BAMIII Highlights / October 5,6,7 2007

Dang FisHunter, double hook up and you still found time to take a photo.

ya know how I roll!   ..glad you like it Brian, so did I! it was my first, after having witnessed Dustin da'RockHopper twice, it finally happened to me!...(sigh)   ....the two participants from my DBL-HOOK-UP was a 31.5"(pic1&2) ....after that I rebaited,dropped down over the selected area and POW! another DBL!, but lost the second one as soon as I began to fight it. while my empty hook was danging this smallie tried to eat it, silly lil'thing(pic3)

Thank you everybody.  Thank you Sean and the White family for another most memorable event.  Thank you Mark for creating that absolutely beautiful trophy belt buckle.  That's one awesome piece of artwork, and I'm so incredibly lucky and honored to have won it considering the other great fishermen out there.

I didn't think I had a chance considering I had never caught a Mendo striper before this weekend.  I made 3 trips and got skunked on stripers every time, so I wasn't expecting much for the derby.  But my luck started changing right away when I nailed a nice limit (28" and 29.5") late Friday afternoon.  Freddie took some nice OTW pics of me and when he reviewed them on his camera, he noticed the rainbow going straight into my landing net.  He said it was a good omen of things to come.  Little did I know, he was right.  I was just stoked to catch my very first Mendo stripers.

On Saturday, I got up to a late start and decide to go back to Barn's Cove to see if the stripers were still there and they were.  I caught two that looked identical to the ones I caught Friday night.  As Sean was weighing them from the boat, Andy was nearby, and I learned that he had the lead with a 16+ lb pair.  My pair was only 13.74 lbs so I release one of my two stripers.  I caught several more but safely release all of them since they weren't any bigger.

There a few guys with me at Barn's Cove.  It seemed like most of the guys were near Vinegar Point or around Crappie Cove.  I looked around and noticed absolutely no one at Rocky Point except a bunch of birds on the water, so I decided to pedal over and give it a try.  I figured the birds were there for a reason.  When I got close I confirmed my hunch.  The birds were hovering over big schools of shad and I started marking big fish on the screen.  Almost immediately I hooked up big.  The reel started zinging and I felt the heavier weight and knew it was going to be a big one.  I released the fish on the stringer and strung the big boy on.  I put another minnow on and in the next thing I know I'm hooked-up again on another big fish.  I quickly reel up my other line close to the boat to avoid tangling lines.  It took awhile but I land another nearly identical hog.  After stringing that one up, I hear something banging against my yak.  I'm thinking there's no way I could have another fish on.  I look back and see my saw my rod going bendo.  I reel that up and to my SURPRISE... it's a big kitty!

The action was insane.  In less than ten minutes, I was able upgrade to a pair bigger stripers and a bonus kitty (released) -- which, to my luck, turned out to be first ever "BAM Slam" stringer.

My wife and I had a great time and enjoyed the wonderful food with such a great group of people.  Special thanks to Sean who put in so much effort to organize the event on short notice.  Thanks also to Leah for the time she must put in in the background or in supporting you in the effort.

Special thanks to Mark for the works of love that he contributes to BAM.  It makes the event unique and as Chuck said, the buckle beats any kayak!

Looking forward to BAM IV

Hey Joel

What did you catch on Saturday? Did I miss it?

Scott

I caught two stripers  by the dam and one went 7.4 lbs - Sean took a pic of it but did not post it yet. Thanks to Jim Hobbs for the tip Caught another one but decided to release it cause I new it was not a contender anyway. Also caught a catfish (bull head) - released.

Also caught a catfish (bull head) - released.

Hey Joel

What did you catch on Saturday? Did I miss it?

Scott

I caught two stripers  by the dam and one went 7.4 lbs - Sean took a pic of it but did not post it yet. Thanks to Jim Hobbs for the tip Caught another one but decided to release it cause I new it was not a contender anyway. Also caught a catfish (bull head) - released.

Sweet. If only DV had stripers that size. See you Saturday.

scott

Hey Chuck,

I like the avatar!  Guess I can take mine down now that I'm no longer the reigning champ.  Enjoy your reign.  All hail the BAM champ!

Brian

P.S.  I heard rumors that next years BAM prize is going to be a tiara and a sash.

I wish I woulda got a belt buckle for being the original BAM Champ. 

Or something. 

You won something that is priceless... the title of the orginal BAM champ!  Nobody can take that away from you man... of course you can't buy anything with it or show it off to anyone either.   

I wish I woulda got a belt buckle for being the original BAM Champ. 
Or something. 

Brian and I were talking about that.  We feel bad too.  It just so happened that your prize got contributed to the Katrina Relief Fund which was quite honorable of you and everyone at BAM1.

Hey Chuck,

I like the avatar!  Guess I can take mine down now that I'm no longer the reigning champ.  Enjoy your reign.  All hail the BAM champ!

Brian

Nah... Brian.  Leave it up if you like.  It's a beautiful piece of Mark Shimizu's work that I would always display proudly.

Special thanks to Mark for the works of love that he contributes to BAM.  It makes the event unique and as Chuck said, the buckle beats any kayak!

Looking forward to BAM IV

Amen to that!!!

Pic1:  Janice "BigJ" with her all time best kayak fishing LMB
Pic2:  Bill with one of his stripers
Pic3:  Me and "The Savage" with our 1st and 2nd place stripers

I wish I woulda got a belt buckle for being the original BAM Champ. 

Or something. 

O.G. BAM#1 Champ, don't feel too bad, I still envy you and your title will live for ever.

......after pulling myself away from the hot spot I went ashore to streatch my ass, eat a sammy and toss a minnow while on land.Moment later, a Fat Kitty CP&R'd (pic1)

my spot was drying up as Dan peddled, I told him I was having a hard time keeping them off my hook earlier along this steatch, after a few peddles, BAMO! Dan's got FISH -ON!  I tried a few more drops to no avail, then Dan and I went back to the cars to load-up and head to BAM CAMP. Right at the last bouy line before the shore I tell Dan that I'm gonna get my last fish at this spot and then I'd be onshore, paddled over the area and saw a fish on the T.V.sceen.....drop and hook'd this last one of the day(pic2)  ending my BEST DAY of Striper and multi-species.
6-Striper between 31.5" and 28"
2-Catfish
2-smallies
1-LMB
...all from 9am to 12:30 .....ohh the memories!

....got to camp and set up along the tree line so i could enjoy some shade in the afternoon(pics1,2&3) a tent with a view.

...some of Fridays campers getting there PLAN ON for the morning(pic4)

Pic1~I told Terry/HydroSpider that his bad-streak of fishless Mendo trips would be ending the next day, he was christened by the "Rainbow Nation" and *NEW "Happy" luck was on the way.(he did catch his first stripers ya' know)

pic2~one of fri-nites dishes from Mike/micfish, bacon wrapped meat...yummmm!

pic3~Friday nite bon-fire

Congratulations to all the winners.  Was unable to make it this year due to an injury, but look forward to all the events in the near future.  

Tight Lines

John