Texoma practice

Practice at Texoma has ad its ups and downs.  The Mercury took a dump on me mid week but Jay with tourney support hooked me up with a couple new coils and all seems to be well today, the day before the tournament.  We have had a couple pretty sharp cold fronts move in and out while Ive been here and I think it may have actually helped activate the fish to start moving back and feeding.  Wind is the predominant weather factor, on this lake a 20 mph wind is common and if it sets up north or south this body of water gets bit, like 4-5 foot big and 25 to 30 mph gusts are not that uncommon.  I have been catching some fish this week but my best days have not been on what you would expect, shad imitations but rather jigs in both straight black and watermelon seed with baby brush hog trailers.  Yesterday was my best day and I really just fished by the seat of my pants just going where it looked good, steeper geography and bigger chunk rock.  12 to 14 lbs a day is predicted to win this thing and 9 days  per day is predicted to make the cut so this should key  you in on what size fish are in this lake, oh and did I mention that this is a major striper lake and this puts a lot of competition on the black bass for food.  I will just have to wait and see how tomorrow goes..

Woes

Boy did they catch them at Guntersville.  They did, I did not.  I thought I had a pretty good practice but on game day I could not make it happen.  Had a buzzbait bite real solid all week and missed a couple nice fish Thursday which would have improved my miserable 8.15 lb sack by probably double.  Even then that would not have helped me as several 20+ pound sacks were brought to the scales with one topping 29 pounds, wow.  After the final day I was told by one of the top 30 guys that the big girls were following bluegill, not shad, not that it makes a big difference on a buzzbait bite, does it??   All I can say is I formulated a plan and stuck to it both days and it did not work out.  

Now I am at lake Texoma and it feels like an alien world.  Not a lick of cover anywhere or at least it seems barren compared to G-ville.  Boat houses seem to be my best bet after one day of practice.  Had a small limit of 14-16" fish yesterday and only fished a half day today as the wind is howling and 3 footers coming from both directions made me think twice about trying to find some fresh areas.  Did not spear any waves today (unlike Kentucky lake last month) so maybe my rough water driving skills are improving, knock on wood.  Important thing I learned at Kentucky lake, take your graphs off, put your rods away, really stow anything that may come off the deck or your boat when driving in big water.  Well more practice tomorrow, at least gas is rather cheap here.

Guntersville

Guntersville practice has been all about the weather conditions.  Lake conditions are pretty consistent, 72 to 75 degree water, clouds of bait just about everywhere you look.  Mats in the middle of the lake have the 'boom boom' of big girls opening toilet bowls under shad or bluegill like every ten minutes or so.  (getting them to hit your bait is another story all together).  When the weather cooperates, fair wind with clouds or overcast the bite is good, sunny skies and slick water is another story.  Lots of pressure on these fish and that has to have some effect on the bite.  If Thursday and Friday have good fishing weather, some big sacks will be brought to the scales so watch out.  I just hope I'm one of those folks walking through.  

Kentucky Lake Woes

So I have not posted since my disappointing finish at KY lake.  Some really good bags were caught just not by myself.  Following fish in transition has never been my strong suit but I did learn a great deal as this event was pretty much textbook for transitional bass.  In practice we had very consistent weather, light winds and high skies the only variable was the dropping water.  It seemed like they were dropping the lake every day of practice and to a foot below winter pool the last day of the event for me.  I would hook some good fish on a frog in mat on one day and come back the next day and the mat was gone either by way of 'laying' over or it was simply out of the water.  I just did not adjust well to the water levels.  The wind blew hard the first day of the event and this may have played a role on my confidence somewhat but that's on me.  Live and learn.  Guntersville is next and I cannot wait for that event.  I like the Tennessee river reservoirs and hopefully they don't mess with the water levels there too much.  This out of state experience is obviously what I need so badly and the more the better no matter how I finish.

Central Open Practice Begins

I started practicing on site today for the second central open.  I have a certain degree of trepidation going into this event just knowing I'm competing against the likes of Rick Clunn, Greg Hackney, Preston Clark, Byron Velvick, Dave Wolak and on and on and on.....  It's very hard to convince myself that I'm really vs the fish instead of the other guys fishing this event but really that is the reality of it.  Things have changed so much since my pre practice period here two weeks ago.  The lake has cooled by 5 or 6 degrees, its down 4+ feet just a foot above winter pool and a month early.  The bait is way back in the backs of the cuts and so are the schoolie bass.  Best five for today went MAYBE 12 lbs, still waiting on that 'right bite'.  There was a local tournament weighing in at Paris this afternoon and I asked a local what kind of weight it took to win and he told me 14 to 15 so I'm abit off pace and that will need to be fixed.  I have a good bait getting lots of blowups but having a difficult time getting hooked up, Ill keep messing with hook size and so on to get it figured out, top water is not my speciality but it is what the fish want right now so Ill oblige.  More time behind the trolling motor is needed and I'm confident Ill get this thing figured out.

Transition already

So it seems that the bass have begun their transition on the Hick already.  With this recent change in weather pattern Ive taken fewer and fewer fish from their typical summer haunts and it seems like they just got there.  I fished my last local event for the year last Sunday and only had two fish for maybe 4 or 4.5 lbs.  Got in line to weigh in and saw a couple of 5 fish limits and just walked to the release boat only to find out later that 4 lbs would have placed me in the top ten so I guess others are struggling as well.  This is the time of year when I really struggle, following fish in transition just isn't my forte but it IS an area where I recognize one of my weaknesses and look forward to the learning process.  

I practiced a few days on Kentucky Lake last week for the second central open and had mixed results.  I don't have a ton of experience on that lake but received some advice from some who do and put it to use.  Catching fish was NOT the issue it was catching the right fish.  My best five for the three days went something like 11 lbs to 13 lbs and I know from the results of the BASS weekend series event there a couple of weeks ago it will take 15/day min to do well.  

The recent weather changes are effecting the fish there as well as here and that is just another hurdle for me to deal with but everyone else as well.  Again I look forward to the challenge and can't wait to get on the water for official practice.  AS SOON AS I GET MY BOAT BACK FROM THE FU*@#NG REPAIR SHOP.  

On Water Decision Making

The last couple of weeks of practice for local events have been good or so I thought.  I have been catching decent numbers and also I have been able to catch the all important 'kicker' to scratch out a really decent bag if I could just put the two together on game day no issues.  That last statement was just the issue as a matter of fact, I just couldn't seem to put the two factors together to win an event.  I have a couple of spots which are kicking out some really nice fish and I have a few more which always seem to put out some decent numbers but community hole doesn't even start to sum up how I feel about some of those spots so I found myself lingering around my honey holes too long to even have the opportunity to win.  Riverside Marine hosted their last regular season event two weekends ago and I took 3rd simply because of the aforementioned problem in my head.  By second guessing too long to fish effectively later in the day I hindered my ability to close the deal.  This happened again the Tuesday after in a really small event I fished just because I was so pissed about how I performed on Saturday.  With the help of a good friend of mine, William Underwood, I kinda got a lesson on 'game day' decision making this last Sunday in a decent size event of 70 boats or so.  We fished the honey holes for a couple of kickers and then burned some gas doing a milk run spot to spot following instinct and avoiding the 'weekend warrior' spots just fishing what felt right until we ran into some fish no one else was on here and there.  I cannot stress enough how not wasting time helped us win the event.  We did our homework ahead of time and quit worrying about how much gas we were burning or who or how many might be on the spot once we got there, we strategically went about our business efficiently as possible not wasting any time second guessing baits or angles of approach or waiting for fish to get active.   What I learned and kinda already new but was maybe over thinking it was put in your time behind the trolling motor well ahead of time and come to the ramp ultra prepared.  Have your rigs out and knots checked well before your number is called.  Know exactly, EXACTLY where you are going to run to and if it is crowded there don't fumble around, run to the next spot.  Know how long you are going to spend on any given spot before heading to the next and how long before you revisit the same spot again before it may reload.  Oh and also "William will appreciate this" know how much oil is in your tank the night before!!

Mixed Results

So Ive had some mixed results regarding my theory that the 'deep'  bite has returned to the Hick.  Ive practiced a couple of days and fished a local club tournament since my last post and I think the big girls are there but there are also the little yellow bellied bar fish present.  Im not sure how these pests are affecting the largemouth but there are so many of them shallow and deep that I have to think that somehow they are making the big girls a little skittish or maybe they are not letting the bass get to the baits.  Ever present is the 'tic tic tic' of the barfish tapping your worm or jig.  Absolutely every place I have scouted out a deep hard bottomed piece of structure the little guys are there too.  Lots of bait but maybe too much.  So the tournament I fished was a one fish, big fish club tournament only 6 hours duration and I caught 3 largemouth all day off of 2 spots.  I feel I was lucky to get those 3 bites amongst all the local traffic and baitfish.  I soaked a jig and basstrix all day but did end up with this 6.85 to cash a check which made me feel good but in a normal five fish event I feel it would be very hard to come by 5 of these.  Numbers are there shallow but 5 14" fish may only weigh 10 or 11 lbs and I know I would need more than 15 to cash another check so the search is on again this week to find some more deep bites and maybe less bait in the area meaning less nuisance fish as well.....

Ledge fish, FINALLY!

Not a great picture but a great day of fishing!

Launched the Basscat at sun-up this morning in anticipation that the much-sought after ledge bass of Old Hickory would show up again. Ledge fish have been missing this summer, not sure if it's because of the lack of current or some other anomaly but I was hoping today would be different, and it was.

The first spot I pulled up on was a submerged point tapering off from 12' to about 18' of water with a 20-25' drain on one side and the main river channel on the other side. Nice hard bottom, lots of bait and I was graphing fish under bait fish. Petey-rigged fluke did the trick for numbers but the 12" worm was the real deal for the big fish. A 4 and a 7 came off this spot early so I let the spot rest. I went up-river to look at a few similar spots (long tapering points with hard bottom and bait fish) and was able to duplicate the results. 20-21 lbs for my best five. 

So glad I'm not crazy, even if I look like I am in the middle of the river to those who don't know what I know! Planning to double-check the pattern tomorrow and use this in the weekend local tourney if it holds.