Rattletrap Ramblings

What can I say, fishing is a tough game to figure out. I fished the Bassmaster Weekend Series on the Harris Chain and squeaked out a check with 12 pounds.

In 2 days of practice, I caught one fish and had no clue what to do going into the tournament. The water temperature was in the high 50′s on the main lake but in the 60′s in a canal I checked out.  I found a 3 pounder on bed the last few hours of practice and figured I’ll go there and pick that joker off so I don’t get a big fat zero.

I go to that fish first thing in the morning and it wasn’t there. I look around the corner and there’s a 6 pounder on bed with a buck. I told my co angler Dana Foster that it won’t take long to pick these fish off and after 5-10 minutes they were in the livewell.

Dana was a great fishing partner and we had a good time just being out on the water. He caught a fish on a trick worm with a 1/16 ounce Spiderhead worm hook made by a company called Slider so I asked him if I could get one. I tied one on and caught a nice 4 pounder a few casts later.

The tournament director forgot to get exemptions so I already had a fish over 22″ and the other fish were gonna take quite a bit of time to coax so we did some running and gunning. We hit 2 spots and told my co angler that either you or I are going to catch a fish in one of these spots as we idled out of the canal we were fishing. Well, my co angler pulls in a nice 3 pounder with a rattletrap and I got nothing.

I think I could’ve gotten one of those other ones I was looking at to bite but it could’ve taken a few hours. I may not have gotten them at all. There’s always some second guessing about these things but all in all it was a fun day on the lake.

One of the cool things about fishing these tournaments is that you meet so many cool people that’s as crazy about bass as you are and it was like being out on the water with a friend just enjoying a day on the lake.

I just don’t get it. I have a good practice and do bad in a tournament. I have a bad practice and do good in a tournament. It shouldn’t be this way and I gotta figure out how to make the two correlate.

I just got back from qualifying for the BWS Championship at the BWS Regionals that took place at the Tenn-Tom in Columbus, MS and still tired as hell. It rained all 5 days during practice and then it got really cold during the 2 days of the tournament. The drive was 12 hours there and 12 hours back and that’ll wear you out just from that, but I’m ready to make an even long drive to Lake Dardanelle in a couple of weeks.

I’m sure glad I made the top 50 to be able to fish the Championship which could mean $205,000 and a spot at the Bassmaster Classic with a win. It cost me a lot of money just to make the trip with gas, oil, hotel, food, tackle, and all the stuff I broke on the trip.

The Tenn Tom is one treacherous place with all the rain. The river channel had more hyacinths and cypress trees than water and the current was ripping about 10 miles an hour. It wore me out trying not to hit anything.

Let’s see, I broke the cable on my trolling motor foot cable, broke a transducer off, broke a strap on my battery, and broke a wire off one of my battery terminals. Everyone was breaking something, especially lower units and props from all the timber and sand bars that sneak up on you and all the debris everywhere. The parking lot at the hotel looked like the pit area in a Nascar race.

I’ve never been to a more treacherous place or seen such muddy water. Obviously the key was to find cleaner water and that’s what I concentrated on. The fish were relating to the shad more so than any cover and they’re thick in there at the right place. The area I keyed in was in the Coal Fire section of Pickinsville. I found a small bay with clean water, hyacinths, timber, and shad everywhere. The shad were in places out of the current and so were the bass.

The debris cleared out a little bit for the first day of the tournament, but I still saw a co-angler fall in the water in the lock from all the current and witnessed a bass boat colliding with a channel marker that was hidden underneath the current at about 60 mph. The fishing was tough for everyone and my meager 6.3 lbs was good enough for 1oth place. Every fish I caught came on a chartreuse and white colorado blade spinnerbait that I threw on my 6’9″ Kistler Spinnerbait rod spooled with 17 lb Gamma. I mean I wore this thing out.

I thought I was in good shape to win the thing going into day 2 but the water dropped about a foot and the shad disappeared for day 2 and I didn’t catch a single keeper on the final day. The 2 fish I lost on the final day cost me a check but that’s fishing I guess.

The fishing was so tough, it only took 4 pounds to make it into the top 50 so I’m going to the BWS Championship with a chance to fish in the Classic with my meager 6.3 lbs. The winner didn’t even have 20 lbs for 2 days and was in a jet boat that could get to place no one else could.

The one thing I need to improve on is deciding when to move or stay in a spot during the tournament. Tournament fishing is still relatively new to me and the better tournament fishermen like KVD are the best in the business at making those decisions. Hopefully with time, this aspect of my fishing will get better.

Yesterday, I fished the Bassmaster Weekend Series out of Camp Mack on the Kissimmee Chain after the guys at Advanced Marine got my boat running again in less than 24 hours. Thanks guys, you always take care of me over there. 

It was just a gorgeous day and not too windy as it has been the past weeks. The fish felt the change as well and started moving on to bed. The winner of the event brought in a 12.2 hawg off a bed in Toho with his 25 pound bag and there were quite a few others brining in 8′s and 9′s. I had one too but it broke me off. I’ve gotta stop screwing it up.

The fish I caught the 2 days prior were pre spawn in 4 to 5 foot of water, but I had a feeling they’d move inside with the warmer temps and a front coming in the next day and this time I guessed right. I fished 2 foot of water on the East side of Lake Kissimmee all day.

I still had a pretty good day, and caught all my fish on a watermelon red Gitem Shad. My 13 pounds and change was good enough for 7th place in the tournament and 7th place in the overall point standings. It could’ve been a lot better if I didn’t screw up and break a big one off. I was catching so many of them, my co-angler tied one on as well. Heck, I caught two more fish while he was in the process of tying one on. I had it rigged on a #4 Gamagatsu EWG and a small split shot about a foot from the bait. 

I was throwing it in holes in the hydrilla with a 7′ medium heavy Shimano Crucial and Revo STX combo spooled with 15 pound Fluoroclear. I would have liked to thrown heavier line, but it does affect the action on the Gitem Shad if you go any bigger… maybe I’ll try braid next time.

The group of guys at the Weekend Series all love fishing and are a friendly bunch of guys. I’d probably go fishing with most of them even without the chance of winning $12,000 although it helps.

Thanks again to Advanced Marine, you guys always take care of me.