3 Rednecks and a Chick

     The alarm starts buzzing at five o'clock on a Friday morning.  There is no time to hit snooze today.  I had gathered everything we needed for the two day tournament last night.  That saved some time and assured me I shouldn't forget anything that I would need.  I first started in the kitchen at the coffee maker, adding an extra scoop to make it a little more potent.  I new it would be a long exhausting day and need all the help I could get.  Billy and I worked fast and quietly moving in the dark with flashlights feeding all of the animals before we had to head out.  It was already raining and we were getting wet and muddy and haven't even left the house yet.  But you did not hear either of us complain, we need the rain so bad.

     We had all our fishing gear and golf equipment loaded in the truck and arrived to meet our team at the Athens Chamber of Commerce by seven a.m.  The Chamber had Sonic breakfast burritos waiting for all the contestants.  While we sipped on coffee and orange juice, eating our burritos and saying our hellos to everyone, we were listening to all of the rules.  We were also given our instruction on the secret private lake that the bass tournament was going to be held at.  The excitement and anticipation was brewing as strong as the coffee was.

     This was a new place for us to fish.  We were not sure what to expect as we drove a few miles north out of town to Athens Life Fellowship Church.  They had a lot more acreage then I realized with a 10 acre lake. 

My team, 3 Rednecks and a Chick, consists of Billy, our friend Dan, and our other friend Clay and myself.  The four of us have been playing tournaments as a team together for about five years.  We really put a lot of heart into it, and a lot of try.  Otherwise we will make fun of you and give you hell because obviously all four of us are very competitive lol!  I am glad we all have thick skin. Now it's time to get our game on!  We all jump out of the truck not wanting to waste anytime.  We each grab our poles and take off.  Billy said, "Lets walk over at the opposite end of the dam where those tree stumps and logs are in the water."  I was glad I wore my boots and jeans because we were walking through some thick brush and cattails and I had my eyes peeled looking for a Water Moccasin or a Gator to jump out at any moment!  It was hard fishing, we were not getting any bites.  I dont know if the weather had something to do with it or not. 

I was using a plastic worm, and Billy told me he was going to walk around the lake some more and try a couple different lures.  He first tied on his lucky rattle trap and went out to deeper water so he wouldn't get hung up on the logs.  He said when they start responding to whatever lure he was using he would let me know.  I stood in the same spot and kept slowly reeling in my worm.  Then all of a sudden I got a bite that felt like an elephant on the other end!  It hit my line so hard it scared me!  Who has ever been scared bass fishing!  This girl, with my line going out of my reel a hundred miles an hour!!  It swam to the left and yank on me standing up on that muddy bank like a rag doll.  Them it yanked me to the right!  It had me so flustered I could barley talk, let alone scream!  I was trying to scream Billy's name for help.  I don't even know if the words came out of my mouth or not.  In that split second that I was wondering if it was an alligator doing the death roll, everything stopped.  I tried to get my composure and steady my shacking hands.  I tried to reel my line in and it was not moving.  I finally could get my voice under control and hollered Billy's name that I need help.  He walked back from around the corner and said, "What is wrong?"  I told him and he grabbed my pole and he was slowly bringing it in dragging something.  When it got up to the shore it was a small log.  I told Billy, "You have to believe me, I did not catch this log, I had something huge on the other end of this line."  He told me he believed me because my line was wrapped all around this log several times and my lure was gone.  He said those big smart bass will get up under those logs and tie your line up until they break free.   He continued saying that he had just caught a huge bass too, and he got it all the way up to the bank looking right at him as he broke away and lost him!

I kept staying in my spot, because after that crazy episode, I wanted to try and catch that whale again!  After a few minutes I had another hit.  I set my hook so hard to make sure I snagged that fish. I didn't want to loose him or give him a chance to run with my hook and to wrap around another log.  Finally, catching that first fish and adding it to the board kind of takes the pressure off.   I caught another one about that size and then for the next hour nothing.  Billy had walked back to my spot and asked if I wanted to walk with him up to the other side by the dam and see if they were biting any better up there.  So I grabbed my things and we walked through the mud and rain to the opposite end.   

That move seemed to work out for me!      

The 11am buzzer rang, meaning the fishing tournament is over.  All four of us were soaked through and through it had been raining the whole time we fished.  Good thing I brought beach towels and extra clothes to change into. 

We all meet back at the chamber to eat the best sandwiches ever from Schlotzskys.  Our next event was to go to the Athens Country Club for the Golf tournament.  With the rain still coming down, the Athens Country Club deiced to tell us we could not come out and play because of the weather.  That was a little disappointing but I suggested, "Why don't we go out to Cross Roads and play!"  Dan got on the phone leaving messages because they were closed.  We waited about 15 minutes and they called us back and said, "Yes come on out and play!"  What a relief, we all jumped up and hustled to our trucks and took off down hwy 59 towards Cross Roads.  

   

   

   After about the second hole the rain started to let up.  The weather actually turned out perfect. Clay was our A player in golf today.  It so good to have A players on your team!

I might not be the A player but it does help to have a women on your team.  I get to hit from the ladies tee box.  Sometimes this comes in very handy when I end up being the only one on the green with their drive!  I was very excited that I was helping and contributing to my team.  It truly is a group effort. 

This was the last event for today and we felt we had done really good.  All four of us tried so hard and gave it everything we had.  We were the last team to come in and learned that with all the scores between the fishing and golf there was a three way tie for first place.  Our next event was going to be in the morning shooting sporting clay's. 

Billy and I get home and feed all the animals again.  We find our shot guns, the extra shells we bought and get everything ready for in the morning.  It was going to be another early morning for us.  We had to leave at 6am Saturday morning. 

We arrive at Dan's house at 6:45am and he is already backing up to the trailer with the ranger on it.  All four of us load up and drive to Tyler to the Rose City Flying Clay's.  It had started raining again throughout the night and it rained on us all they way to the shooting range.  The Athens Chamber of Commerce and the Keep Athens Beautiful teamed up this year and combined both shooting tournaments into one.  So we were really entered in both.  We got all checked in, put on rain jackets, hid our shot guns under towels to try and keep them dry and we headed out on the course.  We started on number twelve and I had a hard time on that one.  Maybe I just needed to warm up.  But I really think it was just because I just got up and shot and didn't think about it.  On number thirteen Billy explained to me how the clay's are flying and how I need to aim a certain way and shoot.  That helps me so much when he explains each station and I started doing much better.