[June] July 2001 [August]

On another note, obviously, without the motorhome to travel in our fishing trips are going to change in the future. We’re still planning to camp, as opposed to staying in a hotel or motel, but it’s been a while since we’ve done any tent camping. Living in that motorhome was about as far away from real camping as one could get, so we’ve got some real adjusting to do.

One of the first things we did therefore when we arrived home from Tennessee was set up the old tent in the backyard, to see if it would still stand. It stood for three days, weathered a night of rain without leaks, and the kids even stayed out in it one night with their friends. That test complete, we packed it up and started making lists of other things to bring with us. Our first real camping/fishing trip, to the 1000 Islands area of New York for the EverStart tournament, begins the end of next week.

Sleeping on the boat that night was so beautiful, it was something I will always remember. We were lying there in our sleeping bags, with the Milky Way bright above us, we saw shooting stars, and we laid awake talking for quite a while. It was so nice that no one wanted to go to sleep.

I fished a few hours in the morning with the boys, dragging tubes around mostly, but didn’t do too well. After I took them in around lunch-time, I went back out for the afternoon and figured out how to catch ‘em. These fish didn’t want a slow bait - they wanted to chase something. I caught about twenty keeper smallmouth by throwing a 3/4 ounce TERMINATOR spinnerbait in the afternoon, and had a five fish limit that would have weighed about thirteen pounds.

Annie writes:
I went driving around town, lost most of the time, looking for a new campsite that would be closer to the weigh-in. I finally managed to get us in at French Creek Marina, right were the weigh-in is going out of. It is pretty much just a piece of grass, but they will run electricity out to us, though we will have no water. What a difference from motorhome camping.

I must say that people sure treat you differently when you come in with a tent, rather than a luxurious motorhome, and you know what? We are the same people, motorhome or no motorhome, but for some reason people do not seem to realize that. I’m not saying that people are treating us badly, or are rude, it is just different. When we arrive someplace in our motorhome, everyone thinks we are famous and wants to be our friend. When we arrive with the tent, we are just the average Joe. You know what, I kind of like that.

Dan had a long day on the water. He left at 4:30 this morning and returned at 6:30 tonight. The boys had gone back to the swimming pool for a while this evening, but when they returned we cooked supper and then played a little game of football.

By mid-afternoon I was pretty excited. I had figured some of these largemouth out. I would be fishing a cove off the main river, flipping docks and boats, and I’d fish fifty docks without getting a bite until I got to the very back of the cove. There at the very end, never more than four docks from the end in fact, is where the fish were, and they were hungry. I stuck about six fish back in these places, some of them by accident because they wouldn’t let go, and I shook off eight or nine more. The last two hours of the day I spent running around just looking for the right coves, the right docks, and marking on my GPS the spots that I could run to if I had to fish for largemouth come tournament day. Though I’m confident I can catch a limit of largemouth like this, I still haven’t seen a big one, over three pounds. I’m still planning to go smallmouth fishing on Wednesday if the weather will permit.

Annie writes:
I spent my morning running errands while the boys were out fishing with Dan. I got our laundry done and did a few groceries. I had to empty out our cooler and reorganize it just so I could see what we have left in there. When the guys came back we had lunch together and then Dan went back out fishing. Jeff, Chris & I went to the town pool for a few hours. It is so hot and humid that we can do nothing except keep going back to the pool. When Dan came in we cooked dinner out on the grill, walked down to the ice-cream stand, then returned and had a nice campfire.

After restringing the line on my reels, I put the kids to work cleaning the boat while I went off for a much-needed shower and shave. After that we dressed and went over to the registration meeting. I like bringing my kids with me on these trips, and to these meetings in particular, so they get to see what it is I do. Tonight though they were more interested in guzzling the free Pepsi products, the first sodas they’ve had in a week, than in paying attention to the meeting. Oh well.

Annie writes:
Today is a busy day. Dan went fishing this morning and returned home at 1pm. We all had work to do on the boat. I got all the tackle organized and put away, Dan did all his lines and set up his rods, and Jeff & Chris cleaned the boat. It was a pretty good system.

We went to the registration and the pairings meeting, and afterward went out to eat. It was so windy that we could not cook out on the grill, and one can only eat so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had a very nice dinner - the boys kept the conversation going the whole time. When we left the restaurant we were walking through town towards our truck, and these girls start running down the sidewalk after us yelling "JEFF!!!, CHRIS!!!" Well Dan and I just walked away, and pretended we were window shopping. It was pretty funny. Apparently they had met at the pool.

Things didn’t work out according to plan. A cold front overnight had dropped the air temperature ten degrees from the morning before, and while not actually "cold", the change seems to have turned the aggressive bite off. On my number one spot, where I thought I could catch a limit in an hour by flipping one small reed-island, I caught only one two-pounder and then hooked into a monster fish. When I set the hook that fish headed off into the reeds like a twenty-pound carp. I managed to stop it but by the time I did she was too far in, and as we tried to force the boat in to net her she wallowed in the tangle for a few seconds and then just hung the hook point on a reed and disappeared. I estimate that that was a six-pound fish.

I struggled for bites the rest of the day, and knew early on that I had made the wrong decision, especially since the wind was decreasing with every minute that the day progressed. An early boat number in the morning though means an early check-in in the afternoon, and as much as I would like to have changed my decision and run out to the big lake to go smallmouth fishing there just wasn’t time to do it today. In the end my largemouth flipping produced only four keepers that weighed eight pounds.

Annie writes:
It was a pretty nice day finally, not too hot, and not too sunny. The boys and I took guesses this morning as to how much weight Dan would come in with. Jeff guessed 13.10, Chris guessed 12.9, and I guessed 11.15.

Now here’s a funny story: Before the weigh-in I went to take my shower in the bath house, and while I was in the shower I hear someone saying "Hello? Hello, you in the shower?". I said "Yes," and a woman asked " Are you Daniel Keyes’ wife?" Again I said "Yes," and that was all it took - she had a whole conversation with me that lasted through my whole shower - through moisturizing, toweling off, getting dressed and doing my hair. When I finally exited the shower room, there she was, still talking. That has to be one of my strangest experiences yet.

Dan came in at 2:30 with four fish that weighed 7.15 pounds. He was not pleased with this, especially since he had lost or missed a couple of fish that would really have helped him. Jeff & Chris being here really helped though, for after the weigh-in we cooked dinner and then went down to the park to play some tennis, and after that we went out for an ice cream. I know Dan has a lot on his mind and this week has been very different for both of us. If he doesn’t make the top 30 cut it will be disappointing, but I am happy for the time we have had here with the boys.

So last night when I met my partner for today, the first thing I told him was to bring his rainsuit. As for myself, this morning I donned two rainsuits, my waterproof socks and gloves, and my motorcycle helmet. I was planning on a nasty ride, and I got it, too. An easterly wind was kicking up 6-7 footers for the entire twenty mile ride from Clayton to the big lake, and it took about fifty minutes just to make that part of the run. Fortunately, the big lake itself wasn’t as bad, nor was Chaumont Bay once we made it there.

The fishing was tougher on everybody. Some of the guys who caught 17-20 pounds yesterday didn’t do squat today, and the miracle I needed didn’t happen either. I weighed eleven pounds even, and finished the tournament with 19 pounds, in 77th place.

I believe I found the fish in practice that could have made the cut for me here. I also think that if I had made the right decision yesterday, to fish for smallmouth regardless of the wind, then there is a good chance that I’d be fishing with the Top 30 tomorrow. As it is though, it’s just another lesson learned, about toughness, and about doing whatever it takes to be competitive in this sport.

Annie writes:
It was freezing this morning. When I went to take a shower it was in the 60’s and very windy. That is quite a change from the 80 degree mornings we have been having. I spent much of the morning trying to organize things for us to leave. The chances of Dan catching 20 pounds today to make the cut were pretty slim. He actually came in at the end of the day with 11 pounds, which gave him 18 pounds total. I was happy with that, and I am also happy that we get to go to my cousins wedding in Canada on Saturday since we did not make the cut.

Dan’s back is really bothering him this week. This worries me, and I hope that it is from the rough water here, and that it will be better in a couple of days.

We had a good night. The boys went out on their bikes adventuring in the town for their last night, I got more organized and did some business and emails on the computer, and Dan worked on repairing his boat - the trolling motor mount broke in the rough water today and he almost lost the whole thing. Fortunately the service trailer is here and we were able to get replacement parts.

This is our last night in the tents, and it’s going to be another cold one, so we all bundled up a little tighter before heading off to sleep tonight.