How was Champlain

[Pete]

Hey Gary,

How was the tournament on Champlain last week?

The weather must have been bad for them to cancel the second day competition.

What's next for you??

Pete

[Gary]

Hi Pete,

Champlain was the last tournament of the year, and as you mentioned, the second day was cancelled so the year kind of ended with a fizzle. Only the top twenty after day one continued fishing and I wasn't in that group so home I went.

The first day was nasty. Nice and sunnny, but thirty mile per hour winds had nine and a half footers rollingo on the lake. The second day was worse and the Coast Guard said you boys ain't going anywhere. I was plenty happy to not have to go out in that again. Didn't bother me one bit that the tournament ended early.

So, the year is over. I feel like it was an alright year for me. I cashed a few times with a third place finish and a big fish cheque, and learned a whole lot about being a boater in this crazy game. I didn't fish for points this year as my switch from co-angler to boater had me losing points for a couple tournaments, but I managed to finish 115 out of 315 overall in the Stren Series points and 87th out of 211 in the BFLs. That's well into the top half in each division. I don't feel like it was a hugely successful year as far as performance, but as far as experience and learning, it was a tremendous year, providing me with much education. I still have a lot more to learn though. I don't suppose that will ever end.

What's next for me? Well, Lord willing, I'll be fishing the Stren Northern division next year and I am likely going to fish the Stren Southeast division as well, starting in January. The Southeast division isn't absolute at this point, but very likely. I may do the Empire division in the BFL next year as well, but I'm not positive on that. I want to concentrate on the Stren tournaments as I believe it provides better opportunities for qualifying for the big leagues. Depending on schedules, I may consider fishing the CFT as well. Hopefully all goes well.

I also hope that everyone else had successful years with their tournaments, in terms of achieving the goals they wanted to achieve. Now it's time for some recreational angling, and some hunting. May you weather the winter well. )

Gary