Dreaming

By this time tomorrow, I hope to have over 20# of bass in the livewell. For those not in the know, here is a little primer on competitive fishing:

Teams of 2 people compete to catch the largest limit of bass in an 8 hour period. Tomorrows limit of fish will be 8, and they must be at least 14" long to be legal. A "good" size fish for a tournament bag is 16+ inches, and will weigh around 2.5 pounds. Hence the 20# mark (a weight that would virtually guarantee a win tomorrow)

The fish are kept in the boats oxygenated livewell during the day, weighed, and then released at the end of the weigh in. I have not had a fish die in my livewell in over 5 years, which is pretty darn good. The overall mortality rate is very, very low at well run tournaments.

Tournaments generally pay down 8-10 places. This one starts at $5000 for 1st place and goes down from there. The last paying spot is usually a refund of the entry fees (in this case $250 / boat), and there is also cash prizes for largest fish.

Hopefully I have some pictures of the event to post here next week. That will give you a better feeling of what it looks like. With any luck, it will be one of me holding a rather large sum check!