Rattletrap Ramblings

First of all, I have to say watching the Classic being a trap contest made watching it that much more disheartening that I missed making that event by .22 of a pound. I don’t think I would’ve zero’d and it would’ve played into my strength as an angler. I keep telling myself things happen for a reason, but who knows.

I just got back from the Big O with another disappointing tournament at the FLW All American. I guess I’m on one of those bad runs.  It’s one of those when you start questioning whether or not you’re cut out for this line of work. That’s twice now that I got my butt kicked by the Big O. I had another great practice in warm weather and the weather ruined my spots. I failed to make the adjustment when I needed to.

I could’ve caught 20 pounds without even trying in practice, but couldn’t fish those areas during the tournament because of the winds. It was gusting 26 mph the first day and all my spots had 3 foot rollers with white caps in 2 feet of water. I tried fishing those spots anyway and the battery died on my trolling motor battery by 11 am from fighting those winds.

The wind were still howling at the beginning of day 2 but died down to nothing by about noon. I stayed with my spots but only managed a 3 pounder.

In retrospect, I should’ve found spots that were going to be out of the wind but it’s hard enough finding fish much less trying to find them in places that’ll be out of the wind in a couple of days.

On the way back home, I decided to test out my theory. I was driving by Harney Canal on the way home and checked out an area that’s been protected by the North winds that were blowing during the tournament. I had a hunch to go there during the tournament but never made it over there.

Well, I caught 10 pounds in an hour with 3 fish punching matt in that area. I know what to do and didn’t adjust. Maybe I just got lucky and caught these fish but I think there’s a pattern there.

I should’ve gotten out of the wind and abandoned my best areas but it’s awful hard to do when you saw so many big fish at the end of your line in practice. When the wind finally died down, I could still see the big fish in my best areas just cruising but they wouldn’t bite.

I guess I need to start factoring in the forecasted wind during practice but the weather man isn’t always right. Perhaps a day or two before the tournament is the best time to start factoring in wind and temperature.

I’ll have to put this theory to the test this weekend. I have a Bassmaster Weekend Series event on Harris this weekend so we’ll see if this is the way to go.