09-24-2017, 09:00 AM
Day One of the Bass Nation Team Tournament State Championship started out rocky for us. My boat motor blew up on Tuesday during practice so we had to use Matt&#39;s boat today. We were plagued with mechanical issues all morning. One thing after another. We were sitting dead in the water from 7:30Am until around 9:30 am. Finally, around 11:AM we got every thing worked out. (or at least we thought we did.)<br /><br />We got into some decent fish up on the Hiwassee around 1M. Missed some good opportunities to put fish in the boat. We had 3 solid keepers that came unbuttoned at the boat. With about an hour left in the tournament we were able to get 2 fish in the boat around 2M. All fish I caught or almost caught were on a 1/2 ounce football Black and Blue skirt jig with Rage Craw Watermelon Meat. All the fish were shallow, 2-3 feet and under any cover they could find close to the bank. <br /><br />On our way back to Dayton for the weigh-in the mechanical issues surfaced again. We ran for about 6 miles with the motor dying every few minutes. Restart and on our way again. We made it back to Dayton with a few minutes to spare but the boat suffered the consequences.<br /><br />Our two Bass weighed in at 8.94 with one being a 6lb beast. We were firmly in 6th place overall. It had to been a slow day because I saw a lot of 2 and 3 fish bags being weighed in. i think only maybe two 5 fish bags were weighed. <br /><br />We stopped by Sticks house on the way home hoping for some good news and an easy fix. After some hard work and lots of sweat, Stick informed us we had a blown cylinder on Matt&#39;s motor. Long day, longer afternoon, disappointing end to a tournament. Got home around 9:pm. We will get them next time.<br /><br />