I’ve finally fixed everything on my boat to fish in Dardanelle next week for the BWS Championship. I bent back my steering wheel after my co-angler fell on it at the Tenn Tom, replaced the transducer on my trolling motor, and replaced some battery straps. Sure hope I don’t break anything on this trip.
I’ve watched the 2009 Elites tournament, the 2007 Legends tournament, and the 2009 FLW tournament on DVR way too many times. If I hear Mark Zona say “What I mean by that is” one more time I’m gonna puke.
I’ve extensively studied the map, looked on Google Earth a gazillion times, and looked up every tournament at Dardanelle I could find on the internet, so I think I’ve done as much as I can do without actually going on the water which will be this coming Sunday.
I’m packed up and ready to begin driving this Friday. Judging from the regionals on the Tenn-Tom, the fish should still be following the shad in the backs of creeks and it’s been raining there so that’s where the water will be the clearest, I think. I’ve been thinking a lot about running up river 30 to 40 miles to get away from the crowds, but it could all change once I see the conditions.
Anyway, the thought of possibly making the Classic is almost too much to bear and the money wouldn’t hurt either. This will be the first time I’ve fished a 4 day tournament, but I think I like this format because it allows you to adjust the next day. I can’t tell you how many times I reflect on those 1 day tournaments and go back to kill’em the next time out.
The only problem is that I’m hearing the fishing’s been tough and it only took 25 pounds for 2 days to win the tournament last week there. It seems like 12 to 15 pounds a day will put you in the running.
Supposedly swimming and flipping a jig is the best way to catch the hawgs out there, but I never use those lures. I guess I’ll have to learn on the fly or figure out something else they’ll eat.
In any case, I’m confident I have a good a chance of winning as anyone else there and will give it everything I’ve got (not that I don’t do that all the time).
I’m off to Palatka to start practicing for the BWS 2 day tournament on the St. Johns River this weekend. Today’s a total mess and trying to hurry up and finish up work before I leave. I planned on going this morning, but of course I had an appointment so I had to wait til the afternoon to leave.
I wish I can just call Terry Scroggins, Preston Clark, or Brian Hudgins to figure out some spots but I gotta do it the old fashioned way and find’em myself.
Anyway, I’m gonna launch on Lake Crescent this afternoon and try to find some fish offshore first. Then I’ll probably beat the bank a bit and head over to Dunns Creek. I believe the winning fish are here, but it could all change if I don’t get any bites today.
I’ll probably spend some more time here on Thursday and try some of the laydowns and sandbars on the main river. I’d love to get on a crankin bite but it’s all dependent on the wind and tide.
The forecast is for ideal SW winds on Friday and Saturday and that’s when I’ll concentrate a bit more on the offshore bite and the main river.
My thoughts are that the Bomber Fat Free Shad in Citruce, Rapala DT 10 in Firetiger, Bomber 2A in firetiger, Xcalibur xr75 1K in Foxy Shad (saw Scroggins on St. Johns River episode of Classic Patterns), Gitem Curly 10 in junebug, Gitem Warlock in junebug, and Gitem Sugar in black and blue sapphire will be my go to baits and perhaps a white Gitem Shad in the eel grass if I find any.
I’ve never done real well on the river, but I know there’s good fish out there to be found. If I find a good enough place, even my grandmother could catch 15 pounds out there. I’ll be searching from sun up until sun down chowing on some P, B, and J’s for a week.
I hope I see some schoolers where I can get 2 or 3 real quick.
Well, the cold front has moved in Central Florida with rain and colder temperatures. I’ve been stuck inside all day, so I decided to walk my secret farm pond down the street from my house at around 4:30 when the rain stopped. I threw out my green pumpkin chatterbait a few times and hooked into this hawg on the fourth cast. This little pond is phenomenal and I’m glad I was throwing 20 lb test. I go here to get confidence with new baits.
I’d say this fish was about 26″ and filled out as much as a fish can in these parts so I think it weighed around 8 pounds. She looks like she’s getting ready to bed already. The photo doesn’t show it that well, but it was a thick fish.
I gotta get a john boat to take out on this pond someday. I catch one about this size or larger about every 5 or 6 trips which typically runs about an hour at a time. It’s a great place to clear my head and catch some giants. This place makes me think I’m a bassin genius.
I spent a few hours on the Clermont Chain today and found some nice fish on Lake Susan. I concentrated on laydowns that extended out into deeper water with a Rapala DT Fat in the Parrot color. The extra buoyancy you get from this balsa crankbait made it a lot easier to swim through the timber in the areas I’ve lined on the map. The winds were howling out of the south and Lake Susan was one of the few places you could get out of the wind. It just so happens some nice fish were hanging around here as well. I caught a 5 and a bunch of fish between 2.5 lbs and 3.5 lbs.. I thought today would be a good day since there’s a cold front coming in this evening with temperatures dropping from a comfortable 80 degrees to a high of 66 degrees. Water temp was in the low 70′s but I’m sure it’ll be much lower after this cold front passes. Hopefully the water temp will drop quickly and stabilize so we can start seeing some spawning when we get a warm up.
Well, I’ve spent tons of money on gas and at least 7 days from sun up until sun down trying to find fish on the Kissimmee Chain and they are hard to locate. Every time I think I have a spot, I’ll go back and get blanked. I don’t think the fish have settled into their fall pattern yet and moving around a lot. Needless to say, I didn’t feel real confident about my spots so I decided to save my entry fee.
The most consistent spots were small clumps of reeds mixed in with kissimmee grass or lily pads. The cuts in the hydrilla were also good but I think the bigger ones are in the thick stuff. I thought they’d be on the east side of Kissimmee and they weren’t. The spots were on the north end.
I’m gonna start focusing on the Harris Chain for the rest of the year since the first event of the weekend series will be there. We’ll see how it goes. Phil from Lake County Bass said he’ll show me around a bit. I’m lookin forward to it.
I’ll be curious to see where everyone is fishing out on Kissimmee. I’m gonna take a spy trip for a few hours on Friday.
I went out on Lake Kissimmee yesterday and it was pretty tough. It took me all day to find some fish and they weren’t on the east side where I looked most of the day. I launched at Overstreet and noticed the cows laying down on the way in. My buddy Walt says if the cows aren’t grazing and there’s no birds then you might as well turn around and go back home cause the fish ain’t bite’n either. Well, I didn’t go back home after my hour drive but the fish weren’t bite’n.
I had about 5 hits early on with a frog and speed worm but couldn’t get any of them in the boat. After a while, I started giving them a lot of time to get the bait and still couldn’t get them. I mean I let this fish peck at my worm for close to 20 seconds and it just let it go.
I did finally run into a spot where I caught 5 fish in an hour but nothing big. It seems like the fish are on the reeds these days for whatever reason. I didn’t figure out much today. I hope I figure something out tommorow.
I went out on John’s Lake in Winter Garden yesterday for a few hours of relaxin and the fish are super shallow and real tight to the cover. The only way I could get a bite was to flip into some nasty places with a Junebug Silver creature bait from Gitem Baits that looks just like the Sweet Beaver from Reaction Innovations and a 3/8 ounce sinker. I think they’re still buttoned up from the cold front but should be getting real active next week with the water temps dropping into the 60′s and 70′s. The fish I caught were few and few between but all at least 2 pounds.
Well, I spent the entire weekend looking for fish on the Kissimmee Chain. The best places were an area on Lake Kissimmee where Terry Scroggins caught his huge bag to get into contention for the 2006 Bassmaster Classic and an area near North Cove. The water was in the mid 70′s and in the 50′s during the classic but they were still here.
The bass were in offshore hydrilla near North Cove and pretty much everywhere in the other area. The best baits were my 3/8 ounce chartreuse single colorado blade Booyah spinnerbait and the Yum Big Show Paddletail worm in junebug. I started the morning in North Cove because the winds were blowing 10 to 20 knots out of the north and I figured it would keep me out of the wind. The second area with fish was also protected from the north winds. Thank goodness I didn’t catch any pickerel on the chartreuse spinnerbait. I hate trying to get those toothy critters off the hook.
I fished all the way down to Jack Slough. The water was clearest here, but didn’t catch any fish. It’s the area Luke Clausen won pretty much won the 2006 Bassmaster Classic and definitely the clearest water. The fish should be in the clearest water so I’ll start here in the morning sometime this week and work my way south. The winds have been and will continue to blow out of the north so going south is much easier than going the other way.
It seems like the fish are just inside the main line of kissimmee grass from the main lake. I couldn’t get bit real close to shore. The one vegetation the fish are always on these days are small clumps of reeds mixed in the kissimmee grass with pink snail eggs on them. The fish are also supposed to be in the clearest water, but it seems like they like a little stain at the moment.
I’d also like to find them offshore since they tend to bunch up out there. I did catch a few on Toho and it seems like you need to fish the side the wind’s blowing onto. I also checked out the hydrilla bed near Southport but couldn’t get bit with a carolina rig. They’re hard to figure out. Somebody give me some more tips.
I checked out Lake Cypress today in preparation for the Toho Challenge and I can definitely rule this place out. I flipped the open water hydrilla, wormed the edges, and covered a lot of it with a Ribbit frog, a gold Xcalibur Xr75, carolina rig with a trick worm, and a Booyah Boogie Bait. You can’t fish any of the reeds because of all the hydrilla. The winds were howling and the only place I caught any fish was on a shell bed near Haines Creek. The only problem is that they were barely keepers. I don’t know if the cold front coming is shutting down the fish, but it wasn’t a successful day. I’ve got to find some big fish somewhere.
I’ll probably check out the entire eastern shore of Lake Kissimmee and the south end of Toho next. I sure hope they’re there somewhere. I’ve covered a lot of water already and ready to find them. Either I suck or the fish are so deep in the hydrilla that I can’t get to them. I’m determined and will be looking from sun up until sun down for at least another couple of days.
After days like today, I start wondering if I’m missing something or if I just suck. I’ve got to get those thoughts out of my head and continue looking for the honey hole. I may have to try a Zoom Speed Worm. I’ve never really had too much success with them but the Ray Sedgewick and Scott Rook seemed to do pretty well on them in North Cove around pads.
I headed out on the Kissimmee Chain yesterday to begin my prefishing for the Toho Challenge and it wasn’t very successful. I started out on Lake Kissimmee in the 7 Palms area and caught a few fish in Kissimmee grass areas without hydrilla or pepper grass. I tried like heck to get some frog fish but couldn’t get any out of the matted vegetation.
The wind was pretty brisk this morning so I looked for some sheltered areas and found it near the Overstreet Ramp and North Cove. Both were about the same with a few small fish but not the size I’m looking for. All the fish in both areas came from a junebug Gitem finesse worm that’s pretty much the same as the Zoom Trick Worm.
Well, things started calming down and the water temps were hitting the mid 80′s so I decided to lock to Toho and fish some open water. I did find a few spots in the hydrilla patches in the middle of the lake, but again they were all too small to do any damage. There must have been a tournament yesterday, because there were 3 other boats around me netting their fish into the boat. I was lookin but no one else got any big ones either.
I think I’ll try to dedicate an entire day on open water in Toho this coming week. I’m pretty sure it’s a place where tournaments can be won here. It’s just so boring graphing the middle of the lake and carolina rigging all day. You gotta do what you gotta do. At least they’ll bite a Rat L Trap as well which will help break up the monotony. Ripping the Rat L Trap through the hydrilla and letting it rest in the open area seems to be working lately. I like to rip it, but if they like it better just sitting there, then I gotta let it sit.
