Rattletrap Ramblings

I haven’t posted in a while so I figured I should ramble on about something.

I fished the BASS Federation Nation qualifier last weekend and finished 11th with a small sack. I thought I was on fish but there was virtually no wind during practice and of course the wind starts to howl the day of the tournament.

It never occurred to me while I was practicing but all of my spots were on a west bank and the screaming east winds were making 3 footers on the grass lines I planned on fishing. Needless to say, it was pretty hard to catch fish flippin in 3 footers. After a short stab at it, I abandoned all the areas that I found in practice and covered new water.

If I would’ve just gone to a calm shore to fish, I’m sure I would’ve cashed a check but that’s fishin.

I at least qualified for the state tournament scheduled for November 6 & 7 on the St. Johns River in Palatka. The only problem is that it’s the same day as the Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championship.

I guess the BASS state qualifier will be a back up tournament in case I don’t end up qualifying for the Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championship on Lake Guntersville where the winner gets $205,000. I think it’s an easy choice if I end up qualifying for both. After all, I missed winning by only 2 ounces last year.

The heat is absolutely oppressive right now in Florida. You seriously feel light headed if you don’t drink enough water and I’m used to the heat.

I’ve been working on getting sponsors to help fund my fishing career but you gotta get used to hearing “no” all the time. I know it’s tough to convince a company to pay for all your entry fees, traveling expenses, and provide some spending money, but there’s less money out there up for grabs and most companies are cutting back.

I don’t even know if I’m qualified for such a job, but you don’t know until you ask.

The more I think about it, it’s the only way I can seriously make an attempt at fishing for a living. I just may have to contact every company out there until I hear a “yes”. There’s always the possibility of never getting a sponsor, but you gotta keep trying if you want it bad enough.

I have no doubt in my mind that I can qualify for the Elites or FLW if I give myself enough opportunities. If there’s any skills I lack, I can make them up with denial.

It’s really a matter of finances.

I hope this statement doesn’t make me sound cocky, but people that are successful at anything have confidence in their abilities and never complacent about their skill level. I realize I don’t know everything and always searching out ways to improve my fishing.

At this point, I’m thinking I need a really good finish at the BASS Open on Lake Seminole or win the Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championship to have enough money to keep pursuing my dream fishing full time alive in 2011.

I realize I’m asking for a lot, but it can happen. I gotta work on the belief that the harder I work, the luckier I get philosophy.

My map of Lake Seminole is starting to look like a pre-schooler went crazy on it and I haven’t even seen the place yet. Failure is not an option.

I need to find spots and plan for wind, changing water levels, and spraying. I doubt we’re gonna have to worry about a cold front, but it may actually improve the bite kicking in the fall pattern. It normally doesn’t start cooling down until late October but I’m tired of making excuses and will try to plan for any changes due to weather.

It feels like I’m going old school lately and the my latest fascination has been the jig.

I know, only Bill Dance and people from other states can pull it off but lately it seems like it’s the deal here in Orlando.

I’ve been flipping a 1/2 ounce black and blue jig in kissimmee grass and bulrushes with pretty good success. I feel like a Denny Brauer that’s been stranded in Florida. I’m surprised how weedless it is in kissimmee grass. I think the areas I’ve been fishing have a lot of bluegill in it so I’ve been using a Paca Craw in Okeechobee Craw as a trailer. The old timers have been telling me they work in Florida for years but now I’m starting to believe’em.

Another deal I’ve been messing with is swimming a 1/4 or 3/8 ounce jig. It’s basically a spinnerbait without the blades and it goes through the grass a whole lot easier. The cool part is that it gets some horrific bites where you actually get startled sometimes. If you haven’t tried this at home, make sure you’ve got a good grip when you’re fishing this thing or you’re liable to lose a rod.

I’ve been using the Strike King and Yank’em Jigs. The cool part about the Strike King Swim Jig is that it has a metal clip for a trailer keeper, it comes with rattles, and also comes in a bluegill skirt that no one else makes. Just make sure you get the “Heavy Cover” model because the regular ones come with a pretty wimpy hook. I’ve also been breaking out the Yank’em Jigs when I’m not wanting a rattle. It’s hand tied so the skirt doesn’t get messed up and it also has a nice keeper for the trailer.

Probably the most important thing about swimming jigs is having the right trailer. The Little Dipper has been the deal in blue sapphire or okeechobee craw. I know Reaction doesn’t make those colors but my buddy Pete’s been making a bait pretty similar to the Little Dipper and I keep running out of them. The cool part is that he’ll pour any color I want. You can’t get them on their site. You gotta call and request it at 407-443-9349.

I’ve also been using the tail on a magnum speedworm, magnum twin tail grubs, swimming senko, super speedcraws, etc., but that Little Dipper style seems to work the best. I’m throwing it on my frog rod with 65 braid.

Last week it was the Devil’s Horse and now it’s the jig. I bet ya some 16 year old is trying to sell these baits for $20 as antiques on ebay.

They’re a lot cheaper than the latest and greatest stuff and they still catch’em after all these years.

I’ve been hearing about how hot Toho is fishing right now and decided to check it out for a few hours this morning. Just about every tournament the past few weeks has been taking 30 pounds to even have a shot at making a check, so you know they’re eatin good right now.

The Xtreme tournament this past weekend supposedly have 4 teams that brought in over 30 pounds.

After Smith Lake, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put some pigs in the boat.

It started off a little slow since I haven’t been out there in a while but eventually found a stack of’em. I mean I caught numerous fish over 26″ with a flippin stick…. not that sissy gear I had use on Smith Lake.

Here’s 2 of them but there were quite a few more this size that I caught today.

I’m tellin ya it’s scary how good this lake is right now.

All I gotta say is Toho is a lot more fun to fish than Smith Lake and it’s good to be home.

Went fishing on the Butler Chain yesterday and found an area that drops from 10 ft of water to 20 ft with hydrilla coming up about 10 feet on the drop off. What more does a bass need? On top of that, they were coming up schooling every 20 minutes or so.

Unlike most freshwater lakes, Pelicans have decided to call the Butler Chain home. The coolest thing about yesterday was me and my buddy Del located the bait fish on Lake Butler by following where the Pelicans were diving. Many were diving from about 40 feet in the air within casting distance of the boat making a huge splash. The sound will scare ya if you’re not paying attention.

We would cast our 10 ft diving crankbaits near the area the Pelicans were diving and it was like a topwater bite. They would hit it as soon as it hit the water. There were times you’d actually have to crank it down to 10 ft to get bit, but what a day.

We caught about 20 fish in a couple of hours with most being 2 to 4 pounds. Also tagged a big one on the Sebile Magic Swimmer in the White Lady color. The crankbaits that were catching the fish were the Strike King Series 5 in the Sexy Shad color and the Lucky Craft RC 2.5 DD in the Tomato Shad color.

I guess I’ll have to keep an eye out for those Pelicans when I go out on the Butler Chain.

Just got back from pre-fishing for the Xtreme One Man tournament on Sunday and I’ve never felt this good going into a tournament. I’ve got 5 spots and they’re all capable of producing fish bigger than 5 pounds.

I’m not a morning person and hate getting up early but you see some beautiful things at sunrise. At least you get something out it.

If I don’t do good on Sunday then I’ve got to figure out a different way to practice. 

I’ve only hooked a hand full of them so they ought to bite on Sunday. My main patterns are the bluegill spawning in the pads and flipping reeds. I tried like heck to get bit on a spinnerbait this morning but no takers.

My practice went so well it’s weird. I guess I’ll take tomorrow off so I don’t hook any more fish. The only thing left to do is get my tackle and boat ready. 

My trolling motor battery was acting up so I rode by Jowers Batteries in Winter Garden and they replaced my batteries. They’re a good bunch of guys and will treat you right.

You may have noticed the new Kistler Rods logo on this blog. I’ve just signed on with them and got a new 6’7″Argon rod in the mail today which I’ll be rigging up for Sunday. Holy smokes this rod feels good. It’s probably the lightest rod I own and the blue finish is just sick. Some pics will be posted shortly.  I’m still trying to decide if I should pair it with a Revo STX or Shimano Chronarch D.

I’m so excited, I hope I can get to sleep the night before the tournament instead of staying up all night thinking about it. It’s fishing and anything could happen but I’ve done all I could to find the right spots.

I fished my club tournament on Saturday at Lake Cypress and without a lot of prefishing and concerned about finding fish. I had to search all day and started out fishing the running water in the canal there with nothing to show for it. I then ran to Toho and fished the main cut of hydrilla caught my first keeper with a black and blue Gitem curly 10 with a 1/4 ounce weight. The only problem was that there were 20 boats around me.

I decided to go to the area where it was loaded up with 5 pounders a few weeks ago, but this time it was dead zone. I thought for sure they’d be in some type of running water and checked out the East Lake canal with nothing. 

I checked out Makinson Island and caught my second keeper with the Gitem Curly 10. I thought we’d get more here but nothing else. 

At this point, I was scrambling to figure out a place to go so I went to a spot just north of Brown’s Point and the first reed I pitched on, I caught a 5 pounder with a black and blue Gitem Sugar. I’m thinkin I may finally have a place to camp out but an hour later, I had a few non keepers and decided it was time to move again but where?

I figured the only big fish I caught was on the reeds, so I decided to start flippin reeds on Cypress. It was close to the ramp and there’s reeds. Lo an behold, it was the best spot of the day. I only had an hour left so I started flippin real fast. I probably should’ve slowed down because I had a 3 pounder follow the Gitem Sugar to the boat. Once I slowed down, I pick up another 5 pounder. 

I only had 4 fish and needed one more in 30 minutes to round out my sack. A huge fish takes off with my Gitem Sugar and starts ripping drag out with 5 minutes to go and gets off. I mean the other two 5 pounders didn’t take out drag on my Revo STX which has 24 lbs of drag so I know this fish was a hawg. 

What can you do, I weighed in 4 fish for just under 12 pounds and got second in my club tournament. I just wish I had hit some more reeds throughout the day. The fish should be out in open water hydrilla with the current running throughout the entire lake but they weren’t. They were in the pencil reeds.

I guess this is why we’re all so addicted to bass fishing. You don’t ever catch them all and they’re hard as hell to figure out.

I’ve got a club tournament out Lake Cypress this weekend and have no clue where I’m going to go. I prefished Tuesday until it started raining and found only small fish. I wasted most of the day in the Toho canal because of the running water. I thought for sure they’d be biting in there with locks open.

I threw everything under the kitchen sink including a shaky head, rattletrap, carolina rig, shallow crank, deep crank, spinnerbait, swim bait, and 10″ worm with just a couple fish to show for it including a 3′ gar which ended up taking my rattletrap. I’d like to find some open water hydrilla but my Lowrance has been at the factory getting replaced for almost 2 months now and no sign of getting it back any time soon.

Also checked out Goblets Cove and the running water in the canal up there and again, just a few small keepers. I know when the water first starts running, it’s a bass catching fest but it seems like the fish don’t care for the current after about a week. 

The water on Toho has dropped about 2 feet from the looks of the waterline on the rip rap so I’m thinking they’ll probably be on the open water hydrilla except there’s not that much any more after all the spraying. If anyone know where there’s some open water hydrilla on the chain, please leave a comment.

The only place I know of is the main cut on Toho and it’s a community hole for sure but they always school up there. I guess I’ll start there and get to flippin once I get a few fish in the livewell.

I sure wish I had some good spots, but it’ll probably be raining until Saturday and I’ve gotta work anyway. It’s a bad feeling when you have no clue and you’ve gotta tournament coming up.

I headed out to Lake Toho after work today on a hunch that the fish are in an area that I caught them last year at and boy what a day. I’ve got myself a little honey hole where it’s stacked with 3 lb to 5 lb fish. I mean they’re fast hittin it like they’re competing with each other.

I caught three between 4 and 5 pounds rights off the bat and decided to check another area where I proceeded to catch a 3 pounder and another 5 pounder. I mean I caught more than 20 pounds in 30 minutes. I decided to leave the area cause I’m gonna make some money at the Wednesday night tournament this week. This is why I love Toho. When it’s on, it’s the best out of all the lakes on the Kissimmee Chain but when it’s off, it’s the worst on the chain.

It was on today.

The area I fished had 3′ to 5′ of clear water and kissimmee grass. I realize that describes 90% of Kissimmee Chain but it took a long time to find these fish in 100 degree heat. It’s no joke, it’s scorching out there. 

The one bit of info that I’ll let out is that all of the fish came on a Black and Blue Sapphire Gitem Sugar with a 3/8 Denny Brauer Tungsten sinker. I don’t know if it makes a difference or not but I always have the blue part facing down as pictured here. This combination is perfect for kissimmee grass.

I’ll probably have to fish a few tournaments out here soon and maybe the next Xtreme tournament. I sure hope these fish stick around for a couple more weeks.

My tournament in Palatka as a co-angler was awful. It was blowing 20 miles an hour and it started raining by about 10 o’clock. My boater and I fished Rodman Reservoir and I’m glad I didn’t have my boat out there. I’ve never seen so much standing timber and so many crab traps in my life. Needless to say we ran over a few.

It would have been all worth it if we found some fish but we didn’t. My partner and I both caught 3 fish but they were all around 12 inches and that ain’t gonna win nothin. Only the top 20 fished on Sunday and we didn’t make the top 20 for some reason. The funny thing is that I got paired with a guy who was fishing the event with his son. They practiced out there together and had 2 spots. We fished one of the spots in the morning and then we swapped places later in the afternoon.

His son pulled in 15 pounds from the same spots with the same Watermelon Old Monster worm. He just happened to hit them at different times. I was thinkin that we suck or timing plays a big factor with bass. Needless to say, the son hit both spots on the next day and weighed in only a pound. Maybe he got the timing wrong on Sunday.

I was really hoping that he caught fish on Sunday so I could go to those spots next year on the same dates at the Bassmaster Weekend Series event. I guess I’ll have to check out Salt Springs, Lake George, Seven Sisters Island, and Turkey Island later this year as well as crank and carolina rig some parts of the river at the right tide.

I’d like to say I learned something from this event, but I didn’t. The highlight was running into Terry “Big Show” Scroggins at the weigh in.

I was planning on fishing Sunday anyway, so I went out to the Kissimmee Chain to check out the Bassmaster Weekend Series event there to see where everyone was fishing. I ran Cypress, Hatchineha, and Lake Kissimmee and burned up a lot of gas. Of course, the winner fished open water hydrilla on Toho so I didn’t see where he fished. I’m thinkin fishing open water with a Rat L Trap is the way to go on Toho. I know of 3 tournaments that’s been won that way recently. I’ll have to find some good patches out there. The only problem is that hydrilla is everywhere and the bass seem to be in places where it’s a little less dense.

I remember being kid watching episodes of Bill Dance and riding my Huffy down to the dock with delusions of catching monster farm pond bass like Bill catches on the show. He was one of my inspirations growing up and I looked forward to his shows as much getting the new Bass Pro Shops catalog in the mail.

Needless to say, I rarely caught bass the size Bill catches on his show and never ordered anything from the Bass Pro Shops catalog, but I sure did love to go fishing and loved looking at all the new stuff in the catalog. I was lucky if I could talk the folks into buying me a new Rapala or a bag of Culprits at the corner drug store.

In those days, I’d probably throw at the same row of reeds for hours on end and eventually I’d catch a fish. I still can’t figure out if the fish moved in there or just got annoyed.

At one point at about age 10, I remember taking an inflatable boat floating around in the pool that was really more of a raft and a Fischer Price like oar to fish on that lake. My mother spotted me on that thing in the middle of the lake freaking out and called for me to come in. I did catch one fish before she caught me and I distinctly remember the small inflatable boat spinning around in circles as I reeled it in.

Watching this video reminded me of those days and thought I’d share. Bill Dance is a goofball.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-393758999980518374