Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Today was the New Horizon Bass Anglers 2nd Tournament for the year and it was held out of my stomping grounds, Gravelly Point on the Potomac River. I had the pleasure of fishing back seat on USMC Major Mark Light's 20 foot Bass Cat (225 HP motor). Shotgun start was at 7 AM...it's cool to see all the boats getting ready to go!



It was a rather cold start (36 degrees) and immediately, we headed down to Spoils Cove, along with 13 other boats. But we got there in 6 or 7 minutes. Mark had that boat going almost 60 miles per hour. I was cold and I was white knuckling it! Holy cow that boat is fast!

We fished spoils for over 2 hours before we even got a bite. Mark got a slight nibble as we fished the concrete slabs. So I dropped my bait in near the same spot and got hung up…or so I thought. The line started to move and I set the hook! A minute or so later, in the boat was a 3 and a half pound largemouth bass. The skunk is off and I have a nice fish in the live well.

I was throwing my Jeff Little home made smallie special!



This is a ¼ jig head with a very soft plastic body. It is beast up since I also used it to catch three fish in the 1st tournament. I bet it cost all of 42 cents!

About an hour later, Jeff was throwing a deep diving shad crank bait an he landed a 2 and a half pound fish so we were now at least on the board. We fished until about one and I finally told mark that it t was time to move into the Washington Channel. We have always caught largemouth bass there when we are striper fishing. The 1st place I took him to was then "hump” right in front of the big pine tree at Ft. McNair.

On his 2nd cast, Mark is into a fight with a nice fish. He tells me to get the net and I understood why when I saw the fish. He just landed a 5 and a half pound bass in the channel!!!



It could not have been scripted it any better! Then, within minutes, a very official looking helicopter lands 150 yards away from us.



How cool is that!!

We fished a few more spots but no luck so we decided to get to the weigh in, maybe we could at least place in the top 10??

There were 23 anglers at this tournament. Here is Anthony Vining weighing in someone’s catch.



Even though I only had one fish……



…..I was surprised and elated that it was good enough for 6th place! Even better, Mark took 3rd place with his two fish which totaled 7.5 pounds. Remember, two weeks ago, I came in 7th with five fish that totaled less than Mark’s 2 fish.

Only 13 of the 23 anglers even caught a fish so I consider myself very fortunate. Only 19 total fish were caught.

Joe Donahoe took 1st place with three fish totaling just over 12 pounds.

This is getting to be fun but it will be a while before I can participate in another NHBA tournament!

Another great day on the water!

Ernie