Corporate Fishing Event
Travis Frank
The last couple of days I have spent on the water with some truly great people. As part of the Ranger Boats team, we are invited to partake in their corporate fishing events. These events are actually bass tournaments with a twist. Each Ranger Pro gets paired up with two individuals. Once we get paired up, it is off to the races to outfish the other teams in an all out bass tournament for the 3 largest bass.
Wednesday was an all day event, and I was lucky enough to be paired up with two fishing studs. Mark Debraal of ROCK-TENN and Joe Bacik from Walter G. Anderson Inc. Our morning started out of Bayview in Excelsior, and we enjoyed a breakfast buffet while we waited for the rain to subside. Once on the water, we were on what we called a "Monster Quest," which was basically our motto for the day, and became our team name. That meant that we were only looking for bass that were giants. We wanted to catch the three biggest bass of the tournament, and didn't care if we caught any others. Our morning was rather slow, but so too was our competition. A quick lunch break and we were back on the water. Our afternoon was slightly better and filled up our limit. Our "monster quest" came up a little short, but we had one heck of a time trying. 
To top off the great day on the water, Joe was drawn for his chance at winning a brand new Ranger Boat. A few feet to the left and his jig would have landed in the bucket giving him the new sweet ride. Almost!
Yesterday was a similar day and event. Once again we were on the "Monster Quest," for three large bass, however this time I was joined by a couple of water experts, Rod Negus and Dan Robinson of Lockheed Martin. I say water experts, because I think they may spend as much time on the water as I do. The only difference is that they are being towed behind the boat while I am fishing from the boat. They are the guys that all of us fisherman shake our heads at when we are hoping for some peace and quiet! haha! On this day, we were united and enjoyed the heck out of our time on the water. After a ride across country to our final destination, Rod quickly got us on the board. A nice bass, that put some confidence in the boat, and got the mojo going. We caught several more before our afternoon stint came to an end. As is often the case, the big ones broke the line and got away, but we still faired pretty well and weighed in a nice bag of bass. I had two great days on the water, and learned that water skiers and fisherman can in fact get along! From the bass filled waters of Lake Minnetonka, Keep on Livin' the Dream!