Fished the Operation North State fishing festival tournament in Mooresville NC on Lake Norman today. Its a tournament where 50 host boaters each take a vet out for a day of fishing in a just for fun tournament. Being a vet and ONS alum myself. I look forward to being able to do this each outing. Started the day off catching our biggest fish of the day on a spro spin john 80 spybait around bridge rip rap. Switched up to dragging a minimax chatter bait with a zako trailer and stuck with that the rest of the day. My vet fished nothing but a fluke the whole day. After the rip rap bite petered off around 10ish we switched to shade lines under walkways from.docks. culled up a few ounces and ended the day with 5 fish for 8lbs. 10 oz. My vet who is disabled said he hadn't had that much fun since he can remember and I had a blast telling war stories and catching fish with a fellow Navy vet.

Amazing job and thank you both for your service!   

You guys did better than about 25-35% of the NPFL tour level pros who were fishing there today as well. 

On 4/17/2025 at 9:03 PM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

You guys did better than about 25-35% of the NPFL tour level pros who were fishing there today as well. 

 

That's so cool and impressive for you and your buddy, IYAOYAS. 

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

That's so cool and impressive for you and your buddy, IYAOYAS. 

The veteran gentleman I fished with was not a buddy(at least not at the start of the day) We have 50-65 veterans sign up for this tournament through Operation North State then they pair us host boaters with veterans at random. Then we take them out and they are basically our coangler for the day. But to be honest I have made many lifelong friends through Operation North State. The goal of operation North States is to bring people together and support veterans and promote healing and fellowship through fishing. It's always and adventure!

26 minutes ago, IYAOYAS said:

The veteran gentleman I fished with was not a buddy(at least not at the start of the day) We have 50-65 veterans sign up for this tournament through Operation North State then they pair us host boaters with veterans at random.

 

What a great program. I'd be happy to take a vet fishing on my pond. I'd put her/him in the bow, point where to cast, and then net his/her bass.