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.
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