Friday, January 3, 2014
DECEMBER 2013
December of 2012 was the most awesome fishing I’d ever seen in this part of the world and between myself, clients and a few of my buddies, we caught numerous 7 to 8lb fish and high 20 to low 30lb stringers. Word got around about how good the fishing was in ‘12 and I had a list of people wanting trips last month once the umbrella rig bite heated up. I tested the waters in mid November and the surface temp was still in the high 50’s. I managed six bites that day on the rig that were all in the 3 to 5lb range. I knew then it wasn’t quite right just yet. By late November our first big cold snap hit and a friend informed me that the water temp had dropped 10 degrees. I called a guy up that had been checking in with me periodically to see if the rig bite had turned on yet and told him it was time. He asked me if I had been catching them and I told him I hadn’t even been on the water in a couple weeks but I knew that big drop in water temp would get ‘em going. He met me at Paris Landing the next morning and just like clockwork, we smoked ‘em! We caught over 50 bass and a ton of giant white bass. Our best five weighed over 28lbs and included a couple of big smallmouth. That day brought back some fond memories and it looked like we were in for another stellar December. I packed as many trips as I could in over a two week span but we never had another day as good as that first one. I’m not real sure what the difference was this go round but the schools and the fish just weren’t as big as the year before. Don’t get me wrong, we were averaging 20 bass a day and about 25lbs a day but the year before I could catch that in an hour. I kept thinking the colder it got the better it would get but high muddy water moving through the system really slowed things down and next thing I knew it was time to go home for Christmas. I did jump in a little open tournament out of Paris Landing Dec. 12th and finished 2nd with 24.89lbs.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
2013 Recap
Its hard to believe another season has come to a close. They seem to go by faster every year. 2013 definitely had it's ups and downs. I didn't fish quite as many tournaments this year as I did in 2012 but it wasn't by choice. I had mechanical issues and a bout with the flu in the first part of the season that caused me to miss several tournaments I was planning on fishing. My stats were similar to 2012. I managed checks in 9 out of 12 draw tournaments for a 75% average with two wins. In 2012 I fished 19 draw events and cashed checks in 63% of them and also managed two wins. I fished a few more team events this season and was able to earn money in 7 out of 11 of them with one win. In 2012 I only entered 7 team events and cashed checks in 4 of them with no wins. In this entry Id like to talk about while on paper this season looked very similar to 2012 and not all that spectacular, it was actually one of the best seasons I've ever had.
FEBRUARY: February is usually the month I kick everything off. For the past several years I've spent a lot of time at Guntersville that month and fish as many as four draw tournaments while I'm there and also do a few guide trips. I had all intentions of starting 2013 the same way but had vehicle issues and a few minor mechanical issues with my boat that cut my trip short and I spent February making sure everything was ready for March.
MARCH: March has always been my favorite month to fish on any lake. I learned how to bass fish in the winter of 1998 and I've always been very comfortable fishing in cold weather and early pre spawn conditions. Once I moved up and started fishing BFL's and BWS events I was always very successful in the month of March and felt like I would always make a check and be a threat to win. I saw conditions on KY Lake in 2012 I'd never seen that early in the year and when I hit the lake the first time the surface water temp was already 60 degrees! The fish were in more of an April pattern which happens to be my least favorite month to fish and I had the worst finish I could remember having in a March tournament in my first BFL that year with a 48th place showing. I bounced back the following week with a 6th in the BWS but there was a lot of luck involved. I caught two big ones just running around throwing a Red Eye shad and wasn't actually dialed in to what the fish were doing.
This past March was back to normal, cold and windy and I was ready to get back on track. When my first BFL rolled around I had a decent practice and I really had a good game plan for catching the right kind of fish to win. When the scales closed that day, I had weighed in three fish for 9lbs. That's the first time I haven't been able to catch a limit of fish in a tournament since I started fishing full time in 2009. I was pretty let down over the deal but the key words here were "I had a good game plan for catching the right kind of fish to win."
The BWS was two weeks later and I had a chance to bounce back and that's when the flu bug bit and I had to drop out of the tournament. I did fish a couple of team events at the end of the month and we finished 2nd and 3rd in those so I had a little momentum heading into April.
March was not what I had hoped but I'll say it again, the first big tournament I entered in 2013, I felt like I could win if everything went right, it just didn't go my way. I never felt like I was on the fish to win in 2012, even in the two tournaments I won. So that was definitely a good feeling even though the final result was one of the worst showings I've had on KY Lake in several years.
APRIL: This has always been the toughest month for me unless the water hits the bushes early in the month. I lose track of the fish when they're in that in between stage and once the water hits the bushes its like they're everywhere. The water never hit the bushes in 2012 and I was lost the entire month. I didn't fish a lot in early April this season because I spent two weeks in Captains School. While I was in school, I watched the water rise from the class room and as soon as it hit the bushes, it was on! I had some of the best days of flipping I've ever experienced on KY Lake.
We had a BFL April 20th and I was very confident going into the tournament. The water was unfortunately falling daily and I ended up struggling to catch the big ones and only weighed in 15lbs but managed a check.
The BWS was the following weekend and the water was on the rise. Once again, I felt like I could win if I executed perfectly and while I caught so many fish my hands were bleeding at the end of the day, I lost a critical fish that would have put me close to the top and I had to settle for 5th place with 22lbs of fish. So two months into the season, I'd fished three draw tournaments and felt like I had a shot to win all three. That's all I can ask for going into a tournament, to feel like I know where the winning fish live.
MAY: This is the month my guide business started booming and the water kept rising. The water got several feet above summer pool and I knew exactly where the fish were going. Heading into our May BWS I checked all of the places I knew they were headed to on Wednesday and Thursday. They're usually on the 6XD when they get there and even though I caught about 21lbs. on Wednesday, I just wasn't seeing the numbers I was expecting. I went out and cranked the same type places on Thursday and never caught a fish. I headed to the bushes later that day and flipped up 26lbs in a half hour and I knew I was on the winning pattern. The fish made a huge move Thursday night and my old buddy David Gnewikow found them on the same places I'd eliminated on Wednesday and Thursday and won the tournament on a 6XD while I struggled to catch 18lbs and finished 14th. Once again, I didn't close the deal but I knew where the winning fish were and where they went, I just didn't adjust quickly enough.
JUNE and JULY: I fished a bunch of tournaments and did a ton of guiding these two months. I earned checks in all of them but only won once. I had a BFL and a BWS during this time that I really felt like I had a shot at but the weather got me in the BFL and the fish shrunk a little on me in the BWS. I finished 12th in that BFL and 7th in the BWS. Its kind of funny because the lone win I got in this stretch was the Sportsmen's Digest Team Trail I fished with David, and I probably had less confidence we could win that one as anything I fished that month, but when you get around David G, his confidence is contagious and we ended up pulling it off.
AUGUST: I only had one tournament in August but I was guiding several days a week and there were still schools everywhere out deep. The school fish were getting harder to catch because they had been beaten on all summer but I figured out a way to catch them and the day I figured it out, it was like June all over again. I caught a ton of fish and some good ones. I caught them so good in fact I decided to make a long run from Barkley State Park back around within sight of Paris Landing. The sun never showed itself that day and for whatever reason I couldn't get the bigger fish to cooperate and I ended up finishing in 4th place. Once again though, I felt like I could win going into the event and that's more than I could say for all of 2012.
SEPTEMBER: I could talk forever about September. It was unbelievable and I was able to take a couple of small pieces of the puzzle I found in 2012 and put it together for some of the best fishing I've ever experienced a year later. I had a two day BWS and a two day BFL within a few weeks of each other and I had the best game plan to win both of them as I've probably ever had. I had deep fish, in between fish and dirt shallow fish and I utilized all of them and ended up winning both events by over 10 lbs. I've been fortunate enough to win several BWS events but this was only my second BFL win and it was really special to me because I've come so close several times. It was truly a blessed month of fishing that I'll never forget.
OCTOBER: Things slowed down for me in October. I spent a week at Guntersville, a lake I'm very fond of, for the BFL Regional. I had a decent practice but a terrible tournament and I just never found that pattern or area that I'd been finding more often than not earlier in the year where I felt like I could really make a run at it. I returned home and started preparing for the Carl Perkins tournament and once again had an unbelievable practice. I felt even better about our chances to win that one than I did the two events I won in September and after two frustrating days where we watched giant after giant do everything but get hooked on our Sexy Dawgs, the wind was slowly being sucked out of my sails. I fished the Sportsmen's Digest Classic and the Solo Cup later that month and finished 9th in the Classic and 4th in the Cup but I basically just went fishing and tried to figure it out on the fly. I was definitely ready for a break when October wound down.
SUMMARY: Hopefully this breakdown of the season gives you an idea of why I said it was one of the best seasons I've ever had. The results weren't great, I've had better overall results in several years in the past. The big key this year was how many times I felt like I could win going into the tournament. In a normal year I may feel like I'm on the winning fish a few tournaments out of the year. It seemed like every tournament this year I figured a little something out that gave me the confidence I needed think I could get the W. I know this may not make since because if you don't win you don't win no matter how good your practice was. For me mentally though, it was huge going into these tournaments knowing I'd done everything I could do leading in to give me a shot at winning especially after last year when it just seemed like I never figured it out in practice. I've always said the day I quit learning will be the day I quit fishing and after last year I was beginning to wonder if I had maxed out on what I was going to learn. I think I learned more this year than I've ever learned in a season and that goes a long way towards my outlook for 2014.
As always, thanks to all of my sponsors; Odoms Blue and Gray Marine, Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Strike King Lure Company, All Pro Rods, Lowrance Electronics, TH Marine, Strike Force fish attractant, The Cabin Bait and Tackle, Rod Glove, Power Pole, Seaguar, Abu Garcia, my friends and family for their support and most of all the good Lord for allowing me to have another successful season living the dream. Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and I look forward to 2014.
FEBRUARY: February is usually the month I kick everything off. For the past several years I've spent a lot of time at Guntersville that month and fish as many as four draw tournaments while I'm there and also do a few guide trips. I had all intentions of starting 2013 the same way but had vehicle issues and a few minor mechanical issues with my boat that cut my trip short and I spent February making sure everything was ready for March.
MARCH: March has always been my favorite month to fish on any lake. I learned how to bass fish in the winter of 1998 and I've always been very comfortable fishing in cold weather and early pre spawn conditions. Once I moved up and started fishing BFL's and BWS events I was always very successful in the month of March and felt like I would always make a check and be a threat to win. I saw conditions on KY Lake in 2012 I'd never seen that early in the year and when I hit the lake the first time the surface water temp was already 60 degrees! The fish were in more of an April pattern which happens to be my least favorite month to fish and I had the worst finish I could remember having in a March tournament in my first BFL that year with a 48th place showing. I bounced back the following week with a 6th in the BWS but there was a lot of luck involved. I caught two big ones just running around throwing a Red Eye shad and wasn't actually dialed in to what the fish were doing.
This past March was back to normal, cold and windy and I was ready to get back on track. When my first BFL rolled around I had a decent practice and I really had a good game plan for catching the right kind of fish to win. When the scales closed that day, I had weighed in three fish for 9lbs. That's the first time I haven't been able to catch a limit of fish in a tournament since I started fishing full time in 2009. I was pretty let down over the deal but the key words here were "I had a good game plan for catching the right kind of fish to win."
The BWS was two weeks later and I had a chance to bounce back and that's when the flu bug bit and I had to drop out of the tournament. I did fish a couple of team events at the end of the month and we finished 2nd and 3rd in those so I had a little momentum heading into April.
March was not what I had hoped but I'll say it again, the first big tournament I entered in 2013, I felt like I could win if everything went right, it just didn't go my way. I never felt like I was on the fish to win in 2012, even in the two tournaments I won. So that was definitely a good feeling even though the final result was one of the worst showings I've had on KY Lake in several years.
APRIL: This has always been the toughest month for me unless the water hits the bushes early in the month. I lose track of the fish when they're in that in between stage and once the water hits the bushes its like they're everywhere. The water never hit the bushes in 2012 and I was lost the entire month. I didn't fish a lot in early April this season because I spent two weeks in Captains School. While I was in school, I watched the water rise from the class room and as soon as it hit the bushes, it was on! I had some of the best days of flipping I've ever experienced on KY Lake.
We had a BFL April 20th and I was very confident going into the tournament. The water was unfortunately falling daily and I ended up struggling to catch the big ones and only weighed in 15lbs but managed a check.
The BWS was the following weekend and the water was on the rise. Once again, I felt like I could win if I executed perfectly and while I caught so many fish my hands were bleeding at the end of the day, I lost a critical fish that would have put me close to the top and I had to settle for 5th place with 22lbs of fish. So two months into the season, I'd fished three draw tournaments and felt like I had a shot to win all three. That's all I can ask for going into a tournament, to feel like I know where the winning fish live.
MAY: This is the month my guide business started booming and the water kept rising. The water got several feet above summer pool and I knew exactly where the fish were going. Heading into our May BWS I checked all of the places I knew they were headed to on Wednesday and Thursday. They're usually on the 6XD when they get there and even though I caught about 21lbs. on Wednesday, I just wasn't seeing the numbers I was expecting. I went out and cranked the same type places on Thursday and never caught a fish. I headed to the bushes later that day and flipped up 26lbs in a half hour and I knew I was on the winning pattern. The fish made a huge move Thursday night and my old buddy David Gnewikow found them on the same places I'd eliminated on Wednesday and Thursday and won the tournament on a 6XD while I struggled to catch 18lbs and finished 14th. Once again, I didn't close the deal but I knew where the winning fish were and where they went, I just didn't adjust quickly enough.
JUNE and JULY: I fished a bunch of tournaments and did a ton of guiding these two months. I earned checks in all of them but only won once. I had a BFL and a BWS during this time that I really felt like I had a shot at but the weather got me in the BFL and the fish shrunk a little on me in the BWS. I finished 12th in that BFL and 7th in the BWS. Its kind of funny because the lone win I got in this stretch was the Sportsmen's Digest Team Trail I fished with David, and I probably had less confidence we could win that one as anything I fished that month, but when you get around David G, his confidence is contagious and we ended up pulling it off.
AUGUST: I only had one tournament in August but I was guiding several days a week and there were still schools everywhere out deep. The school fish were getting harder to catch because they had been beaten on all summer but I figured out a way to catch them and the day I figured it out, it was like June all over again. I caught a ton of fish and some good ones. I caught them so good in fact I decided to make a long run from Barkley State Park back around within sight of Paris Landing. The sun never showed itself that day and for whatever reason I couldn't get the bigger fish to cooperate and I ended up finishing in 4th place. Once again though, I felt like I could win going into the event and that's more than I could say for all of 2012.
SEPTEMBER: I could talk forever about September. It was unbelievable and I was able to take a couple of small pieces of the puzzle I found in 2012 and put it together for some of the best fishing I've ever experienced a year later. I had a two day BWS and a two day BFL within a few weeks of each other and I had the best game plan to win both of them as I've probably ever had. I had deep fish, in between fish and dirt shallow fish and I utilized all of them and ended up winning both events by over 10 lbs. I've been fortunate enough to win several BWS events but this was only my second BFL win and it was really special to me because I've come so close several times. It was truly a blessed month of fishing that I'll never forget.
OCTOBER: Things slowed down for me in October. I spent a week at Guntersville, a lake I'm very fond of, for the BFL Regional. I had a decent practice but a terrible tournament and I just never found that pattern or area that I'd been finding more often than not earlier in the year where I felt like I could really make a run at it. I returned home and started preparing for the Carl Perkins tournament and once again had an unbelievable practice. I felt even better about our chances to win that one than I did the two events I won in September and after two frustrating days where we watched giant after giant do everything but get hooked on our Sexy Dawgs, the wind was slowly being sucked out of my sails. I fished the Sportsmen's Digest Classic and the Solo Cup later that month and finished 9th in the Classic and 4th in the Cup but I basically just went fishing and tried to figure it out on the fly. I was definitely ready for a break when October wound down.
SUMMARY: Hopefully this breakdown of the season gives you an idea of why I said it was one of the best seasons I've ever had. The results weren't great, I've had better overall results in several years in the past. The big key this year was how many times I felt like I could win going into the tournament. In a normal year I may feel like I'm on the winning fish a few tournaments out of the year. It seemed like every tournament this year I figured a little something out that gave me the confidence I needed think I could get the W. I know this may not make since because if you don't win you don't win no matter how good your practice was. For me mentally though, it was huge going into these tournaments knowing I'd done everything I could do leading in to give me a shot at winning especially after last year when it just seemed like I never figured it out in practice. I've always said the day I quit learning will be the day I quit fishing and after last year I was beginning to wonder if I had maxed out on what I was going to learn. I think I learned more this year than I've ever learned in a season and that goes a long way towards my outlook for 2014.
As always, thanks to all of my sponsors; Odoms Blue and Gray Marine, Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Strike King Lure Company, All Pro Rods, Lowrance Electronics, TH Marine, Strike Force fish attractant, The Cabin Bait and Tackle, Rod Glove, Power Pole, Seaguar, Abu Garcia, my friends and family for their support and most of all the good Lord for allowing me to have another successful season living the dream. Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and I look forward to 2014.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Strike King Series 1 Weekday Solo Event #2 Oct. 29, 2013
I didnt practice for this one, I just figured I'd fish the same way I fished the rest of October and see what happened. Would you believe I started on the nightmare hole and lost a 5lber in the first ten minutes of the day! Ha, its almost comical at this point. I mixed in some deep and shallow and managed a 5lber on the Sexy Dawg and had a couple of good ones miss it. My deep fish were scattered but I did hit a stretch that produced several 3lbers. It was a pretty tough day overall for me, I think I caught nine keepers on the day but once again, I love fishing during the week so you'll never hear me complain. I weighed in 17.96lbs and finished in 4th place. Congrats to KVT Kevin Tidwell for dropping 22+ on us to take home the win.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Sportsmen's Digest Pro Team Trail Classic
DAY 1: KY Lake was off limits for the week leading up to this one so everybody started even on Friday. My trusty team partner David Gnewikow decided to go on vacation so I had to fend for myself against some of the best teams on the Lake. My plan was to spend day one running through everything I'd been fishing the past month both shallow and deep from Danville to Blood River until I saw enough to dial into what I should focus on for day two. My first stop was what I now call the nightmare hole where Woodside and I had such bad luck in the Carl Perkins. A few twitches into the day a 2.5lber exploded on my Sexy Dawg and had every hook in its face! That was a big relief because that told me, they were eating. 20 minutes later a 5lber did a flip over my bait and never touched it! I hit one more top water spot after that without a bite and decided I couldn't stomach another day of what I'd seen the week before so I pulled out the Shadalicous and headed out deep. My first school produced a small keeper and a 3lber or two and I moved on. My second school only produced three bites but they were a 3.5, a 4 and a 5lber. That gave me the confidence to spend some time looking out deep. Something told me to check some places I catch them in the winter on the umbrella rig and the first one I scanned had a few fish on it. I rigged up a TN legal Titanium rig with Swimmin' Caffeine shads and a big Shadalicious in the middle. I fired it out on the school and caught two on my first cast, one was a small keeper and one was 3lbs and culled. I looked at another place and saw a few on it and I caught 8 or 10 3lbers there. I was culling up by ounces but I felt like I was heading in the right direction. I checked some really deep places, saw a few bass and caught a couple of 4lbers! I eventually made my way all the way north of Blood River and had marked fish on 10 or 12 places that I catch really big ones on in the winter. Time finally ran out and I weighed in 19.76lbs and was in 4th place heading into day two but I really felt like the big ones were heading my way and the front coming through the next day could only help my cause.
PTT CLASSIC OCT. 19th DAY 2: This will be short and sweet! Just when you think your one step ahead of those little green suckers they do what they do best, disappear! After catching over 60 keepers on day one I caught 6, that's right SIX keepers on day two and only three came on the umbrella rig. I didn't have a keeper in the boat until 1:30 and all I could think about was dropping a goose egg on KY Lake! I caught a small keeper on the Sexy Dawg, a small keeper on a worm and a 4lber on a football jig with five minutes left in the day. I weighed in 13.61lbs and finished 9th overall.
SUMMARY: I really liked this format with no practice. It makes it interesting trying to figure it out on the fly and at about 2pm on Friday, I thought I'd unlocked the magic pattern! I can't complain, tournament fishing is a bit like gambling and I went all in on the deep fish and the guys that stayed shallow caught them and caught them good. Congrats to a couple of my favorite people, Billy and Bill Shcroeder who won by almost 5lbs with 45lbs of top water fish!
PTT CLASSIC OCT. 19th DAY 2: This will be short and sweet! Just when you think your one step ahead of those little green suckers they do what they do best, disappear! After catching over 60 keepers on day one I caught 6, that's right SIX keepers on day two and only three came on the umbrella rig. I didn't have a keeper in the boat until 1:30 and all I could think about was dropping a goose egg on KY Lake! I caught a small keeper on the Sexy Dawg, a small keeper on a worm and a 4lber on a football jig with five minutes left in the day. I weighed in 13.61lbs and finished 9th overall.
SUMMARY: I really liked this format with no practice. It makes it interesting trying to figure it out on the fly and at about 2pm on Friday, I thought I'd unlocked the magic pattern! I can't complain, tournament fishing is a bit like gambling and I went all in on the deep fish and the guys that stayed shallow caught them and caught them good. Congrats to a couple of my favorite people, Billy and Bill Shcroeder who won by almost 5lbs with 45lbs of top water fish!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Carl Perkins Classic Practice and Tournament
While I was grueling it out on Gville, a few guys I had helped out back home were sending me pics of GIANTS they were catching off of some of the places I'd showed them on the Sexy Dawg! I was ready to get back on KY Lake and get in on some of the action. My partner Kevin Woodside knows his way around New Johnsonville as good as anyone so he spent a couple days on that end of the pond and I spent a couple in the Danville and Paris area. Kevin informed me that the grass bite was not happening and while I wasn't getting many bites on the north end, the ones I got were definitely the right kind! We decided to make the 75 mile run north of Paris from Perryville the first day and see what happened.
DAY 1: After a chilly 75 mile run we pulled in on our first stop and it didn't take long for the action to get under way. In the first 45 minutes we had blow up after blow up on our Sexy Dawgs which was good news. The bad news was after watching 4 to 6lb fish blow our baits out of the water, jump over them, roll behind them, eat them and then pull off for 45 minutes, we had one 4lb smallmouth in the live well when we left. I thought that if we changed areas the fish may cooperate a little better but as soon as we hit the sweet spot on our second stop a 5lber jumped over my bait and never touched it! Kevin finally connected on a couple of keepers but they were just 2.5lbers. To make a long story short, when we got ready to make our voyage back to Perryville, wed' had no less than 25 blow ups and we had three fish in the boat! We pulled out our Shadalicious swimbaits and stopped on a deep school on the way back and caught a couple of 3lbers to fill our limit and then we headed to the ramp. We weighed in a very disappointing 14.61lbs but fortunate for us, the majority of the 167 boat field had struggled and we were still in the hunt going into day two.
DAY 2: After all of the action we'd seen on day one we knew we were around the right fish so we decided to make the long run north again. We started on the same place and I'd like to say they were choking it on day two but after an hour we had 9 blow ups and had another lone 4lb smallmouth in the boat! We made a short run to a stump row that I hadn't fished in awhile and a few casts in a 4lber jumped over my Sexy Dawg. A few casts later I walked it over a stump and a GIANT rolled up under it but didn't take it. At that point I was starting to think we were on an episode of PUNK'D! I'd never seen so many good fish hit a bait with that many hooks and not get hooked. After a couple of dry runs on some stretches we'd gotten bit on the first day we decided to change gears and hit the deep fish a little earlier. I went to a school we didn't have time to hit the first day and they were loaded! We caught 3 to 3.5 lbers cast after cast until we finally exhausted the school. I told Kevin I was out of ideas and turned the boat over to him for the rest of the day. We headed to some of his holes down south that have been good to him in the past and with about ten minutes to go we FINALLY caught a 5.5lber on a Sexy Dawg, it was a miracle! It did come unhooked as soon as it hit the net but hey, it was in the boat. We weighed in 18.69lbs on day two and finished 7th overall.
SUMMARY: This tournament moved into first place as the most frustrating tournament I've ever fished. 7 grand in Triton Gold money was on the line and the best of the best fishermen from the south end of the lake were competing. I really wanted to win it for the $$ and the prestige. The worse part of it all is that it only took 36lbs for two days to win and I really believe we were on enough deep fish that were willing to eat that we could've caught that much if we'd fished deep the entire tournament. Then again, when you turn 170 boats loose in the land of the giants, you don't expect only 36lbs to win, so you can't really look at it that way. We did what we thought we needed to do to win and we were around the fish to win, we'll just have to chalk this one up to the fact that it wasn't meant to be. Congrats to my buddy Keith Himes and his partner for figuring out how to put 36lbs worth of stingy top water fish in the boat and claim the win.
DAY 1: After a chilly 75 mile run we pulled in on our first stop and it didn't take long for the action to get under way. In the first 45 minutes we had blow up after blow up on our Sexy Dawgs which was good news. The bad news was after watching 4 to 6lb fish blow our baits out of the water, jump over them, roll behind them, eat them and then pull off for 45 minutes, we had one 4lb smallmouth in the live well when we left. I thought that if we changed areas the fish may cooperate a little better but as soon as we hit the sweet spot on our second stop a 5lber jumped over my bait and never touched it! Kevin finally connected on a couple of keepers but they were just 2.5lbers. To make a long story short, when we got ready to make our voyage back to Perryville, wed' had no less than 25 blow ups and we had three fish in the boat! We pulled out our Shadalicious swimbaits and stopped on a deep school on the way back and caught a couple of 3lbers to fill our limit and then we headed to the ramp. We weighed in a very disappointing 14.61lbs but fortunate for us, the majority of the 167 boat field had struggled and we were still in the hunt going into day two.
DAY 2: After all of the action we'd seen on day one we knew we were around the right fish so we decided to make the long run north again. We started on the same place and I'd like to say they were choking it on day two but after an hour we had 9 blow ups and had another lone 4lb smallmouth in the boat! We made a short run to a stump row that I hadn't fished in awhile and a few casts in a 4lber jumped over my Sexy Dawg. A few casts later I walked it over a stump and a GIANT rolled up under it but didn't take it. At that point I was starting to think we were on an episode of PUNK'D! I'd never seen so many good fish hit a bait with that many hooks and not get hooked. After a couple of dry runs on some stretches we'd gotten bit on the first day we decided to change gears and hit the deep fish a little earlier. I went to a school we didn't have time to hit the first day and they were loaded! We caught 3 to 3.5 lbers cast after cast until we finally exhausted the school. I told Kevin I was out of ideas and turned the boat over to him for the rest of the day. We headed to some of his holes down south that have been good to him in the past and with about ten minutes to go we FINALLY caught a 5.5lber on a Sexy Dawg, it was a miracle! It did come unhooked as soon as it hit the net but hey, it was in the boat. We weighed in 18.69lbs on day two and finished 7th overall.
SUMMARY: This tournament moved into first place as the most frustrating tournament I've ever fished. 7 grand in Triton Gold money was on the line and the best of the best fishermen from the south end of the lake were competing. I really wanted to win it for the $$ and the prestige. The worse part of it all is that it only took 36lbs for two days to win and I really believe we were on enough deep fish that were willing to eat that we could've caught that much if we'd fished deep the entire tournament. Then again, when you turn 170 boats loose in the land of the giants, you don't expect only 36lbs to win, so you can't really look at it that way. We did what we thought we needed to do to win and we were around the fish to win, we'll just have to chalk this one up to the fact that it wasn't meant to be. Congrats to my buddy Keith Himes and his partner for figuring out how to put 36lbs worth of stingy top water fish in the boat and claim the win.
Monday, October 7, 2013
BFL Regional Lake Guntersville Oct. 3-5, 2013
DAY 1: I started on a stretch of Hydrilla on the main lake where I never caught a fish in practice but I saw a few big ones chasing big Gizzard shad there. I started down the grass line with a white Strike King Tour Grade Swimming jig with a pearl Rage Tail Menace trailer. On about my 5th cast one smoked it and my rod loaded up! The fish wasn't putting up much of a fight and when it neared the boat I saw why, it was a 16" Crappie! I spent a few more minutes there without a bite and headed to my first creek spot. I've caught fish on this particular place in the past and I'm not sure what holds them there but they are always within a few yards either way of my waypoint. I slowly worked my way around the grass dropping my Power Poles every few feet and picking the area apart. I caught several really small fish and then I heard my co anglers drag slip and he let out a grunt! I turned around and he had a 5lber doing summersaults behind the boat. We spent another 45 minutes in the area and all I could come up with were a few short fish. I headed to my next creek spot and immediately caught a couple short fish. A few casts later I reeled my jig in and a 3lber was right on its trail! The fish went under the boat and I dropped my jig and felt a tick! I hooked the bass and it shot straight up and came unbuttoned! I left there and hit some flipping stretches and after not getting a bite on my first stretch I caught a 5lber on my 3rd flip on my next stop! A few flips later another one popped my Rodent but came off before I could pull it through the mat. The next few hours were brutally slow and the next thing I knew I had about an hour left to fish and only had the one 5lber. I decided to head back down lake to my deep fish and hopefully fill out my limit. I had two bites on each of my two deep schools and only hooked one of them which was a small 15 keeper. I weighed in two fish for 6lbs 12oz.
DAY 2: I knew I needed at least a low 20lb bag to make the cut and I figured the best way to accomplish that was to flip for five bites all day. During a two hour fog delay I was talking with my co angler and he was a limit of fish away from making the cut so I decided to hit my two deep schools right off the bat in order to give him a shot at catching that limit. As soon as I got lined up on my waypoint, I caught a 4lber on a football jig. My next cast I caught a 3lber, my next cast I had a keeper jump off and my next cast I set the hook and came back with no trailer but then it was over. I headed to my next deep spot and never got a bite and then pulled out my All Pro Flippin stick and headed to the mats. I caught a keeper on my first stop and my co angler caught 2 keepers. I made several passes down the grass line and had a couple more bites but didnt hook up. The next few hours were slow and the few bites I got pulled off before I could pull them through the mat. With time running out I headed back down lake and gave my two deep holes one last shot. I caught a solid keeper off the first one and lost a 5lb class fish on the other one but those were the only two bites I had. I had four fish that would've weighed around 12lbs and pitched them back since they would've put me nowhere near the check cut.
SUMMARY: I think my past experience on Guntersville killed me in this one. Historically early fall tournaments arent won in the most obvious grass mats on the lake but this one was dominated that way. Looking at the standings none of the locals did very well and while I dont live on Gville, I have put my time in there. I did have the bites to make a run at the top 12 cut but when your fishing that thick Hydrilla your going to lose some fish and I wasn't around near enough fish to make up for the mishaps I had during the tournament.
DAY 2: I knew I needed at least a low 20lb bag to make the cut and I figured the best way to accomplish that was to flip for five bites all day. During a two hour fog delay I was talking with my co angler and he was a limit of fish away from making the cut so I decided to hit my two deep schools right off the bat in order to give him a shot at catching that limit. As soon as I got lined up on my waypoint, I caught a 4lber on a football jig. My next cast I caught a 3lber, my next cast I had a keeper jump off and my next cast I set the hook and came back with no trailer but then it was over. I headed to my next deep spot and never got a bite and then pulled out my All Pro Flippin stick and headed to the mats. I caught a keeper on my first stop and my co angler caught 2 keepers. I made several passes down the grass line and had a couple more bites but didnt hook up. The next few hours were slow and the few bites I got pulled off before I could pull them through the mat. With time running out I headed back down lake and gave my two deep holes one last shot. I caught a solid keeper off the first one and lost a 5lb class fish on the other one but those were the only two bites I had. I had four fish that would've weighed around 12lbs and pitched them back since they would've put me nowhere near the check cut.
SUMMARY: I think my past experience on Guntersville killed me in this one. Historically early fall tournaments arent won in the most obvious grass mats on the lake but this one was dominated that way. Looking at the standings none of the locals did very well and while I dont live on Gville, I have put my time in there. I did have the bites to make a run at the top 12 cut but when your fishing that thick Hydrilla your going to lose some fish and I wasn't around near enough fish to make up for the mishaps I had during the tournament.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
BFL Regional Lake Guntersville Practice
The Lake had been off limits prior to practice but I had talked to my good friend and Guntersville legend Ed Gettys just before off limits. He told me the only thing I thought I needed to hear and that was that the swim jig bite was on in the deep Hydrilla which was the same pattern I used to finish 2nd in the 2010 BWS National Championship. I spent the first day of practice running old swim jig holes and at the end of the day I'd found that bites were hard to come by and the ones I got were in the creeks and not out on the main lake flats where I really like to fish. I was also catching a lot of yearling bass with the occasional 3 or 4lber mixed in which was not what I was looking for. In 2010 when I'd catch a 3 or 4lber it would have an entire school following it up and that wasn't happening this go round.
I spent day 2 flipping Hydrilla and milfoil and while I had a dozen bites or so, there was really no pattern to it and I didn't get to see what size fish I was dealing with because I didn't want to be seen by other fishermen.
I spent day 3 looking out deep and as usual in the fall on Lake G, I found the same 2 schools I find every year. They were right where they were supposed to be and I didn't set the hook on any of those either but I've fished them for so many years now I pretty much know what to expect size wise.
I'm not real sure what to expect going into day 1 because I've set the hook on so few fish in practice, but I'm pretty sure a decent limit each day will make the top 12 cut to Saturday and I feel like 17 or 18lbs a day will win. I feel pretty good about catching a limit each day but I think I'll need to luck up and get a couple of big bites each day to make a run at the win.
I spent day 2 flipping Hydrilla and milfoil and while I had a dozen bites or so, there was really no pattern to it and I didn't get to see what size fish I was dealing with because I didn't want to be seen by other fishermen.
I spent day 3 looking out deep and as usual in the fall on Lake G, I found the same 2 schools I find every year. They were right where they were supposed to be and I didn't set the hook on any of those either but I've fished them for so many years now I pretty much know what to expect size wise.
I'm not real sure what to expect going into day 1 because I've set the hook on so few fish in practice, but I'm pretty sure a decent limit each day will make the top 12 cut to Saturday and I feel like 17 or 18lbs a day will win. I feel pretty good about catching a limit each day but I think I'll need to luck up and get a couple of big bites each day to make a run at the win.
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