Fished my first tournament today

[moguy1973]

My uncle invited me to be his 2nd this year in the USAbassin tournaments at Carlyle Lake in Illinois this summer.  We skipped the first one that was back in May due to high winds.  Winds were 20mph that day and there were 3-4' rollers on the lake.  That lake gets mean when there is a wind.  Today there was only a 10-15mph wind and it was still ridiculous.  My uncle has a z521 Ranger and those waves laughed at us when we were heading down wind back towards the ramp at Keysport.  I don't know how the pros deal with the wind because we were bobbing and weaving trying to stay dry.

Anyways, Carlyle is a tough lake to begin with and it's been really high the past few weeks and it's still 2' over summer pool.  We had a spinnerbait bite early and I caught our only keeper fish of the day at 2lb5oz.  Not a great result for my first tourney, but it was fun.  Everyone else had a rough time too with the winner only having 3 fish for 7lb12oz, with one being the big fish at 3lbs9oz.  We have another in 2 weeks, hopefully the wind isn't so bad.

[fishinwrench]

Good for you ! 👍😋

Wind can be a real force to overcome. My threshold in a 18' boat for being able to manage it is 13mph.  Any less and I'm good, any more and I have to fish protected areas.  In a 20 foot boat I'm still good at 15-17mph.   It's irritating the difference 2-3mph makes.  And that 2' more boat can make it manageable.

[dtrs5kprs]

On 6/11/2017 at 11:24 PM, fishinwrench said:

Good for you ! 👍😋

Wind can be a real force to overcome. My threshold in a 18' boat for being able to manage it is 13mph.  Any less and I'm good, any more and I have to fish protected areas.  In a 20 foot boat I'm still good at 15-17mph.   It's irritating the difference 2-3mph makes.  And that 2' more boat can make it manageable.

That extra length just spans waves better. That's why Table Rock forced me out of my 18' and into a 21' years ago. Couldn't put kids in that sports car.

 

[jim m]

running in the wind you can just expect to get wet, it's just a fact of life but that doesn't mean it's pleasant , next time you catch a fish in the wind on a sb try the same areas with a crank bait or a footbal jig