It was the tale of two tournaments and two fish at Lake Wilhelm. Saturday, I fished the third AOY tournament for Kayak Anglers of Western PA. It was a slow bite, ...more but I was on a good pattern in the stumps. The bites were few, but when they bit, they were good size. I ended up one bass short of my limit. I lost what looked to be about a 17” bass on my first bite, when I broke off with brand new line. If I would have landed that fish, I would have finished in second. Later in the morning, I lost a giant, easily 19” and perhaps bigger. It too broke off. That fish was a tournament winner. It was right by the boat, and I had my net in hand. I should have been using heavier line. To add insult to injury, I would have likely finished the season in the top-five for Angler of the Year with a first or a second at Wilhelm. I was thinking about what could have been all day. I ended up in 21st place out of 56 anglers. I was headed up to Erie to pre-fish for another tournament, but I decided to make a bee-line for a local tackle shop to refill my reels with stronger line. I registered for the third tournament of PA BASS Nation, which was the following morning on the same, Lake Wilhelm, hoping for some redemption from Saturday’s result. I fished the same pattern—fewer bites with quality over quantity. It worked. I caught six fish all day, but they were good size. I finished with 90”, which put me in a tie for first. The tie-breaker was biggest fish, and my 21.25”, 5 lb 5 oz giant was the kicker that won the tournament. On Saturday, I lost the big one that would have won me the tournament; on Sunday, I landed the the big one. I cashed a check for 1st place out of 18 anglers and a second check for big bass.
5 lb. 5 oz. 21 in. Largemouth Bass
