Rattletrap Ramblings

My buddy Jessie and I decided to fish the Xtreme tournament out of Buzzard Beach on the Harris Chain this past weekend and it was one of those grind out days with temperatures near freezing in the morning. It never warmed up neither cause the sun never came out.

We started out cranking a shell bar and I caught a nice 3 pounder within the first few minutes of fishing. At this point I’m thinking we’re gonna do good today, but we never got another bite after that on a crankbait.

You’re ahead of the game when you can catch a fish in the morning on the Harris Chain cause most of the fish on Harris are caught flippin and that bite’s never on early in the day.

We go to my fish on Little Lake Harris and go for about an hour without getting a bite and then I feel a little heaviness in my line. I tried to let the fish have it but it never moved. When I finally tried to set the hook, it was already too late.

From that point, I decided to set the hook immediately. The fish weren’t committing and not moving when they bit. I get bit another 50 yards down and set the hook right away to catch another 2+ pounder. I was worried about catching air when I decided to set the hook but there actually was a fish there.

I get bit again an hour later and set the hook on a 5 pounder that wrapped me up in the kissimmee grass and got off when I tried to yank it out. I should’ve just pinned the fish there and used the trolling motor to get to it.

At this point, I’m thinking we may on to some fish and make 3 more passes in the same area never got another bite for the rest of the day.

We run to my spot in Helena Run and get another fish right away but it was just short.

Our 2 fish weighed 5.84 pounds which was good enough for 4th place. The fishing was brutal with the winner only having 12.07 pounds. That fish I lost cost us a check and next time there’s a cold front, I gotta remember to set the hook right away instead of waiting for the fish to start moving with the bait.

You’re always learning in this game, but at least I picked a spot that had a chance to win. Just gotta put’em in the boat next time.

I’ll be taking off to camp out on Okeechobee the next couple of days to prepare for the BASS Open… wish me luck.

Xtreme Bass finally posted their 2010 schedule. They sure take longer than every other trail around here. I’ll probably be fishing a few on the Harris Chain and Toho depending on how they fit into my schedule as well as a few Xtreme One Man tournaments. I really like this trails because there’s no meeting. After you’ve been to a few, you just zonk out during the meeting anyway. I just wish they were doing Johns Lake again since it’s the closest to da house.

Here’s the schedule for 2010:

Xtreme One Man

XOM #1 February 28, 2010 Lake Toho
City Ramp
1-877-586-8080

XOM #2 March 21, 2010 St. Johns
Palatka City Dock

XOM #3 April 25, 2010 Okeechobee
Scott Driver Park

XOM #4 May 16, 2010 Lake Kissimmee
Camp Mack
863-696-1108

XOM #5 June 27, 2010 Lake Harris
Hickory Point

XOM #6 July 18, 2010 Lake Istokpoga
Istokpoga Marina
Ramp-Windy Point Istokpoga Marina More Details.

XOM #7 August 15, 2010 Lake Kissimmee
Camp Mack River Resort CampMack’s River Resort
863-696-1108 More Details.

XOM #8 Last Chance Qualifier August 29, 2010 TBA

Harris Chain

XBS #1 January 3, 2010 Buzzard Beach
XBS #2 February 6, 2010 Buzzard Beach
XBS #3 March 6, 2010 Buzzard Beach
XBS #4 April 3, 2010 Buzzard Beach
XBS #5 May 1, 2010 Buzzard Beach
XBS #6 June 5, 2010 Buzzard Beach
XBS #7 July 3, 2010 Buzzard Beach
XBS #8 August 7, 2010 Buzzard Beach
XBS #9 September 4, 2010 Buzzard Beach

Toho

XBS #1 January 16, 2010 City Ramp
XBS #2 February 21, 2010 City Ramp
XBS #3 March 27, 2010 City Ramp
XBS #4 April 10, 2010 City Ramp
XBS #5 May 22, 2010 City Ramp
XBS #6 June 19, 2010 City Ramp
XBS #7 July 10, 2010 City Ramp
XBS #8 August 28, 2010 City Ramp
XBS #9 September 25, 2010 City Ramp

I fished the Xtreme tournament on Johns Lake yesterday and really felt I was on enough fish to win it. I was kinda right.

Me and my buddy Juan started off in a shallow hydrilla area throwing a Gitem frog and a gold Rapala. We got three bites but none of them were keepers.

After about an hour, I decide it’s time to hit my best area with shells and hydrilla in the middle of the lake. Wouldn’t you know it, another boat in the tournament had his boat right on top of my spot. At first, I thought about leaving then I saw some fish schooling about 20 yard behind me and we were catchin’em left and right. The only problem was that most of them were small.

After about 3 or 4 small ones, we decide that the big ones may be sitting underneath the schooling fish and start throwing a junebug Gitem Curly 10 on a texas rig and carolina rig. I look around the corner to my spot and see the other boat catch a  5 pounder on my spot. I was about to be sick when my buddy Juan hooks into a 3 pounder right as I was about to make a comment about the other boat.

The spot died with 2 boats hammering them for hours so we left to fish another shell bar but fish weren’t there. Then we decide to fish my big fish area. As we pull up, there was a boat sitting in the area that looked a lot like the boat that we were sharing the other spot with and I realized it was the same dang boat as we got closer.

Johns Lake is a pretty good size, but it was feeling small today. How in the world did they find the same spots as me? Anyway, those guys hook into an 8 pounder as soon as we pull up. I was feelin sick to my stomach, but we managed a 6.5 a few minutes later.

This spot is normally only good for a few fish, so we start flippin some grass with a junebug and junebug blue silver Gitem KO. We start heading back to my best offshore area and get there exactly the same time as that dang boat again. It was like they were my shadow. I mean we sat our boats down pretty much at the same time.

Anyway, we scramble around for a while and catch a few keepers before the end of the day. We ended up weighing in 15 pounds and my shadow boat weighed in 18 pounds. Most of the time, you’d think it’s enough to catch a check out here, but this guy Fred weighed in 25 pounds.

We got third, but I think we would’ve had a chance to match the winning weight if we didn’t have to share our spots. I was definitely on’em. I just never factored in sharing my best spots.

It feels like there’s forces against me preventing me from winning lately. I keep finding spots good enough to win and something happens. Hopefully, it’ll be my time soon.

After 2 long days of serious searchin, I finally found some fish for the Xtreme Tournament at John’s Lake on January 3rd, 2009. I was starting to get worried because all I could find for a while were 12″ fish, but today was a fantastic day. I even dropped my phone in the water but it landed on some weeds and it still works. I never have that kind of luck.

I fished 2 areas and caught a 4 pounder on a Gitem Frog in the marsh area at about 8:00 and caught another keeper on a white Booyah Swim Jig with a white Zoom Ultra Vibe trailer. I then went to my secret area where I fished a few tournaments before that’s protected from the north winds that’s so prevalent this time of year and caught this 5.8 pound beauty on a Gitem Junebug Senko within a few minutes. I figured I better leave them alone until the tournament so I called it a day.

I tried like heck to get bit on a white Termintor spinnerbait with silver Indiana blades and my chartreuse Booyah with gold willow/colorado combo once the wind picked up but never got any takers. Water temp started at 58 and ended up being about 65 when I left at about 1 o’clock. The wind was calm in the morning and started blowing about 10 knots out of the north around 10:00.

I sure hope these fish are there when tournament time comes, cause I’m gonna rock da house. I think I can weigh in 15 to 20 pounds which is usually enough to win it on John’s Lake. Sometimes practice sucks and you do good and sometimes you practice good and suck in the tournament. We’ll have to wait and see but feelin good now.

For once, I’ve got some big fish located before a tournament and I sure hope no cold front comes in to mess things up for me. We’ll have to wait and see.