Well, I hate doing the last post of the year, so consequently, it's late in coming. I hate it because it signals another fishing season coming to an end. I like fishing with you guys and gals, and the season goes by much to quickly. So, on with final blog of 2017.
We did something we haven't done on the WFC: fish out of a landing other than Lower Hay. We put in on West Shore Drive and fished the Cross Lake end of the chain. The point totals were pretty impressive for never having done that. I don't know how many of you headed for familiar water on Whitefish, but I saw plenty of you in Cross Lake, so I think most stayed close.
Speaking of close, Sam and Mike made an epic run at the end of the year. They went on a four week tear scoring 102 points, and almost pulled out a championship. They blew away the rest of us, scoring 112 points in the second half, but that wasn't quite enough to catch our 2017 champions, Mark and Luther! Congratulations guys. M & L almost lead wire to wire, but at our first event, they got beat by 2 points on Pelican way back in May. Part of their success is, they never missed an event. It's a good thing they didn't, because Sam and Mike missed two, and lost the championship by 3 points. Sam and Mike's show points alone would have been enough to win, but I don't want to take away from Mark & Luther, because they beat the rest of us down with their consistency. They only had one nightly win, but they also had two second place finishes, and except for Woman Lake, they never got skunked. As a matter of fact, now that I think about it, if you were to tell me the champions only placed first one night, and got skunked on another, I'd tell you to add the points up again, because there is no way they won; except they did, so congratulations again guys. It's hard to be the rabbit all year long, but you kept the rest of us nipping at your heals, so good job!
Ugg...so, that brings me to my final thoughts. First off, I thought the new measuring system of setting up a table and bringing the fish to it worked out well. It was much easier on me physically, not to mention it was easier to keep track of who is who. That will remain the same for next year. There were no major mishaps, and no one was injured, so I'm grateful for that. We're going to have to keep an eye on what the DNR does regarding a state wide Pike slot for next year. If they enact that statewide slot, we're going to be looking at a lot of pictures come measuring time. It's a good thing we all trust each other, because that could leave the door open for cheating. I firmly believe though, that if you do cheat during an event, the fishing gods will sink your boat. I think that's warranted.
I could ramble on for awhile longer, but I'm not going to. I'll just say a big thank you to all of you for being good sports, and great stewards of our lakes; despite what that asshole thought of Sam on Rice lake. I'll see you next year! Plan on meeting at Billy's sometime in April of 2018. Have a good winter!
For the final standings, click HERE.
For the final point breakdown, click HERE.
