Upcoming Events

All meetings will start at 7 p.m.

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Rudy's BBQ

9828 Dallas Parkway

Frisco, Texas 75034 

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December 2nd 2019

January 6th 2020

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Lake o' the Pines Recap

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Open Hearts, Minds, and Mouths by Steven Rizzo

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As we eased down the edge of a sparse grass bed in a Lake o’ the Pines backwater, Chris pointed to a dead tree a-top of which perched a large bald eagle, his white head glistening in the morning sun. We stood in awe watching the magnificent creature lift off the tree and soar across the blue, freedom and beauty springing from death.

Two days earlier Dylan at All Star Archery & Marine brought my Ultrex back from death and rejuvenated our spirits as we had assumed we were going to have to miss the Lake o’ the Pines event.

“I’m so thankful we’re getting to go!” I gushed to Chris as we set out for A Motel Among the Pines in Avinger, Texas 6:30 that Friday evening. “Even if I don’t get a bite all weekend, I’ll still be thrilled.”

The next morning we landed two keepers in short order, followed by a lull in the action, until Chris accidentally pulled out a junebug-colored Senko instead of his green pumpkin/water melon standby. What the heck—I’ll try it, he thought, and then preceded to catch our third keeper on his very next cast. Not having had a bite on soft plastics all day, I switched to a darker hue as well and soon started catching bass, albeit non-keepers.

“I think we may have figured something out,” we agreed. “We need to feed ’em what they want, not what we think they should want.”

Finding ourselves toward the middle-bottom of the pack and over ten pounds out of the lead at the close of weigh-in left us regretting the three-pounder that had jumped off that afternoon, but we remained thankful to be there, a mindset that would continue that evening as we enjoyed some beer, music, and laughs with our bassin’ buddies at Big Cypress Tavern.

            In the first half-hour Sunday morning I caught two chunks on a black buzzbait, and twenty minutes later Chris caught our third keeper on a junebug baby brush hog, shortly after which we encountered the majestic eagle. Two more keepers—one caught on a dark swim jig and the other on a junebug Z-Hog—gave us our limit.

            After weigh-in, as I was tending to the boat, Chris approached.

            “We came in second!” he exclaimed.

            Having caught one of only two limits that day, we made an unlikely comeback, finishing with a two-day total of 16.83 lbs, edging out Tracy and Danny who took 3rd place with 15.77 lbs, and falling over eight pounds behind Mike and Doug who took 1st place with 25.59 lbs and Big Bass with the 7.39 lber they caught Saturday.

“What a relief! That three-pounder didn’t matter after all,” I beamed. Now, with our burdens lifted like an eagle leaving a dead tree, we pointed our rig west and soared across the blue.