Enjoy the fight!

By: Jeff Gagnow (Showtime)

We admit it; the three (Lou, Randy, and Jeff) of us were serious tournament bass fisherman…..the first step in getting any sort of resolution is admitting the problem! It took many years and for some like Randy and Lou decades but we finally admitted the problem which was we were serious tournament fisherman.

With that said we still like to fish Bass but we are finally discovering in the later stages of life that fishing is more than mortgaging the farm on equipment, burning 50 gallons of gas a day for three days of practice for a one day tournament that may get you a few hundred dollars.

For those of you that like the hard numbers lets put it this way $150 entry fee, three hour one way drive to destination or six hours round trip ($100 truck gas), three days of pre fishing ($150/boat gas); another $75 boat fill up for tournament day, $50 run to sporting goods store for baits you just can’t live without but will never use on tournament day, pricey dinner because you think you have the winning fish ($20; for a fisherman that’s pricey), four days of lodging ($160 conservatively). At the tournament meeting you find out that your boat 56 out of 40 total boats (it happens; and it means your last); this trips a trigger in your brain that says someone else will be on your best spot so you completely change your game plan, you catch four small keepers (the limit is five), you finish 30^th out of the 40 total boats, you get no money, your pride is shot, you go out for a pricey dinner because you are depressed and think you deserve it ($30 because your really down in the dumps). In four days you just spent $635 to fish a tournament that in the end gained the actual winner $800. Priceless; hardly….stupid; definitely!

My name is Jeff Gagnow (Showtime) and I was a serious tournament fisherman and an incredibly average one at that!

Since the beginning of the year I have spent more time pursuing Walleye, White Bass, Salmon, Northern Pike, and yes Bass but only for fun and the filming of our Television Show (No Excuses Televised Fishing and Outdoor Adventures). In four months I have barely hit that $635 mark that I used to spend in four days.

Today (June 23, 2007) I got to help Lou put on Fremont’s first annual Sheephead tournament; these tournament fisherman are the most relaxed, most outgoing, and most appreciative people on the water and they weren’t fishing for a lot of money, they were fishing because they enjoyed it and the species didn’t matter. Some of these guys were bringing in loads of 5-11 pound sheephead; I am sorry but any fish that size has to present some sort of pleasurable angling experience?

I guess what I am saying is that no matter the species, no matter the situation just ‘Enjoy the Fight!’ The three of us at the guide shop as well as my TV show co-host are starting a grass roots campaign entitled just that ‘Enjoy the Fight’ and we invite you to join us both on the water and watch it as our show begins to air locally this Sunday July 1, 2007 at 7:00 a.m. on WACY (My32).

We plan on trying our hand at several new techniques and fish for species that we really haven’t taken the time to pursue and if we can’t do it ourselves we will find someone who can point us in the right direction…that’s right even a guide needs a guide once in a while.

Oh and FYI the show will be featuring a Campfire Story (every other or every couple of weeks) in which Randy Williams or one of us will be reading some of the stories that you have already read in this publication. The new stories will always be introduced in the paper first then possibly added to the TV show. We want to keep the newspaper stories fresh so you can read it first and use your imagination then you can watch and listen to get our interpretation. In fact you could help us out; log on to www.noexcusestv.com or www.wolfriverguide.com and shoot us an email and let us know which stories you enjoyed the most and would like read on the show! All of us here appreciate the kind words of encouragement and the positive response to the stories; as long as you are reading them and the paper wants to publish them we will continue writing them!