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.