Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3802 Jan 4-18 | Page 23

January 4-18, 2019 FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 2 the first half of the tourney with FLW Pro Matt Frazier. I’d seen plenty of YouTube footage of Matt, so I was pretty excited to fish with someone who knew Camanche so well. I couldn’t wait to learn from a seasoned angler and had no doubt that this would be a memorable experience. Nick told me when and where to meet Matt, and to be sure to wear rain gear that day. Friday night before the tournament, I must have sent more than 50 texts back and forth with my brother, Brandon, the guest I was allowed to bring on the boat with me. Matt and I had connected earlier in the day, so I did some last-minute shopping at Sportsman’s Warehouse and rigged up my rods with everything he suggested. My brother did the same, and we both dug out our old waterproof snow- boarding outfits since we typically don’t fish in the rain. I was so excited I could barely sleep! Saturday morning, my brother and I were at the dock just before 7:30am. Matt pulled up in a brand-new bass boat and I immediately checked my shoes for mud. It was gorgeous! However, Matt advised us that it was missing one thing. “I don’t have a graph yet,” he said. Honestly, I wasn’t worried. Matt fishes Camanche quite a bit, so I was confident he’d have a handful of favorite spots in his back pocket. We blasted off to our first location. As soon as I made my first cast, it started raining. This was my (1) first time fishing in the rain, (2) first time fishing with a pro, and (3) first time using an A-rig, a set-up Matt suggested days earlier. Did I feel confident fishing a new type of lure for the first time? Not really. Was I nervous that my hands would get so slippery I might lose my rod during a cast? Definitely. Luckily, Matt caught a two-pounder right away which helped distract me from my anxiety. After half an hour or so, I switched to a ned rig and got hung up on the bottom almost immediately. Ugh. After working it loose, I made a long cast behind the boat and started dragging it along the bottom, as slowly as I could. I felt another snag, so I started reeling in right away...and that’s when my line started moving sideways. I didn’t even say anything to my teammates until I saw the fish jump out of the water about 15 feet from the boat. “I got one!” Once it was at the boat, Matt snatched it up and placed it in his livewell. I cracked the biggest smile at Brandon, relieved, because he had jokingly said that he would laugh if I got skunked...that is, unless he got skunked too. I kept that same set-up for the rest of the tournament, and for the next couple of hours, Matt and I took turns catching spotted bass and largemouth bass while Continued from page 1 the clouds took turns dumping water on us. It wasn’t all business, though - Matt is a really down-to-earth guy who happily answered all of our questions about the lake, the FLW tour, and just fishing in general. At one point I felt like my brother and I had put him through a police interrogation, but we just wanted to learn as much as possible from an experi- enced angler in the flesh as opposed to a YouTube video. By 10 am we had caught our limit and even culled a fish or two. My fourth fish actually hooked itself while I had set my pole down to remove some twisted line loops from my reel. Needless to say, I was having a great day. However, Brandon had yet to land a single one. My brother works night shifts and often sacrifices much-needed sleep to fish; he’s been known to casually text me photos of the 6- or 8-pounders he catches while I’m slaving away at work, so I know he’s a good fisherman. But with one hour left to fish with Matt, the pressure was definitely on. I was rooting for him. The rain had finally come to a stop, and it was crunch time. We made our way to an area near some boat slips. Matt turned to Brandon and said, “Cast parallel to it, and reel in. You’ll catch something here.” And that’s exactly what happened. I was casting from the back of the boat when I heard a commotion. When I turned around, Matt was reaching into the water, and moments later I was capturing a photo of Brandon with his bass caught on an A-rig. Unfortunately, it was time to head back to shore so that Matt could pick up his guest boaters for the last half of the tourney. Nick was at the dock and told us that boaters had been texting him all morning, asking where the fish were - some folks were really struggling in the cold, rainy conditions. We had caught a decent limit, though, not too shabby for half a tournament! While the rest of the tournament continued, we cleaned ourselves up a bit, dried off, and killed some time at the trout pond until some additional family members arrived for the rest of the festivities. Weigh-ins started at 3pm, and I liked PYRAMID LAKE MOBILE HOME FOR RENT! our odds. I saw bags with two fish, some with one fish, and some with zero fish. When Brandon and I walked down the ramp to meet Matt and retrieve our haul, he told us that he and his guests got skunked the last half of the tournament. I thought he was kidding at first, but Stacy Barawed, bass pro Matt Frazier and Stacy’s brother, Brandon, teamed other boaters up for a solid day of bass fishing at Lake Camanche. pulling up Photo by STACY BARAWED. made the same comments - the bite had just turned off weather conditions. around noon once the sun broke through At the conclusion of the weigh-in, the the clouds. We emptied the livewell and crowd headed to the banquet hall for a made our way to the weigh-in station. Mexican feast, tournament awards, and a This time, I noticed a larger crowd lengthy raffle. Nearly every attendee went huddled around and some pretty large home with a prize, ranging from lures bags of fish. I heard a 12-pound bag being to apparel to STIX fishing rods. After announced, and a 13-pound bag, and shaking hands with Nick and Matt, we left wondered if we’d even come close. It’s will full bellies, several raffle prizes, and hard to tell when your bag is full of water, smiles on our faces. but I kept my fingers crossed nonetheless. Days later, Brandon and I would learn I handed the bag to Nick and hoped for that we came in 6th place! Not bad for a the best. morning’s work, and the whole experi- “10.31 pounds!” ence was one that we’d never forget: we We might not have come out on top, but laughed, we caught fish, and we made a I was extremely proud of those results new friend in Matt Frazier. What’s better after just a half day of fishing in those than that? GREAT GEAR FOR GREAT GEAR FOR THE GREAT GREAT GEAR OUTDOORS FOR THE GREAT OUTDOORS THE GREAT OUTDOORS 10 $ WHAT’S HOT 21 BEST: Price Service Selection GIFT CERTIFICATE $ 10 Redeemable On Any Purchase Over $50 0890 www.sportsmanwarehouse.com Not redeemable for cash, license or gift card. 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