Event Ten - Whitefish Chain - 9/8/2016

The years go by faster and faster, and living in a state where summer only lasts 10 minutes, the summer fishing season is over in a heartbeat...and so is our season. All ten events are in the books, and we only had to make up one, so that was a positive. I can't think of anything bad that happened this year. No one left their boat on the landing, no one stepped in a live well, no one got a hook in the ear, so nothing funny happened this year either. But there were a few firsts, like me being on a team that won two weeks in a row, which must have come as a big surprise to everyone else that has fished in the league over the past 121 years. Another first was one team winning five of the ten events, which included tying one of the aforementioned nights we could have won outright if it wasn't for those assholes...fuckers. We also had one of the biggest lineups we've had in several years, so it appears we're going strong. And why not...there isn't one REAL asshole in the group. Things could change next year though if the same team dominates like they did this year; that team being Simon and Paul. Now that we know who they are, they won't sneak up on us next year like they did this year, so I'll predict right now they won't win again next year; especially since we're going to enforce the rule about checking live wells in advance before the event begins.

I've written about this over the course of the year, but there seems to be a disturbing trend going on. Either we're getting worse as fisherman, or the fish are getting smaller and harder to find. Two years ago with eight teams, we scored a total of 1,410 points for all teams combined. Last year with nine teams we scored 1,324 points. This year we started out with eleven teams and had ten teams fish pretty much the whole season, and we only scored 1,255 points. I don't like this trend. The bad weeds seem thicker and more abundant, there seems to be less and less of a concern for fish habitat in spawning areas with manicured lawns right down to the water line becoming the norm, and the pleasure boaters are becoming more and more clueless. Including those fucking assholes on jest skis that can't figure out what time the sun goes down or how far away they are from shore. Also, do we really need pontoon boats with 300 HP motors? I think you already know my answer is no, because as far as I'm concerned, you can't call something a boat unless it has a trolling motor and a live well. And for those of you that live on one of the lakes we fish, don't think for a minute we're the reason you have millfoil or zebra mussels in your lake, because we CLEAN OUR BOATS! Anyway, I think the fishing is getting worse not better and unfortunately, I also don't think the powers that be have a clue as to what they're doing. (have you fished Mille Lacs lately?) All we can do is speak up when we see something funky going on, but I think this league stands as a harbinger of bad things to come.

On that cheery note, I'd like to thank all of you guys for being good sports, great guys to fish with, and I hope to see you all next year!!

For the final standings, click HERE.
For event details click HERE.

Rice Lake - Ninth Event - 9/1/2016

If I was a fish biologist I might be able to figure it out, but I'm not, so I can only speculate why the point total on Rice was the lowest it's ever been. That's right, we've had as few as 5 teams fish Rice before, and even then we caught more fish. Last year with 9 teams we had 121 points; this year we only had 76 with 10 teams. I know the water was higher (but not that much) and the current was stronger (but not that much) but places that have always held fish, didn't. At least not in our boat. It must have been pretty much the same for everyone else though, because no one caught a huge amount of fish. Having said that, Paul and Simon won their 4th event of the year with 20 points, for a yearly total of 173. They now have a commanding lead over the second place team of Sam & Mike who stand at 144 points for the year. With only the Whitefish Chain left tomorrow night, I'd say the rest of us are fishing for the nightly pot.

Again, we're on the Whitefish Chain tomorrow night from 4:00 to 8:00, so I'll see you there!

For updated standings, click HERE
For event detail, click HERE