[flatinfifth]

Congratulations to those that made the top ten. Way to do it. I BLANKED. this post should be labelled: "How NOT to fish a tournament." Here goes, but first some photos........


In prefishing I had gone down a ways and had fished in tight for some BIG calicos......I mean BIGGGG. I lost one that was easily over 10 pounds and I saw it twice....it was way bigger than 10 lbs. I also caught several fish in the three to six pound range. However I also caught a nice limit of sand bass at last Saturday's friendly on the pipe in about 60 feet of water.....a fish each drop at times. Sooo................ I head down towards my beach area but on the way I stopped at the Capo reef and the bite there was non-existent. The water, the kelp, the bait, EVERYTHING was different. I wasted an hour there trying to get fish to go and all I caught were two shorts and a small halibut. Decision time: do I move on further down the coast or do I go back to my fall back spot on the pipe. Here is where the second mistake was; I based my decision on the fear that I would not be able to get back in time from my spot down the beach. WRONG!!!! I could have easily made it back. Instead I went to the pipe where I caught nothing but rockfish, a small ling and nothing else.

Moral of the story: Do not make decisions based on fear......make them based on what your intuition tells you to do. My sixth sense told me to go down to my spot on the beach and I didn't listen..................

Great tournament. Thanks OEX as always. Without your efforts this would not be possible. Oh......Al and I tested a new series of prototype rods for Dobyns this weekend.......AWESOME 7.5 footers with super backbone for that deeper bite on rocks.....pulls them right out!!!!! and sensitive as hell.

Angel Figueras