|
|
 LAPRBASS
Potomac Series Tournament I
Leesylvania, VA
6/8/08
Mark Burchick
6/8/08
LAPRBASS Potomac Series Tournament - Part 1
Leesylvania, VA
 |
I fished my very first tournament ever
today. I am part of a four-man team,
led by Steve Kolbe, 13-year veteran
Voice of the Washington Capitals,
play-by-play announcer. In his
off-season, he is a FLW, BFL and LAPRBASS
tournament fisherman. The other
co-anglers of the team include Dave Knorr,
Jeff Kvech and myself. |
 |
Today's event is part of a several week
Potomac tournament out of Leesylvania
State Park, south of Potomac Mills and
near Quantico, Virginia, and across the
river from the mouth of the Mattawoman
and Fort Smallwood Park, in Charles
County, MD.
Your boat is assigned a number and
today's event had around 65 boats.
When your boat is called, you pass by
the judges with open, empty live wells,
and then off you go, fishing from 6:00
AM till 2:00 PM. |
 |
To make an eventful day short, I caught
12 fish and Steve caught 6. I had
two keepers and Steve had one. The
minimum acceptable size that we were
allowed to keep was 15-inches from lip
to tail. Needless to say, we had
several 14-inch fish!
It reminded me of fishing for flounder
last year and only catching one-keeper
to eat, but having caught well over a
dozen, one-inch short for a dinner
filet. I threw the one keeper back
and took the family out to dinner.
Mind you, all bass tournaments are
"Catch & Release." As you can
see from the photo, our first fish on
the day was a Mattawoman catfish.
|
 |
The first few hours involved using
topwater lures over aquatic grass and
figuring out patterns and strategies
(proprietary information). |
 |
We were fishing docks and pier slip
structure and watched this gentleman
catch a handsome bass on a live worm
from a pier. |
 |
We motored to the Arkendale Flats near
Brent Point and Aquia Creek and did some
damage, jacking up our fish numbers.
I was surprised at the number of other
tournament fishermen using swim baits in
their repertoire, interesting. |
 |
Gamakatsu weedless wacky worm hooks and
Senko's yielded some fish. |
 |
Did I mention that it was scorching hot,
with temperatures in the upper 90's and
with high humidity? Steve had a
great supply of ice cold drinks on
board, and we stayed well hydrated. |
 |
Captain's log . . . we made lots of
mental notes to help our future
performance and were always aware of the
tides and time of day. |
<
SEE PART II >
Submitted By Mark Burchick |
Exclusive 
