Grand Haven Offshore Classic

[ryan]

With the Grand Haven Offshore approaching this weekend, i thought i would take some time to tell our story about the biggest tournament on the trail for us. To the guys out there that are on the fence about tournaments, I thought i would provide a story that could sway your opinion on the topic. We are the Wild at Heart Fishing Team. We fish out of a 22 foot century. Not huge, but tournament ready. Quickly, in 2008, our first year in the Offshore was quite an experience. 7 fish on day one was ok for us considering the rough seas that can make it tough for a boat like ours to fish well. Day two brought clear skies and calm seas and we boxed 12 fish in two hours of fishing. As a tournament team in year 6 now, that was our first ever 12 fish tournament limit. We now knew that we could do it. The 2009 Offshore came with great anticipation for us. We really felt we could compete. Two rough days of prefishing and eliminating water told us where not to fish. After some helpful tips from charter captains and teams we knew quite well... Day 1 arrived. What an exciting morning to be competing. We set up basically in traffic that morning because we knew the salmon were there. We took our first 7 kings in about the first two hours. A great start. The most memorable part of that was trolling about as close as you can without problems or boat damage next to a well known charter boat from up north (I wont mention the name) and poppin 5 fish in about 30 minutes while they caught none. They watched all the action on our 22 footer and i tell you what... it felt great. Kind of like we belonged! Keeping on our waypoint back and forth we boxed our 12. Although the last one took forever. After all the boats were weighed in we were sittin pretty. Stuck in a log jam in the top 15 two points behind eventual champion Team Double Down. Its hard to beat the feeling of being in contention day 2 as your rollin through the pierheads. And its hard to beat the feeling of a little pressure knowing you have to catch twelve again. But hey... this is what we sign up for. Day 2 brought clear skies, calm seas, and about 12 different boats setting up close to our waypoints. Not good. 2hours of trolling brought us only two fish this time. Now were against the clock. Time to make a move. Go for broke as some might say. Decided quickly to run it in to about 80 to 90 where nobody was fishin. What a move. In short we pulled five fish in close to an hour. We had a great average weight going. If we could catch 5 more with that average we would have been top 3. We had 2 an a half hours to get em. We were in the zone and rollin. Wouldnt you know... we must have caught the only 5 fish in there. So close, but yet so far away. Thats tournament fishin for ya. What an effort put in by Team Double Down with the crews first victory. These guys fish in a 20 footer, respectively. They are a standard in the AM division. And a great bunch of guys to fish against and compare yourself too. Small boat anglers can do well out there in the tournaments guys. Dont let your boat size shy you away. Also dont expect instant success right away. Instead be willing to learn and take your lumps as a fun learning experience. Give tournament fishing a try, you just might be glad you did.

[Nailer]

Nice read Ryan. Good luck this year, and we look forward to how you did in the early June fishery.

[A-Fishy-Anado]

Well put ryan. Go get em!!

[GLF]

Great read Ryan. Good luck in this years offshore challenge.