FLW Lake Havasu

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marc Marcantonio on March 27, 2009 at 7:02pm

Ron missed the cut by less than a pound, but still ended up in 16th place winning over $10,000. We were talking on the phone after day one, and is sounded like he said he had a mechanical failure (and then we got cut off). Seems like you can always count on mother nature to screw with your plans...it was a sight fishing bite until the gale winds blew on days 2 and 3.

ciao,
Marc

Permalink Reply by Marc Marcantonio on March 27, 2009 at 7:03pm

Davey Kromm and Sean Minderman both did great as well! Congratulations to all the Washington anglers for the good showing.

ciao,
Marc

Permalink Reply by Jerry on March 27, 2009 at 10:11pm

Congrats to all the WA guys

Permalink Reply by S Hwang on March 28, 2009 at 1:26am

Nice showing WA dudes!

Permalink Reply by Abbottola on March 29, 2009 at 11:58pm

Hobbs is the man! He caught on average 13lbs. with a trolling motor only. The most impressive part was the windy conditions and where he fished. He adjusted overnight to his misfortune and still almost made the cut. Great job!

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on March 30, 2009 at 8:28am

Congratulations, Ron! Way to make the necessary adjustments under unfortunate circumstances and adverse conditions. Very impressive.

Permalink Reply by Willie Parsons on March 30, 2009 at 8:01pm

Jeff, how did it go for you and Rob?

Permalink Reply by Abbottola on March 31, 2009 at 2:21am

Not to bad, I was still in the hunt for a check going into day 3. Unfortunately I had to learn a valuable lesson about practice. ie always find areas that are fishable in very windy conditions. I ended in 66th. but it was exciting none-the-less. I was in 40th. going into day three, and felt really confident with all the good fish I saw around me, just none would go. Rob faired better than I did, he placed 24th on the co-angler side. He managed to take advantage of any opportunity given by his boater and scratched 2-3 fish a day. Which during the spawn is no easy task.
Redemption will come on Tri-Cities, just need to raise a couple thousand more!

Permalink Reply by Mark Maderos on March 31, 2009 at 1:36pm

Isn't amazing how cream always rise's to the top. Well done Ron on making the BEST out of a bad situation. The winner likewise had to overcome so pretty horrible circumstances.

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on March 31, 2009 at 8:35pm

Thanks for all the kind words from all of you, to make a long story short my motor crapped out on me the first day of the tourney around 1. They were unable to fix the motor and fished within sight of the Marina. I made sure I always fished up wind to make sure I would make it back every day. The 2nd day the wind blew like 35 to 45mph and 2-4 footers with no coves or anything to hide in my batteries were exhausted and I weighed in an hour early. The third day I almost did not make it back at all my batteries were toasted and made it back to the check in boat with 2 minutes to spare.

The motor hampered me a little but on the reverse side of things it made me fish slower and more methodical since the area was getting pounded by other competitors, it kind of reminded me of Newport Shores in the spring time. When my motor gave up I did not but just changed my game plan and techniques I was using, to deal with the heavily pressured waters, and it worked out. 3" worms and 4 lb. test paired with a perch jerking rod is all it took.

Permalink Reply by Chris Blandi on March 31, 2009 at 9:03pm

Wow thats amazing to hear you overcome those kinds of odds. I don't even take a rod along with 4 lb test. You are the man Ron !! Great finish and overall good tourny for Abbottola too. Every day is a learning experience, bet yal can't wait to go back.