At the beginning of the year I wasn't even sure if I was going to enter the Rayovac due to the fact the 350 boat Triton Owners Tournament was going on the same week. I knew that 99% of the bass population would be schooled up offshore and nowadays it seems everyone knows how to find all of the schools and I also knew it would be a very frustrating tournament trying to find a place to fish that didn't have a boat sitting on it. I also do a lot of guide business before the TOT and I hated to gamble on tournament winnings as opposed to making guaranteed money guiding. A month or so before tournament time, I knew I'd be sick if I didn't enter, so I registered for the tournament.
As the end of May drew near, I'd thought a lot about how big of a cluster it was going to be with 600 boats trying to fish schools. I also knew the field would be full of the best school fishermen on the planet, the majority of which, in my opinion, hail from Pickwick Lake. Pickwick has a fraction of the schools we do at KY but they hold massive numbers of bass. Everyone finds them and they have 100's of baits rained down upon them every day and are at times seemingly impossible to catch. I really believe the Pickwick guys are the best school fishermen in the world and I also believe there are a couple different reasons why they're so good at what they do. First of all, they are experts at figuring out a way to catch the better quality fish out of schools that have been heavily pressured and secondly, they don't mind fishing in a crowd for the most part. I on the other hand, am not an expert at making the bigger fish bite out of a community hole school and I absolutely will NOT fish boat to boat with someone. With all of this in my head, I knew those boys would be hard to beat because it was setting up perfectly for what they're best at. At the same time, it hit me that if a guy had a smart game plan, he could possibly do really well. Once I started looking at it from that perspective, I couldn't wait to get practice underway and start putting together a plan to out think my competitors as opposed to out fishing them.
PRACTICE DAY 1: I had made up my mind that if I were to have a chance to win, a few different things needed to happen. I needed to spend the majority of practice searching for shallow schools that couldn't be found with a Lowrance. I also have a few places that aren't community holes that the fish use for short periods of time each year and when they get there, they're definitely the right kind. The catch to this is, I never know when they're going to show up and I don't know how long they'll stay when they do. I decided to only fish shallow bars and ditches during practice, scan a few community places along the way just to see how many schools were heading out and how many fish were in them and most importantly keep a close eye on these few "secret" spots I know about.
I headed to Paris Landing on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and needed to get my Mercury broken in first and foremost. I headed towards KY dam and figured by the time I got back to the Blood River area I'd have enough time on my engine and I could start my search. On my way back south I got to the Jonathan Creek area and decided to scan a few places. I found two schools and caught 20lbs out of them pretty quickly. I knew immediately that if I could catch 20lbs north of 68 bridge, the north end had to be on fire because I don't think I've ever caught a limit that far north! As tough as the north end of the lake has been the past few years, I assumed that if it was that good, the south would be even better. I spent the rest of the day fishing my way back to the Blood River area covering as many shallow stump bars and creek ledges as I could and never had a bite. Before I called it a day I ran by one of the "secret" holes I mentioned and it was absolutely covered with bass. I never even checked up, I just put my Triton on pad and headed to the ramp. Finding these fish that early in practice would make for a stressful few days. I didn't know how long they would hang around and I knew the longer they were there, the better chance there would be of someone else finding them. I just tried to put it out of my mind so I could start fresh on Sunday morning.
PRACITCE DAY 2: I spent day two from Blood River to Danville and again cranked and jigged my way around every shallow structure I could find with no success. I did a lot more scanning that day and I was seeing some interesting things. One thing I noticed was that the schools that had been out on the river for a week or so were getting more numbers in them everyday and the creek schools were moving further out of the creeks. I also noticed that places that hadn't had any fish on them, had a few showing up. The thing that I was most excited about though, was that a lot of places didn't have any fish on them yet. These things told me that new fish were coming out everyday and they were moving a lot. I felt like this could play into my favor because most people wouldn't fish anything during the tournaments if they were void of life in practice and I could possibly find an untapped school once competition began.
PRACTICE DAY 3: It was Memorial Day and the lake was wild with pleasure boaters and fishermen. I figured this would be a good day to fish the shallow stuff from Danville to New Johnsonville so I headed out, picked up a 6XD and never let out of it until the sun was setting. It made for a long and at times boring day but I found what I'd been looking for, two schools too shallow to scan and holding the biggun's! On the way in that day the current was ripping and I hadn't made a single cast to a school of deep fish in three days. I decided to pull up on a giant community hole and make up for a long three days of not doing much catching. I caught them every cast for about an hour and had several 4 to 4.5lbers during the flurry.
With more and more Triton owners showing up on the lake everyday, I decided not to practice anymore the rest of the week. I was really disappointed in what a lot of them were doing during practice. I've never seen so many guys just pull up and almost run over the top of you while your trying to scan a ledge. I already knew if anyone saw someone else catch a fish that place would be history and that's why I chose not to make a cast on a school during practice and I caught very few out of the shallow schools I found. It's really sad that so many people find there fish by watching others and it's a little scary to think about where it's headed. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if GPS and Structure Scan were banned for life after what I saw that week.
So, heading into my biggest tournament of the year this is what I had to go on. One unobvious school of fish that I'd found five days prior to the event with a history of not lingering around very long, two shallow bar schools with some big ones in them but I wasn't sure how many and if all that didn't pan out, I had enough confidence in my Lowrance that I could find a fresh school during the tournament. I felt like I'd accomplished what I'd set out to do during practice and while it was somewhat of a risky plan and/or approach, I felt much better about it than relying on community holes like I have the past two years.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
MAY- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!
May was a crazy month with lots of things going on both good and bad. I've gotten way behind on my blog so I'm going to catch up thru the last week of May and then have a separate entry for the FLW Rayovac.
May began with KY Lake a foot above summer pool and falling. An old friend of mine, Britt Franks, had asked me to fish the Budweiser out of Perryville with him and luckily I had an open weekend. Britt owns All Around Industrial Inc. and back when I walked out of my day job to fish, he offered to sponsor me for a year and that sponsorship is a big reason I'm still in business. We both have hectic schedules and rarely get to talk anymore much less fish together so I was really looking forward to spending some time with my old buddy.
I had a guide trip the day before the tournament and decided to use it as practice for the Bud. Britt had been practicing way south of New Jville and was catching some fish but didn't feel like they were the size we needed to compete. I headed to Jville and flipped all of my favorite areas without much success. With the water falling I really felt like the islands would be our best bet as the fish would pull out to the outer willows and bushes as the water fell. I kept the trolling motor on high and finally hit a stretch of island that produced several fish over 4lbs for my client. I had a pretty good idea that if he was catching fish with the Motor Guide on high, I could Power Pole down and pick it apart in the tournament and catch a pretty good bag.
Britt and I headed straight there Saturday morning and the action got underway immediately and lasted all day. It was one of the most fun days of flipping I've ever had. We had 20lbs by 8am that included a 6.5 lber that Britt pulled over a willow, around a bush and then pinned it to another willow for 5 minutes while I busted my Triton through a jungle to get to her! It was without a doubt the coolest landing of a fish I've ever seen and one that doesn't make it into the boat very often in a tournament. Although we landed some fish we probably shouldn't have out of the thickest, nastiest cover I've ever attempted to fish, we lost three giants that would've given us the biggest bag I'd ever been involved in flipping. We still caught around 75 bass with our best 5 weighing 23.60lbs which landed us in 3rd place. Britt came up to me at weigh in, took his shoes off and dumped them on the deck of my boat.....they were full of willow bark! That should give you an idea of just how far back in the junk we were. Power Poles and All Pro Rods Flippin' Sticks played huge roles in this one.
The following week I had 4 trips scheduled and an ABA WBS out of Moors. I came down with a terrible sore throat and fever after my 2nd trip and had to cancel my other two. I went to the Dr. on Friday and got a shot of the good stuff so I could fish the tournament on Saturday. I decided to head to Barkley for one last weekend of flipping and I made it about 15 miles that morning and blew my engine! The last time I blew an engine in a BWS was in 2010 and I used it as motivation and won that tournament. I told my co angler we were going to make it happen and I trolled into the closest pocket and started flippin'. Within an hour I'd lost three fish over 3lbs in the worst looking pockets I'd ever seen on Barkley lake and that took the wind out of my sails. I ended up landing one keeper the rest of the day and I just pitched it and got towed in. Thanks Odom's Blue and Gray Marine and Mercury for getting my boat running as good as new and back on the water in a very short time.
The next week I went out with a good friend of mine in preparation for the FLW Tour he'll be fishing in late June. We scanned all of the places that should have fish on them when he comes back and found 8 schools that were already out. I had a BFL coming up that weekend so I decided to head to the best of them which also happened to be the furthest south. When I arrived, my buddy Rodney Clawson was already there so I decided to scan a place or two close by until Rodney left. I never saw any fish on my Lowrance so I headed to a bar nearby that I knew would have the big ones headed to it soon. I fished a long section of the bar and my co angler lost a giant on a Strike King 6 XD. I dropped a waypoint and spent the next few hours cranking that section and managed to catch 17lbs 3oz and finished in 11th place.
The following Monday I was riding around with another FLW Tour Pro friend and pulled up on the section of bar I'd fished in the BFL just to see if they were still there. We caught over 25 lbs in ten minutes! HA! Typical fishing, always catch 'em when it doesn't count. That place would end up playing a big role in the Rayovac the next week but I'll get to that in another entry.
So, May was very busy and very interesting to say the least. I had several guide trips towards the end of the month and the fish were coming out to the ledges by the hour. I could actually watch the schools get bigger from day to day and I had a good feeling it was setting up for a slug fest in the upcoming Rayovac both with the fish and the 400 Triton Owners that were coming out of Paris the same week.
May began with KY Lake a foot above summer pool and falling. An old friend of mine, Britt Franks, had asked me to fish the Budweiser out of Perryville with him and luckily I had an open weekend. Britt owns All Around Industrial Inc. and back when I walked out of my day job to fish, he offered to sponsor me for a year and that sponsorship is a big reason I'm still in business. We both have hectic schedules and rarely get to talk anymore much less fish together so I was really looking forward to spending some time with my old buddy.
I had a guide trip the day before the tournament and decided to use it as practice for the Bud. Britt had been practicing way south of New Jville and was catching some fish but didn't feel like they were the size we needed to compete. I headed to Jville and flipped all of my favorite areas without much success. With the water falling I really felt like the islands would be our best bet as the fish would pull out to the outer willows and bushes as the water fell. I kept the trolling motor on high and finally hit a stretch of island that produced several fish over 4lbs for my client. I had a pretty good idea that if he was catching fish with the Motor Guide on high, I could Power Pole down and pick it apart in the tournament and catch a pretty good bag.
Britt and I headed straight there Saturday morning and the action got underway immediately and lasted all day. It was one of the most fun days of flipping I've ever had. We had 20lbs by 8am that included a 6.5 lber that Britt pulled over a willow, around a bush and then pinned it to another willow for 5 minutes while I busted my Triton through a jungle to get to her! It was without a doubt the coolest landing of a fish I've ever seen and one that doesn't make it into the boat very often in a tournament. Although we landed some fish we probably shouldn't have out of the thickest, nastiest cover I've ever attempted to fish, we lost three giants that would've given us the biggest bag I'd ever been involved in flipping. We still caught around 75 bass with our best 5 weighing 23.60lbs which landed us in 3rd place. Britt came up to me at weigh in, took his shoes off and dumped them on the deck of my boat.....they were full of willow bark! That should give you an idea of just how far back in the junk we were. Power Poles and All Pro Rods Flippin' Sticks played huge roles in this one.
The following week I had 4 trips scheduled and an ABA WBS out of Moors. I came down with a terrible sore throat and fever after my 2nd trip and had to cancel my other two. I went to the Dr. on Friday and got a shot of the good stuff so I could fish the tournament on Saturday. I decided to head to Barkley for one last weekend of flipping and I made it about 15 miles that morning and blew my engine! The last time I blew an engine in a BWS was in 2010 and I used it as motivation and won that tournament. I told my co angler we were going to make it happen and I trolled into the closest pocket and started flippin'. Within an hour I'd lost three fish over 3lbs in the worst looking pockets I'd ever seen on Barkley lake and that took the wind out of my sails. I ended up landing one keeper the rest of the day and I just pitched it and got towed in. Thanks Odom's Blue and Gray Marine and Mercury for getting my boat running as good as new and back on the water in a very short time.
The next week I went out with a good friend of mine in preparation for the FLW Tour he'll be fishing in late June. We scanned all of the places that should have fish on them when he comes back and found 8 schools that were already out. I had a BFL coming up that weekend so I decided to head to the best of them which also happened to be the furthest south. When I arrived, my buddy Rodney Clawson was already there so I decided to scan a place or two close by until Rodney left. I never saw any fish on my Lowrance so I headed to a bar nearby that I knew would have the big ones headed to it soon. I fished a long section of the bar and my co angler lost a giant on a Strike King 6 XD. I dropped a waypoint and spent the next few hours cranking that section and managed to catch 17lbs 3oz and finished in 11th place.
The following Monday I was riding around with another FLW Tour Pro friend and pulled up on the section of bar I'd fished in the BFL just to see if they were still there. We caught over 25 lbs in ten minutes! HA! Typical fishing, always catch 'em when it doesn't count. That place would end up playing a big role in the Rayovac the next week but I'll get to that in another entry.
So, May was very busy and very interesting to say the least. I had several guide trips towards the end of the month and the fish were coming out to the ledges by the hour. I could actually watch the schools get bigger from day to day and I had a good feeling it was setting up for a slug fest in the upcoming Rayovac both with the fish and the 400 Triton Owners that were coming out of Paris the same week.
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