Fred McCormick of Greenville, Ind., and Bill Spinner of Louisville have been fishing partners for about 15 years, but they’d never seen the kind of whirlwind success they enjoyed earlier this month on Texas’ Lake Fork. The pair had traveled to the famed bass fishery to compete in the Skeeter Owner’s Tournament, which attracted 996 boats. Spinner had recently purchased a new Skeeter from B&J Marine in Louisville.
Spinner had spent a couple of days on Lake Fork earlier this year. McCormick was making his first trip there.
They arrived a couple of days early and fished with a local guide, as tournament rules allowed. They caught several bass, but when they went out the next day to practice on their own, the same water failed to produce.
“We never turned another fish on any of the guide’s spots,” Spinner said.
On the first day of the tournament, the men decided to start fishing in some stumpy cover flanked by a patch of grass. Spinner quickly landed a 20-inch fish, but it couldn’t go into the livewell because Lake Fork has a 16- to 24-inch slot limit on bass. He then landed a 2½-pounder that was just under 16 inches.
McCormick hooked and lost a big bass, then tied into the fish of the tournament.
He just didn’t yet know it.
“I knew it was a good fish, but I didn’t know how big,” he said. “A lot of guys can weigh fish in the water, but I can’t. I didn’t have any idea what it weighed.” Read more….