So, after destroying my hooks on the Japanese crankbait I need to get more trebles, which means a stop at the Basshole. (no there's a surprise
) Anyway as an angler there are certain superstitions anglers have. Mine is simple. Wear the Bearded Bassin WWN shirt until just before launch, then fold it neatly in the Roush (to wear it proudly at the weigh in if we weigh in ), put on the AFTCO stuff, neck gaiter, and copper fit gloves. Oh yeah and make sure I have the sweat soaked brown ranger hat. Also as part of the superstition, make a stop at the basshole, then the taqueria in Discovery Bay, drive hgwy 4 to 5 and onto March and ladds. Does it work? We'll see.Arrive a little late as the taqueria was crowded and Josh is already there. AS I'm unloading, I start a chat with Firuz. Come to find out we have know the same folks for awhile. We get to reminisce about the old days. Knowing great anglers like Leroy Bertolero, Dave Symmons, Gary Okasako, Jiggs Benn. Life is funny and it's really a small world this fishing community. (Now, what Mike and Firuz don't know is that everytime we weigh in just behind them we cash a check. They're our lucky charm
)Boat loaded and I'm talking with John and he tells me there is an article coming out in BAM (Bass Angler Magazine) featuring his bait. So stay tuned for that it's a great story. (Yeah I know Josh, John, its all pretty confusing Huh?)
Josh and I are trying to figure out where we should go. With the prefish we should head south, but its hard to leave an area that has been productive. So off we go to spot number 1. It should be noted that the word is out about the South South as leaving Ladd's 8 out of 10 boats turned left.
So much for that secret. Speaking of secrets, when I told Josh about pre fish, I was standing near the boat when Phill Tilbery comes over an says "I hear your fishing" and names the slough. Scuttlebutt travels fast . No worries though a s it's all good fun. Josh and I had a good laugh about that. Spot #1 stars slow. I catch a 2lbr, and thats it. (OK so here's the story, last Sat. with snow, I catch a fish that buries the front hook past the barb.....get this........not in me,........not in the fish, but in the dang hard plastic of the bait. WTH? I struggle with the needle nose to get the hook out and continue to fish the Dog X. % minutes later, I'm walking the dog 1-2ft below the surface, and it takes me 3 days to drain the water out of it 
when I take some Gorilla Glue (not sponsored ) and plug the hole. It's the only thing I can think of that wouldn't weigh the bait differently.) Ok back to fishing. We still have current so I toss it out and something big whacks it. Soon a 4.39 is in the well. Now let me tell you about 3 treble hook baits and nets. What a pain in the neck. Took me 15 minutes to untangle the stupid bait, and I'm flippin out cause the bite is on. Soon we get another 2lbr . We hit a brake/trough and I make a cast. The bite is immediate, but according to Josh something unusual occurred. I know its decent as it drags me into a tule clump, brakes free and heads to a bigger tule clump come out and heads to deep water. As Josh slips the net over the fish, he exclaims you got 2 fish. Well low and behold I did. I caught a dink and another 4 lbr. Josh's theory is the little fish hit the bait as soon as it hit the water, and the 4 was going to eat the little fish. I couldn't tell ya what as it appeared to me that both hit as the same time, but Josh being taller than I am has a better vantage point, so I'll go with his rendition which sounds cooler. . We are able to upgrade some, but porr Josh lost a good fish in the grass with literally minutes to go. That fish would have bumped us up, but that's fishing. So now the decision, can we back up last weeks 3rd place finish, with another good finish? We got 15+ so we'll weigh in. As I go to get the truck and trailer, the dark clouds begin to amass. I bump into and he and Firuz. He and Mike are not weighing In. Uh Oh! Not a good sign. The I think I lost my neck gaiter. Uh Oh, crap the wifey's not going to be happy with that. Josh goes to monitor the weights and I get in line. Our turn is coming up when Josh approaches the truck and says looks like it'll take 15. Scale reads 15.07. The clouds part as the last boat weighs. Tension rises as Gerry tabulates the results. 64 Boats paying back 9 places. 9th place FE and Josh, another payday. Congratulations to Christian and Mark for 19.67 and all the 7 others that finished ahead of us. BF went to Will and Mike with a gorgeous 9.04.I just want to mention about fish care. Last week some guy didn't have properly sealed live wells, tonight there were some fish that didn't make it. Please do everything to keep those fish alive in this weather and water temperature. Buy a bag of ice to control the temp in your live well, or one of the many available products to add to live well water to maintain fishes health.
TL
FE
PS Tomorrow I'll have an extra blog about how shameful the fishing industry is here.
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