BWS DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

I didn't find much in practice but I did find out the stretch I finished 3rd in the BFL on last weekend had a fresh crop of largemouth on it and they were readily chasing down my Baby Burner spinnerbait.  The plan was to catch as much as I could there as quickly as I could and then go flip Hydrilla and maybe hit a deep stump or 2 and try and upgrade.

Day 1 was working to perfection.  It took me 17 minutes to catch 15lbs and then I made a 12 mile run south to the Hydrilla. After an hour and a half I hadn't had a bite so I eased back north hitting a couple of deep places along the way which failed to produce.  I caught a few keepers that wouldn't help on some other places similar to my primary area.  I decided to spend the last 30 minutes on the goods and I finally got a brown fish to eat!  It was my biggest fish of the day, a 4.31lber that culled a 2.5lber.  I weighed in 17.04 and was in 2nd place.

Day 2 was a little bit tougher and after 10 minutes I hadn't had a bite which was unusual. I finally hooked up and a 6lb class largemouth jumped right by the boat and threw my swim jig!  Not the way you want to start the day but that's part of the game.  It took me until 9 am to get a limit that weighed about 14lbs and one of them was just a 2lber.  I kept seeing that big largemouth coming unbuttoned in my mind and couldn't help but have a sick feeling.  Finally at 11 am, I decided to change gears and I ran and threw a football jig on some stumps and caught a 4lber.  I returned to my primary spot to finish the day and caught several more keepers but none would cull.  I just knew that big fish was going to cost me the tournament but I always say when it's your time it's your time and the day 1 leader struggled on day 2 and I ended up winning the tournament by more than 3lbs. 

More importantly, I overcame a horrible 32nd place finish in May and ended the season tied for the point's championship with my good friend David Gnewikow.  I ended up winning the point's on a tie breaker because I had 91lbs for the season and David only had 88lbs.  The point's champion receives free entry's into next years tournaments, an automatic berth into the National championship and a free set of the best batteries on the planet, Odyssey's!


I've been very blessed the past few tournaments and hopefully I can keep it rolling into the regionals and championships coming up in October.

LBL BFL SUPER TOURNAMENT

I didn't have much going on in September other than the BFL and BWS 2 day tournaments.  I usually try to stay off the water until 2 or 3 days right before the tournament but I was chomping to get out and see what the grass fish were doing so I hit the water 8 days before the BFL.  I found a stretch of grass that was chalk full of bass and the biggest of the bunch were SMALLMOUTH!  I don't catch a lot of smallies so I was bouncing off the walls wondering if they'd hang around long enough for me to exploit them in the BFL.

The fish stayed put but they changed colors on me and I weighed in 31lbs 5oz worth of largemouth that all fell victim to a 7/16oz Strike King Baby Burner spinnerbait or a 3/8oz Tour Grade Swimming Jig tipped with a pearl Rage Craw.  I caught a ton of fish but only had one smallmouth and it was a 17 3/4" beauty but unfortunately they have to be 18" in the BFL's so I had to let her swim away.  I managed a 3rd place finish and finished the year in 3rd place in the point's standings.