My first Tourney

[sundrop]

Well, I will let Swamp Fox handle the highlights as far as winners etc. My name will not be among them LOL!!.. But it wasnt for a lack of trying and I was NOT alone!! Which of course makes me feel better... Weather was beautiful but it got HOT! Especially compared to the weather we have been having. Surface water temps ranged from 70.5 on the river to as high as 76.3 in the creeks. Pretty hot for this time of year to me. I can see why the Neuse is a popular place now with so many great little cuts and creeks to fish. I will be spending alot more time there and it is only 35 min from the house to Cowpen Landing so gas isnt so bad.
I went well prepared with everything I could think of for bait. Mullet, Eels, Bream, Shiners, fresh shrimp, Liver, Nightcrawlers, Gulp, Wigglers, Crickets, etc. (cheese&hotdogs which came in very handy about 12 o'clock for me..LOL!)
My strategy was that large cats are hard to catch during the day but with a 5 fish weigh in if I could get 5 smaller ones I might beat out the guys chasing the big ones. I baited for both large and small so i had my bases covered. I had a big bag of squid ( thanks Dave B. !) and had the leftovers from cutting my mullet up the previous day ( fillets and stomachs I kept for bait) and put it all in a chum bag I would set behind the boat to put some scent in the water.
CAA guys were good folks. Nice bunch from down Fayetteville way Coats, Angier and a couple of locals and myself. I hit several of the lower creeks but many headed upriver.
The fish just didnt want to cooperate. Bream were plentiful and you could chunk a cricket and it would immediately disappear so fresh live bait was easy.
I had a huge Gar but didn't get him in the boat. A couple more hook ups that I think were gar as well and then I had a scary event while in a creek. Alllof the sudden the water boiled and my boat started to move and the back was pulled down a few inches..LOL!!! BAMM! My chum bag was history....
I had seen 3 gators in various creeks as well as some huge turtles so I wasn't totally surprised, but none the less it was intense for a moment..LOL!!!
I think the cats are spawning and it shut them down. It is rare to not at least catch some little bullheads in the creeks or some small whites around the bridges in most any waters. I thought i would at least get a Bowfin or two for the Trash fish prize but lo and behold my livewell sits dry and unused..

Anyway. I fished hard, enjoyed a beautiful day in new waters, saw some cool wildlife, met some nice folks, spent wayyy too much money..LOL! and would, and will, do it again in a heartbeat!!! CAA is a nice bunch and I hope to see them grow so we can keep having fun!!