Pacemaker Fishing Forum

I got an email last week from Charlie Taylor inviting me to fish the back seat on his boat for the New Horizon Bass Anglers 1st Tournament of the year on Lake Anna. It did not take long for me to decide to say YES!!

I was up at 0355 and met Charlie at 0430 for the 100+ mile drive to Lake Anna. Shotgun start was at 0730 but we needed to be there early since Charlie is a big shot with the club.

All told, there were 15 boats fishing and 29 anglers (1 was solo). As we headed for our 1st spot, this is what we were greeted to!



It was going to be a great day!

I was a bit nervous since I had never fished in this type of a bass tournament before but Charlie was cool and calm. Here he is eating a home made bacon 'n egg samich after he had caught a nice fish.



Charlie took the skunk off the boat but I started to get hot and had him down 4-2 in the live well. The tourney is a 5 fish limit per angler with a 12" minimum. I had my 4 in the well before noon and was feeling pretty confident. The only problem was that I did not catch another bass for several hours! Charlie started to get hot and in no time had a limit and was able to cull three out of there! He even caught a warmouth....just minutes after telling me that there were some of that species in the hole we were fishing.  As well, he was telling me that one MUST always fish a boat dock ladder because the structure was both vertical and horizontal. No sooner he finishes giving me that lesson when he gets a nice keeper as he demonstrates the process. You have got to be kidding me!

So now he has his limit and I am down a fish. We sneak into a cove and he is fishing the back of it when he decides to turn the boat and say “throw your lure, I left one there for you”. You know what happens….bam….a keeper hits and I now have a limit. Our time winds down and the final tally is 10 fish for Charlie (5 keepers) and eight fish for Ernie (5 keepers). Now, we needed to head in to the weigh in!

As we motor up, all the boats are coming in which is an impressive site. Here is one of them idling up to the dock.



There is a lot of anticipation while the weigh in occurs. I know I placed decently but have no clue where. Charlie had a limit of almost 6 pounds and comes in around 12th place. Was I going to make the Top 10??  Incredibly, I did!! I managed a 7th place finish with a limit of over 7 pounds. The tourney winner had a limit of just over 9 pounds.

Was I happy? Ask Charlie!! I am still on cloud nine! Here is a picture of the four biggest (along with my new arms)!



What a day! Thanks Charlie, for all of the lessons you taught me today!!

Ernie