TNT 4 5 and Kansas trip

We fished O'Shaughnessy for tournament number 4. We had moved into the top 60% of the field with our 1 catch of the year due to making all of the tournaments and getting points for showing. We didn't have any luck. I had 2 keepers on but lost them both at the boat. The first I pulled in from bank. The other I had hit at the boat and flopped off when I went to lift it in.

Tournament number 5 was at Alum Creek. I was not here so Mizike and our alternate fished the tournament. They caught a 1.88 pound smallmouth that was setting up next to a rock. It was raining hard and the rest of the field struggled as well. We still did not place.

Kansas fishing was awesome! I got to the lake last Monday. I set up the tent and blew up the air beds and set up the rest of camp then went to unload Dad's Lund to go after some fish. It was afternoon by the time I had gotten my fishing liscence and made it to the lake from the in-laws. We had a few hours to fish in the evening. We caught some wiper, white bass, and a couple walleye trolling. Then a few more walleye drifting over the spot we had just trolled and caught the first walleye.

The next morning I woke up at 3:30 A.M. anxious to get back out to catch more fish. I sat around the campfire ring until about 5:00 A.M. and decided it was almost light enough to see the shore from the water. I grabbed my pole and walked down to the bank of the cove we were camping next to. I cast out a white 1.5 inch grub with a pink 1/16th oz head and caught a small crappie on the first cast. For the next hour I caught a fish every cast. In that mix I had 5 keeper smallmouths and 8 cleaning size crappie. I usually only keep crappie 9 inches or longer. I threw the bass back of course. I still have never tried eating a bass.

I woke up Dad as soon as it was light and told him he better get down there the bite is on. He got a cup of coffee and ended up coming down as well. He caught 3 crappie and the sun popped up. The bite turned off almost instantly. I think the fish moved to deeper water or had fed well on the small fry that were in the area and moved to cover to sit out the sun. A crappie guy at work thinks that they were still feeding and I needed to try a different color. I will try that next time. The water was extreemly clear there though so I still think they moved.

The rest of the day we had a white bass and wiper fest. There were times Mom Dad and I would all have fish on at once. My oldest son had fun sitting in the boat all day. I took a couple toys and he played with them and played in the livewell. He also liked reeling in a fish every once in a while. I ended up with a decent looking 4 pound Wiper and Dad caught a 3 pound 21 inch walleye. We got some pictures with them.

My son lost his scooby doo pole over the side of the boat at some point while we were drifting for walleye. He might have snagged or had a fish hit. I wasn't watching at the time. He was pretty upset about it. He ended up crying himself to sleep. He did tell me that Wal-mart has a spiderman pole and that we needed to go get it. He points it out to me every time we are there.

We found a walleye spot on the last day I was there right before I had to go pick up my youngest son. We went across the hump 3 times and every time picked up a walleye. They were definately schooled there. I would have like to had some more time to hit that spot. It was a good thing I had to go though. It was over 90 degrees and I was burning fast. By the time I made the trip to meet my mother in law I was red as a lobster. We had only had 2 80 degree days so far in Ohio. I think I got a little sick from the sun or the heat that evening.

On our way back to Ohio we stopped at the Kansas City Bass Pro to pick up some fishing supplies. That is a really nice store. After we crossed through Indianapolis on I70 there was a deer in the slow lane. I saw it a little to late to get to a stop and merged to the fast lane to get around it. It ran at the same time and I got it with the passenger front of the mini-van. It did some pretty good damage as it got the light, the bumper, hood, front quarter panel, and the passenger side door. It took an hour for the highway patrol to arrive and make a report after I called them. He said this was his third deer strike report of the night.

We were able to drive the rest of the way home and made it around 4 AM. The next day I layed around all day watching TV. I was drained from the long week and the late and stressful night. We took the van to the insurance place for an estimate last night. They said 3000.00 worth of damage. Thank goodness for insurance.

We have our tournament Thursday evening then I think we will go to Lake Erie on Friday for the weekend. We're going to camp near Port Clinton and take a head boat out on Saturday. For 35.00 they take you out for a 7 hour trip and drift you across some walleye hot spots. I have gotten my limit almost every time I have been out on the headboats. I have only been out on Fisherman's Wharf Headboats. They are very good.