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Tuesday at the Nationals is usually a day to catch bait and to check out prime spots for smokers that may be holding there. This year, snotty weather kept many boats at the docks. The No Limitations opted to stay ashore and search for fish on Wednesday.

I spoke to Jim Scharfschwerdt and Tommy Mulligan of the Wound Tight team who had ventured out Tuesday morning. Jim said they “had a great time except for the rough seas and the cold. The cold water moved back in due to the front and we were looking for water temperature in all the usual places. We never make the final decision [on which spot to fish] until Friday morning at checkout.”

Later I ran into Barry Matthews of The Right One Baby fishing team. While Barry won’t be on the boat, The Right One Baby has combined forces with with Jamie Wallace’s Rugman and Barry is here for support. They pre-fished Monday and had no trouble finding bait and put a bead on some good fish. Just the fact that their boat is in the water is a testament to their never-say-die attitude. On the road to the Nationals on a ramp at exit 67A in Atlanta at the I-20 / 285 exchange, they hit a bump or a dip and their 33T Contender came completely off the trailer. After preliminary inspection, hey hired two cranes to lift the boat back onto the trailer and continued on to Biloxi. They put her in the water, fired her up, and all components were working. Aside from some cosmetic damage, the boat is running fine. Rumor has it that three hours earlier a 31 Contender came off a trailer at the same spot. At the time of this writing, Barry is in the semi-finals of the BlackJack Tournament—he won first place last year.

I caught up with the Like 2 Fish team that had ventured out in search of bait today. “It was wet going out—a lot worse than coming in,” related Bosie Picquet. “When we got out there it was five- to seven-foot seas, and they were quick. It laid down a bit about three o’clock where we could run, anyway—about two to three,” he continued. “We fished at the closest rigs and got a few bluefish then some blue runners late in the day. In between we found snapper, pulling two or three up at a time, pompano, trout, and even a flounder.” Sounds like they had a good day in spite of the less than perfect weather. Bosie told me about last year coming in on Friday, they decided to jig for bait. They caught a 16-pound king on a sabiki rig! Now, that’s a fish story!

Bosie fishes with Captain Mark Drolshagen on the 34 Yellowfin Like 2 Fish. Bosie says of tournament fishing, “You just try to beat all the fellas you know in the tournament. If you fish for the money, you’re a damn fool. Money’s icing on the cake.”

I ask Mark Drolshagen if they had any particular superstions or rituals before they fish. He related that earlier in the year they had engine trouble at a tournament and didn’t make weigh-in in time. It didn’t seem possible to make up for that donut in the point standings. Weather postponed the Savannah tournament and the event moved to their backyard in Sullivan’s Island. They decided to go ahead and fish even though the Nationals seemed out of reach. Jesting around as fishing teams often do, his teammates pasted a Piggly Wiggly sticker on his windshield. He told them, “If we stick the pig, I won’t take off this sticker.” They brought a 35.68 porker to the scale making the cut to qualify once again. This makes the ninth year Drolshagen has qualified for Nationals.

All the teams I spoke to today assured me they would go to the big tent at the Palace Casino Resort parking lot either Wednesday noon til 5 or Thursday 10am til 5:30pm to pick up their captain’s bag and boat number. Everyone do the weather dance to bring warmer temperatures and lighter winds.