A Day on the River

Thursday I shot the opening day of the Bassmaster Central Open that is being held on the Red River. I'm glad that I arrived early, about 5:45 am, to get a shot of all of the boats on the river waiting for their turn to launch around sunrise.
After meeting up with my guide and getting out on the river about 8 am it didn't take long to find some competitors since there were 158 boats in the tournament. I have shot plenty of fishing tournaments and the secret to success is time and patience, so it was nice to have the whole morning to spend on the river to make some nice images.

It took about an hour before I finally saw a first fish pulled from the water, but it was a crappie or something so it was tossed back into the river. Finally angler Rick Kennedy pulled in a bass with the help of co-angler Judith Hart. Then, of course, Kennedy snagged another "non" bass that was once again tossed back in the river.

After shooting various boat up and down the Red River I ended up finding a very cooperative Egret and was able to make a photo of him watching the action on nearby boats also fishing on the river.
Finally about 10 am I managed to grab a shot of a large Heron in flight on the way back to Clark's Marina.