After my last two days of practice I didn't know what to expect. I really wasn't sure if I could catch a keeper. My only hope was that the places I found on Monday, which were loaded with fish that day, had enough still hanging around that I could coax a few into biting. I've already qualified for the National Championship since I won the points championship in the KY division so I really had nothing to lose in this tournament but I desperately want to win a boat which I've never done and this was a free shot at accomplishing just that.
I started day 1 where I caught the 6lber in practice and after 30 minutes never had a bite. I ran to where I'd caught a 3lber and never had a bite. At 9:30 I rolled into a little pocket that was packed with fish on Monday and finally caught a 15"er on my Rage Craw. A few minutes later I caught a 3lber on my swim jig and a little later got another bite flipping. When I set the hook on the fish my bait flew back at me and my heavy wire flippin hook was straightened out! That was a bad deal because I've swung 7lbers in the boat with that same hook and not bent them so I know that had to be the kind I was looking for. I made a couple passes without a bite and made a move. After another hour without a bite I decided to return to the area I'd had my 3 bites in. When I pulled in one of my buddies, Brian Brown, was fishing my stretch. I fell in behind him and watched him catch two 3lbers which was hard to stomach because I knew how tough it was to get a bite. Brian eventually left and I spent the rest of the day picking apart every sprig of Hydrilla in the area and managed 3 more keepers. I weighed in 14.14lbs and was in 8th place going into day 2.
I made up my mind to camp out in the 30 yard stretch where I caught all of my fish on day 1 and immediately caught two short fish. After 2.5 hours working back and forth I finally caught a 17" keeper. After another hour without a bite I couldn't stand it any longer and made a move. I fished a few new places and a few I'd fished in practice that looked promising and never had a bite so I returned to my starting spot and finished the day. I never caught another keeper the rest of the day and weighed in 2.83lbs. Amazingly, I only dropped to 14th place and still cashed a check. I knew if I only dropped 6 places after weighing in 1 keeper it had to be tough on everyone. I looked at the stats and there were only 4 limits of bass weighed in out of 129 boats! That was the 2nd toughest day of fishing I can remember ever having. My buddy Brian Brown who I shared some water with had one of those limits and weighed in 17.20lbs and finished in 4th place. Good job Brian!
I'm headed to Pickwick for the BFL regional so maybe I will have a better showing in that one, but the word on the street is Pickwick is fishing as tough as nails right now. I will probably take the hero or zero approach and fish Wilson or Bay Springs. I'll definitely give them a look in practice.
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