Post by MadWags on Apr 18, 2005 6:35:01 GMT -5
Pre-Fishing Day 1
I was able to get out Thursday afternoon prior to the tournament. I had been on the River the weekend before with mixed results. This time the water was very muddy due to the East winds that had been blowing all week. This would change everything.
I spent the entire afternoon checking areas and covering alot of ground. I was mainly trying to find the cleanest water on the river or at least try to determine where it was going to clear up the most by tournament day. I trolled cranks on breaks and jigged various depths with no results. Observing other anglers it was apparent that the bite was tough as I think I only saw one fish caught the entire afternoon. I decided to call it a day and prepare for an early start on Friday.
Pre-Fishing Day 2
Friday had me on the water at day break. The water seemed to be slightly lighter in color so I decided to head north in hopes of finding clearer water. I ran up to the Rouge River area. I did notice some color changes and this was very incouraging for me. I decided to fish a current break just south of the River entrance to the Steel Plant. This was a really unique spot. The water came up from 42ft to 15ft rather quickly but had a slight shelf at 20ft that ran the length of the current break and pushed into a break wall at the water discharge from the plant. The drift would only be about 50 yards long before dumping back down into deep water.
At 7:30am I had my first fish on a glowhead jig with a 4" green pumkin Yum Dinger with a Chartruese dipped tail. The fish was a solid 4lb male. A good sign. Reapeated drifts in this spot did not net me anymore fish but I was able to learn the spot well and discovered a bend in the shelf right before the break wall. A spot within a spot so to speak. Another good sign was the fact that I was starting to see a color change line on the current break.
After several hours I decided to try some deeper water in the same area. I ran all the way up to Joe Louis Arena without any luck or interest in any of the spots I tried. I was feeling rather frustrated. All the way south to Hum Bug Marina and then several drifts thru the Trenton Channel revealed nothing and I ended the day with one fish and another tournament where I would roll the dice. At the registration meeting I drew #42 and a PWT and FLW Tour Pro who was fishing an MWC event the following weekend. He entered the FLW League tournament to try and see what he could learn and to have a practice tournament. I told him of my confidence in only one spot and that we were basically winging it. Oh and also that we were fishing out of a bass boat.
On the brite side he would get to try out a new Face Protection product, Fish Hedz, and catch walleye using bass baits. He seemed rather excited about that.
Tournament Day
With our late draw and my spot having an assumed early bite, we blasted off with Fish Hedz in place and proceeded to pass every walleye boat in our path. I took the short cut across north of Grosse Isle and was the first boat to arrive at the Steel Mill area. My partner commented on the speed of the boat and the fact that he had to have one of those face masks. We got busy fishing. Another boat arrived and set up on our same drift. It wasn't long before they had a fish on. In fact within two hours they had a limit of keepers and we had yet to get a bite. What were we doing wrong? I started changing colors, plastics and even went to minnows for a few drifts without success. It was becoming frustrating. We decided to downsize our presentation. Small brown worms on 3/8oz jig heads. My partner hooked up and put a nice 3lb fish in the boat. Several drifts later he hung a good fish right at the end of the drift. We waited as it finally showed itself. A giant walleye in the 8 to 9lb class. I ready the net as we enter the faster current where the water pushes off the break wall. The hook pulls and we watch as the fish returns to the bottom. Heartbreak!
Back to fishing. I missed four or five fish over the next few hours. I was so flustered from losing that fish that I could not react in time to hook my own bites. I miss a big bite just as my partner hooks up again. This time we boat a nice 6lb fish. The big fish are moving up and we need to take advantage. I miss several more bites. My partner breaks one off. Our execution is falling apart. We run out of time and return to the ramp with 2 fish that net 8lb 15oz. The spot was good, I was not. Many thanks to my partner. I received 150 out of 200 points and must remain confident in my start for the season.
Hey! Some guys caught nothing. All in all it was hard to take knowing we were a few more fish away from an awesome tournament. My partner got up on stage and told everyone that I was a great pro and had put a good program together and that we could have easily put a 25lb sack together in my spot. That would have put us in second. Nice guy.
I was able to get out Thursday afternoon prior to the tournament. I had been on the River the weekend before with mixed results. This time the water was very muddy due to the East winds that had been blowing all week. This would change everything.
I spent the entire afternoon checking areas and covering alot of ground. I was mainly trying to find the cleanest water on the river or at least try to determine where it was going to clear up the most by tournament day. I trolled cranks on breaks and jigged various depths with no results. Observing other anglers it was apparent that the bite was tough as I think I only saw one fish caught the entire afternoon. I decided to call it a day and prepare for an early start on Friday.
Pre-Fishing Day 2
Friday had me on the water at day break. The water seemed to be slightly lighter in color so I decided to head north in hopes of finding clearer water. I ran up to the Rouge River area. I did notice some color changes and this was very incouraging for me. I decided to fish a current break just south of the River entrance to the Steel Plant. This was a really unique spot. The water came up from 42ft to 15ft rather quickly but had a slight shelf at 20ft that ran the length of the current break and pushed into a break wall at the water discharge from the plant. The drift would only be about 50 yards long before dumping back down into deep water.
At 7:30am I had my first fish on a glowhead jig with a 4" green pumkin Yum Dinger with a Chartruese dipped tail. The fish was a solid 4lb male. A good sign. Reapeated drifts in this spot did not net me anymore fish but I was able to learn the spot well and discovered a bend in the shelf right before the break wall. A spot within a spot so to speak. Another good sign was the fact that I was starting to see a color change line on the current break.
After several hours I decided to try some deeper water in the same area. I ran all the way up to Joe Louis Arena without any luck or interest in any of the spots I tried. I was feeling rather frustrated. All the way south to Hum Bug Marina and then several drifts thru the Trenton Channel revealed nothing and I ended the day with one fish and another tournament where I would roll the dice. At the registration meeting I drew #42 and a PWT and FLW Tour Pro who was fishing an MWC event the following weekend. He entered the FLW League tournament to try and see what he could learn and to have a practice tournament. I told him of my confidence in only one spot and that we were basically winging it. Oh and also that we were fishing out of a bass boat.
On the brite side he would get to try out a new Face Protection product, Fish Hedz, and catch walleye using bass baits. He seemed rather excited about that.
Tournament Day
With our late draw and my spot having an assumed early bite, we blasted off with Fish Hedz in place and proceeded to pass every walleye boat in our path. I took the short cut across north of Grosse Isle and was the first boat to arrive at the Steel Mill area. My partner commented on the speed of the boat and the fact that he had to have one of those face masks. We got busy fishing. Another boat arrived and set up on our same drift. It wasn't long before they had a fish on. In fact within two hours they had a limit of keepers and we had yet to get a bite. What were we doing wrong? I started changing colors, plastics and even went to minnows for a few drifts without success. It was becoming frustrating. We decided to downsize our presentation. Small brown worms on 3/8oz jig heads. My partner hooked up and put a nice 3lb fish in the boat. Several drifts later he hung a good fish right at the end of the drift. We waited as it finally showed itself. A giant walleye in the 8 to 9lb class. I ready the net as we enter the faster current where the water pushes off the break wall. The hook pulls and we watch as the fish returns to the bottom. Heartbreak!
Back to fishing. I missed four or five fish over the next few hours. I was so flustered from losing that fish that I could not react in time to hook my own bites. I miss a big bite just as my partner hooks up again. This time we boat a nice 6lb fish. The big fish are moving up and we need to take advantage. I miss several more bites. My partner breaks one off. Our execution is falling apart. We run out of time and return to the ramp with 2 fish that net 8lb 15oz. The spot was good, I was not. Many thanks to my partner. I received 150 out of 200 points and must remain confident in my start for the season.
Hey! Some guys caught nothing. All in all it was hard to take knowing we were a few more fish away from an awesome tournament. My partner got up on stage and told everyone that I was a great pro and had put a good program together and that we could have easily put a 25lb sack together in my spot. That would have put us in second. Nice guy.
