We Won The Big One!!!

[flatout]

It was a rainy start to the Bass Pro Shops Simcoe Open Tournament held on Lake Simcoe on Saturday October 25 08. The rain was expected to be heavy ,, and it was. As luck would have it we drew boat number 80 out of 80 boats which meant we started dead last. Luckily the wind was from the South East which made for smooth riding until you got a mile or so out from the South shore. We had a 15 mile trip to our first spot and needless to say we were soaked by the time we got ther. First cast I got a bite,,, a 4 1/2 lb smallie. Not bad for a start but an hour and a half later we hadnt got another bite. We made the decision to go to plan "B". We had caught a couple of fish on this sunken island so we travelled through the rain and the 4 foot rollers to get to it. Mercifully by now the rain had let up. A half hour goes by and not a bite. Then my brother gets a fish on. A nice 5 1/2 lb hog. Were onto something here. Another bite, this time a 6 lb. and then another and another. The day went by so quickly we almost didnt realize we had to go if we were going to make it back on time. We ended up culling 3 5 1/2 pounders so we knew we were in contention. We estimated our catch around 27-28 lb. Yes that is with 5 fish. At the weighin we heard that 27.2 lb was the weight to beat. We were held to the end to make it more dramatic. One by one our fish were put into the bag greeted by ahhhs and ooohhhs. The weight was finally tallied at 28.34 lb! WOHHOOO!!! $10,000.00 First Place.
We caught around 15 fish in total. Exactly 1/2 the field got skunked.
My arms are falling off and my face hurts (from smiling)
The XB21 was oogled and drooled on as well. Goes to show you that an Allison is capable of winning the big one!
Howard aka Flatout

ps I will post pictures as soon as they are available.

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

That is fricken Awesome man! Where are the pics. Chit man that a once in a life time kind of win for most people. You must have pics Bro. I mean it aint everyday you win 10,000 bucks! Congrats.

 

[GFinch]

:big grin Very good! :big grin

Someone must not have told you, " Ya can't catch fish out of an Allison!"

Culling 5 1/2 pound smallies!

I remember you talking about it last year.

Next year add 1.67 to what ya got this year!

 

[FLYING BUTCHER]

Congrads man that is great for sure!!!!!

 

[meanmusky]

right on howard ! looking forward to the pics. i had a good feeling you were going to kick a$$. :big grin

 

[allisonriverrat]

congrats man...

 

[RedAllison]

A sacka 5.5# smallies??? :shock: When can I come out? :gone fishing

Congrats, :beer:
RA

 

[Texan]

That's great!! Congradulations!! Can't wait to see the pic's.

 

[Bob Ant]

Fantastic!! We 're all happy for you. Someday may we all have one day in our lives like that.

Bob

 

[Jessie]

Congratulations. Please post some pics.

 

[pickwickangler]

Way to go :beer:

 

[flatout]

Here is a link to some of the pictures
http://jben.zenfolio.com/p112751164

Start at picture 82

 

[GFinch]

Pic 20 is good too!

 

[blueally]

Wow. I have never seen that many beautiful small mouth in one place before. Congrats on an awsome job

 

[Speedman]

Nice job, I was waiting for this report! and this year you finally won.Awesome!, So what was the entry? is that 10k Canadian or American? how many boats?

 

[flatout]

The tournament is in Canada so naturally it is in Canadian Dollars. The field was a full field of 80 boats with a waiting list of over 30 boats. These are all the top Canadian and a few American anglers. Simcoe can be a very tough lake or it can be like shooting fish in a barrel. And the fish are all hawgs. We culled three over 5 1/2 lb. Our smallest fish we caught was still over 4 1/2. Half the field got skunked which goes to show you how tough the bite was. Typically the worse the weather, the better the bite. Go to www.simcoeopen.com for more info.
HG

 

[FlatOutAlly]

Congrats, Howard!! Great looking fish! 10 Large ain't too shabby, either. Oh, and the boat no doubt took 'best of show', too.