Prison Fishing Tourney

This past Saturday, the Pendleton Reformatory held a Prison Fishing Tournament.  Glenn was invited to fish it, but he declined. They allowed the kiddos to take his place though.  The night before, Gladys went out and collected worms.  It's what she does to prepare.

 

I found some more shrooms, but they were much darker this time. Not sure if that means they are rotted or if it's just a suntan.

 

So, the night before the tourney (which starts at 5AM) Gladdie tells me she is getting up at 4:30AM. She was super excited, but somehow we all slept till after 6AM.  Gladdie packed herself a breakfast of meatballs to go.  Breakfast of champions right there!

Luckily, we didn't have far to drive to get to the tourney, as it was taking place at the quarry near our house.

The water still had fog coming off it when we arrived.

Jean set the trolling motor up and played fishing guide.

Most of the other competitors were fishing back in the coves or near the creek.

The kiddo's had hoped to hook into a monster, so we fished deep 45+ feet, to begin with. 


 Troy was having a hard time because the catfish he was trying to hook into wouldn't listen to him.
  
The geese rooted him on.
 

Somehow, my fingernail got a hook under it.  Instinctively, I yanked it out immediately, and then it kept bleeding under the nail bed.  Gross, I know.  The weird thing is, my cousin's wife posted a gross pic of that on my Facebook page, a week or so ago.



Chaplain shared his boat with Gladdie and I.  Mainly because I forgot my helmet, oven mitts and protective suit of armor, needed to stay in a small boat with three danger kids.  :-)

Some competitors just fished from land.

The weather cooperated for the most part.  There was a brief rain shower, and the temp was on the chilly side, but not that cold; high of 57 degrees.



Mostly, I helped the kids; tied on lures, took fish off, and unhooked trees (hey, it happens).  :)  I did manage to catch a bluegill off the pier.



The poor fish had some of it's top fin missing.

 

Several small bass were caught.

And Chaplin kept reeling in crappies every time I turned around.

And bass.

Afterward, we all had a picnic.  Altogether, there were about 20 competitors.

Cole gave out prizes.  Chaplin won the most fish caught catagory.

Ajay won the largest bass category, at 19 inches, from his kayak.

Marge won for biggest fish. She also got a 19" bass.

And these two sweet little girls tied in best fishing:

Jean helped take the boat out of the water, luckily it's something we are getting much better at nowadays.

When I got back to the house, I craved a hot bath.  Fishing tournaments tire a gal out, besides I was soaked from the cold rain and wet boat.  Hot water never felt so good and the beauty bath worked like a charm!  :)