Tournament Recap #3 July 31st

So after my great FLW experience I came home to fish some small local tournaments. The next one on my season was the Deep River Outfitters open tournament on the Ottawa River in Deep River. This is one of the premiere events in our area now with a limited field of 50 boats and a big payout  but it is also a great family even due to the fact that children can also fish the event. It is sponsored by Shimano and G-Loomis along with Deep River Outfitters, Molson, and many other companies and businesses that donate some great prizes to the prize table. Each year Big Jim is our M.C. and he loves to see all the kids have a good time along with cracking jokes with all the adults he has gotten to know over the years. This years event had 21 children who all received new rod and reel combo's from Big Jim as well as a great tackle pack from various other sponsors. I fish this event with my Dad and this year we actually got out for a bit of a pre-fish. We located some fish on some sharp drop offs as well as on some wood in a small bay off the main river but we couldn't locate any good size. On tournament day we had much the same luck and we finished with a disappointing 26th place with 9.41 lbs. This tournament has been my achillies heel for years now due to me being to confident I can always find fish on my home stretch. Next year I have decided that I am going to spend at least a couple of days pre-fishing as well as commit to finding new water. I would really like to do well in this event in front of my main sponsors just to help build my confidence. Big Jim will be back again next year and there are already 27 paid entries so this will be a sellout again next year and I'm sure it will be even better than this year.