First of all, I was running out of chances to win an event this year and as I’ve said many times before, wins are very important from a financial standpoint because of all of the contingency money I can earn.
Second, I’ve won 5 of the last 6 two day draw events I’ve fished in September and I really wanted to keep my streak alive.
I had a feeling last year when I saw more and more boats showing up on the areas I’d had all of my September success that I may have a tough time finding an area with the ingredients I needed to win my 6th consecutive September two day.
The areas I’ve won off of in the past were all out of the way places that took hours or days to pick apart and when I found the fish, I could tell they had never seen a lure before. With baits raining down on these areas on a more consistent basis, I knew the fish wouldn’t have time to build up and settle in and if I was going to keep my streak alive I would have to find a brand new area that I hadn’t exploited in the past.
The catch was that most of the places, new and old, that fit the bill, were covered up with grass.
I spent my first day of practice further north than usual and eliminated everything I had in mind either due to too much grass, or lack of fish.
My second day of practice I fished all of the places I’d done well on in the past and while some were set up right, I never had a bite on my spook.
By day 3 of practice, I’d written off a top-water bite and honestly didn’t know what to do. Top-water has accounted for 75% of the fish I’ve caught in my past September wins and with no deep fish to be found on the ledges, I decided to do something I’ve never tried this time of year and I headed to the back of Big Sandy.
After several hours without a bite I was getting ready to pull the plug and head to the hydrilla where the majority of the fish population was hanging out but I also knew with such thick mats, catching the winning fish from the grass would be a tough task.
Just before I headed to the grass for the rest of the day my good friend Jackson Ryley sent me a text that read, “Don’t give up on your spook, just caught a 6lber!” A couple hours later another text popped in from Jackson, “Just found the Mother Lode!” While I was excited for Jackson and excited to know a top-water bite was happening, I was a little let down that I had given up on it even though I believed a winning school of top-water fish existed somewhere on the lake and if Jackson had indeed found the “Mother Lode”, there was a good chance I was going to get beaten at my own game when the tournament started.
I spent my last day of practice slinging hook-less top-water plugs on a part of the lake I’ve never fished this time of year in a last ditch effort to find the winners.
It started off good and I hit a stretch where I had 7 blow ups on as many casts. This was a good sign but the fish I saw were only 3lb class fish and I knew that wouldn’t get it done.
I went bite-less for several hours and with time running out I made a long cast and a 5lber exploded on my bait. A couple twitches later another big one blew it up and as it neared the boat it had a couple fish in the 6lb class following it in and I knew I’d found what I’d been searching for.
As I headed towards the ramp I remembered a little deep point a school had shown up on this time last year and I decided to scan it with my Lowrance. I was pleasantly surprised to see about 50 bass lined up across the point and my day 1 game plan became very clear. I would rotate between my two top-water schools and if I needed keepers to fill out my limit, I’d hit my deep school.
LBL BFL DAY 1 SEPT. 26: I headed to my best school and caught a solid keeper on my first cast. I was concerned that it wasn’t a giant but a few cast later a big one flushed my spook. I dragged about a 6lber into the net and had that old feeling that good things were about to happen. I spent an hour fishing back and forth on a 25 yard stretch and never had another bite. I headed to the school of 3lbers and after an hour searching for them, they’d vanished. On my way back to the big ones I decided to throw on my deep place and caught a 3lber on a Baja Outdoors X-wing spinnerbait and lost a solid keeper trying to swing it over the side of the boat. To make a long story short, I bounced back and forth between my two top-water schools until the last minute and only had one bite which was about a 2.5lber that jumped off by the boat. On my way in I had a few minutes to spare and was hoping I could scrounge up two more keepers off of my deep spot. I caught one keeper pretty quick and just before I had to head back I hooked up with another 2.5lber but it jumped and threw my bait. I was very disappointed with my day especially since I had several missed opportunities that would’ve at least kept me in the hunt for day two. I weighed in 4 fish for 13lbs. 14oz. and made the day 2 cut in 11th place about 10lbs out of the lead.
LBL BFL DAY 2 SEPT. 27: I knew being 10lbs back would be tough to overcome but I’ve also seen 30-40lb stringers this time of year and whether I’m in the lead by 10lbs or behind by 10lbs in a multi-day event, I know it’s not over until it’s over.
I decided to run the same route I’d run on day one and if it didn’t pan out in the first couple hours I would gamble and make a run south.
I caught a 4lber right from the get go but that was my only bite. My next stop didn’t produce and then I headed for my deep school to try and scrounge up a limit. I caught two solid keepers there on the X-wing but that was it.
It started off good and I hit a stretch where I had 7 blow ups on as many casts. This was a good sign but the fish I saw were only 3lb class fish and I knew that wouldn’t get it done.
I went bite-less for several hours and with time running out I made a long cast and a 5lber exploded on my bait. A couple twitches later another big one blew it up and as it neared the boat it had a couple fish in the 6lb class following it in and I knew I’d found what I’d been searching for.
As I headed towards the ramp I remembered a little deep point a school had shown up on this time last year and I decided to scan it with my Lowrance. I was pleasantly surprised to see about 50 bass lined up across the point and my day 1 game plan became very clear. I would rotate between my two top-water schools and if I needed keepers to fill out my limit, I’d hit my deep school.
LBL BFL DAY 1 SEPT. 26: I headed to my best school and caught a solid keeper on my first cast. I was concerned that it wasn’t a giant but a few cast later a big one flushed my spook. I dragged about a 6lber into the net and had that old feeling that good things were about to happen. I spent an hour fishing back and forth on a 25 yard stretch and never had another bite. I headed to the school of 3lbers and after an hour searching for them, they’d vanished. On my way back to the big ones I decided to throw on my deep place and caught a 3lber on a Baja Outdoors X-wing spinnerbait and lost a solid keeper trying to swing it over the side of the boat. To make a long story short, I bounced back and forth between my two top-water schools until the last minute and only had one bite which was about a 2.5lber that jumped off by the boat. On my way in I had a few minutes to spare and was hoping I could scrounge up two more keepers off of my deep spot. I caught one keeper pretty quick and just before I had to head back I hooked up with another 2.5lber but it jumped and threw my bait. I was very disappointed with my day especially since I had several missed opportunities that would’ve at least kept me in the hunt for day two. I weighed in 4 fish for 13lbs. 14oz. and made the day 2 cut in 11th place about 10lbs out of the lead.
LBL BFL DAY 2 SEPT. 27: I knew being 10lbs back would be tough to overcome but I’ve also seen 30-40lb stringers this time of year and whether I’m in the lead by 10lbs or behind by 10lbs in a multi-day event, I know it’s not over until it’s over.
I decided to run the same route I’d run on day one and if it didn’t pan out in the first couple hours I would gamble and make a run south.
I caught a 4lber right from the get go but that was my only bite. My next stop didn’t produce and then I headed for my deep school to try and scrounge up a limit. I caught two solid keepers there on the X-wing but that was it.
I headed south and ran a series of shallow water sweet spots. I reached the first one, dropped my power-poles and began fan casting my spook around the boat. About 10 cast in a big fish exploded on my spook and I thought it missed it. I was looking for my spook on the surface and my rod started loading up. I leaned into the fish and couldn’t budge it. I eventually worked a 6lb. 14oz. toad into the net. I was pretty pumped but I knew I needed 4 more bites like that to have a shot at the win.
I ran a dozen more places just like that one and never had another bite. I headed back north and allowed myself a few minutes on each of my starting places and ended up catching another 4lber on my last stop.
Once we arrived at Wal-mart for weigh-in most of the other competitors were grumbling about how tough it had been. I weighed-in 20lbs 7oz and took the lead. One by one guys weighed just a couple fish and the next thing I knew it was down to me and the day 1 leader. The tournament director asked me how I felt about it and I told him that I knew I wasn’t going to win I just hoped I lost by more than 2.5lbs as I’d lost several fish on day 1 that would’ve easily made up that deficit.
I had no idea what the day 1 leader had caught and when the scales settled I was very relieved to see 20lbs 7oz on the screen.
SUMMARY: I talk a lot about how finishing 2nd is tough to stomach and there’s a big difference in pay between 1st and 2nd but if I have to finish 2nd this is how I like for it to happen. Kyle Metzger had found the winning fish and caught them and beat my tail by almost 10lbs. I can live with finishing 2nd in a situation like that because even if I’d landed every fish I’d hooked during the tournament, I still couldn’t have won. It was disappointing to see my winning streak in September come to an end but I felt I’d at least had a decent showing and I had a weird feeling that God had a bigger plan for me in the form of a good finish in my upcoming BFL Regional on KY Lake October 15,
I ran a dozen more places just like that one and never had another bite. I headed back north and allowed myself a few minutes on each of my starting places and ended up catching another 4lber on my last stop.
Once we arrived at Wal-mart for weigh-in most of the other competitors were grumbling about how tough it had been. I weighed-in 20lbs 7oz and took the lead. One by one guys weighed just a couple fish and the next thing I knew it was down to me and the day 1 leader. The tournament director asked me how I felt about it and I told him that I knew I wasn’t going to win I just hoped I lost by more than 2.5lbs as I’d lost several fish on day 1 that would’ve easily made up that deficit.
I had no idea what the day 1 leader had caught and when the scales settled I was very relieved to see 20lbs 7oz on the screen.
SUMMARY: I talk a lot about how finishing 2nd is tough to stomach and there’s a big difference in pay between 1st and 2nd but if I have to finish 2nd this is how I like for it to happen. Kyle Metzger had found the winning fish and caught them and beat my tail by almost 10lbs. I can live with finishing 2nd in a situation like that because even if I’d landed every fish I’d hooked during the tournament, I still couldn’t have won. It was disappointing to see my winning streak in September come to an end but I felt I’d at least had a decent showing and I had a weird feeling that God had a bigger plan for me in the form of a good finish in my upcoming BFL Regional on KY Lake October 15,
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