There are omens known to cause bad juju in all sports. In fishing, catching a fish on your first cast of the outing is a definite kiss of death. Your day is destined to fall short of expectations. Well, during the Full Moon Open tournament held at Horsetooth last weekend it happened to us. We pulled up to our spot, waited for 7:00pm (the official start time) and prompty boated a smallie on the first cast. Idiot! Why didn't I cast into open water with my first cast like I was taught to by a top pro, rather than onto my structure? Even worse, there was a news guy there to record the stupidity on film.
Twelve hours later (yes, we fished all night) we finished the derby in a lowly 6th place. After fighting the fish gods all night, we were 6 ounces out of 2nd place and 1.4 pounds from winning. There were 45 teams competing and the top 10 could be covered by a pound and a half at the weigh in. Put another way, if each of our 5 fish limit weighed 4 ounces more we would have won. Or if we hadn't lost 2 fish either of which would have easily covered the weight gap. Or if I hadn't caught one on the first cast...
I'd like to say thanks to my partner, Curtis Welch for a great night of fishing. Try spending 12 hours in a 21 foot boat, all night no less, without tension. Its not easy. We had fun all night even when the bite was slow. I'd also like to thank Shimano, St. Croix, Berkley, and Jewel Bait Company for tackle that was obviously better than I on this occasion. Also, a big thanks to Sportsman's Warehouse for not only sponsoring me, but being a major sponsor of the event itself for the 5th year. I hope they sponsor it next year so I can redeem myself for committing the kiss of death. CL
