1982 – I used to fish bass tournaments from late 1970-mid 90s. I won a few, but mostly I came in the top 5. I had a draw partner problem. I would have 4 big fish, needing one more and something always happened.
One was a big heavy guy. He was great, let me take my boat and go to my spots all day. He was shocked to see me pull in 4 nice fish. Later in the day I hooked the biggest fish of the day and I yelled NET! He was great all day, but now in the hot sun 5 hours later he was shot. He just sat there staring at the fish flopping along side the boat. I kept yelling NET but he wouldn’t budge and the fish came off. I learned to always net my own fish from that day forward. He apologized. I felt sorry for him, he hadn’t had a bite all day. I ran around to one fish spots to try to get him to catch something, but he couldn’t. I came in 3rd I think, one fish short of the 5 limit. I would have won it by a a long shot and big bass too.
I remember that morning. I had fish located around a beaver hut out in the river a ways from the bank and it was all shallow around there. This was by toll house slough. There was actually 2 beaver huts next to each other. I flipped all around but the fish were gone. I tried flipping inside the heavy cover and when I got a bit, I could get it out if the thick cover. So I told him to sit tight. I started up the motor and ran the bass boat right up on top of the beaver hut driving the fish out. Then I pulled them in from the back of the boat as they moved out, 4 decent fish, I’m in contention to win, just need one more fish. I had to push the boat back out to deeper water with a lot of weight in the boat. That was a win that slipped out of my hands by trusting someone to net my fish, I do just fine alone.
