down at the bar

[gary]

Great job guys, Ok we're all waiting for a run down of the way it all happened from Crappiepappie from home to the bar and back.Had to be great fun.

[CrappiePappy]

Yes, in spite of the weather and confused nature of the fish ... we had a "successful" tournament, all things considered. The rains held off during the tournament, except for a brief period during the last two hours of competition ... and though it rained steadily from the early morning hours until midday on Sunday - it stopped and remained comfortably mild during the Fish Fry Buffet Social.

My "trip rundown" -

Partner Paul and I left Lexington in the wee hours of Fri morn ... arriving at WB around 7AM. We started fishing in the "river" area of the lake - checking out some of our favorite spots, to determine the mood and location of the fish. After several hours of "eliminating water", we determined that the mid-lake area locations we knew of, were to be our tournament waters ... for better or worse. We spent the early afternoon hours procurring a lodging site ... meeting & greeting some of the tourney anglers and "old friends". After a nice meal at the Arrowhead Restaurant - we settled in our room and hit the sack.
Arising early Sat morning - we loaded up and headed to the boat ... we left Eden Marina at 730AM and proceeded to the Bayside area. I put the first keeper in the boat just before 8AM ... a nice little Black Crappie - caught on a Jason's Jig (red head, green body, grey tail), shooting one of the private docks. After working over the dock for a while longer, with no results, we decided to drift a deep brush pile in the middle of the bay. Partner Paul and I put a couple of fish in the livewell, over the next couple of hours ... with my "big fish entry", a 1.8lb White Crappie, coming on a minnow at 18ft over 25ft of water - around the 11AM mark. We left the area and headed out to the main lake/mouth of Bayside area - and quickly determined that area to be "unworthy" of much time. We then proceeded up into Whites Creek - hitting several deep water access docks. We ended up finding a sunken tree between a couple of boat docks, back up in one of the feeder creek areas of Whites Creek, where Paul caught a nice little keeper Blacknose. I added one more "keeper" to the creel and that was the end of our "catching" .... total of 5 fish weighing a total of around 5 1/2lbs. We headed into the weigh-in and got our "official" weight - 5.4lbs ... and a 6th place finish.
A three way tie developed for big fish .... 1.8lbs ... between Don York, Garland Limburg, and myself. A coin toss-off determined the winner (Don Y) and 2nd place (Garland L). The prizes were awarded to all 20 teams - plus some "extra" prizes were given away in a blind draw. Even the "little ones" got in on the festivities .... several of the children present were "commandeered" to pick the blind draw numbers out of the hat. All children present were awarded a Crappie.com hat ... compliments of Ed of Crappie.com !! They were all grinning from ear to ear and wearing their new hats with pride !
Paul and I went back to our "room" and fixed a bite to eat ... retiring late Sat evening. Upon awakening Sun morning around 5AM ... I peeked outside and made note of the fact that the wind was up a bit. After a nice hot shower, I again "heard the wind" ... which seemed to have intensified somewhat. A quick look outside corrected that assumption - it wasn't wind ... it was pouring rain !! We got into the truck and headed to Eden ... ever hopeful that the rain would slacken or stop, long enough for us to get in a few hours of fishing before the Fish Fry. It did eventually - around noonish - and Paul and I fished in the bay at Eden for an hour or so ... pretty much just killing time until the Fish Fry. The Fish Fry Buffet Social was a combination of great food and fellowship ... capping off the weekend event. We said our "goodbyes", loaded the boat onto the trailer and packed away our gear .... and headed home.
There were many people inquiring as to when the Fall Brawl would be taking place ........ if that doesn't speak volumes about the fun our anglers had, I don't know what does ...LOL!!! We should be ready to announce a date for the Fall Brawl by early July.
Our thanks and heart felt appreciation goes out to our wonderful and generous Sponsors .... and we'd appreciate it if our anglers would give their products a try, and send the Sponsors their thanks and feedback on the products. They make our tourneys possible with their support - so let's return the favor.
Looking forward to seeing many more of our Crappie.com friends at the Fall event ..............luck2ya .................cp

[Slab]

Wonderfull write-up CP. I enjoyed reading it. You certainly have a way with words.

I'm glad everyone had a good time. And yes, one of these days, I do intend to come down there and meet you all. For now, I'm still trying to figure out a way to make a living. Great idea giving the small sized hats away to the kids.