3rd Place Finish out of 88 in the FLW Hoosier Division BFL on Lake Monroe, Indiana
Just got back from competing in the FLW BFL on Lake Monroe in Indiana. It was great to get to go back and visit Lake Monroe. I had not been on that lake since November of 2010 when college fishing partner Mike McCarthy Jr. and I took 2nd place in the prestigious FLW College Fishing Central Regional Championship on Lake Monroe winning 25,000 dollars. I guess you can say I have some history with Monroe and I was thirsty for the chance to get back at Monroe and get some redemption.
Tournament day on Monroe started off pretty slow. We hit a couple of spots and had just a couple of shorts. I had no clue how the day was going to go as it looked like my boaters fish had moved from when he was practicing. After a couple of spots we pulled into a pocket and I made a flip up on the bank and connected with a solid 3lb fish in about a foot of water. It wasn't for about another hour of fishing before I connected with another keeper that just barley measured. The fish was a line burner and I decided to stick him in the livewell in hopes that it would settle down and make the 14 inch mark. I actually caught this fish underneath the boat almost just vertically jigging. My boater was able to put one keeper in the boat on a topwater while it was pouring down rain. Most of the time when you get clouds and rain topwater is going to produce but these fish were in a bit of a funk for some reason and they were wanting a really slow presentation. After my two keepers I had picked up on this bite and decided to lock it in to the pattern.
Around noon as the rain was coming down we headed down a stretch of bank and I was able to put three nice keepers in the boat in a row. I finished out my limit in about 20 minutes and I think both my boater and I were a little surprised at how fast I made things happen. The bite was fast and furious but as luck would have it the storms cleared and the sun started to come out. The change in weather caused the bite to shut down. As the day came to a close I knew that I probably wouldn't have enough weight to cap it off. I knew I needed one big bite to seal the deal and just didn't get it done.
I've been looking for my first FLW win all year. I was really close a couple of times earlier this year and I have been looking to just get it done. While I was disappointed with the 3rd place finish I was also happy at the same time to place really high on a very tough day for most anglers. I ended up weighing a 5 fish limit for 10.5lbs which would have placed me in the top 5 by weight on the boater side. The tournament earned me 564 dollars which will help with finishing up the rest of the season.
