 inch Crappie. (Yes as with any contest there was some controversy) and to K.B. with his 15 (hum or was it 16) and the prize for the most fish.


R.W. - Largest Fish


K.B. - Most Fish Caught

The total fish taken by the 7 entrants was about 50 keepers and we had one fantastic fish fry that evening.


A Mess of Fish

The size of R.W. fish was not the only controversy in the derby. At breakfast that morning S.O. and I made a side bet of who would catch the largest fish. I also remember some of the witnesses thinking we had bet on the most caught; however alcohol may have had something to do with their memories.
Well as I stated earlier, S.M. loaned me a fish basket to put my fish in, however S.O. allegedly caught a 10 inch fish, but placed the fish in a basket with many other fish. Now I ask you, does this sound fishy or what?

In any event it was a great way to spend the afternoon and I am sure as the years go on we will enjoy more days like this at MySideOfTheBar


The Contestants


All Hail the Winners

Cheers

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