Registered for the FLW BFL Okie Division for 2012

I am finally registered for all of the Okie Division BFL tournaments as a co-angler.  All of the tournaments are over 200 miles away with all but 1 being over 300 miles away.  Not bad?  Right@!  Each tournament will be like a little mini vacation to some great fishing lakes.

Here is a list of tournaments and dates:

Broken Bow - 3/3
Lake Eufaula - 3/31
Fort Gibson Lake - 5/5
Arkansas River - 7/21
Grand Lake 9/15 & 9/16

The first two tournaments and possibly the third could be cold.  I am excited about getting into the action so early in the year.  It would be nice to throw some other tournaments into the mix but I can't find any close except for a couple walleye tournaments.  Maybe Dad and I will look into a couple of those.

I would like to try a stren series tournament, but it looks like there is only 1 within 300 miles this year and it happens the same time as the Broken Bow tournament.

The cost of the tournaments is 585.00 with my membership.  The travel expenses even with camping at 150.00 for the first four trips and 200.00 for the last will be around 800.00.  It may be a little less than that for travel but I like to have it if I need it.  In all, this season will cost 1385.00 and I will be lucky if I can win back just my entry fees.  There is hope to go far beyond that though.

My first goal this year is to make it to the Regionals.  To do that I will need to try to catch a fish in every tournament and do well in a couple of them.

My second goal is to make it in the money in at least 2 tournaments.

I need to fish more this year between the tournaments.  It seems like if I don't have a tournament scheduled I don't make it out nearly as often to fish.  Leo will be 6 and Gavin will be 4 this summer so I need to get them out as much as I can.  Maybe I should start booking camping sites at different lakes every other weekend, then we will have to go so we don't waste our money.  Then we will be booked before something else comes up.  Something always comes up when your close to family.  They will understand though. 

Last summer was just too hot.  We also didn't have our house yet so it was hard to make it out when we didn't have easy access to the boat and my fishing and camping gear.  This year we are settled in and ready to enjoy an outdoor summer.

This weekend I am going to try to make it out since the water is not frozen yet and we are supposed to reach 50 degrees.  The boys can go if they want.  We might not catch anything but we have to try for the first fish of the year.  I'm thinking about heading Northeast to Anthony lake.  We will try it for a bit and if we need to keep working Northwest and try Afton Lake and Cheney.  It's a good time of the year to get out and scout the waters.  This way when spring comes I will know where the good camping is as well as the boat ramps.