Tony B

My story starts a while before Top Six Saturday. Got a chance to go out with Pat two weeks prior to the tournament to look for fish. We figured the tide would be similar to what we would be fishing on tournament day. What we found was quite a bunch of nothing. We managed to put some fish in the boat but basically eliminated a lot of water.

The following week I hooked up with Stickbait (Mark) for some Pre fishing. The tide was just the opposite of what we would be facing during the next Saturday. We spent a lot of time running around hitting a spot here and there without really much of a game plan. We did manage to find a bank loaded with fish and a pattern that would seem to hold up next weekend. We caught some fish from these various locations and calculated our best 5 went 15#. This would certainly help the team, we figured. Knowing this, we formulated our game plan.

Friday the 19th comes around and I'm psyched. I go down to the Hook, meet with Cooch and the rest of the team, get our hats and shirts and return to my house for a planning and strategy meeting. If there was strategy going on, I guess I wasn't privy to it. Seemed more like a get to know ya, eat some pizza and drink beer kinda meeting. Cooch takes off to the Captain's meeting and the rest take off to get some sleep. Scott and I don't get much sleep that night but that's another story.

3:30am comes too early and we're up and out the door on our way to Lauritzen's where the team is going to meet to launch. We launch and head for Big Break Marina. Finally when our team number is called, Number 2, we blast off and head off to our first spots. It's about 5:25am and we have to be back by 11:45am for the weigh-in.

Mark and I high tail it up False River and across Franks heading for our first stop. There aren't many boats around us but we all seem to be taking a beating. The wind isn't bad but with the wind and current combination it's pretty rough out there. I hold on for dear life to the OH $hi+ rail and try to enjoy the ride! Let's just say my ride was beyond compare with any other boat ride I've taken. Mark handles the boat like the pro he is and we're safely at our first spot.

We pick up our flippin' sticks and after just a few minutes Mark has a small keeper on. We go down the bank and I nail a keeper. We switch on and off like that until about 6:15am when Mark catches number 5. We got a small limit already. Not a bad start. 5 minutes later I stick the next fish and we cull out the smallest. Hey, this is looking good! We've been fishing about half and hour and we're culling. Looks like we're gonna have a good day! We continue working this bank for some time but the water is getting lower. Not conducive to our pattern. We catch several small fish but nothing of great size. Time to leave and try to improve our weight. We have only about 6# at this point.

We then take a ride to our next spot, stopping along the way to hit a few pieces of structure but nothing. We then run into Chuck and Pat and they say they have 2 keepers in the boat. We tell them we got a limit, off they go, and we hit our second spot. Tide is low there and after a while with no fish to improve our weight, we leave.

We then take a nice long ride to who know's where. I'm not too familiar with the delta so for all I know, we're either close to Stockton, Sacramento, or Stockton. Good thing Mark knows where he's going. We continue to hit some spots here and there and Mark sticks a nice fish on a blade that helps cull out another fish. Not a toad, but it helps. We continue to hit a number of spots but nothing. Mark loses a good fish in one of his honey holes on a jig and I can't catch anything over a pound. Its getting late, not much time left til weigh-in. We stop at a few other spots, then head to the Break to fish the barges. Mark's trolling motor is just about dead and after fighting the wind we head for the check-in boat.

We check in and wait for the rest of the boats. We hear Phil and Angel broke down and we're not sure if they were able to get their fish weighed. Might be down two boats since there isn't any sign of Cooch and Dana, either. By my watch it's 11:45am and still no Cooch. We're dead, I figure, four boats against the other teams that have six. Just then Cooch comes around the corner. He had been inside the 5mph buoy in time. Great! Five boats now.

We motor up to the launch ramp, and find out that Phil and Angel did weigh their fish. . Mark and I weigh about 9#. Had a limit by 6:15am but couldn't improve much on it. That's fishing I guess. Altogether we put together over 73# as a team. Doesn't seem like much but we're just the second team to weigh in and and we have the lead! We all return to Lauritzens, trailer our boats, and head to the Hook.

Once we get there, rumor central has it that we have won. I don't believe it until it is confirmed by a number of different people. What a rush! We win by 4# and its my first First Place plaque! Cooch passes around stogies and we have our picture taken for posterity. As a bonus, a few of us clean up with a few raffle prizes.

Everyone was then invited over to my house for our Celebration BBQ. It had been a long day and it was time for some much needed R & R. We ate, drank, and had a chance to just savor our win.

Thanks Mark, aka Stickbait, for the fishing. I'll be your partner, anytime. Also, thanks to the rest of the team for a job well done. We believed in teamwork and that was conducive to us winning this tournament. And thanks to those of you who supported us via the forum, and by coming down to the weigh-in. Looking forward to next year!

TonyB