The registration meeting at Lake Havasu

     My first Costa FLW event at Havasu is in the books and the fishing was not as expected. Pretty tough for most of the anglers. I did managed to get some points on the board in the end, so I am thankful for that. 

Day one launch

     Day one was a tough grind.  I drew one of the top Pro's in the field, Justin Kerr, who lives in Lake Havasu City, knew the lake well, and felt he was not catching the numbers and quality size of bass that he should have been.  He had a lot of his "spots" that he could run and managed to not only get a limit but even culled a few.    Fishing behind an angler like this while he is fishing specific targets is extra tough for the co-angler, who must search the back and sides of the available area instead of hitting the prime targets.   I blanked on Day one after having only two short strikes all day.

Beautiful desert scenery at Havasu

     Day two I drew one of the young-guns of the Pro ranks, Cy Floyd.  Cy may be one of the younger Pros, but he's been fishing the College Tours for a long time and was on a pattern that still gave us a chance to make a check.  At least until the lower unit gave out.  

A jig and craw landed my one bass

     Cy was flipping shallow cover in a narrow channel which also gives the back-boat angler a chance at picking up fish hitting the spaces between his targets.  We both had a lot of hits while skipping under and behind the brush, including a lot of bluegill and crappie hits.  I managed to land a small keeper while flipping a finesse jig and Chigger Craw trailer.  That bass hit lightly, and when I set the hook it was immediately pegged to a stout stick partway back into the cover.  Cy was quick to maneuver his boat to the bass so he could get the largemouth in the net.  My first Costa FLW Series keeper bass.

     Halfway through the day Cy decided that the bite had changed in this area from the day before and we headed back to the main lake.  We were 15-20 miles from the launch ramp and on plane at full speed when suddenly the boat lost power and settled to a stop in the middle of the lake.  The motor sounded fine, but there was no propulsion, an obvious lower unit failure.  After informing the FLW Tournament Director of our situation we used the trolling motor to get to shore and fished around while waiting for Cy's friend Ron to show up and start the long tow back to the ramp.  Thanks, Ron for helping us out!  During this wait, I fan casted a rattle bait and had a wolf-pack of 3# smallmouth follow the bait back, but none of them would hit it.

Being towed in really makes
the day shorter

     After Ron started the tow, I watched for other competitor boats to come by.  Finally managing to get one to stop, they agreed to take me back to the weigh-in and drop me off so I could at least get some points for the event.

     I am really thankful to Pro Logan Erautt and Co-Angler Ken Whalen for stopping to help. They carried me and my catch back to the weigh-in with just minutes to spare!  They were allowed to go back out as my weigh-in was at 3:30 and theirs was at 4:00.

     I like to think that their good sportsmanship karma played a part in their catching bass at the last minute after dropping me off!

     Thanks also to Justin Raleigh for being a great travel companion, and Justin Kerr and Cy Floyd, my boaters day 1 and 2.  Congrats to Kerr for a 3rd Place finish! What a way to make the best of a tough event!  Congrats to Shaun Bailey and Jason Akins for winning their respective categories!

     I ended up in 105th of a 154 angler field.  My catch came while flipping heavy cover with a finesse jig paired with a 3" Berkley Chigger Craw, using 15lb. #Trilene Professional Grade Fluorocarbon, an #AbuGarcia Revo Premier, and Abu Garcia Villain Rod.

Thanks to #Berkleyfishing #AbuGarciaFishing!