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Anglers on the front line of tournament bass fishing
Johns Blog 2011 Sep. 17 - Cherokee Lake Super Tournament.... Started off by getting 1 day of practice which was very tough. I decided to fish mid to upper part of the lake and boy was the bites tough to come by. Water was fairly clean couple feet visibility with temps hovering mid to high 70s. Practice day had 4 bites caught 3 that went about 7lbs or so and it was a GRIND to get those 4 bites. Talk of the tournament was the bite was very difficult and if you were lucky enough to find keepers you better stay on em which was exactly my approach. I only had 2 spots so i figured i'd have to milk them all day as I have only fished this lake a handful of times and did not have much past experience to go off of. Key baits were a topwater spook (Nickel color 3lber) on a main channel swing point and a carolina rig in 10-17ft of water on secondary points using a (Grn pumpkin trickworm 2 other keepers) just a few miles from the launch in a little pocket. I noticed the fish were holding on pebble to chunk rock size but if there were big boulder type rocks around as well it made it even better. I had 3 keepers by about 12 and fgured if I could get 2 more kepper bites I would be sitting pretty and make cut to fish a 2nd day. Unfortunately that did not pan out as I threw everything in the tackle box at them and could not get another keeper. I really thought I was 1 fish away from making the cut but would later find out that I did make cut by about 6 ounces. That leads us to the 2nd day which their is not much to talk about as we faced sunny blue bird conditions and my 2 spots turned into the dead sea . I ended up running around lake looking for new water which was not the right thing to do. I figured it would of been a good day to find some bushes and lay downs and flip but never did get around to do it. Day 2 had finally come to an end after a miserable day and I ended up in 14th place with just under 7lbs and finished season in 21st spot and earned a ticket to the regionals!!!. Jun. 5- Chickamauga- Got on the water a few weeks before tournament to scout out lake and see what stage the fish were in. I had one of my best days ever on the water boating over 50 fish in about a half days fishing with weight close to 20lbs. As it got closer to tournament time the bite seemed to get tougher and tougher boating fewer and less quality fish. I got out the Thurs before tourney and fished around the Hiwassee area for the first part of the day with very little success. I had caught a few flippin and on rattletraps but nothing worth wild. Packed up and headed up towards Cottonport area where I had found some really good grass and started catching some better fish. I made my way up the river and hit some main river ledges in 10-15ft where I had caught a big spot on a crankbait and a few more on a worm. I also went up pass the 30 bridge towards yellow creek where I found much cooler water)(70) and some great muscle bed ledges. By this time I felt like I had a little something going where 10-13lbs was doable. Tournament Day rolls in I head straight to the best grass I had found. We spent about an hour or so in there with me not even getting a bite but there was lots of activity. I left there and went a few miles up from there to another slough and started fishing a point that me and a buddy found day before. Within the first three casts I had hooked up with a non keeper and felt good as I knew the fish were still here. We had caught close to 10 fish my Co had caught 2 keepers and me 0. Ditched that spot headed up the river in disappointment but stayed positive. Hit a few ledges on the way with nothing to show not even a bite. Went little further up and fished a bluff shaded bank with a pop r and quickly caught 2 good keepers. Worked the area pretty well caught a few more but they were short. Left there and headed back down lake to the place we had caught quite a few earlier and sure enough more fish were back on it. I ended up with 1 more keeper and my co was able to get 2 more keepers. I would get the little school fired up and catch one and for some reason he seemed to keep catching the keepers. I knew I needed 2 more fish as this was going to be a tough tournament blue bird sky no wind and water in the low 80s. Numerous times I had a keeper fish buttoned and it would come off and at this point I was getting very frustrated with less than an hour left, Ran to the first spot we hit today and made a cast and boom hooked up but it was a non keeper. As I am bringing the fish in my co makes a cast and boom hooks up also but his was a keeper. I knew there was fish there and with 5 min left before we had to return to weigh in I put on a senko made a cast under a tree and Wha-blamo 6lber. This fish got me fired up and so excited I hurried up and threw him in the box and headed to the weigh in. I ended in 20th place 12lbs 1 oz & 6 ounces outside the money and I also missed big fish by 8 ounces. All in all in was a great day given the circumstances. Moved up 12 spots and cracked the top 40. May 8 - Douglas Lake- No good news to share here soldiers as I was unable to fish tournament due to personal reasons. This dropped me from 35th to 85th but I will come back strong. I arrived on S Holston Wednesday morning with Kona first day of a little front that had moved it's way in. Water was near 65 aand we immediately started hitting little pockets not far from takeout. The day started out well as Kona absolutely started to smash those fiery smallmouth drop shotting and shakey head. We figured that would be best way for us to narrow down a pattern as I was throwing more moving baits like wakebaits and swimbaits with little success. I knew this would be a good way to go as last years pattern was very similar throwing more finesse slow moving baits .We stayed on this for most part of the week but we did throw quite a mix of baits in hopes for something other than a finesse presentation. We were met with Mccoy Thursday afternoon and he was able to get on a very specific jig pattern that was putting better quality fish in the boat. We all ended up having an awesome few days of practice and caught several 4+ smallmouth and got some great footage you guys need to check out on the site. The key that we all determined was fishing tight to the bank and finding the right type of slate rock. Here comes tournament day and naturally fog delay which set us back almost 3 hours. I had what I thought was a solid game plan but after that fog delay and blue birds I had to adjust and slow down. This is not something you want to do slow down with only 5 hours to fish s I was in the first flight. I pulled up 2 my first 2 spots without a bite and by that time is was nearly 10:30. Ended up hittng a bank not far from where we launched and hooked up with a giant smallie that was just shy of 5lbs. Once I got that bite I knew there would be more like that near and we stayed put and sat on this area for a few hours. I ended up with 2 more and lost one that went 3.12 that my co caught on a finesse worm. When he brought the fish in the boat we had seen where my hook just skinned the top part of his lip as it was red from a fresh missed hook set Darn!!!. Decided to leave and hit a little creek called stout branch where I was able to catch 2 more 1 LM just under 2# and a smallie that was near 3#.. We ran some other stuff with little success so ended up back where I had caught those 3 good ones earlier. With about 10 min left I was able to cull my smallest lm with another one that was about a half pound bigger and ended up loosing a 4+ with 5 min left. All in all I am very happy with the way tournament went as I placed 15th with a little over 14lbs. It was nice seeing another solider cash a check( Way to go George) It looks like the streak continues with the Soldiers as Mccoy's previous tournaments resulted in a check too.One thing is for sure you guys will start to see a lot more of the Soldiers in the money and making lots of noise in tournaments to come.Shot out to all my soldiers lets kick some arse. Ps Quick thank you to some of the fellas that came up and gave props to how much they liked the site and what we do. Also thanks Jason R for help in dialing us in one the finesse worm and we can't forget Tedddylicious. Stay Tuned!!! 3-26 Chickamauga 2nd stop on the Bassmaster weekend series; Had a chance to go out and poke around the lake to get in a little practice and I decided to focus on the mid part of lake down. I had a feeling that the better quality fish would be up the lake where there was some grass but my boat had been acting up and did not want to chance making a 30 mile run up the river. Practice was going ok catching a few fish but the quality was lacking a bit. I knew I was in an area where fish would be migrating towards getting ready to spawn. It was a large stump field flat that had a couple ditches on both sides of it. By the last day of practice I felt like I had a few areas where I could bring in about 15lbs. Tournament day arrives and I mainly threw the rattletraps in gold and within the first 30 min had 2 solid keepers and thought I may be on to something big. Worked my primary area for over 2 hours without any more bites so we moved. I ran up the lake a few miles and fished a backwater area that had super clean water and there were a few fish on beds that I noticed the day before. I was able to pick one off in there on a bed and I also caught 1 more on a spinnerbait. By this time it was close to 1pm and all I needed was 1 more to fill out a limit. I ended up getting 5 or 6 more chances for that 5th fish but could not keep them buttoned on the trap. I ended the day with just about 10lbs and placed 44th. All in all it did not turn out quite as I would of liked it to have but I will learn from it and move on to the next one. Water temps hovered near 60 and we had about an inch of rain during the event. Quick side note went out the next day and bought $40 in sharp hooks. Signing off for now 3-19 Watts bar BFL- I was able to get out a few days before tournament and practice with very little success. I had 2 long days of practice and was only able 2 bring in 2 bass it was a grind. The deal was to cover as much water as possible and get that reaction bite. We launched out of Ladd Park and I had worked my way all the way down to Euchee after fishing several places on the way down the lake without a bite. I pretty much stuck with the rattletrap and by about 1pm I was able to boat a nice 5lber which ended up being the first and last bite I had all day. Ended up in 35th and in good position headed in to next event. Water levels were dropping and there was a slight warming trend going on which brought water temps into mid 50s. Feb.-Practice for Guntersville ABA-Started my first day up in Mud Creek Wed afternoon 3 days before tournament. I fished for only about 4 hours in Mud creek fishing the mid half of creek. Started with rattletrap had a few bites caught 1 short LM and hooked a white bass. I should of giving this area more time to develop as it was still cold and this creek really can turn on as the day warms. Since I had limited practice time I decided to take off and try on down the lake. As I was leaving the ramp a lady mentioned she caught a 9lber in that same creek which is known too put out big fish. The 2nd part of day went towards Roseberry creek and out toward the main channel with very little success as I tried some deep stuff as well as shallow finding good grass in 10ft or so mixed with shell but no bites. Day 2 launched in N Sauty by 2nd bridge and worked my way almost to the very back throwing rattletrap in both red and gold/blk with no success. By midday I decided to go out and fish more main channel and ledges which finally paid off. I had found a good underwater point where I caught a 2.5lber on blk blue jig swimming it back to boat in 10ft. A few casts later caught a 4.5 on a big jig with crazy leg trailer. I decided to leave this area as I felt it would only get better I also had 1 other spot very similar in almost the same depths. Tournament day I decided to stick with staying deeper which did not pan out as we had a bunch of rain and cloudy conditions which scattered my fish up. I ended up catching 4 fish only 1 keeper little over 3 lbs on a deep diving plug in about 12 feet of water. I had a lot of confidence in 2 areas but thats why you can't just rely on 2 spots. It was a lesson learned and next time I will spend a few extra days on lake to better prepare to the ever changing conditions we encounter.. 2010 May 1- S. Holston BFL Practice Day Nice sunny day to start off the morning with temps reaching the low 80's. Water temp was anywhere from 60-65. I got some advice from a fellow angler on where to start on the lake which was down towards the dam. Bite was slow the first hour or so and after that it was on. First fish of the morning was almost a 5lb Smallie caught near a launch ramp with tons of chunk rock in about 10ft of water. He crushed the jig and I have caught hundreds of smallmouth but never ones who fight like they do at this lake. After catching that fish starting fish some slate type banks with a finesse worm texas rig and that seemed to be the pattern of the day. Caught 3 more fish all close to 3lbs and decided to just run spots that looked similar and see if I could get bit but not setting the hook anymore. Tourney Day Was also a sunny beautiful day water was 60 at takeoff visibility was anywhere from 2-4ft. I stuck with the finesse worm pattern and was targeting secondary points and islands with a perticular type of slate rock. These small mouth were either using these rocks to spawn and holding tight or they had just spawned and had not made the move to real deep water just yet. By about 11am I had a limit of fish that was about 11lbs. After I had a limit I went looking for other stuff to try and catch the bigger fish but once the sun disappeared late that afternoon my bite had shut down. I think the fish had moved off the rocks and suspended and I did not realize that until it was to late. I wish I would have thrown the swimbait or some sort of fluke but all in all was a great day ended up just inside the top 25 and can't wait to see that lake again as those small mouth are a ton fun. I highly recommend you go out and give this lake a try! Apr. 1- Well it was one of those tournaments that was going to make or break me and unfortunately it did not go the way I had anticipated. My go to spot was right off the main creek channel and was a great staging spot for bass moving in to get ready for the spawn . It was loaded with fish not of great size but good enough to possibly cash a check. We got to it first thing in morning and there was a crappie boater just sitting right on it. Within the first 10 min I caught a keeper and thought to myself it's on. That was not the case however the spot had dried up and got washed out as there were 3 or 4 more crappie guys all over it. I ended up scrambling and catching one more fish that kept. Ended up with 2 keepers and lost a solid 3lber at the boat with an hour left in the day. I feel I am doing the right things to get in to contention just a matter of everything coming together come tournament time. We got South Holston coming up next which is a deep clear water impoundment with big smallmouth should be interesting. Mar. 20- Was able to get on the water Saturday and do a little mini tournament with some good buddies before a big tournament this upcoming weekend. The weather could not have been better as it was about 70 degrees. The water this time of the year is below normal at right about 50 or so. We all took off at 8am and myself and Horace who was my fishing partner went just a little ways up the lake from Douglas Dam. We started out throwing crankbaits and jigs and got on fish right away. We found a nice little honey hole which we spent a good amount of time working. We caught close to 20 fish off a few hundred yard stretch. Our best 5 were just under 10lbs and had a limit by 10am. The size did not really pick up so we went searching for bigger fish and hit several other areas with no success. At the end of the day myself and partner had a great time and caught a bunch of fish. I am looking forward to our tournament this week and hope my pattern and area stays hot. Stay tuned for results and my day on the water. |
