Failure is not an option

One can never truly know how hard something is until they try it for themselves. The world is abound with “armchair quarterbacks”. The problem with many of these people is that they are afraid of failure. If the end result isn’t what they dreamed up sitting in that chair, they consider it a failure. They would rather live their life having never tried something as opposed to living their lives knowing they failed. They do not have the ability to take that failure as a lesson, learn from the mistakes, and figure out what you could do better in the future. For some, playing the game is the enjoyment, success is the reward. How you define success can influence your decision to play the game. People need to set reasonable goals and work towards meeting those goals. If you can meet or exceed your personal goals and learn from the mistakes you made along the way, the ultimate prize will soon follow.

My partner and I arrived in Alpena Michigan early Wednesday afternoon to clear sunny skies and variable winds. Mom and dad had arrived before us and had started to setup camp. After all the camp chores were complete, we lounged around. The temperature was hot and humid but the winds continued to build. As the day wore into evening, the winds increased. Any chances of getting on the water for some pre-fishing had quickly evaporated.

Thursday morning again had sunny skies with warm temperatures. We left Thunder Bay Campground and RV Park for the Alpena Harbor a little after 8am. Utilizing several maps, Navionics chips, and Lowrance maps, we had several areas we wanted to scout out for the day. We left the harbor and turned south. The first spot was a little less than a ¼ mile away. We utilized side scan and down scan imaging to locate several underwater rock piles and gravel bars. We setup to make one quick pass and were quickly rewarded with a quality walleye. When pre-fishing, you should never work an area over. You have a limited amount of time to find as many different areas as possible that will hold active fish. Unfortunately, the wind quickly came up and we were forced to head in. We did manage to locate a few other rock piles. We did not mark many fish.

Friday morning arrived with overcast skies and cooler temperatures. We spoke with several teams at the dock and the campground and it seemed the general consensus was that many teams were headed 30 miles north or south of the harbor to find fish. Unfortunately, this is not an option for us. These guys have heavy fiberglass boats capable of busting through the waves while reaching top speeds of 60 miles per hour. Aluminum just doesn’t cut it when the seas get rough. Kevin and I fished and scouted several areas from the harbor south to a distance of 18 miles. We concentrated on finding rock and gravel formations and were rewarded with one nice walleye. We started to paint a picture of what we thought would be a good plan of attack. Find underwater obstructions or structure to fish off from.
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The forecast for Saturday was sunny skies with light and variable winds reaching a peak of 5 knots. We arrived at the launch at 4:50 AM, picked up our boat board, went through inspection, and launched. Being a premier team with a high boat number (13) we have the luxury of launching in the first flight on day one (6:30am). We found a spot in the harbor and waited for the blast off time. The temperature was 49 degrees and the sun just started to peak at 5:45. This picture shows some interesting cloud formations to the North East (those are not trees).
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If you have never been in a tournament, this is what it looks like headed out the channel. There are 12 boats in front of us and another 27 behind us. On day one, boats 1-40 blast off in the first flight at 6:30am while boats 41 through 78 (in this case) go off in flight two at 7:00am. On day two the field is inverted. Boats 78-41 go off first while boats 40-1 go off second..
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Our first spot was less than ¼ of a mile from the harbor so when the blast off boat came by and called off number 13 over the radio I turned hard to starboard. These starts can be like trying to launch in a washing machine with waves and water coming from all sides. Fortunately, we turned outside of port and didn’t have to deal with it on day one. Our first trolling pass in this area yielded one small steelhead (not our target species). We worked this area for two hours with nothing to show for it. We knew this area held fish but didn’t really find any on the screen. Off to spot number two at 9am.

After running a little over 9 miles at 42 miles per hour in what felt like a hydroplane (I had her trimmed up pretty good) we arrived at the second location. This is when reality set in. Looking in the water we realized that it was so clear you could see the bottom in 25 feet of water. With little to no wind, the fish would be spooked by the boat long before we ever got our baits overtop of them. This is where our Offshore Planer boards really come in handy as they help get our baits out away from the boat. Before we could even get the first rod out, Kevin had a fish on. He didn’t even know it hit so never really set the hook. We lost this fish a mere 5 feet from a 12 foot net and ended up being the only walleye we saw all day long. In hind sight, I actually wish we would have horsed it to the boat. It may have actually set the hook deeper in the jaw.

We tucked our tails on day one having turned in a zero. Our first day one doughnut of the year. It was comforting to know that the team in the lead (directly across from us in the campground) made a 1 way 80 nautical mile run to Port Austin Michigan. They had a 52 gallon main tank and carried 4 additional 5 gallon tanks. By the end of the day, they used just over 60 gallons of fuel. Heck, when there is 10 grand on the line, guys will do just about anything. On day two, the weather was not going to allow them to do this.

Early on day two brought sunny skies and winds out of the South. South winds tend to bring in rolling waves and they were in the 1.5 foot variety. Blast off was not going to be fun. To top it off, we knew that overcast skies were coming at around noon and winds would be building in front of a major storm system. Our plan was to make the 11 mile run out of the harbor to the spot we worked the day before. We really didn’t have many other options. On blast off, I saw a boat next to me come completely out of the water twice before he got his wits about him. The rollers are no joke when trying to run fast. We stayed at a constant 30 miles per hour but could not have done it if it was not for my Smooth Moves seats. We trolled until 11:30 with very little to show for our efforts. Knowing the overcast skies would help and having a feeling that south winds would push fish towards the harbor, I told Kevin that we might be better off moving towards the harbor. At least this way we could work a familiar rock bed and be close to the harbor when the weather hits.

The run towards the harbor was anything but fun. The seas were now 2 foot. I was only able to run at 22 miles per hour and really had to work the throttle. This picture doesn’t do justice but you can see our kicker motor (trimmed all the way up) has water over it.
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We arrive at our spot a little after 12:30. Check in time was 3:30. We had less than three hours to fish. We instantly started marking fish. Our first real marks in almost 4 days. Pulling a trick out of my old salmon days, I threw out a 3 color lead core rig with a crawler harness. We had our first walleye in the boat shortly after that! We decided to make really short trolling passes similar to what we would do while jigging over a heavy population of walleye. Going up the hill (into the wind) was getting harder and harder. Pass number two yielded another walleye on Kevin’s side of the boat. He pulled back our Offshore board ever so slightly but our tattle flags let us know that he had the Offshore Tadpole pulled back. Walleye number two was in the box on pass number two.
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The waves were really building now. Average Joe thinks he is in a four foot wave when really he is only in a 2 to 2.5 footer. They assume wave height is measured from the bottom of the trough. Currently, the waves were 3.5 foot rollers however they were big gaps in between so they were fishable. Pass number three put another chunk in the box on a Fish Sniper bottom bouncer and custom crawler harness. I believe we also took our first wave over the back of the boat!
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The fourth pass didn’t yield a fish. It was at this time that I went up the front side of a 7 plus foot wave. I could not see over it when it came and it was like a roller coaster on the way back down. This photo shows one of my planer boards (just barely). The other is hidden by the waves.
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The fifth and final pass also yielded zero fish. While we were wrapping things up to head in we took a wave over the back of the boat that washed the deck all the way to the seats. The bilge ran for nearly 5 minutes and both of our shoes were soaked.

In the end we weighed a total of 8.96 lbs with three fish. Not bad considering the conditions and the fact that several boats from day one didn’t catch any fish. Why didn’t you guys give up you may ask? Because, unlike the Armchair Quarterback that is afraid to fail, we have goals to meet, things to shoot for. How will we ever know how good we truly are if we give up when the chips are down? Were we out of the fight for first place? Probably. But guys can have problems. Guys can miss weigh in (which did happen). Guys can catch zero fish (it happened to us). There are team of the year points on the line. There is big fish money on the line. There is cool under pressure awards on the line (team that moves up the most from day one). Why give up when there are other goals to shoot for?

In the end, we were beat out for the cool under pressure award by one other boat. They did great and put in a nice bag of fish on day two to move up the leader board. We didn’t get the biggest fish, and we didn’t place first. We did however earn valuable points, get the skunk out of the boat, learn some different tactics, and laugh in the face of adversity. We played the game, we met some goals, missed some other, but we didn’t give up. Failure is not an option for us.

Nice report Rich. Way to stick with it.

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It certainly pays to have a tiered set of metrics in mind so when the plan goes to poop, those lower tier metrics look good!
As long as you had some laughs, good to go.

Very nice write up,i know how ruff them waters get you guys are really determine

I have to give a thumbs up to your camp support your parents are great being there

Oh Kevin and I always have a good time. The 4am wake up calls in the camper. The music being played in the boat at 5am while we wait, the fish dances, the colorful array of curse words put together to form a completely new set of words! Fun is really what it is all about.

My mom and dad are great. We all have a good time when we go to one of these events.

One thing I have to mention... The weather was rough, very rough. If for any reason Kevin and I didn't feel safe or in control we would have made the smart decision to be safe and head in. No fish is worth it. Life jackets are worn, we monitor the waves, the weather, and the storm on radar. We work as a team. In that kind of water, someone has to be at the helm while the other guy deploys the trolling motor. You then have to ensure navigation is running right, the speed is right, and everything is safe before you cut the main engine. You do NOT want to go side ways to a wave.

I've fished most of my life out of Lake Michigan and the Ludington/Manistee harbor. I have been subject to some pretty crappy weather and am used to it. I know what my equipment can handle and what I can safely handle. Tournament rules say that if the boat is moving above trolling speed, you MUST have your PFD on. This was the only tournament we have fished were we took it off while we were trolling (in calm seas). When it got rough, we left it on. Both of us wear professional grade auto inflatable PFD devices and we carry extras just in case. I also choose to wear High visibility bright orange Gore Tex clothing. As an FYI: I always have a signal device attached to my jacket. I have a whistle attached to a lanyard that zips inside a pocket. In rough seas, you may not have time to use the radio to call for help. If you go overboard, you want to ensure people can hear you (if they cannot see you).

Way to hang in there Rich..Kevin too..I know that water fairly well..been going there for the 4th holiday for several years..miss it..I also was out there in 5-7's..that was NOT fun, so I packed in that day..agree, SAFETY FIRST..........5