BASS Northern open/ Champlain
I have been seeing lots of pros here on the water all week for practice and then the tournament. Yesterday morning there was a strong wind out of the south making some pretty decent waves. When this happens the boats that go north from the Plattsburg launch cross the main lake and run up along the Vermont shore to escape the wind. I was getting my paper and could hear the roar of approaching boats so I went down and stood on the dock. Boats were everywhere and all were racing to be first at their honey holes. Most boats were really having a difficult time dealing with the high waves and were launching out of the water and slapping down. I could see a group of 6 or 8 boats coming around the point all grouped together and trying to maintain what I figured was about half throttle due to the waves. All at once one blue Ranger boat with Cocoon as a logo cut to the right into shallow water and blasted right past the dock and went right around all the other boats. I could see it was Ish Monroe one of the elite series Bass pros. He blew right past all the competitors and I could see them all turn and watch him walk away from them and they were envious I am sure. I went over to the weigh in yesterday afternoon and ran into Ish. He is a real nice guy and when I told him what I saw he knew right away where I lived. He knew the water remained deep because he had been there in practice and could see the point and knew the water would be calm in closer to shore in the lee of the point. He had it all planned and executed it perfectly. He is one of the few elite series pros in this tournament and his experience and boat handling showed. He had his boat and tow truck parked after he weighed in and I can tell you that his setup is something to see. His fully decked out 21 foot Ranger is powered by a Yamaha 250 and he has all the electronic bells and whistles needed to be competitive. His truck is a matching blue Chevy loaded with logos and huge custom chrome wheels that match the smaller ones on his trailer. The truck has gas shocks and a lift kit like I haven’t seen in these parts. Everything about that truck was custom right down to the logo on his California license plate….Yo Ish. He was proud of that truck and indicated the only problem with it was it was hard to wash because it is so high. Good luck today Ish on the final day. You are in 16th place and I hope you make it to the top.