My first Pro/Am

[sickofdinks]

Well finally home after the AC in Oroville.

My fingers are still pruned up from all the rain

Well I didnt do as well as I had hoped but what I had done in prefishing worked throughout fishing both days. To bad I had better fish prefishing.

My first day was with Howard. We fished areas that I had not fished and we hit a bunch of fish. He got the first one in the livewell and I got the next two. It went on like that all day. Howard is a great guy and very much a Pro. Only thing I would have done is fished a little slower but hey just my opinion and nothing more. We had a good day with 10.46 in the boat. We were culling by 10 am jusy couldnt find the biggins.

Day two. Oh hell its gona be one hell of a bumpy ride. Swells are up and its raining like crazy!!!!

Fished with Phil. Local Pro. Dude had 13.75 first day. Ya man! 2nd place. That 20+ pro hit a fluke. but congrats to him.

Phil is another great Pro to fish with. Only rule he had was dont cast over him. Duh! I surprised him by pulling out the same bait he was fishing with. Yep knew what I was doin as far as bait but I tell ya I would have never thrown it in the areas we went to at first. I would have ripped them like I did on Thursday when I nailed two nice small mouths. We hit fish in the 3-5ft depths up against the shore. I nailed one keeper ripping there also. We were culling at 8:30. We were getting them shallow and in the chocolate water. Still no biggins like he hit the day before. We had just under 10lbs at weigh in.

The only thing I would have done differant was head over to the middle. Water a little clearer and a little smoother. I had found some nice fish over there but once again just an opinion nothing more. The pro I had fished with hit a nice 3.5lber in a spot we had prefished.

All in all I had a great time with both pros I drew. Learned a bit and cought a whole butt load of fish. Pros did there jobs and put us on fish just couldnt get the big ones.

Everything I came up with in prefishing worked and worked well and even impressed one of my pros with how well one of my baits worked. Made me feel good that I was doin my job helpin the pro get a check.

The event was fun and met a ton of great folks. The show was run well and I think for the most part everyone had a good time. The rain was a mess and is was weird that it started when we were fishing and stoped when we were done.

Thumbs up to Mark for a good show! Put me done for next year at Oroville. Maybe the weather will stay blue bird skies and I can do better.

Now on to the Delta where I know I can get some big ol toads.

See you guys in May!

[Hollywood]

Glad you enjoyed your first pro/am and you caught some nice fish. Sometimes they don't turn out the way we want them too but that is fishing. Not everyday can go according to plan. It's easy to catch them big limits in prefish and easy for them to SHRINK once the tourney starts!

Good luck on the delta and hope you stay with the A/C events, they have a great program going!

[sickofdinks]

Thanks Hollywood.

Yeah for now im in. There are a few things I would like to see changed but I will keep those to myself. I think its the Pros that should make any sugestions as to what would need to be changed. Im just an Am.

I dont think the fish changed much I justed ended up in a whole nother area that I hadnt fished. Lukily what I was using worked for those spots also.

By Sat I knew what I needed to use for the day so I only brought my rods, four bags of plastics and two boxes of weights. Thats all I needed and it worked. Didnt need to bring the tackle bag. Didnt need to sit and figure out what the fish were eating. Left me with the time to just fish and enjoy the day.

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

Looks as though you have the right idea about being a co-angler..Just being there is fun, winnning or at least being able to be in the race just makes it more fun..Great write up by the way..

mac

[Hawkbizkits]

Congrats,
I also fished the A/C Pro-Am at Oroville and drew two good pros but i ended up with 9.8lbs Day 1 and 10.11 Day 2.

I will be fishing the Delta and Clear Lake Pro-Ams and hope to have great fun at each.

[Jon]

Was the boat there for the pro that won?

[sickofdinks]

Thanks guys.

Nope no boat. Sad I would have like to have seen it.

I would have liked to have wrote up more but I dont know if I should give out what I used. Im not going to write what the pros used as that is secret. What I used is no big secret.

[L.Hackney]

There's no secrets out there.. We all use the same things just in different areas. Yup, it was a fun time. I never thought I could get so misserably wet and enjoy it. I mean Iv'e been snowed on, hailed on, ducked fron lightning crackling at the tree tops, fell off the boat and much more while fishing, but this was the wettest Iv'e ever been.
What a blast!!!!

[fishhook]

i drew howard on the second day of last years oroville pro am, it was also my first pro am, hes a great guy and very professionl, we also hammerd the fish, never thought a pro would let an am run the boat, but when i started hammering good fish on top water, told me to get up front, thought that was real cool, we didnt get a 20 lbs limit but we caught fish and i learned alot.

20 lbs at oroville, thats crazy, hows was the limit broke up, five 4 lbs or did he grab a couple big fish, anybody know

[sickofdinks]

He boated a couple of LM's that were I believe 4+ lbs. The guy was just in the right place at the right time.

[cleb19]

The guy wasnt in the right place at the right time, Glen owns Oroville, if you look at all the tournaments he has fished there the last 5 he has fished he has finished top 5 and won 3 he is the man and he knew what the fish were doing and he consistantly does so you saying he was at the right place at the right time takes a lot away from the guy. look it up at Anglers Choice's website team tournament results and pro/ams he is a stud there.

cleb

[SABP]

5,4,4,4,3

[NaCl]

preparation meets opportunity.

Glen is probably the most "prepared" angler on Oroville in the past 5 years. He is CONSISTENTLY "lucky" because he puts in 200+ days a year on that lake. Without those largemouth he STILL would have won the event...not because of "luck". Rather, he won because of his effort.

.....NaCl

[brian stafford]

I was the "lucky" one. I fortunate enough to draw him the first day. This guy was throwing away anything less that 2 lbs before we even had fish in the live well. He said something like "if we have to keep that fish we're in trouble" as the fish went back into the water. Like I said at the awards, this guy is for real. He had as good a day as any Pro I have drawn in the past 7 years of doing these tourneys from the back seat. He made some critical decisions on the fly that won this tournament for him (and me). Like when he threw at the same spot 20 times and said "I just know there is a 5 in there" and the next cast pulled in a 5.08. This guy can really fish and I would not be surprised to see him dominate for many years to come. The best word that I can use to describe Glenn's tournament fishing ability is "INCREDIBLE". And he is a nice guy to boot. Friday February 9, 2007 is a day on the water that I will never forget! Thanks Glenn!
Brian Stafford

[Guest]

Congrats Brian - Amazing... I bet you never felt a drop of rain did you?

As for Mr. Lockhart! Wow..... what an impressive day! When I pulled out of the water at 4:20 on Day 1 and heard there was a 20 lb bag I didn't believe it... and said so.

Also, kudos to John Billheimer Jr for a fantastic 14.90 on day 2. Rumor has it, he caught 7 lbs worth of fish (2 fish) on one cast! Heard he was bringing in a 4.5 lber on and a 2.5 lber cam up and try to take the rip bait from the bigger fish, got caught and he landed both of them! Pretty cool stuff... Wish that happened to me!

What a wild tournament... the fish changed almost hourly. I caught fish from 1 foot to 70 feet deep in the tournament. I had a pretty decent day one with just over 10. As it turns out I needed 11 on day 2 and only got 9..... my water went from clear to mud on day 2... so I had to scramble to get a limit. I had two great guys for ams.. and they were great guys and I think we had fun fishing... well as much fun as you can have while soaked and catching 1.5-2 lb fish!