Thanks so much to Mako Mike, Marty, and Bruce for organizing the tournament.
Pre-fishing definitely paid off... I knew where there weren't any fish (north of 86) and I knew where there were fish (55-135' from Bloody Pt. and a few miles south)... But getting them to bite with a messed up very light incoming current was a different story.
22 lines in the water by sunrise a hair south of Bloody Pt. Shortly thereafter we had a small fish on board line close to boat but it wouldnt pop clip and lost it before even got clip to pop.
2 hours later about 930 we had a 31 incher in the box, also wouldn't pop clip and had to clear entire side to get to it because closest to board with 8 board lines on that side. Caught in 75' of water on chartreuse bloody point tandem.
Just before starting to bring in lines #2 went in the box about noon... Barely legal at 20.25".
Not only do I do all the prep that Marty described and more, but I have been running full spread since mid October and fished 3 other tournaments this fall so that when this one came up we would be ready to win!
Thanks to my Awesome Crew - Chad and my boys Brian and Darin!
Looking forward to hanging the Judge Shootout Plaque in my office and defending the title next year!
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