First Tournament

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BJ Laster

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I was asked to post the story about my first bass tournament.



Back in the summer of 2000 I was wanting to start fishing some tournaments. We didn't have a big bass boat, we had a 8' foot bass buster and a 14 foot v-bottom john boat that was rigged for bass fishing. My grandfather bought it for my dad and I before he passed away. We called a few different mini boat clubs and decided on the Heart of Oklahoma Mini Boat Club. They had been the nicest on the phone and you could use any boat as long as you had less than a 10 hp engine on it. August 24 I started the eighth grade. August 25 I got home and went to a football game because I was in the band. We didn't get done till 10:00. My dad and I went home and loaded up. We had no clue what tournametn fishing was really about...so we loaded just about everything in the boat...I MEAN EVERYTHING. The boat didn't have a built in livewell so we took an icechest and put an arerater in it and we would just use it. We had two gas tanks for the small engine and one was empty that we would fill up when we got downt there. We went to bed about 1:00 am and got up at 4:00 to drive to Duncan, Oklahoma (lake Fuqua for the okies here). At the time we had a 1984 GMC Suburban, it didnt like hills and it did not like heat..it is AUGUST. THe drive down was fine with the SUB. When we left the house and started driving down the interstate my dad asked if I got the empty livewell (icechest) and empty gas tank out of the boat. I said no and i asked him if he did. He said no. We just laughed about it and went on. When we stopped at the gas station in Marlow, Oklahoma we filled up the other gas tank (not empty). We then took all of our food out of a big blue icechest (bigger than the one we were going to use for the livewell (hey you gotta eat at these things ya know!!!!). We didn't have a pump or arerator but at least we had something we could use. We got to the lake and got ready to launch...we actually got a little too ready. My dad unhooked the boat from the trailer. The trailer had brand new rollers on it from when my grandfather bought it. We paid the entry and went to back down the ramp. It was dark..one lane..no lights. The suburban had dirty tinted windows and my dad could hardly see. He was about to go off the boat ramp so I started waiving my arms in the air. He stopped and got out and asked what the prob. was. I told him and he put it in drive and pulled up...only problem was that old john boat flew off the trailer and onto the boat ramp...WITH ME IN IT. I just remember hearing the crash and being able to look and see the stars, the boat hadn't come all the way off but the bow was still sitting on the end of the trailer so the boat was pointed in the air. We winched it back on and then backed down the ramp. We got in the water and the tournament started at 6:30. At the 6:25 my dad got in the boat and tried to start the engine. Everyone else was just out there idling waiting for us. My dad pulled and pulled..the engine wouldnt' start. The club offered to wait on us but we said to go ahead and we would catch up. I used the trolling motor and took us in a nearby cove and started fishing. My dad got the engine working about 45 minutes later so we drove over to a different area. At about 8:15 that morning I hooked my first keeper and we put it in the make-shift livewell. We didnt have a pump or anything to fill it up with so we both put it over the side and struggled to get it back in. We put the fish in it and went on fishing. We fished the rest of the day without a bite. With about 15 minutes to go in the tournament I pulled up to one last point and pitched a jig into a big weedbed. WHAM my line jerked and the fight was on. The fish was about 3 pounds and he was in the boat. The cool thing about that was I was 50 to 100 yards from wiegh-in and the whole club saw me catch that fish. We put the boat on the trailer and loaded up. We didnt' have<
 
thats a great story.......my first tournament was a few years back on Sam Rayburn,,,,,,, I caught on bass... 12" and a cat fish.......



Kraig
 
What a great story, BJ, something to remember, and share and pass down through generations in your family. Fantastic memories there. egMike
 
The very first tourny I had when I was about 18 with my dad..I didn't catch any bass but, was using a craw crankbait and caught a 6 lb. walleye! There was alot of guys at the ramp that was quite impressed with my effort and "not giving up"! We put the walleye in the cooler and had one heck of a dinner!:)

Sounds like you've got the "passion" there BJ..keep it up!

TEE
 
First tourney I entered was the 1st NTOWS Rally. I was lucky enough to get to ride with Mr. Rich Stern! In two days, fishing from a Nitro 929, burning tons of gas, throwing everything we had at the fish from dawn until 3 pm..... we caught one keeper bass!



Now..... Myself..... I'm an old salt..... I've never had any problems at the ramp...... (Like heck I haven't! LOL!!)
 
My first was when I was 17. There was an annual high school tournament. Myself and a good friend decided that we would enter and give it a shot. We were in my dad and I's Ryancraft with a 40 johnson on it. It was the boats first trip out since we bought it. About mid day while running across the lake with no weighers yet the engine dies and leaves us dead in the water. Neither of us had a clue what to even look for so we just sat there in the middle of the lake eating vienna winnies and telling jokes. Low and behold the previous owner of the boat comes by in his new boat and stops to see whats up. He tells us that the motor was finiky at times and helped us get it started. Cool, we were off to win the tournament again. We managed a couple of peanuts but they were weighers so we were pumped to be able to weigh something. With about 30 minutes before the weigh in I decided to try the old honey hole. While idleing through the stumps I high centered the boat on a huge stump. So there we sat telling jokes again...LOL The boat would just teeter on top of the stump. The motor wouldn't even pull us off. After a few jokes and some vienna winnies I noticed another stump just in front of the bow of the boat. So I stepped off on it and began to push. It worked and I WENT IN THE DRINK...LOL We made it to the weigh in just in the nick of time and took 10th place out of about 25 boats. Even soaking wet I was never more proud to take that trophy. I still have it. There was no money envolved but we fished like it was for a million dollars. those were the days....I miss em.



Wolf
 
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