I shot my first PA Steel fun match at SLCFSA in awhile with Tom, and his friend Tim. It was really good to get back out and do some shooting.

I went night fishing for the very first time on Friday night. We agreed to fish from 8pm until 5am. We had 3 boats from the club go out; it was me and Chris, Tom and Mark, and Billy and his uncle, JT. I caught the only bass that night early on. She came on my 3rd or 4th cast with a BP frog. It was pretty dead after that. Billy and JT quit early about midnight. Tom called me at about 2:30am and called it quits. I won $30 for lunker. I think next time we'll make it a $50 pot minimum. I definitely had fun despite the bass were turned off. I think that Chris and Mark would be into going again. Tom on the other hand told me to "never invite him night fishing ever again!" lol

I think next month, it'll be Gary and I, Mark and Chris, and Billy and JT.

Since Billy fishes the lake at night all the time, and the fact he left early, the action normally is much more livelier than that night... or he just fishes untill midnight all the time. Just a guess. Hopefully next month will be better.

Right before Tennessee, we had the pleasure of having 2 major branches of our pear tree fall right in front of our cars. All I had was a handsaw and loppers. I tried borrowing my neighbor's chainsaw from across the street but they wouldn't answer the door. I got it cleared out about 2 to 3 hours later. The tree has got to go. The branches didn't break because of the storm; it broke because it is infested with carpenter ants.

The fishing in TN is getting better and better every year. I took the canoe down this year and tried different lures which all caught, or at least got the attention, of bass. I got some action each and every day on Senkos, frogs, skirted jigs, spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits. I found a fallen tree in the lake and it held a lot of bass. I had a huge bass one a chartreuse spinnerbait. When it jumped and shook the hook off it looked like it could've been 2 ft long. Not only that this fish mangled my spinnerbait; it bent the spinner wire forward. The one I'm holding tied my personal best; 20 inches, caught on a black buzz bait when it was still dark out.


After we came back I went fishing on post and at the pond. No luck on post, but I caught what possibly could've broken my personal record. This fish took my green pumpkin seed Bass Pro Tnx Series Humpin' Frog to the bottom of the pond and tried to tangle my line on something. I had to move to get the fish free and finally I got it to surface. I landed the bass and tried to take a picture of it next to my rod with my cellphone. I thought I saved the picture, but I lost the file. I guestimate that this bass would've between 21" and 23". I've got to get a good scale and start recording this shit. There is this online tournament that I'm thinking of entering. This would actually get me serious about taking down these numbers.

This will be the last time I'll fish 2 days in a row with a late nite wedding in between. I got up at 6:30am to go fishing with Mark over at an undisclosed pond. This pond was small, but had some unbelieveable bass in it.
At about 9:45am, Mark and I went to Bass Pro to shop the Father's Day sales. I picked up a rod, a few lures, and ultra cheap clothes. Can't beat $4 t-shirts.

Went to shoot the wedding which ended at midnight in Chase, MD. Tom calls me during the wedding and leaves a message to meet up at 5am. Reception ended on time. Got home and started downloading/uploading pics. I was in bed by about 1:30am.

I set my radio alarm to 4:30am, but didn't wake up until about 5:10am. I met Tom at the Otter Pt. ramp and we went fishing. I was TIRED. We spent a lot of time at the canal. Tom caught a short and a 2.5# bass. I didn't get anything. Had 2 strikes but didn't hook up. We ended the day at 12:30pm.

Tom and I went fishing out of Joppatowne on Sunday, May 16. Cheryl and the boys were coming back from the annual visit to Erie and wouldn't be home till at least 6pm. I couldn't go anyway since I had a wedding to do on Sat; which ended late and didn't get to sleep till 1:30am. So, with 4 hours sleep, I woke up about 5:30am to meet Tom to go fishing.

It was a good day out on the water. We weren't catching anything until we went into the quarry. There I caught 2 shorts and 2 good sized bass. Tom caught 2 nice sized ones. He was complaining that I out fished him. I was a happy camper. I didn't think Tom intended to be out the whole day. He didn't pack a lunch, but luckily, I made 2 humongous sandwiches. Tom said there must've been a pound of meat in them. Afterwards while we were getting out of the quarry to the launch, some self-centered idiot decided to block the channel by idling his way to his next stop in the middle of the channel. Tom did his best to get his attention for him to get out of the way but the guy just ignored us. Tom stopped by the guy's boat to ask why he didn't drive to the side to wave him by. Soon a shouting match started up. Got kinda ugly. Nothing happened; just both boaters going to the MD Bass Federation to state their case.

Yesterday was the River Ratz Open Tournament. I went out with Gary to fun fish while waiting for the tournament to end. I caught an 18" bass with a belly. This fish would probably qualify as a HAWG. I wish I had a camera. It probably would've weighed in at least 4lbs. Gary kept on catching catfish all day. 5 catfish in all. One of them bent a hook. I cannot believe the power of these fish!

At the weigh-in for the Open, most of the competitors came in with 6 fish... SIX BIG FISH. I started to wonder where do they go? All of us didn't have much luck in bites in the Suskie. The lunker was a 6lb bass. Unbelieveable!

2nd Place

I had a great day! I caught 3 bass today and came in 2nd place under Tom. We had the 2nd RiverRatz tnx at the Potomac today. It didn't rain, but the wind was gusting to 40 mph. The water was rough and was beginning to swamp Gary's boat. I caught my first keeper with a green watermelon, blk fleck Senko. Since the wind was kicking up, I had to use heavier sinkers, which gave me the idea to use a Carolina rig. I put on this worm I got from Bass Pro's bargain table. I only paid about $1 for an 8 pack, but the Potomac bass seem to like it. It's called Biffle's Baffle Worm. I caught 2 more bass, plus a few shorts. I was psyched!!! The action died down, then Gary and I went several other places but neither of us caught anything.

I went and saw a chiropractor and he fixed me up. I still have pain, but it isn't constant and I could manage it. I may have to pay him another visit sometime.

I tried shooting 5-stand at Oxford on the first tuesday in April. It was not what I expected. The targets were out much further than the sporting clays course and I think I brought the wrong shells. All I brought were my skeet loads, which were 7/8 oz #9. I shot twice and scored a 5/25 on both. I was watching others and there was a distinct time lapse between the bang and the bust. I'm like, "Damn, that's far!!!" I don't know if I would do another tuesday nite at Oxford anytime soon. As for skeet, I really like the Wednesday nites at Oxford. I have the option of 2 games, skeet or wobble trap. The difference between Oxford wobble and anyplace else is the traps are right under the shooters and you could use your skeet loads to shoot. I think its more fun, but probably not realistic to the wingshooter.

I'm actually itching to start fishing again. I really hate it that I have weddings the same day as the bass tournaments. I'm thinking that Tom is leaving me for dead as a RiverRat since I've sold my boat. The RiverRatz membership is really in trouble. We lost a whole bunch at the turn of the year and there's been a lack of participation for various reasons. The pre-tnx meetings have been moved to Wed nites, which suits Gary and I fine since trap nite is on Thurs. I'll just have to sacrifice Oxford skeet every now and then.

Maybe I'll start up going to APG. Since the weather is warming up and it is getting dark later on, perhaps they'll stay out longer than 6:30pm. The people at APG are weird though; bitching and making excuses for their bad shooting.

In addition to the PA steel shoots, there are steel challenges at Delta. The difference is the PA steel is on the same saturdays as the bass tnx, and the Delta shoots are on Sunday. I was going to go to the Delta shoot this sunday but it's calling for rain and Cheryl now has to work at noon.

Geez, it's been awhile! Since my last posting I've gotten addicted to clay shooting, and most recently, shooting steel.

Tom, Gary, his daughter Autumn, and I went shooting on Nov 7, with pretty much everything; pistols, rifles, and shotguns. It was the first time I took out my shotgun other than shooting a box of shells at the indoor range. I'd never shot clays. Gary brought his clay thrower and we went shooting. I had a blast!!! Ever since then I'd been hooked on shooting clays. I normally shoot trap at Cedar's every thurs nite and skeet either on tuesdays and wednesdays depending on my mood and how far I want to travel. APG skeet is close, but the people who shoot there are not, shall we say, hardcore. They'll shoot a couple rounds and then call it a nite by 6:30pm. Most of them don't believe in shooting under the lights. Oxford is another story. It'll take about 45 mins to get to, but a lot of the shooters there will shoot at least 4 rounds of skeet and wobble trap.

Back in December, Tom shot my chronograph, as in he hit it with a bullet. He was trying to test some loads but the chrony kept giving Err1. Tom was getting frustrated, which sort of struck me funny. We moved the chrono back and forth to see if it would help. I was trying to hold back from LOL but I couldn't anymore. We just sat down after moving the chrono and then I started LMAO. After I got it under control, Tom's next shot went thru my chrono. He just bearly hit the top of the chrono. It was coincidence that he hit the chrono after I couldn't control myself. I started apologizing, but he got me a new chronograph that works great! We got the extension rods to make a bigger shoot thru area on the chrono which helped a lot. Tom was shooting his AR15 with the scope mounted high on the handle. This caused a problem up close to where the bullet was actually travelling. Tom was looking thru the scope to the middle of the shoot thru area, but in reality, the bullet was shooting low and just clearing the top of the chrony, which caused the Err1.

In February, Tom, Gary and I shot our first PA Steel fun match at SLCFSA. We had a blast! I am definitely hooked on this. Starting at the surrender position and hearing "shooter ready?... standby... BEEP!" really took me back to the days when I was shooting IPSC/USPSA. Tom was only 6 seconds behind me using the low ready instead of drawing from the holster like I was doing. Yesterday, he had me worried. I was rushing the first 2 stages and not doing well at all while he was shooting steadily and making great time. I slowed myself down and put the pressure on Tom. He missed a few on the 3rd stage but not as many as I did on the first stage. All in all, I think Tom is going to prevail. We had a record turnout yesterday with 18 shooters, versus the usual 12 to 13. Tom and I were approached by Jeff and asked if we would RO in future matches. Too bad we have bass tournaments thru most of these shoots, otherwise we would've took him up on it. We would probably shoot more at the Delta Steel Challenges since it fits our schedules better. The only thing me back is Cheryl's ever changing work schedule.

This pinched nerve is killing me. I was nursing it all yesterday during the Steel event and was probably why I did so bad at trap on Thurs. Tom scored 20 and 21, his personal bests. Gary did average about 17, and I was bearly making double digits. Hopefully, I could get an appointment soon and get my neck back to the way it was.