RE-POST (5-24-08) tourney update- and cat fight

i had such big plans for this post last night-- i thought i'd be all funny, and happy, and up-beat with it... i may even go as far as to say creative-- for once in a blue moon.
but i really hate to say it-- i woke up this morning- after going to bed at 1- then UP at 5 a.m. - feeling like i had been beat with a stick. or perhaps a hammer. maybe even a sledgehammer. hell, while we're on the line of hammers-- let's go with a JACK-hammer. good Lord. WTH? i had a bad headache when i went to bed, but i had no idea it would be like this today. i sure hope it passes.

there. see what a little crybaby attack can o for a person? i feel better already. not really, but at least you don't expect too much, so it makes it easier for me to write. :))

anyhow---- yes we fished the tournament last night---- it ran from 630-1030 like last time. the weirdest thing happened though. regarding moods and attitudes. there were a lot more guys fishing this time. so many more guys that they paid three places rather than two like last time. and there were a lot of the same guys as last week.. but some weren't there-- but there were a lot that weren't there last week too . and aside from that-- they were talkative, and cheerful-- before, during , and after weigh-in. AND a couple even looked at AND spoke to me! i didn't initiate any conversation.. but i wasn't so rude that i didn't respond.... but i did keep it short.
but it was just weird.

i do wonder if the full moon last week-- and NOT last night-- had anything at all to do with anything? because as far as those guys acting different ---- it just so happened that soulman and i acted different too. and not in the same manner. we spent our days excited , and looking forward to going, and hopefully getting some sweet revenge. soulman is just a competitive type of guy-- he gets fired up over any tournament. but for me--it was personal. either way-- we had texted a couple times thru the day, and we were both in good moods and rarin to go.
so much so that we left the house almost an hour earlier than last time-- which made it a lot less stressful -- cuz last week, we barely made it to launch anyhow.

well---- all went damn near perfect-- we couldn't have asked for better. we had four fish in the boat before sundown. we were havin a great time. of course we had hit some snags, lost as couple rigs-- had a little frustration, but we were doin fine-- soulmans 2 fish , we knew weighed 3, maybe 4 pounds each-- and we were thrilled. my two, on the other hand-- were not quite as ego boosting. i really was pushin for "that one more big one" to hit our limit of five. and a second wouldn't have hurt either-- because my number two fish, was another "spot", and not quite 8 oz, IF we were lucky.. but hey-- if it's weighable-- it goes in the live well. so he did--- better safe than sorry-- and i tell ya-- this time-- the little fish made a difference-

but anyhow--- it was very windy--- and wind..plus dark-- not only makes me cranky---- it makes the soulman.. well... grouchy. and when soulmans grouchy--- well... no matter how i feel... i get --- well... bitchy is the word that comes to mind. i hate that his attitude affects mine the way it does... but it does. in an instant. and you just won't believe what the turning point of the evening was. i still can't believe it myself.

there were were... catchin fish, feelin that were in the money, (somewhere)..., BUT-- it was windy, and it was dark, the fish had quit bitin about an hour before, and we had lost about ten bucks worth of tackle; not to mention the time and stress it took TRYING to save it,.... when all of the sudden ------- soulman gets a huge fish on... i do mean f'n HUGE too. he's on the front deck.. i'm on the back.... he is NOT a good communicator when we fish. never has been really. sometimes i'll be back there fishin away-- and all the sudden i'll hear a splash or thump--i look up there--and he'll have a fish! man, when i have a fish-- everyone knows it!
so anyhow--- there he is-- in the damn dark-- you can't see your damn hand in front of your face -- he's 18 feet in front of me.. when all the sudden i hear -- FISH! BIG FISH.. GET THE NET..
oh pahleeeeze. get the net. ok... so i already feel the pressure... i gotta go from back deck to front-- in the dark... get in the rod locker-- dig out the fuckin net-- and attempt to save a fish-- that has his rod tip bent over nearly in two-- all in the damn dark!!! so if you know me-- i instantly go into panic mode-- cuz my FIRST thought is-- if he loses this fish-- it's gonna be MY fault-- and i will never hear the end of it! so i attempt-- key word attempt-- to rush up to the front deck-- trying to find my little flashlight on the way--and got thru the chain of events i mentioned-- to help him get this fish in the boat.
what do you think happened? take a wild guess.....

did ya guess?

well.... there was shit ALL over that 19 foot boat!!! did i see it? NO. cuz i didn't know it was there-- right in the pathway. did i trip on it? YES. did i go down? YES. did it hurt? yep. did i cuss? yep? but i got back up and went for the net-- still thinkin if he loses this fish-- i'm screwed. so i go to get the net from the rod locker-- which happens to be full of --what? SHIT. trash. water bottles, empty bait packages... and other misc-- plain ole SHIT. did i cuss? did i get pissed? yes! cuz it was dark and i couldn't se a damn thing. i called his (our) boat a fuckin trash can!) BUT-- i got the damn net-- with my skinned and bruised knees-- and FINALLY went to the other side of the boat to help him with his damn fish.
could i see a damn thing? NO. i couldn't see his line to follow.. i couldn't see anything. i had nothing to guide me as to where to put the damn NET! and for those who fish-- you know-- one false move with the net-- and the fish is gone forever. fishing just isn't supposed to be that frickin stressful.
and you gotta realize too-- in the meantime of all my struggles-- soulman is havin his own..
he's about to have a stroke--- thinkin he has a twenty pound bass on the other end of that line-- which would be a lake record--AND his biggest bass of his life-- and gettin it in the boat very well depends on me-- , we are both panicking-- neither could see a thing. he did have a stupid little flashlight, which was shining everywhere -- except where it would do ME a bit of good. it was just NOT FUN. unfortunately, it wasn't even fun for him. i'm cursin the dark, and the boat... i had NEVER been so mad at that boat in all the years we've had it. i'm ready to get a new one now. he's been wanting a new boat for three years-- i've always said-- there's nothing wrong with this one-- well, ummmm... yes there is-- it's a piece of shit.
oh sorry-- the fish..... we did manage to get him in the boat. i bet it took a full ten minutes to do it. highly intense minutes i might add. but , in the last minute or two when he began to get closer to the surface-- at this point i did have control of the flashlight--- soulman finally says-- in a defeated voice--- "oh gawd, i hope this is a bass".
now there's something i hadn't even thought of.
what if it's a damn gar--or catfish-- and not a bass at all??? that would kinda suck.

then---- he flipped him over the side of the boat, and what did our wondering eyes gaze upon????

THIS:

slimey little fucker !

i can't believe all the trouble he caused us.

but i will admit, that after all the chaos-- you can see--

we got over our pissed-off-ed-nish

how could we not?
he was HUGE
a monstah!!!

we tried to weigh him on my scales-- which maxed at 15 pounds and he bottomed em out!

we guessed him over 35 pounds.
i really struggled to hold him up for my pix with him.
the first pic of me with him- i refuse to post--
it is horrible!
i look like friggin Schwarzenegger (?)
lifting 500 pounds ! :))
my neck was all bulging and head crooked, eys buggin out--
i truly looked like SMEAGOL! LOL

anyhow-- after we calmed our immature selves--
we realized that it was fun-- and really should have been handled differently.
he was the biggest fish either of us have ever caught.
(i did catch a HUGE alligator gar in florida once-- no pic tho-
and can't compare the size-- due to my memory :((
but he was huge too. my biggest fish to date.

yep so anyhow--
here's me with the big dude:

LOOK at how huge he is-
i weigh
shhhh---
120-- this fish gotta be almost half of me-
dontcha think?
maybe 40-plus
who knows.
but a big motha!

ok-- so anyhow-- we got passed that fiasco---
we had maybe 30 minutes of fishing time left
before weigh-in.
but- hubby was pretty much done. i do mean DONE.
his next cast after retying his line after big boy here--
he got hung-up and lost his jig--
in the dark-- which meant no saving it.
which pissed him off...
even more.
he hates to drive the damn trolling motor in the wind.
he hates to fish in the wind.
he hates to fish in the dark
he was hatin on every damn thing.
and honestly-- each of us were holdin on-- just a little bit to our little argument we just had.

soooo--- he was ready to head to weigh in-- even tho i wanted to hit one more spot.
i wanted to get my "one more fish".
five or ten minutes was all i was askin for.... but he was ready to go-- and he let it be known.
so i stowed my crap and lit a cig, and said lets GO then.
he semed surprised. i don't know why--
HE wanted to go-- then he acted like I had been the one to act in the wrong.
hmmmm.
another "tiff".
GREAT!

at this point-- i was runnin through my mind---
this is IT--
i am never fishin one of these night tourneys with HIM ever again !!
i had a whole little one sided argument goin--
in MY head.
i was pissed off--
but i didn't want to fight--
so i kept my mouth shut-- and smoked.
i'll never quit smokin ya know.
there is nothing else in this world that keeps my mouth shut in time of need as much as a cigarette :))

SO----- we weren't very far from from the weigh in ramp-- we tied "fathead"-vs-fLathead,
to the side of the boat-- but he got beat up too bad-- so we threw him in the live well-- the one that doesn't hold water--poor fishy-- he did alright tho-- it was less than five minutes-
when we got to the dock... soulman tied him to the side and tossed him in the water-- the plan
was to see if anyone wanted him-- to take home for eatin-- but we ended up just lettin him go.

anyhow--- we get up to the scales-- and like i said---
an entirely different atmosphere awaited us there.
at least ten more guys, prolly a few more--
and they were all talking.
last week.. barely a peep , from any of them.
freakin odd is all i can say about that.

also this time, vs. last time.. just about every boat had fish.. and most had
between 3 and five fish. good sized ones too.
last week.. most boats didn't have any fish. we had 4- they were mostly small, but we had some.
my best uneducated guess on that ,
is only that there was a full moon last week.. and not last night.
but don't quote me on that one.

soooo.
we were maybe fifth to get weighed.
our big fish was -- i think.. 3."something" pounds-- soulman got that one-
not bad for a tourney fish. :))
our total weight was 7.26
i was a tiny bit peeved at the guy who weighed us-- only because the scales kept fluctuating-
between 7.29-7.28- and 7.26.
he took like 3 minutes to choose a weight to be official... and he chose 7.26.
which was alright-- i spose.
but he shoulda chose at least the mid weight-- since the scales were bein weird.
it's cuz i'm ME ya know :))

BUT--- we took it-- and we didn't mind-- too much.
well, hubby didn't mind at all-- but y'all know me-- i thought it was a conspiracy :))
which i'm sure it wasn't-- the guy was trying to be "official.

but anyways, they paid three places this week..
last week they only paid two places- which sucked.
i think they had enough money to pay three , but for whatever reason, they didn't.

so anyhow--
last night,

9.+ pounds won first place - pretty sure that was a 5 fish bag. (a limit)
7.26 pounds took 2nd place -- that was four fish :))
and third place was really close with 5. + 2 fish, and the big bass - i forget the weight of big fish.

for whatever reason it took these guys at least 15 minutes to figure out the payout-- something that should have been figured out loooong before weigh in..
and something that made me a little suspicious-- but that i spose is just how MY mind works.
"everyone's out to get me"
:))

BUT-- in the end-- it's all good

cuz guess who won second place???

wanna see?

SWEET SWEET REVENGE !!!!!!
i guess, those asshats know who can fish now, don't they???
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

yep- i spose there WILL be a next time.
i think we are finally figurin out these damn fish out there.
we have just a good a chance as anyone else out there--
and i still feel like i need to do just a little bit better, before i give'm their turf back.
hahahahahahahhaahA !

(OH-- i almost forgot-- part of soulmans' grumpiness) --SOAB!--- wth is UP with the underlining all of the sudden-- this hasn't happend for a while--dammit!

anyhow--- the grumpies--- right before he got that catfish..... like i said , it was dark.. really dark, no full moon this time, so very little natural light- or otherwise-- anyhow-- there was a frickin METAL pole stickin up out of the water--- about five inches up-- he ran the boat smack into it headfirst ! he almost went into the lake! it scared the shit outta ME, so i can imagine how rattled HE was. he had his vest on, i did not--- one of -- ok.. OUR biggest fear on the boat-- ESPECIALLY in the dark.. is for one of us to fall in the water-- especially without a vest on. and for me--- the thought terrifies me. he is so big-- if he went in-- i honestly dont know if i would physically be able to do anything. and NO way could i get him onto the boat--NONE. i can't even pull my own self onto the boat. i just don't have the strength.
he didn't used to worry so much about me-- i mean he worried-- but since i had the seizure-- he is always on me about wearing my vest all the time... but it gets in my way when i reel. so i don't-- i do wear it when the big motor is running-- and he wears his when the big motor is running... the most dangerous time on the boat--- but while trolling and going slow-- it's rare that we wear them, especially if it's hot. so anyhow-- yep-- that was a bit scary--- and he got pissed-- then just a couple minutes later he got that giant fish-- and it was a total mess.

i'm thinkin i need to figure out how to work the video camera thing on my camera-- or find out what's wrong with my regular vid camera---- there's be nuthin funnier than a live action peek into a day on the lake with US.

laurel and hardy-- i say.

welp--- i'm gettin outta heah. this post takes the record on the longet to write eveh i believe.
besides-- i must pee-- like right NOW.

hoping you all have perfect days in your worlds today!!!!!