Friday, November 14, 2014

The Great Debacle of OCTOBER 2014

You would think that guiding on the weekdays and fishing tournaments on the weekend would be a pretty stress free way to make a living.  The tournament organizations threw a serious wrench into my plans this year with their scheduling.  I start planning my season months in advance and when the schedules came out for 2014 I immediately knew I wasn't going to fish the BFL Regional on Lake Cherokee and instead would fish the Renegade Classic on Barkley for a shot at a new boat.  It also looked like I would have plenty of time to attend the ABA WBS Regional on Lake Chickamauga the last weekend of September.

As the season progressed it was announced that the Toyota Owners Tournament would be held out of Paris Landing the last Sunday of September.  That would put the pressure on me to drive from Chickamauga to KY Lake immediately after the tournament, but still doable.

Next, the PAA announced their schedule.  They also had scheduled a tournament on KY Lake the same days as the Renegade Classic.  What I liked better about the PAA v.s. the Renegade was that it would be a 3 day cumulative weight as opposed to the Renegade where weights would be zeroed after two days for a final day shoot out.  I felt like my odds of catching 3 good bags were better than one giant bag so that had my wheels turning on what would be the better option.

By the end of the year numbers were way down in the ABA WBS and there was no way we would have enough boats in the final two day event to qualify for the Triton Gold and Mercury bonus so I chose to fish a Music City BFL the same weekend in hopes that it would draw the 60 boat minimum field.  That decision cost me being able to go to the WBS Chickamauga Regional because the rules state that you must participate in the two day in order to fish the Regional. So that nixed that chance of winning a new Triton boat.

Knowing I couldn't attend my BFL Regional, I'd had a bad BFL earlier in the year in which I'd only caught a few small keepers and had thrown them back in hopes of possibly qualifying for the Chevy Wildcard which is open to all contestants who have paid for an entire division of BFL's but failed to make the top 40 in the point's.   By mid September rumors were circulating that the BFL All American was coming to KY Lake in 2015!  The only way to qualify for the AA is to finish in the top 6 in a Regional or the Wildcard.  I had a funny feeling that the Wildcard would be somewhere good but it wouldn't be announced until all of the regular season BFL's were complete.  Heading into my last LBL BFL I was in 32nd in the points and the only way I would be eligible for the Wildcard would be to zero in the Super Tournament.  I decided to fish to win and if I didn't have enough weight the first day to have a shot at winning, I'd just throw them back and fish the Wildcard.  I ended up catching 23lbs that day so obviously I had to weigh them in which meant my only hope of making a once in a lifetime All American on KY Lake would be dropping out of the Renegade or PAA and going to Lake Cherokee for the Regional. Confused yet?!?!?

After a long talk with my good friend, Renegade Tournament partner and counselor/adviser, Dr. David Gnewikow, I still didn't know what to do.  David seems to always give me the right advice and he had told me as bad as he wanted to try and win that boat in the Renegade with me, he really thought I'd regret it if I didn't at least try and qualify for the All American.  Meanwhile, the PAA had been canceled so that was a big relief.  I now had it narrowed down between the Renegade and the Cherokee Regional.  I decided to spend a few days on Lake Cherokee before the off limits and if I felt like I could catch some fish when I left, I'd fish the regional, if not, the Renegade. My first couple days on Cherokee were rough and it looked like my decision would be easy.  The last day I decided to run as far up the river as a bass boat could go and then some.  I caught the heck out of bass and ended the day with about 17lbs which is a monster bag for Cherokee in the fall.  I called David on my way home and told him I had to go to the regional and try and make the All American.

As official practice drew near for Cherokee I'd been keeping an eye on the water level.  The lake had dropped 4 feet since I had been there just ten days earlier.  I knew the only way I'd be able to make it up that river was with a jet boat and they are no longer allowed by FLW.  At that point it was too late to drop out and I was stuck fishing Cherokee while my buddies were sending me pics of giants they were catching that week on KY Lake, a lot of which were caught on places I fish!  I was sick that I'd opted out of the Renegade and I knew the only way I would ever forgive myself would be to make the All American on Cherokee.

PRACTICE: The first day of practice eased my pain a little.  I had about 30 bites that day a lot of which were on my trusty old Sexy Dawg.  I also got on a pile of smallmouth with a jigging spoon but they were all between 16" and 17.5" and they had to be 18" to keep. I had about 14lbs that day and my goal weight going in was 10lbs a day.  The next day I tried to make it up the river but couldn't even get within sight of where I'd caught them on my previous visit and other than a few bites flipping trees, I couldn't get anything else going. The tree flipping pattern had been strong on my scouting trip but the water had fallen so much there were only about ten trees left in the water.  The next day storms set in and I only had two bites all day in an abbreviated practice session.

REGIONAL DAY 1: I started where I'd had the majority of my bites the first day of practice and an hour went by without a bite.  I finally made my way around a point where the sun was beaming down on a brush pile.  I walked my Sexy Dawg right over the brush and just as I started to say, "it's just not happening", a 4.5lber exploded on my bait but missed it.  I kept the bait steadily walking through the explosion and the fish erupted from the water again but still didn't get a hook in it.  By that point my bait was way too close to the boat and the fish retreated back into the brush. That set the tone for the day and I ended up with 4 more keeper bites that day and lost or missed all but one pitiful little 1lb. 13oz. largemouth.  I knew I needed a seemingly impossible 17 or 18lb bag on day two to have a shot at making the cut but crazier things have happened.

REGIONAL DAY 2:  I started day 2 the same as day 1 but never had a bite.  I even tried my jigging spoon pattern in hopes some 18" smallies had moved in with the 17" fish but never had a bite.  I made my way up the river where I'd had several keeper bites flipping on day 1 and only caught one keeper and several tiny little fish.  I did eventually put a 13" spotted bass in the boat but it was way to little way too late and I ended up dumping my fish on day 2 and getting out of Morristown, TN as quickly as possible.

SUMMARY:  I had a 6.5 hour drive to think about what had taken place at Lake Cherokee and the first few hours I couldn't wait to get on Facebook and my blog and vent about how terrible Cherokee was and how terrible Fall fishing is.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized, no matter how bad the fishing was on Lake Cherokee that week, someone was going to win a boat and a truck and six guys were going to qualify for the All American.  That's when it really hit me that tough lakes at tough times are exactly where the Regional's need to be held.  The All American is the Bassmaster Classic, the Forrest Wood Cup, the Super Bowl of this level of fishing and it shouldn't be a cake walk getting into such an event.  Kentucky Lake has been very good to me.  It's allowed me to make a living with a fishing rod in my hand and I will always have much love for KY for that reason.  At the same time I really feel like it's hurt me when I try and fish a tough lake like Cherokee.  I'm so spoiled from catching 100's of bass a day some days and 20 to 30lb stringers that I just can't seem to get motivated to really try and unlock a lake where five keeper bites are hard to come by and are enough to win a lot of the tournaments.  I notice that a lot of these BFL regional events are dominated by guys from OH, IL, IN and WI.  I'm friends with a lot of guys from those areas and they tell me that the lakes are so tough where they live, they're right in their comfort zone when they get to a place like Cherokee.  After having a pretty strong season at home this year I was really considering fishing some BASS opens or a full trail of FLW Rayovac's next year but after my week at Cherokee I really don't think I'm prepared mentally to take on that challenge.  I've really studied the schedules for 2015 and with so many chances at big pay days on KY Lake, I think my best bet will be to stay home and try and make the most out of those opportunities.