I had the fishing trip of a lifetime 2 weeks ago. When my friend Zac brought up the idea of fishing a Stren Series tournament as a Co-angler in Detroit last Winter, I didn’t think it would even be an option for me. I talked it over with my parents and surprisingly they were ok with it. I signed up in January and spent the rest of 2009 being anxious for this trip. Zac and I hit the road on Sunday the 19th and we arrived around 8 AM Monday in Sandusky, Ohio. The boat was launched and off to Canada we went in search of big smallies. We spent some time checking points and drops from 18-25 feet and caught some sheephead and had some perch nibbles but no smallies. After some searching we found a small island with a bottom change a couple hundred yards off shore and we finally put a smallmouth in the boat. Zac was the first to hook up with one but the 5+ lb fish came unbuttoned just 15 feet out from the net. Next it was my turn and an identical twin came off the spot, this one making it to the boat. Its pretty sweet when the first fish of the trip is a 5 lber! Zac caught one more 3-1/2 lber off that spot and then we moved to another island where a couple other fish, including another 5 lber which Zac caught. On the first day, we didn’t catch a lot of fish, but the ones we caught were the right sized. Our best combined 5 fish would have been over 22 lbs. The rest of the trip went about the same. We didn’t catch hundreds of bass, but on the other hand, we didn’t catch a single non keeper while fishing lake Erie. Most of the fish were over 3-1/2 lbs. Another thing that kept us busy was the “outstanding” Sheephead bite. I probably caught 50 sheephead over this 6 day trip, probably about 15 of those I could have sworn were a 5-6 lb smallmouth 
The best bait on Lake Erie for us by far was a wacky senko on a drop shot with a 3/8 oz weight. The best day we had, we never even put the trolling motor down. We simply pulled up on our waypoints and drifted through them with our drop shots. I tried drop shotting numerous things including a goby and found only sheephead willing to take the offer. Our best spots were in 16-22 ft of water with a bottom change from sand to gravel. We found these areas by watching the graph and the fish let us know when they were home! Overall my time on Erie was a blast, and although we probably spent more time trying to get back to the boat landing than we did fishing, it still was an incredible experience and I would go back in a heart beat.
Now for the St. Clair experience. When my day 1 boater for the Stren Series told me we were going to St. Clair and he was catching 15-16 lbs a day, I was skeptical. For some reason I thought that everyone was going to Erie and the fish weren’t as big on St. Clair. My thoughts were changed in the morning when just about every boat in front of us went to St. Clair. This is when I realized that I must be in for a treat. When we arrived at the spot i started throwing a senko on that drop shot, but realized that it wasn’t getting bit as much. I switched to a black gulp 3″ leech and it wasn’t long before I put a 4-1/2 lber in the boat, followed by a twin, and I had about 18 lbs in the boat by 9 AM. I caught a fish here and there the rest of the day, upgrading my way to the 18-12 bag I weighed to put me in 3rd after day one. Day 2 I was with Keith Pace, a former FLW Tour Pro and again we went to St. Clair. I felt I needed to bring about 13-14 lbs to the scales to make the cut, which traditionally sits around 32 lbs in past tournaments. All day I had fish on the line, and all of them were keepers, but I just couldn’t get anything of size. I caught probably 20-25 keepers but they were all 14-1/2″ fish. My smallest fish in my limit was 1 lb 11 oz and the biggest was 2 lbs 6 oz. I weighed 11-03 and managed to make the cut in 5th place thanks to the weights being down this year. With 29-15 going into day 3, sitting 5 lbs out of the lead I knew I needed a mega sack to have any chance at the win, and I gave it all I had. My boater was on a crankbait bite on St. Clair and I was feeling extremely confident that I would get the bites I needed fishing my drop shot behind him. The fish on St. Clair are EVERYWHERE and I caught most of my fish just dropping the bait back about 20 ft behind the boat and holding on to the rod, doing an occasional twitch or lift to add action to the bait. I put a 2-1/2 lber in the boat, followed by a 5 lber, and I knew the day was going to be good. I had my limit in about an hour and began the process of upgrading from there. The upgrade process was slow and painful as usual, but every couple of hours I’d catch a key fish that would move me up 6-7 ounces. I guessed I had between 15 and 15-1/2 lbs in the boat, but with that 5 lb deficeit from the lead and 3 lb deficeit from 2nd place, I knew I had a snowball’s chance in hell. For me to win would mean that the day 2 leader would need to have caught less than 10 lbs and second place less than 12. 10-12 lbs on St. Clair can easily be caught in 2-3 fish and I felt there was no way I would come out on top. As the weigh in came closer, I was getting more and more anxious. Once we got to wal-mart, the nerves really kicked in. I told the guy that was 2 oz behind me that I had 12-13 lbs to which he replied “its going to be close.” That assured me that I was probably in a good position because I knew that I actually had over 15 lbs. I talked to the guy in 2nd place and he said he only had 2 fish, one was a 5-1/2, the other was a dink. Score! And the day 2 leader was carrying a bag that looked like it had nothing in it. My nerves were building and my eyes were now on the prize, realizing that the guys I was swinging for fell short and I had them beat. There were only 2 other guys I had to watch, one was about 10 oz behind me and the other was about a lb in front of me. Kenny Woods, the man that was 10 oz behind me weighed 15 lbs 7 oz and took the hot seat. A few guys weighed and then it was my turn. I quickly filled the tank with 4 fish for 10-4 and I began to smile. I only needed 14-9 to take the lead and the tournament director reminded me that I needed a big one to take the hot seat. I reached in the bag for my early morning gift and pulled it out and everyone went nuts. It was the most incredible thing I have ever experienced. It was like what you see on TV in the classic or FLW Cup. The whole week I was living a dream, but it was that moment where it really set in. I put the fish in the tank and watched the scale lean to 15-5 and took a seat in the ranger. There were 4 guys left to weigh in, and one guy had a limit and he only needed 13 lbs to take the seat from me. He pulled out two little ones, similar to mine right away, then pulled outa decent one, followed by a good one, and I was starting to get worried. He had 4 fish for like 9 lbs, but everyone knows that you save the biggest for last. He pulled out another one around 3 lbs and weighed 12.xx. I was still alive! Eric Jaques had 2 fish that weighed 8-1 and John Leader, the leader, and only one left to knock me off, came up to weigh his fish. he pulled out one 15″er, followed by another 15″er, and then came out of the bag with an empty hand! I couldn’t believe that I had won. The whole thing was just absolutely incredible and I just want to thank everyone for all your support over the last couple of weeks. When asked how I got into fishing, I credited my dad, TV, and the internet, which really means IDO!
Here are some pics of the week and the tournament.
We’ll be looking for you in that new Ranger on Pool 8. 