After the Bassmasters Classic on Lay Lake Last weekend I came home to pre-fish for the Bassmasters Weekend Series by American Bass Anglers on Lake Guntersville. The weather left alot to be desired but in tournament Bass fishing anglers have no choice to to get out there and make things happen. Our forcast for the week was brutal calling for high winds and snow on atleast one day of practice with the end of the week having a full moon and more high winds. Temps started off everyday in the mid to upper 20's with highs only reaching mid 40's by the weekend.
On Monday I started off pre-fishing like I would any other lake I have been on before, checking places I knew fish should be and hitting areas I have had done well in on past trips. I found fish in the mid-lake area on creek channels working into large spawning flats to me the most productive pattern. The best baits for me seemed to be the Jackall TN70 lipless crankbait and Greenpumpkin Jig. I did notice the bite was strong and fish seemed to hit the baits aggressive on every place I had found.
On Tuesday I hit the lake fishing the lower section looking to duplicate the bite from Monday and build on what I had found. I fished several steep drops with the jig and only had two bites for the day. The Lipless crankbait was seeming to be the most consistant bite on the lower end with most of my fish coming on it. I had several solid keepers and was feeling good about the pattern.
Wed. I hit the water to find snow and blowing winds. I stayed on the lower end again wanting to get some idea of how the weather would effect the fish I had found the day before and it did. The areas I fished seemed to be very slow and crushed my confidence to make the run down river to those areas. The few bites I got all day were very light and fish just seemed to be loading up on the bait and not striking near as hard as the other days. I knew the weather would effect the bite and high winds would blast the areas I needed to fish with a jig making boat position hard to deal with when fishing with a co-angler.
Last Thursday I made the choice to run up river and see if the bite was any better. I also wanted to fish areas I had not seen(which is hard to do being I grew up fishing here). I moved above the Hwy 35 bridge looking for places I knew would not get alot of boat presure and had steep drops. I found a submerged pond in a cut that was surrounded by spawning flats and lots of wood cover. The edge of the pond had alot of green grass(which was key to holding fish). I fished the jig with very few bites but the Lippless crankbait was producing several 4+ pound fish. I also noticed it was more protected from high winds which were going to blow on tournament day. I had alot of confidence in that area and made the decission this was going to be the first stop of the tournament.
Friday I fished the mid-lake area again looking for some type of back up plan in case the area didnt pan out that I had found on Thrusday. I found 3 areass that held solid keeper fish and knew I could get atleast 15-18 pounds from all 3 of them. I felt confident I could get a limit and knew with 2 or more good bites to go along with it I had a shot at a top 5 finish.
On the morning of the event we had to wait to launch due to the ramp having a sheet of ice on it and it delayed the 6 am. blast off an hour. My co-angler and I made the run upriver to my first stop finding the water temps had dropped a few degrees but we were alone as far as boats go. We fished about an hour before I put the first keeper in the boat. A few cast later he landed a keeper fish and we were both on the board. about an hour later I got slammed and had a solid fish miss the bait. 2 cast later I lost a solid fish due to line breaking from the cold temps and being frozen and brittle. After about another hour I noticed my front sonar shut off. Those of you that fish know theis means I have a charging problem. I cranked the motor to find the voltage regulator was not charging the cranking battery and my tournament was about to get alot harder than I planned. during this time my co-angler boated a solid 6+ pound fish. I made the choice to stay in that area a little longer but knew I couldnt stay long having to run the livewells and now couldnt go to the mid-lake areas I had my most consistant bite. I could have made it to those areas but knew that there was no way to have enough cranking power to get back to the ramp for check in. If you have a chance at making some points and your co-angler has a chance at a check with his fish it was too big a risk to take to make a run and not be sure I could get back. I made the choice to run closer to the ramp and fish there in case I had to use the trolling motor to get back to check in.
I ended up only boating one more fish on after getting near the ramp on the TN70 and him and I missing only a couple of more bites. This put him and I both with 2 fish at weigh in time. He ended up in the top 15 and I got some points to go to the next event. In tournament fishing when you are fishing the entire series every point is important to make it to the goal of getting to Nationals.
There were alot of solid anglers in the event and over 30 boats without a fish and only 23 limits brought to the scales out of 127 boats.
It was a great job by the anglers that finished well and now looking forward to the getting the boat fixed and my next event coming up. Hope everyone had a great weekend and stays warm. The coming week I will be home working on guide trips and getting ready for next weekends appearances at Bass Pro Shops. Thanks to everyone for all the support and well wishes. See you on the water
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Non-Motivated Angler Makes for a Long Day on the Water.....
I started the day out this morning not looking forward to getting on the water. It was just one of those days that it was just hard to get moving and once I hit the outside temps it was even harder to make myself go to the water. Well after a bite of breakfast I launched the boat and ran south to look to duplicate the pattern I had been on for the last few trips.
The pattern seemed to hold up but it did start slow. I found some fish hitting the bait like they did on Monday so I decided to slow way down and fish them a little different than with the TN70. I tied on a Lake Fork Live Magic Shad in the 4.5 size and rigged it on a 1/8 swimbait hook. I would let the bait fall into the grass lines then rip it from the bottom. After several cast I found they seemed to hit it harder and hold on to the bait alot better.
I ended up fishing the Magic Shad on the rest of my stops boating fish in all but two of them working grass lines in water from 1-4 feet. I did notice the water seemed to be getting cleared up more on the lower end that on the north and mid section of the lake. I think that also helps the bite because it tends to heat up a little faster when the sun gets out good. The size for me could stand to pick up though with my best five only pushing around 20 lbs and anyone that knows this lake knows that wont tip the scales this time of year in a tournament. Well back at it in the morning and hope everyone has a great "humpday". See you on the water.
God Bless
Phil.4:13
The pattern seemed to hold up but it did start slow. I found some fish hitting the bait like they did on Monday so I decided to slow way down and fish them a little different than with the TN70. I tied on a Lake Fork Live Magic Shad in the 4.5 size and rigged it on a 1/8 swimbait hook. I would let the bait fall into the grass lines then rip it from the bottom. After several cast I found they seemed to hit it harder and hold on to the bait alot better.
I ended up fishing the Magic Shad on the rest of my stops boating fish in all but two of them working grass lines in water from 1-4 feet. I did notice the water seemed to be getting cleared up more on the lower end that on the north and mid section of the lake. I think that also helps the bite because it tends to heat up a little faster when the sun gets out good. The size for me could stand to pick up though with my best five only pushing around 20 lbs and anyone that knows this lake knows that wont tip the scales this time of year in a tournament. Well back at it in the morning and hope everyone has a great "humpday". See you on the water.
God Bless
Phil.4:13
Monday, February 1, 2010
Hard Fishing and Great Company on Guntersville
Well, the title sums it up fairly well. What seemed to start out as a great last min. trip on Guntersville with an awesome guy, Kyron Jones ended up with the fish not being very commited to the program. Kyron has helped me in the past at some appearances at Bass Pro Shops while doing tank demo's and we made the choice last night to get him out on the water in search or a big Guntersville Bass. Well, we started off launching at Waterfront and after looking at some cloud cover made the choice to run north from the ramp. Upon reaching our first stop and seeing the water to be about 3 degrees colded and 4 shades darker than the last time I was in the creek a few days ago I knew I was in trouble. I had explained to him I really needed the sun to pick up the better bite was sure we would have some fish reguardless.
We started off tossing Jackall TN70 Lipless cranks in the shallow grass lines. While fishing I was telling him how the bite had been very suttle and make sure to know exactly what his bait was doing at all times. It wasnt long before a fish smacked his bait pulled the rod and then came unhooked. He then knew what I meant about the bite being light. I ended up picking up a rod and using several different colors and sizes to see if it would help make the fish commit better to the bait. I then had a fish slap at the bait and ended up foul hooking it in the back. After getting the fish to the boat and letting him go back to his winter retreat Kyron missed another solid fish that was right at the boat and pulling drag. He was doing everything right and working the fish then it was just like the fish disappeared and the line went slack.
I made the dession to make a move further up river to an area I had boated a few fish in past trips. After working the area kinda fast I crossed the creek channel to another area and hooked up again on a solid keeper fish but still not what I was looking for. After a few more mins. Kyron had one fish knock slack in the line but when he set the hook nothing was there. We then were running out of daylight during the short 4 hour trip and moved again. The 4th area we fish produced one nasty backlash, some new line and no fish. We moved back to the area we had started and showed the most promise. Ended up with a couple of more fish several misses and some great leasons on the Lowrance set up/reading the graph and GPS. I even missed a fish on a Jackall Flick Shake, which those of you that have fished with me know that is a very rare thing to happen.LOL
All in all a good trip where lots of great fellowship and instruction prevailed over the fishing. Somedays are always better than others and there are somedays you just can't make them eat the bait good enough to get them in the boat. Water temps were 46-49 degrees with a light wind and very stained water. The current was moving so fast on the main lake it almost seemed like someone forgot to put the plug back in the Dam but water levels are still high. Hope everyone has a great week and stay safe.
God Bless
Phil'4:13
We started off tossing Jackall TN70 Lipless cranks in the shallow grass lines. While fishing I was telling him how the bite had been very suttle and make sure to know exactly what his bait was doing at all times. It wasnt long before a fish smacked his bait pulled the rod and then came unhooked. He then knew what I meant about the bite being light. I ended up picking up a rod and using several different colors and sizes to see if it would help make the fish commit better to the bait. I then had a fish slap at the bait and ended up foul hooking it in the back. After getting the fish to the boat and letting him go back to his winter retreat Kyron missed another solid fish that was right at the boat and pulling drag. He was doing everything right and working the fish then it was just like the fish disappeared and the line went slack.
I made the dession to make a move further up river to an area I had boated a few fish in past trips. After working the area kinda fast I crossed the creek channel to another area and hooked up again on a solid keeper fish but still not what I was looking for. After a few more mins. Kyron had one fish knock slack in the line but when he set the hook nothing was there. We then were running out of daylight during the short 4 hour trip and moved again. The 4th area we fish produced one nasty backlash, some new line and no fish. We moved back to the area we had started and showed the most promise. Ended up with a couple of more fish several misses and some great leasons on the Lowrance set up/reading the graph and GPS. I even missed a fish on a Jackall Flick Shake, which those of you that have fished with me know that is a very rare thing to happen.LOL
All in all a good trip where lots of great fellowship and instruction prevailed over the fishing. Somedays are always better than others and there are somedays you just can't make them eat the bait good enough to get them in the boat. Water temps were 46-49 degrees with a light wind and very stained water. The current was moving so fast on the main lake it almost seemed like someone forgot to put the plug back in the Dam but water levels are still high. Hope everyone has a great week and stay safe.
God Bless
Phil'4:13
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