ARGGH!!! WOULDA COULDA SHOULDOF...........

[ray koziatek]

Hey no Donut award!!!! Well thurs I prefished With Jerry (rebel) and we found a mother load of browns and a few nice kings and steelies. Well thurs night i took my boat out for a peek at sundown and to cool off and less than 1 mile from port my fishfinder lit up like a "big boy fishfinder" ..so fri i went out alone in 45 to 50 ft of water and set the first rod 38 ft down 55deg ..as i tinkered in my peashell (brain) for my other secret weapon the rod fires with a 400 ft slow run thinking it was a big brown or laker I slowed down and tried to get it in well after 200 ft retrive then back out 200 ft this went on for 5 min before it came un buttoned ,,,,,so the same rod goes in and on the second pass same thing this time 600 ft,so for the first time in my life i clear riggers and rod and put troller in reverse. The bait i was using had tiny hooks(hint) well backing up the fish attacks so im reeling like a fool for 400 ft till i catch up and we plkay foanother 5 or 10 min till i baby in a 26 .5 (loc scales weight) male king (pink belly and dark)..he was done so i iced it and made another pass .............same thing only diff was this one didnt slow till 825 ft on a tight rigger rod in nutural agian i back up and got all but 250 ft back when it went slack waa .

My guess bigger king...HUDGE KING ..so Sat we put our eggs in that basket .Temp gone we slid out and only did 2 keeper browns no kings,,,but i had to try dispite the shure thing 8 miles away. Sunday there was a few remaining bumps from sat afternoon blow so th 8 miletrip almost took a hour. first pass 5 nice browns pulled and reset same line 2 more reset again and go #8 shuda reset for 1 more pass but with 6 miles to port and still bumpy water we opted to troll bach with the waves for # 9.......never happened..so the 140 pt box moved us up a tad and we got the comeback award and finished 11th or 12 th ....THE BEST PART WAS IT WAS A FATHER SON TEAM FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE PRO AMS MAKING IT THE"""""" BEST""""" PRO AM IVE EVER BEEN IN DISPITE NOT FINISHING IN THE MONEY..The biggest brown was 13lb4 oz (loc size) but the derby was over by the time we got in and finished weighin...but we made some folks happy to share our catch with as they waited there for any unwanted(un needed) fish so none went to waste..

[chowder]

Sounds like a heck of a great father & son adventure. A story to tell & retell, and a far more valuable experience than finishing in the money. Congratulations on achieving one of life's most coveted moments! -Andy

[ray koziatek]

[on the lam]

WTG Ray

[Billy V]

Nice job Ray! I can't wait till my boys are old enough to fish these events with me.

[shadster]

Helava nice brown, Ray! Congrats to you and your son on the comeback award!

[muskybob]

Congrats on the comeback award ol buddy. It was great to see you & Casey so happy & sharing that moment. Great pics.

[larry]

Nice work Ray and Casey!! Next time let Casey make the choice to leave fish to find fish and I think you'll be ok.

[Fishtails]

Nice job Ray!

[seasquirrel]

Nice job Ray

[FISHINMAN]

F#$% you Ray and your "BEST""""" PRO AM IVE EVER BEEN IN DISPITE NOT FINISHING IN THE MONEY"

JUST KIDDING BUD! Great job and glad to see ya finally were able to catch some fish when the pressure was on

[woody 184]

Ray nice job this weekend, I watched you weigh in on sunday really nice box of fish.. we had two okay boxes over the weekend.. I think that will be the Pro/Am you will remember for the rest of your life fishing with your boy... I could see that with the biggest smile on your face.....Congrat Ray..... Dale

[mschott]

nice looking fish sounds like it was a great day !

[skipper19]

Nice fishin Father and Son ...That is quality time that can't be beat. Can't wait for my son to be able to come back and fish with me in the fall LOC.

Mark

[FX]

Congrats on spending some memorable time with your son The smiles in your pic really say it all.

Shawn