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McCoys Blog 2012 May 12 - ABA on Chicakamauga - Round 2 - So third event for ABA was on chick again, and because its late in the spring was ready/expecting a mixed bag of shallow and deep. Started practice shallow, and George and I figured out a couple patterns flipping and throwing a buzz frog to the tune fo 15 lbs a day average. I needed to go deep and try and figure out a bigger bag. I spent all day thu and fri in practice idling ledges and humps looking for a school. Thu was a bust and was getting frustrated not finding any schools I could rely on. Fri morning I went to a hump I had fished in the past expecting more of the same as Thu...was I wrong..I found em stacked and almost every 5 casts burning a 6XD off the hump would catch another one. I left after 20 min..and tried to find some more. Come tourney time I was itching to get back to that spot,,and sure enough they were still there. My coangler and I ended up catching 8 keepers from there, and we filled and culled limits shallow with my best fish, 4.5, coming off a shallow grass patch. Ended with 15 lbs and in 14th place and my coangler finished in 10th. Was a good day caught alot of fish and keeping my standing strong. Off tournaments for awhile and back to filming so stay tuned for footage from various lake challenges in the weeks to come. Apr 14 - ABA on Chickamauga - The lake levels finally rose from 2 weeks prior, and practice started off similar to how it ended at the BFL, flipping bite still was rocksteady. I spent the rest of week looking for more water like it. After cold front, the fishing changed a lil,,the flipping bite slowed down for me. Tournament day, I knew it was my best chance to sack em so I just kept at it. I knew I could probably catch some keepers slinging and winding but Im no longer in this game for points..its go big or go home,,I missed several oppurtunities to have a decent size sack as 2 key fish came unbuttoned. I just stuck to the game plan and it didnt pan out..culminating in boat trouble that nearly got me DQ'd showing up right at the buzzer. It was the right game plan as several of the top 5 guys did the same thing..Just wasnt my day..but Id rather swing for the fence and miss than try and bunt...off to the S. Holston for the BFL,,stay tuned! Mar 17-24 - Wow what a whirlwind beginning of the year. From great success at the many fishing shows we attended, to the beginning of the BassSoldiers series, to the start of tournament season,,it has been hectic to say the least. Season started on Guntersville for the first ABA. Kona came down to fish the tournaments and we got to work. The weather had the fish ahead of their usual rattle trap pattern and into a spawning pattern. Ended up finding a lot of fish were using the newly matted back areas and could catch em on the ole frog already. So come tournament time, thats what I did, I caught the heck out of them and missed a couple oppurtunities for a top 5 finish but overall still finished in the top 20 with George. We took a day off from fishing to regather, picked up Dean from the airport for round 2 on Chickamauga. Chickamauga for the BFL was a lot easier fishing, could catch them anywhere we went. I figured out a 3 prong approach: catching them on the TN rig up in the watts bar dam tailwaters, where we were catching some real toads in practice, followed by running the river with a square bill for some keepers and possible fatty, and the ultimate flippig bite with a powerhouse lure. I felt pretty confident going in that I had the chance for over 20 lbs. Started the day with the TN rig and caught some barely short smallies and a huge striper, but nothing to show for my first 2 hours. So we packed up and hit the river with a square bill, and managed 3 keepers, 1 good one and 2 rats on my way to some flipping banks. Hit my first flipping spot and caught a 5 and a 4 and now had a 15 lb limit at 11. Thats it..we went flipping the rest of the day. I managed to cull up many times to 18-10 by 1. With almost 3 hrs left I ran around trying to get the last big bite to put me in the 20 range, and never managed it. Ended up catchin a bunch that didnt help the cause but finished in a respectable 7th place. Not a bad way to start the season with back to back top 20s. Headed back to the chick in 2 weeks for the next ABA. Check out the video on Chickamauga where me and the guys hit em hard with the TN rig. 2011 Sep. 10-11 - ABA on Guntersville, started practice in hard rain from tropical storm in the gulf, and the next few days put on a clinic of catching and finding big schools of fish in the current. When the current slackened I would parallel the edge with a swim jig or fluke and wore them out averaging 15lbs a day but losing a TOAD each day that would of pushed my weights close to 20#. I found a couple back up deep spots the last day of practice in case I needed something. Both days of the tournament started on my deep spots which were averaging bigger fish. and was able to catch 3 pretty quick. I went to the grass hoping to fill out the limits both days, but with blue bird skies and no current I couldnt buy a bite! I hate when practice and tournament dont line up..guess its why its called fishing. Finished mid pack, but with enough points to seal a top 20 standing in points so headed to the regional on kentucky Lake. Should be fun stay tuned! July 10- ABA on Watts bar, and the word from the lake is the bass were hit or miss on the ledges,,one here one there. Practice played out exactly that way and I felt as if I could get 5 but would take all day. Day of tourney, and had a few shorts on top to start. THen started running all my deep spots,,and first fish I hooked on deep crank, was a 4 plus, got it right to the boat and fish was all played out..coangler knocked it off with the net,,ugh,,taht hurts! Was able to run around and pick off 3. Lost another trying to swing it into the boat, to negate net issues..had my chances to place in the money, but wasnt to be. Oh well, off to the Cal Delta to fish with the west coast boys..check out the video on the site! Jun 12 - Ft. Loudon - So fished Loudon ABA this week, practice went good, was catching fish on the Pop R in Tellico(see popR video in the video section), and ended up finding an area in practice that yeilded 16 lbs. Drew boat 2 so was able to get on it before anyone else. Took awhile for the bite to get going as its was still pretty dark out there to start, but once a little light got up the bite started up and put together a small limit by 930. Tried my best the rest of the day on ledges and humps and flipped to get a bigger bite but never mananged to cull. Respectable finish still keeping me in top 10. Congrats to Derrick for a 6th place finish throwing the PopR as well. Oh and also shout out to the guys I saw on the water this week weraing their BassSoldier gear! Jun. 5 - Chickamauga - Ok so practice was so much fun this week catching them shallow and strong. Hoped it would hold,,,it didnt, all my good areas produced slicks one after another..TVA pulled the bottom out from my spots and the fish backed off with it. I ended catching one keeper, that allowed me some points to hopefully make it into the top 40 by Cherokee. I dont know whats going on this year with the BFL, im struggling. Gotta put the energy into BASS where im doing very well. Im learning a good lesson this year,,your mind has to be fully in it to win it. And lets just say, my mind has been occupied with life and been a struggle to attain the focus Im used to. Oh well, just got soldier up and get it done..On to Loudon ABA this week. May 9 - Holston lake recap - Fished all week for BFL,,started off on a bad note as my boat was down and out having my motor issues resolved...so practiced with John and Kona who came in from CA to fish the tournament. We absolutely smashed them all week on worms and jigs,,with a little wake bait and swimbait thrown in for good measure. Got my boat back Fri nite, and had it for tournament. I knew my day was off when we started with 3 hr fog delay,,followed by my coangler almost knockibg himself out while trying to net my first keeper, which came unbuttoned at the boat...it was gonna be one of them days,,sure enough only managed 2 keepers. But 2 soldiers made the check cut, congrats John and George..and Alex just missed it by a few spots. Overall I was stoked that Kona was able to come fish his first BFL and he got to taste what these Holston smallies can do,,I think he'll be back...anyways check out the video of the week and see ya at the next one Apr.9- Douglas BFL practice started ok figured out they would bite the drop shot for a sure limit,,maybe with a few bigs uns thrown in..had motor problems but luckily the Madisonville Marine boys fit me in and got me up a running for the tourney..lost a day of practice but was able to figure out they would bite the jig from the few i caught and with Georges info. on color gave me a place to start the tourney...stayed most of my day in flat creek with a little jump to muddy creek for an hour. Had a limit by 930 with a douglas toad 5-14 caught on the jig as a kicker. I ended up culling all my drop shot fish with the jig and ended with almost 14 lbs to put me in 8th. I needed it after the start I had on Watts bar..have a break for a month then headed to Holston, but stayed tuned as Im headed to CA this week to fish with Gold Soldiers and go back to my roots of throwinga big swimbait,,look for the video action of all the filming we will do on those famed socal lakes! Mar. 26- Had the ABA tourney at Chickamauga this past week. Had a slow start to practice catching a bunch of little bucks everywhere I went. TVA pulled the bottom out of the lake pulling those early spawners back with the water. Had trolling motor issues on day 2 of practice that cut my day to only a few hours of fishing. With one final day of practice, I put in up river by Dayton and needed to find somehing good. Well I found an area in Mud Creek where I smashed them with a gold rattletrap, to the tune of about 24 lbs, anchored by a 8+ I caught. Needless to say I made the run from Chester Frost first thing in the tournament. I have had bad luck with motor issues during Chickamauga tourneys and hoped the streak would not continue....I was wrong. I spun an ear off my prop just a min away from Mud Creek. Was able to make it to the creek and set down and fish. Caught 4 keepers with 3 good ones in about an hr. Luckily my coangler had a few buddies locally that could bring us a spare prop,,,note to self carry a spare prop from now on...after getting the OK from the tournament director we were able to change out props and get back to fishing. Went back to mud, but the bite had died from the heavy pressure from boats. I had also figured out a good jerkbait bite and decided to spend the rest of the day trying to fill my limit and cull. Sure enough after filling my limit by 11 I was able to get a fat spot and big smallmouth to cull up to 20 lbs. Ended the day cashing a check and finished in 11th place. Great start to the ABA this year and good redemption from the previous week at Watts Bar. Next week, Douglas BFL! Mar.-This will be a short blog for me...Watts bar BFL...I stunk it up out there...very tough, all the soldiers struggled! I blanked for the first time in a long time...oh well starting the BFL season behing the 8ball,,gotta do well in the rest,,,on to Chickamauga ABA this week! Feb.-Practice for Guntersville ABA-Already so spent 5 days practicing for the tournament during the ''Rattletrap'' season. Withing the first 5 min of practice started catching them solid on a 1/2 oz red eye shad in the rayburn color. Caught them pretty solid through practice on that color and chartreuse, with the bigger fish coming on the 3/4 versions. Also found that the staging areas going into the creeks seemed to hold the better quality fish in concentration. But never located anything over a 16-18lb bag, and if youve ever fished the G in the spring you know it takes over 25 usually to win. Come tournament day, of course heavy winds and rain to accompany us, went to all my trap spots with not a lot of success the weather seemes to have them in a funk. Caught first keeper in the first 5 min but didnt get another bite til around 10. Finally decided to look at some of those staging spots and found one that the bait was stacked on. Fired a jig out there and in 3 casts had a 4.5. With all the bait I switched to a deep crankbait, and had another 5 lbr. After leaving to let it rest came back and put another 3.5 in the boat, and my coangler put 2 solid 4s in the boat too. With 2 hrs left I decided to camp it and try and get 2 solid more bites. Well that never happened and I brought in 4 that weighed almost 15. The hole had produced 23 lbs of fish for my coangler and I, and it took 23 to win....well I was on the right fish to win, maybe next time. 2010 Nov. 23- Get ready, if your wanting to wack em good right now, you want to be heading to Norris lake. Kona, from the west coast crew was in town and the soldier squad has been getting out on Norris this week and slaying them. With a few days spent on other local lakes (check out the TOAD caught by Kona on Watts bar in the pics section). Its mid Nov. and those clear water lakes are on fire reminds me of fishing out west! May 10- Fished the ABA on Loudon my home lake, in practice noticed that most the bigger fish seemed to be mostly deep already with a few shallow exceptions. So in tourney focused 8-10 ft with a crankbait and C. Rig, caught a limit and just missed a check by a few places. Should have went even a little deeper as I noticed they were stacked in 20 ft. Oh well solid finish. Couple weeks off before the next tourney on Chickamauga! May 1- WOW what a hectic week. I fished the 2nd FLW AFS on seminole in GA this week what an awesome fun place to fish. First fish in practice went 8.5 lbs. I got on a pattern of fishing in the grass in clear water throing topwater in the morning and working in the grass as the sun came up. I ended up doing well but missed a check by only a few places, all in all a good experience. As I didnt make the cut I immediately drove to Bristol, TN an 8 hr haul to fish the S. Holston tourny of the BFL. NO practice at all but I had a pretty good idea of what the fish would be doing. Sure enough was able to put together a solid day and cash a check. Get home take a couple days off and then start practicing for the ABA on Loudon next week. Apr. 12- The boys at Martin marine got me all squared away and back in action,,,thanks Dave! Hit them up as they are running a BassSoldier 10% discount on service to any member who shows up and displays their support by wearing a BassSoldier shirt, hat or sticker! Apr. 10- Fished a ABA tourney today on Chickamauga, was on a solid 15 lb pattern and was ready to fish hard. On my way to first spot my Motor overheated and I was done. I managed to boat 3 fish for 8 lbs as I was crawling back to the weigh in...feels like Im jinxed! Mar. 27- So after a great week of prefishing for the upcoming BFL, armed with a knowledge that alot of the big fish on Douglas Lake had moved up to the back of creeks with the rising water, I ran a pattern of rattle traps in the shallow flats. I had been catching some huge bags during practice of between 17-25 lbs. But just my luck the couple nights before the tournament the temps dropped and by the day of the tourny those fish seemed to have backed out or stopped biting. I ran that pattern as I knew that anything less would be fishing for a midpack finish instead of the win,,so I gambled. I never got the fish to bite shallow so in an effort to bring in some weight I hit some secondary transitions and was able to put together 4 in a couple hours for some token weight. One of these days itll come together for me on tournament day. Mar. 8- So John and I fished the BFL tournament on Cherokee, and both had a tough day along with the majority of the field. The water temps in Cherokee were barely in the 40s, and the bite was tough. We both ran upriver to the warmer water and both relied heavily on the dropshot and I caught 6 nonkeepers and had many more bites, and John had a bunch of bites as well. It was tough and is the first tournamant I havent weighed in a fish in a long time. This sport can humble you quick and now we are behind the eight ball and need to do well to catch up in the points. Oh well, here comes Douglas lake! Feb. 28- Just got back from Florida. Practice went as planned and I was able to locate several spots that held quality fish on beds. But what an interesting place to navigate, with only little cuts to pass through in 2 feet of water--a little scary. I was catching on average 15-17 lbs a day in practice and expected to be able to do the same in the tournament. However, mother nature blew us a curve ball of heavy monsoon-like winds on the first day of the tournament which just made fishing very difficult for my coangler Greg and I. Finally managed to get out of the wind a catch a few for some token weight. The second day with my partner Michael, went as planned and brought in a better bag, but lost 2 fish that would have put me in the money and instead finished mid pack. Great experience and will take away some lessons learned! Also got a chance to run the college guys(Curtis and Scott) from UCF around on the lake during their FLW college fishing tournament, and had a good time. Feb. 17- OK guys I am heading to Lake Okeechobee tomorrow to start my practice for the upcoming American Fishing Tour season opener. Thats rights gonna be testing my skills against some of the worlds best, and just itching to catch my first Florida bass. Should be a great time in the hot sun as the temps are getting into the low 70s during the day. Stay tuned in for my report on how practice went and how I do in the tournament! Nov. 20 Hey guys, so John and I went out today to fish a halfday local tournament. We had been catching them solid on spinnerbaits in practice. Got to our spot and within first 10 min realized conditions had changed. Had some boat problems so we had to sit and milk the area ended up only weighing in 2 solid fish, with a 4-5 being the kicker that John caught. 14-5 took top spot, we ended with 6.5lbs which was still good enough for 2nd out of 11 boats. So much for having them dialed in the day before, its why its called fishing. |
