Trout Master Classic

With the arrival of legendary Mr. Eric Mabee again on Cape as he treks toward his new home of New Hampshire, came the arrival of the first annual Trout Master Classic. I've many times been dragged along (by choice, which makes you wonder why I used "dragged along"), on his many fishing endeavors. Anyways yesterday I joined him, only on the terms that we have a contest, and act like professional fisherman. Therefore I went into the classic under the alias of Dale Bufford, in hopes of luring the biggest fish in the waters of Mares Pond. Eric naturally went as Eric Mabee. We took a kayak out on the pond, in order to stealthy attack the fish. Eric started off the classic, by attempting to get into the kayak....only to fall in the water just off shore, on his ass, completely submerged by the brisk water. So I was naturally leading the classic at this point. After Eric got a change of clothes, we were off on the open water. It was only a matter of time before Mr. Mabee regained his lead in the classic, by catching a small ass trout. And then he extended his lead with catching another smallish trout. This was expected...Eric knows the waters like the back of his hand, and Dale Bufford had just seen the pond for the first time. After a few laps around the pond not catching anything, Dale was energized by a tug on his line, "I got one!!"...at the same time Eric had that same tug... they had both snagged one at the same time...now it was just a matter of getting them in... Bufford proceeded to efficiently bring his in. While in the meantime Eric had a beast on his line, although tragically it came off the line just as he was trying to get it in the Yak. It was 2-1 Eric, but Bufford had caught a decent sized one! Knowing he had to do something special, Bufford put his special sauce on the lure and cast it out. Within a matter of time, he was fighting again... it was a long battle, but Bufford brought in the biggest trout so far. It was tied up 2-2...Eric caught another small trout to take a 3-2 lead when the officials decided to pull of off the lake due to strong winds. Bufford had caught the biggest fish, but eric had one more than him.. This led the officials to call the 1st annual classic a draw.

**Here is some pictures of the classic!