Week in Review

Well this last week has been very busy and full of excitement. Trips on Lake Guntersville have been nothing short of Awesome on Monday and Tuesday with my clients catching huge numbers. The best bait has been the Jackall Flick Shake and Lake Fork Lizard. On Wed I headed to Lake Wheeler for a couple of days of practice. Practice went ok but I spent alot of time riding and looking at my sonar and less time fishing. One thing I have found is it looks like the bite is going to be ok but fish are moving all day and it is not going to be easy to stay with them. I did find a couple of areas that will hold fish on a morning pattern but things can change fast there. Thursday I tore a hole in my seat working the boat under some trees in a creek looking for a pond. I did find the pond and found fish in it way up river. When I got in there I saw a fellow Crappie fishing. He pulled up to me and said, how in the world did you get in here? I told him I pushed up the creek and he said well you found a great place and noone else willl come here. I asked him why and he told me he had lived there for 30 years and never had seen a boat in it other than his. He also added it was a pond he has on his farm and he never let anyone fish it but being I came in from the river and worked that hard to get in he would let me. I need to ask the tournament director if it will be legal being it is a private pond but accessible from tournament waters.
Friday I was back on Guntersville getting ready for the tournament this weekend. Well practice was ok and we found some spawning fish. The tournament was the worst fininsh so far this year for me just being in the top 15 but we had alot of fun. We have close to 75 fish in the boat but nothing over 4 lbs. We ended up getting our butt kicked at the scales but had a great time. Sat night I had an appearance at a tackle shop and it was awesome. I got to meet some great people and talked alot of fishing. The WAAY 31 commercials started this week and man is it weird to see me on TV. I went to the store last night and was asked about the new site atleast 15 times. The new site is going to be huge and will be changing everyday for the better. We have it up but also working on it make new changes so be sure to go everyday to look at it. I also am doing some video work for it as well and that is going to be off the hook. You can check it out at www.waaytobetterfishing.com Also let me know your thoughts on the site and things you would like to see happen to it. We will take all suggestions and work on getting them up. Thanks again and be sure to check out the blog all next week. I will be updating it from Lake Wheeler during the BASS Open.

Lake Guntersville 04-14-09

Today I fished with some great return guys from Tenn.. They had a tough trip the last time so I worked hard to get them back on them. Well I did my job well!!LOL They started the day slow but as the day got longer their arms took a beating. Those guys had one of the best days for both numbers and size on Guntersville that I have seen in a long time. It was a blast watching them catch so many fish and the size was nothing short of awesome. I decided to do something I don't do on most trips after they boated a good many fish and I started working on my Flick Shake fishing practicing for Wheeler by fishing it on Guntersville. Well, it works! I have fished the baits on Guntersville before but never on light line and spinning gear. Well I boated several good fish and several solid keepers in the grass with the line. If ever there was a true test of how well the Lake Fork line held up this was it. One major thing I did other than seeing the line held up well was gain confidence that I could use it in cover and trust it during a tournament. This is a major thing for me to be able to use such light line in nasty cover and know if I work the fish to the boat and not rush things they will make it to the livewell and scales. All in all I accomplished things today both on the trip as well as my mental state going into one of the biggest tournaments of my career. I will be back at it in the morning continuing to build on what I have going and getting better each day.

Rods and Reels for sell

Well aftger switching sponsors I have now got my G-Loomis rods and some Daiwa Exceller reels up for grabs. The list is below drop me an e-mail if you or anyone you know would be interested in them. Thanks.

G-Loomis rods:
1-spinnerbait rod
1-Mossyback worm rod
1-Mossyback C-rig rod
1-GL3 rod(great for just about everybait in the boat)
1-7'6" Cranking rod

All these rods have a lifetime warr and are going for 200.00 each(retail from 245.00-350.00)

I have 8 Daiwa Exceller baitcaster reels bought new last June. These retail for about 100.00 per reel I am selling them for 50.00 per.

If interested call or e-mail me and we will get them on the way to you. Thanks
205-706-2425 or finsngrinsfishing@hotmail.com

ABBT Tournament Update/Result

Well as many of you know I had the ABBT on Lake Logan Martin this past weekend. Being only 1 point out of Angler of the Year I needed a good tournament. I went down to Birmingham on Thursday to start my pre-fishing. Being that I knew the lake already I just needed a couple of days to pattern the fish so a long practice was not needed.
After getting there on Thursday morning at day break I launched the boat with good friend and fellow angler Doug Nichols. We started the day looking for a top water bite tossing the Jackall Bowstick in some areas that have been great this time of year. We had nothing even look at the bait. I then picked up the Spinnerbait and had 2 fish in two cast. The key was burning it just under the surface. For those who do not fish for spotted bass much they like baits moving fast. We left that area and headed up river looking for more fish. We fished several old brush piles with jigs and Jackall Flick Shake worms. All of our stops seemed to produce fish with us not catching more than two fish in an area and boating over 50 fish for the day. At the end of Thursday I was "stoked" and ready for the tournament.
On Friday they were calling for heavy rain, hail, high winds, and bad t-storms. I almost did not fish due to the weather but knowing how fish move and change and learning through the years of tournament bass fishing to always have a "plan B" I hit the water. I fished down river from the launch site all day on the same patterns I had found and spent the last half looking for "bedding fish" Well I found the bite seemed to be more stable on the lower end and several bigger fish on beds in pockets. The winds got real bad with 4-5 footers on the main lake areas and white caps in most every pocket I went in. I made the choice to get off the water and head to cover. Well it was the right move, it started raining and hail before I got the cover on the boat but was on the ramp. I got a call that real bad weather had hit home and alot of people had homes destroyed and major property damage. Please pray for these folks and keep them in your thoughts during their hard times. I made a call home to find out everything was ok there and let Beth know where alot of clothes I had were to donate to the people in need. My best friend/fishing partner Rodney was at work(Scottsboro Fire Department) when the storms hit and I knew he would not be at the tournament. Hats off to those guys for everything they did.
Well on to tournament day. We launched the boat out of Lakeside Park(better known as the City park/rec center). I ran to a place that had produced several solid 2-3 pound fish on a submerged bridge. I started tossing the topwater and spinnerbaits first. I have to be honest I am not sure why, I had not had a topwater bite both days of practice.LOL I thought about that after about 10 mins. and picked up the flick shake and wacky jig head. It was the bait to have. I boated a limit in about 30 mins.. After getting a solid 10lb limit I stuck to my plans and made the run down river for bigger fish. I wanted to fish the areas I had bedding fish after the sun came out so I could see them at a greater distance and not "spook" them. I upgraded several times and after not seeing the sun all day went ahead to the bedding fish.
On the way to them I had a thought to stop at one more place on the way. As many of my readers that have fished with me I always go with my gut. I made the stop and on the first cast had a fish on that was a solid 5lb spot. Well you can't weigh them in if they are not in the boat but it was not meant to be. I worked the area hard switching to the 6.8 Flick Shake in green pumpkin for a bigger bite. I worked the bait on a spawning flat casting into about 3 feet of water. I felt a solid thump and set the hook. After a long fish I boated the 5.56 Largemouth to cull way up and give me at least 13+ pounds. I had a couple of other fish culling up by ounces and one more solid fish that helped a little. I made the move to the bedding fish to find a super nice guy and his wife that I had seen fishing the day before fishing toward the area. I pulled up to him and told him I had seen 2 bedding fish in the pocket and asked if he would mind me fishing it. He said no and let me go in front of him. I moved in the area and saw the water had turned muddy from the rains. Well I marked the beds in practice so I just started casting to them. Boating only one and upgrading some. I fished another bedding fish until I just ran out of time and had to leave her without hooking her.
I ended up having 2nd place big fish and 4th place over all. The winners had a great sack of fish(all Largemouth) tat 19+ lbs and the rest of us in the top 5 all had 15lbs. I had 15.46 total and was happy for the results. All in all a great day on the water and solid tournament. I will never be satisfied with my results even if I win but, we had a great event and looking forward to the rest of the year. So far the worst finish I have had in a tournament has been 7th so I hope to keep up the pace with the next one at Lake Wheeler for the BASS Southern Open.
I want to take a moment to thank all of my sponsors and the people that support our efforts in the fishing industry. Without them I would not be here or have this chance to "live the dream"!

Needing Input??

We have the go for the WAAY 31 TVsite(www.waaytobetterfishing.com) . Be sure to visit it everyday for up to date info on the fishing reports and also alot of new product reviews. I need some imput though. What would everyone want to see on the site. We are going to be doing video shots of tactics and some things I do to "get an edge" during tournaments as well as other helpful hints to be better than other anglers. If you have any qustions of things you would like to see on the site let me know so we can get it and I can pass the ideas on to the right people to get it done. If there is anything you guys know of you would like me to do an article on or write about drop me a line and I will get to work on it ASAP. This site is going to be awesome and with your help and input we will lead the way for others and that's the WAAY we like it.

Practice over the weekend

Well this weekend was very busy for me and the crew at Fins-N-Grins. Rodney had some trips and a tournament while I was at Logan Martin and Guntersville both. On Sat. I was headed to Logan Martin to practice for the up coming tournament. I already am very confident I am on a great morning bite but, still having some trouble on getting good bites after about 8 AM so I was leaving a little later to look for a daytime bite. Well before I could leave, a longtime client, Harold Downey called me and wanted a last minute trip to Guntersville. Well I was all for it so I put off Logan Martin for a day. I got to carry one of his close friends on his first bass trip. Micheal and his son were two awesome people to fish with. I had them both casting a baitcaster in less than 5 mins.. We started the day very slow with only one fish in the boat on a Jackall TN70(red craw). On our last stop we hit the jack pot. They both started "smoke'n em' on the TN70 in both red craw and brown craw. We ended the day with a 15 fish total and two drum to boot. Both caught thier Bass ever and had a great time. I think that is one of the best things about being a guide. I got to be a part of a life moment between father and son and it was a blast to get that young man additcted to Bass fishing.
On Sunday I got my trip to Logan Martin. I started the day looking for some bedding fish up river and found several that are up and ready for the full moon on the 9th. They should be good, solid kicker fish and locked on the bed the weekend of my event. I then worked down river looking for some dock fish. Well the lack of sun made it a slow bite on the docks but I did shake a couple off and bult some confidence that I could get a couple of fish in the area. I'll tell you what I was doing after the tournament.LOL
On the way home I just could not take passing the boat ramp with daylight left on Guntersville. I put in on the lower end by my house and hit areas in Alred Islands. I found some fish, while not big, but alot of fun on topwater and the flick shake worm. The numbers were nothing short of awesome and I had a ball catching the first topwater fish of the year on the big g. Best baits for today on Guntersville were the flick shake and Jackall SK Pop Grande'(shad color).
I will be working trips on Guntersville for the next 3 days then going between Lake Wheeler and Logan Martin getting ready for both the BASS Open at Wheeler and the event I have at Logan Martin. Hope everyone has had a great weekend and stays warm this week. The tmps are going to fall fast this week and we will be back at winter temps by Wed.

Week in review

Well this week on the water has been full of up's and downs. We have had trips that just smoked fish and trips that I did everything buy drop explosives in the lake to catch a fish. The winds and temps have been the main killer of the bite and the TVA playing with water levels has kept the fish moving back and forth. Our best baits have been Jackall Stride and Swimming Ninja swimbaits, TN70's in red craw and chrome/blue, and Cover Craws in cola color.
Rodney(my fishing/business partner and best friend)has been out everyday as well. He has reported great catches of Crappie all week except Wed.. They have been catching solid numbers but the size has been just plain awesome. They has one trip that there were 18+ fish over 2lbs.. He will be fishing a tournament on Guntersville Sat for a charity that helps Children's Hospital in Birmingham. I am headed out to Logan Martin for an event.
Hope everyone has had a great week and be sure to check out the blog daily. I will be working hard to keep up the post and keep everyone on top of the latest news and products. Have a great weekend and looking forward to adding more on Sat afternoon.