This week started out to be pretty exciting, after it began with some strong practice days.  During the first practice, I caught the majority of my fish on a 10 inch worm, and had estimated a 25 lb bag!   So I  felt really good about that; and then I started hearing from the other guys that some were catching 30+ bags… Well, I didn’t let that change my thinking of how I was going to catch them.  By this morning I was rigged and ready to go, and as soon as we launched I was off.   BUT, when a slow morning started to turn into a slow early afternoon, I started to panic.  By 10:00, I still hadn’t caught a keeper fish (they have to be 15 inches here).   I was throwing the same bait and in the same spots, with the only change being a post frontal weather day as practice, and I couldn’t get a bite.   Now one might think that I ruined the fish during practice, but I had all my hooks bent over after the first practice day, so I wouldn’t stick any fish that I might need during the actual tournament.  So I fought the freakout feeling and just kept fishing. Thankfully, by noon, the fish started to turn on and I was able to start catching them.  Then I went back to some of the spots that I couldn’t catch them on earlier and was able to hook a couple on the second round.  I did start to pick up some other baits, as well just to try to get the fish active.  So even though I only caught about 8 keepers all day, I weighed  in 23lbs 6oz, so I am standing in 28th place.   On the second day I really needed to

maintain, so that I could stay in the top 50.  Unfortunately, I wasnt able to keep up the weight as much as the other guys. So, I didnt make the cut here but thats ok. I am going to shake it off and head home for a much needed break. The fish in this ESPN pic is 6lb, 12oz, too bad I wasnt able to catch a few more of those!

Looking back on this tournament I am disappointed that I consistently went down in weight but the reason that I caught the fish so well the first day was because of the cold front that hit just prior to the tournament. It made the fish pull down around the  posts of the docks as well as underneath them.  I caught them finesse fishing with a drop shot and throwing a Berkley wacky worm under the platforms of the docks on that first day. Like I previously mentioned, on the second day we had sunny skies, zero wind and a heat wave. I stuck to the same pattern as the day one and I caught a 5 pounder first thing in the morning but as the temperature kept increasing, I struggled the rest of the day. The bass were suspending on the docks, roaming just under the surface in open water, and sunning around on clay points. Basically- they were inactive. On the third day I decided to try to do alot more bed fishing because the scenario was the same as the previous day. I caught mostly bucks off beds and two small females. But I failed to find a catchable female on a spawning bed. There were alot of females starting to commit to beds but they just werent committed enough to make them lock on. Today was the fourth day and the weather was exactly the same as the last two days. There was big waves of females moving up everywhere but seemed almost uncatchable, to me anyways. I tried drop shotting, wacky rigging, throwing french fries (not McD’s but the small plastic centipede bait). There was females swimming EVERYWHERE and I got to the point where I didnt even bother casting at them. The only fish that I basically felt I had a chance to catch were the few females that were committed to beds and they were few and far between. I worked a half a dozen beds that had good females holding just off of them and thought I could catch a few of them. I tried not to catch the males right away and I was able to get some of the females mad enough that they would towards the bed to pick off my bait but the male would push the female back off making it very difficult to get them to bite. In some spots I had to pick the male off the bed in hopes that the female would have a chance to move up but more often the female lost interest and would vacate the bed. Overall I worked as hard as I could but fell short from where I started the tournament but I am still very happy with earning the 10th place. This finish allowed me to cash a check and move from 49th in the AOY standings to 26th. Which at this point would mean Classic qualification so my goal for the next four tournaments is to continue to have an upward movement in the points.

On our second day at Smith Mountain Lake, I had a pretty slow day. I dropped a little further back from yesterday and  I worked hard on a couple fish that I just couldn’t get to bite. The blue bird skies combined with almost zero wind, made for a very tough bite. The fish were there though so I am hoping tomorrow  turns out to be a strong day and I will have the opportunity to fish on Sunday in the top twelve. An exciting part of my day today was being interviewed by the guys at the Bass Zone.  They are great people and it was a lot of fun to have people across the country get online and ask whatever questions they might have for me. All in all, it was a good day and I am still going to spend some time night rigging and planning for tomorrow. Thanks for all the support!

Today was the first day of our 4th tournament on the Elite trail. We are in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains at one of the most beautiful lakes in the country- Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. I have had mixed feelings about this lake because of our past. In fact, the first time I ever fished here was in 2004 and let me tell you- it was rough. It was the only time that I have completely zeroed on a tournament day. Of course, I was disappointed but I also set out with a vengeance to learn this lake and to try like anything to not have a repeat of that day. And thankfully today was not, although I hit a point where I had to stop and think. When I started out this morning, I went to where I thought they would be and I was only catching very small fish. When no0n hit and I still didn’t have a decent bag, I started to feel that feeling (you know-panic) but I just decided it was time to make a change. So I did and shortly after I caught my biggest fish of the day, about a 5 pounder, and had a pretty good day after that. Finishing in 3rd felt great today but there are a couple more days of the tournament and I know that I will have to work really hard to maintain. Tomorrow is going to be a beautiful sunny day so a lot more of the guys will catch them, I just hope that I can keep making good judgement calls to keep up. One of the photographers from ESPN snapped this pic as I was weighing in.

Smith Mountain Lake Day 1

What a day! We waited and waited this morning for Trip, our Tournament Director, to make the decision on whether we would be able to fish or not. There were really high winds making the safety of all the anglers and marshals an issue of debate. I actually didn’t mind them cancelling the tournament, I understand that they have to think of all of the people involved and the marshals probably wouldn’t have enjoyed being cold and wet and not being able to fish. So after the chaos of pulling the boat back out of the water we went and had breakfast. I had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning the night before rigging and studying the map so I was thinking a nap was in order. I had also run short of one the baits I was using. Another guy on tour shared some of his with me but I had to make a run to the tackle store to pick up some more. I am excited to fish tomorrow, its going to be a beautiful day. My mode of operation has not changed from the first day but I am definitely going to work for a big bite. Hope to update you tomorrow with good news of a cut.

Practice on Lake Wheeler has been about the same as my fishing all year so far- tough. I checked out some old areas and some new areas and the only thing that I have surmised from all of it is that the fish seem to be scattered. The water level has been fluctuating up and down due to the high levels of rain but the fish are ready to spawn and so they have been moving up and down making it difficult to track them. Not to mention, we are having another cold front which hasn’t been helpful either. So far, I have not been able to find that sweet spot where all the females are stacked. I am actually trying to think about what they might do come tournament time. The thing is, is that if I found the fish based on the conditions now they may move depending on what goes on with the rain and water levels. So basically I am trying to outsmart the fish, survive mother nature, and beat the best of the best.  No big deal, right?

I knew going into this tournament that it was going to be a difficult one for me.  I had never been on the water of Lake Dardanelle and after the first day of practice I could tell that it was going to be a hard lake to navigate on. There were a lot of stump fields and sand bars that made getting around to check out different areas tough to do. Even though I have good electronics with details of the contours, a lot of areas had changed dramatically from when the information was gathered to make the map.  So, I tried to make the best decisions with the knowledge that I did have. The first day of the tournament I ran all the way up the river into an area that I thought I would be able to pick off a limit of legal sized fish (they have to be 15 inches here) I caught a ton of 14 inchers but never did catch any keepers there. In the last hour of the tournament day, I ran down to a pocket off the main river channel that had clearer water and managed to catch 2 fish weighing 6 lbs total in the last couple minutes before weigh-in.  On the second day, I thought I had a better plan worked up and it was to stay down in the area where I caught those couple of fish the previous day and hope to get a limit. Unfortunately, I worked that area all morning and only caught 2 keepers, I just don’t think there were a lot of fish in that pocket, I jumped around and managed to catch 2 more keepers but just could never find the right area with a number of bigger fish holding in it. I ended the tournament in 64th place which means no check for this week but better luck next time. And after the weigh-in we realized that majority of the top twenty guys were all catching them in the same area. Somehow I missed the memo on that one. haha. Oh well, I am excited to be heading to Wheeler today. Its going to be interesting to see what the lake is like now since last year I did well placing in 5th BUT that was alot later in the year. Could be a whole other ball game.

Today’s practice I spent most of my day creek fishing and to be honest, I really wasn’t pleased with the size of the fish that I was catching. Even though I didn’t set the hook on all of the fish, I can say that I am pretty sure they were just barely legal. Primarily I have been catching them using 3 different methods, I’ll have to go into more detail at a later time. Even though this was the first time I have ever fished on Lake Dardanelle, I had researched and studied the map to pick the places that I checked out today. The weather is probably not going to cooperate for me tomorrow but my plan is to search for some new area.  

 Oh, crazy thing happened tonight as I was coming off the water. At the end of the day I was coming in from the one creek and it was getting pretty dark so I was idling in and I didn’t see that there was a lay down tree in the middle of the water. Well, I saw it but it was too late, this tree branch smashed my windshield and nearly took my head off. Whew, close call but everything is all right. Except my windshield, of course.

We just got to San Antonio tonight. Becky and I are going to spend the day tomorrow catching up on some business and hopefully we can check out the river walk tomorrow afternoon. Maybe even a quick trip to the zoo. Then she will be flying home until the tournament starts on Lake Dardanelle. My first tournament of the year was not exactly like I had hoped but I made a cut and check so that is something I am certainly not complaining about. I am already looking forward to going back there next year. Lake Amistad is just amazing, it is such a fun place to fish. The only place better is Lake Falcon which is on the same river chain just a little further south. We went there in 2008 and it was an absolute slug fest. In fact we caught so many big fish that our livewells couldnt keep the fish alive like we try to. But that was also when we had co-anglers fishing as well. I hope that BASS considers going back there at some point. I think that even if they dont, we will take a little vaca down there to catch those hogs.

Heres a better picture of the boat…

Well, consistency is great when it counts in your favor. I am thankful to have caught what I did so far this tournament. It certainly hasn’t been easy and these guys that I fish against are just such great fisherman that it is a constant challenge to push myself to do better. I caught my best fish today on a new spot that I had marked doing research from home over the winter but I had never actually fished before. And that type of fishing is probably what I am going to do tomorrow. Running and gunning is the plan for tomorrow. I am thinking a little outside the box and I did just tie on a new bait that I think might just work to catch some larger fish. I will have to fill in more details tomorrow night, well hopefully, Sunday night.