Thread: About My Day

I have to tell y’all about my day. I’m not much on tournaments, people are different sometimes when money is involved. Doug asked me a while back if I would join him in this Shad tournament, and I agreed. Can’t say I haven’t been apprehensive but it was all for nothing. We started at a sensible hour, not at first light. Short motor to the starting point and it wasn’t long til lines were bent. First fish for both of us was a crappie, mine wound up being the only keeper today. The shad showed themselves a short while later and while they were never on fire, we were busy until we quit to go check in. We both brought the ultra lights and had some fun with those. I picked up a new Fenwick and strapped one of my presidents onto it and what fun it was. These fish weren’t small. Our drags spoke a lot today, these things are tough. Several times we had runs over 4 or 5 seconds, we just couldn’t turn them til they were ready. The wind stayed down til almost 10 and by then we had started trolling. Every way we tried caught something. Our handties all produced some good fish too. Trolling was tough as the wind got up to at least 15 with stiffer gusts. Heavy river traffic didn’t help either. Some folks are downright unfriendly. Check in was done at a riverside home at 1pm, and after fighting the wind I was ready for it. This was a surprise.

Not just a check in. There was food and friends gathering reminiscent of a good Crappie.com Slabfest.a lot of these folks were close to my age and went through school with some of the other folks there. Pat and his sister have put this on for 9 years now and are well practiced at it. They’re 4th generation Sanford. God Bless them, true Florida Crackers are very hard to find. This whole crowd acted like I was one of their friends and made Doug and I feel very welcome. And the food. Good Lord, the food. Bass, crappie and catfish, hush puppies, cornbread, pasta salad, and on and on. Every bit of it very good, and plenty of it. I didn’t see desserts but it didn’t matter, we didn’t have room. Everyone brought their best fish, and one gent walked up sporting a 5 or 6pound striper he caught on a Mepps spinner. I’d like to have seen that fight. We dropped our fish on the table and it came out to be 18 1/4”. Cool. We visited with Pontoon Pappy and Mongoose for a while, and someone called our name. Turns out that a husband and wife had both caught a 19 1/2, and they got first and second and the plaque, and we got third! Never dreamed it would turn out like this. A good day fishing, a great meal with really good folks, and win a few bucks to top it all off. I know where I’ll be next year.

A big shout out to Don AKA Pontoon Pappy for bringing this to our attention and helping us get registered so we could participate. We couldn’t have done it without your help. You have to let me return the favor sometime soon. Here’s a few pics from the day, and maybe Doug will add a few too. I hope y’all had a day as good as we did and if we didn’t see you on the water today, I hope to see you one day soon. Til then...... Skeet

Looks like and sounds like it was a fun day. What did you do with the cooler full of those critters seen in the last picture. Catfish bait up in these parts , ol Catfish Dave and Kayak Catfish dude uses them all the time, just the local Gizzard varieties.

Beautiful story and of course the food portion of the tale was delightful

Sounds like an awesome day

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Cool story. I’ve never heard of a Shad tournament.

Originally Posted by FurFlyin

Cool story. I’ve never heard of a Shad tournament.

It's a new one on me too brother. Sounds like a great day of awesome food, fellowship and fun. Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by FurFlyin

Cool story. I’ve never heard of a Shad tournament.

link to magazine that has a SHAD & CRAPPIE tournament every year.
Coastal Angler Magazine - Orlando Edition - Orlando Fishing

Let me 1st mention that trying to positively add to a posting originated by Skeetbum is like trying to hit a grand slam following Mickey Mantle in the lineup! But-I'll do my best. I've been eagerly awaiting for this event to unfold for about a year now after learning about it through Don(Pontoon Pappy) and his multiple yearly attendances over the years even winning big fish 21" two years ago. Really couldn't have coordinated a more adept, competitive, communicative partner than Tim(Skeetbum) which only exponentially enhanced the day. My introduction to ultralight skinny fishing was introduced last summer by Skeet w/his touting of a 2 lb. Nanofil "bullet in his chamber". This Dyneema co-polymer, unifilament line is frighteningly skinny yet strong, but attention is needed on abrasion fraying. Skeet wisely recommends a 4 lb mono or flouro leader to help defray it's vulnerability. This skinny line usage only heightens the competitive thrill especially when larger species are in the mix, but can be complimented with a take your time, light drag setting, net ready technique. Skeet's experienced skill level is easily seen when he starts racking up the numbers, even still letting out the satisfying verbiage. Besides the increasing wind/boat handling component, the day had it's moments when a few inconsiderate, unconcerned larger craft created their 15 - 18" rollers for us to contend with(gotta love the weekend crowd)...don't need to fish weekends anymore Even had one 25 footer exclaim "you're not the only ones fishing out here ya know! Single pole casting yielded to multi-rod long lining to cover more ground and definitely showed merit. One of the Kodak moments(see pic) was initiated by in the distance boom boxing "coming our way"! Within minutes the Spanish Armada of jet-skis(50+-) made the stage OMG!! Skeet explained the Hispanic "experience" as a large group that travels waterways in an excursion/tour event he has witnessed on weekends on St. Johns. Some of the individuals have their own mindset of water courtesy/rationale,, some even getting within 1/2 cast distance. Had to reach for the camera to capture the moment = without description. Can't give enough kudos to Pat the CEO/co-ordinator of this annual Shad-only event. Enjoyed great grub and drinks and as Skeet mentioned the comforting comraderie of those in attendance including Steve and Sheryl(Osteen area) we saddled up to after they took 1st and 2nd place with identically measured 19.5 inchers, good job(future C.com members, too). Like to thank Pontoon Pappy for re-igniting my love for shad fishing, although they aren't the size of my moons-ago Susquehanna Whites up to 6-7 lbs. still the blast on the "skinny" gear!! Maybe c u there next year, hopefully I'll be the other guy in the boat with Skeet. Thanks for checkin' on me

u2s

Stan, Doug was hoping for some of the roe before that destiny.

Spectacular, a very good time. You should try it next year.

Fur, I’ve never had any ambitions to be in one either and I think it’s mostly a local thing. The closest thing to this I’ve ever done was a good day in a dove field with some friends, some of them had known each other over 40 years. Very good fun.

I think I know where you were fishing..........................................