Usually the best place to start any story is at the beginning, so let your memory drift back about 4 months. 

 

After a hugely successful launch of the Nuts & Bolts Getaway Giveaways with the Great Grouper Getaway,  the Backyards & Bayous Getaway raised the bar even higher with an exponential increase in the number of entries.  Sifting through them all was a task that required at least a week's worth of the judges' time.   When the dust settled, one entry rose to the top and Kevin Sweeney from Hixon, Tennessee was proclaimed the winner on a Nuts & Bolts television episode.   His story about the Great Gar Battle was one that took the prize. So, with a phone call and a few emails the details were finalized to make the trip to Callaway Gardens.

 

 

Everyone was excited about spending time on the lakes at Callaway, and Kevin was especially jazzed about getting to fish from his new Twin Troller electric boat and catch fish with his new Coach's Stealth rod.  An initial date was set, but weather issues kept pushing the date for the trip further into the fall.   Eventually, schedules aligned and the early fall rains let up long enough for us to get together in Pine Mountain, GA.

 

We met Kevin and his wife Kathy for dinner Tuesday night, and were joined by Roscoe Worth-Jones and Frank Jones, Sr. of Carolina Electric Boats, and Coach Bagby of Coach's Custom Rods.   The skies had been building all night, but the front was supposed to pass through by mid-morning on Wednesday so the game plan was to meet  our guide and host, Paul Hudson, at Kingfisher Outfitters around noon.  

 

Wednesday morning we awoke to heavy rains and it looked like we might be admiring Kevin's new boat from the relative dryness of the front porch, but almost to the minute, at noon, the skies opened up and presented a blue canopy for us to fish under.

 

Roscoe and Frank had trailered three boats down for us to fish from -- including Kevin's new boat.  And while Roscoe familiarized Kevin with his new prize, Coach got the ball rolling by catching a whopper warmouth right from the docks.  A good omen?

 

With boats in the water, we paired up --- Kathy confessed she was not much of an angler, so we elected to put her with Paul since he spends much of his time teaching less experienced anglers how to fish.  That left Kevin and me in his boat and Roscoe and Coach in another.

   

Now, fall is the time of year when the fish are putting on the proverbial feed-bag for the winter, and we figured the action would be excellent.  We were three days off the full moon, but the continual barrage of weather systems pounding the area for the past several weeks had us wondering if the fish might be a bit off schedule.  This would mean we would have to potentially pull out all our secret baits to entice a bite.

 

No matter, the day was beautiful and we had Callaway's biggest lake to explore.   The three boat crews headed in different directions, each on a mission to find bream, shellcrackers, crappie and bass. 

Kevin hooked up almost immediately with a nice largemouth which did a couple of tail dances on top of the water and then threw the hook.  I opted to try an in-line spinner and landed three bluegills on three casts.   We were off to a great start. 

 

Across the lake, we could hear Kathy being coached by Paul and the subsequent excitement in her voice as she connected with a bluegill along the grassy banks. 

Coach and Roscoe had made a beeline for the far end of the lake, hoping to find the big boys feeding on shad along the drop-off at the dam, so reports from them would have to come later.   All in all, it seemed like this would turn out to be a fishy day.

 

As the afternoon wore on, Kevin really got the hang of operating the foot controls on the Twin Troller and maneuvered us around the coves and pockets while I sat back and enjoyed the ride.   Kevin focused on hooking up with a bodacious bucketmouth while I continued to play with bluegills and warmouths on small Roostertails.   The bass were there, but the bite was soft and hesitant.   Kevin had numerous takes, but just couldn't convince them to hang on to the hook.   We've all been there before.  Meanwhile, from across the channel we could see Kathy almost constantly connected and gleefully proclaiming "I got another one.!"   Oh, did I mention that Kathy doesn't fish much?  But today she was catching a LOT! 

 

 

The silence was interrupted by the familiar "Atta Girl!" from Paul as he praised Kathy for landing yet another bluegill. 

 

 

Roscoe, Coach, Kevin and I looked at each other and agreed.... no more messing around. 

 

It was The Guys against The Girl.   

 

We pulled out every trick in the book.  Wacky worms, crankbaits, suspending plugs, Carolina rigs, Texas rigs, even Roscoe's super secret watermelon finesse baits. We threw every piece of plastic, metal or wood known in the fishing world at them.   Nada.  Yes, we caught a couple more bluegills, and Kevin had some major blow-up's, but nothing that could truly quell the constant "Got another one"  or  "Wow, that's a nice fish" that hounded us from just a few yards away.   During the course of the afternoon, Kathy and crew even took time out to engage in a rescue operation by saving a waterlogged and exhausted chipmunk who was attempting to swim across the lake. 

 

 

 

At the end of the day,  total tally for the four Guys - 9 fish... and for the one Girl - 32 fish.

 

But no one was complaining about the scoreboard.   The scenery, the camaraderie, and the chance to spend time on the water with new friends was what made this trip wonderful.  After all this was a day for Kevin and Kathy.   This was their adventure.   One person's dream of winning a new boat, a new custom rod and a stay at one of Georgia's most beautiful destinations had come true.  And Roscoe, Coach and I were honored and happy to be a part of it.  

On this day, everyone was a winner, but none more happier than Kevin.  With a new boat, a new rod and a renewed passion for lake fishing, Kevin was all smiles.  We said our goodbyes and left Kevin and Kathy with another full day to enjoy and explore the surroundings at Callaway Gardens, and they may have even got in a little more fishing.   One thing's for sure, Kevin's going to have a lot of fun on the ponds and streams in Tennessee with his new prize package.   Congratulations Kevin!

 

 

 

So...what's the moral of this story?   Well most would say the secret to enjoying yourself on the water is to accept the fact that the fish don't always cooperate.  On the other hand, Kathy would probably say, the secret is to always put a bobber and a tub of red wigglers in your tackle bag.

 

If you'd like be a winner like Kevin Sweeney, there's another Nuts & Bolts Getaway Giveaway coming up real soon.   So tune in to the TV shows each week and look for the announcement.   This one is going to be BIG... and yep... we're giving away another amazing fishing vessel with an electronics package.   Watch Nuts & Bolts Television Sunday mornings at 7:15am on Fox Sports Network or catch us 7 days a week on MyOutdoorTV.com