FLW Lake Oroville 2013

Lake Oroville was a great place to start my 2013 season.  We had extremely cold weather(for a desert rat) it dropped down to the 20s at night,each morning we had ice on our trucks and boats and it really put our equipment and ourselves to the test!
    I started the first day of practice by hitting a submerged log on my way back to the ramp,luckily I was only doing about 50 cause it was so cold. This was my first time dealing with floating logs in the water.. When I say logs, I mean Mark Twain ,Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn kinda stuff floating around needless to say I'm glad it happened on the first day of practice,It gave me plenty of time to forget about the missing skeg on the bottom of my NEW Yamaha outboard..
  Practice could of been better but I was in the learning process,new lake, new boat and first time as a boater in the FLW.  I was trying to make the first derby a good one.. Then the battery problems started..  OK Skeg missing,now the battery It's a new boat ,this isn't supposed to happen..but it did. My graphs started shutting down towards the end of my practice days,my motor was harder to start all signs that I should of been paying closer attention to what my partners and team mates were telling me(change the battery), so I went and bought a set of jumper cables instead of buying a battery right away.

  Tourney Day 1
     I had told everyone that the before mentioned problems were not bothering me at all, well my fishing on the first day proved me wrong and them right(again should have been paying attention) I ended up catching 2 fish for 2lbs. My co angler had a better day on the water but it wasn't as stellar as he hoped. I had to jump start my boat twice on the water,graphs kept shutting off..   I was pretty embarrassed of my first day and showed it on stage,not too much to say, just wanted to take care of my boat issues and get on with day 2.
   Day 2
   Changed the battery last nite, re rigged poles and had a great nites sleep.. My second day was a blast, my co and I caught fish all day long!!  I had my limit by 830am and was just looking to upgrade all day long. We probably caught 50 to 60 fish between us.I ended up weighing in 7.01lbs,a much needed upgrade from day 1.  Nothing big but at least we both would have limits and I wasn't ashamed to walk on that stage today.  I believe my co even cashed a check he had a great first day and a good second day.. I am sitting in 106th place in the points,nothing to brag about,but the fat lady ain't even in the building yet..lol..Plenty of time,let's head to the desert!!!
 Lessons Learned:
Make any repairs you can,as soon as you can!!
Listen to your traveling partners,they been doing this longer than you have!!
Listened to your better half,and friends they know you better than you know yourself..lol
Trust your instincts and be confident!!  I am good enuff to be on the front of that boat!!
Nobody loves Bass Fishing more than Me!!

  As I said Lake Oroville was a great place to start the season, lessons have been learned and confidence is at a all time high!! I proved to myself that I could catch fish and that I could stand up when I stumbled.. Thanks to those who help me learn these lessons!!  Next stop Lake Roosevelt AZ.