Post by Jmcfarland on Aug 19, 2005 17:18:10 GMT -5
Im way late with this report but here goes. I prefished for this tournament the weekend before the event and it went well. Found fish in many areas and all on rocky ledges dropping into deeper water. 8 fow seemed to be key. The smallmouths that i was catching seemed to be suspended because rarely would i get a fish on the retrieve but always on the initial fall from the cast. Landed two nice 3-4 lbs and would have had a limit that went between 10-12 lbs by myself (10 fish limit during tourney 2man team). All on a finesse worm fished on a 1/4 ounce jighead. Caught fish other ways but that was the most dominate bait by far.
The morning of the tournament i woke up to the distant sound of thunder and hurried to take down camp without getting wet. Wind started howling and soon it was raining and lightining like crazy.This was a draw tournament and i met up with my partner and put my gear in his boat. We waited until 7:30 to launch due to some pretty intense lightning. Finally after launching we went to my partners first spot in the main lake on weeds. He lives on the lake and was on fish too so my spots were put on the back burner. Fished in a downpour for about an hour when my partner landed a walleye dragging a tube. Lighting and wind were terrible making fishing seem a little crazy. It was nasty and i was fishing away but then a scary thing happend. My line started floating. First time it ever happend to me and i told my partner. He didnt like the weather from the get go so we headed to shore quickly. Waited about a 1/2 hour before the lightning clouds passed and it was still raining hard when we headed back out. We hit his spot out in the mainlake. It soon became apparent that the wind and waves were going to make it very difficult to fish out here. We moved into a cove at about 11:00where i caught our first and only keeper bass. Got it on a tube. Wind and rain was making it a real pain. We plugged on until about 2:00 with no fish. Finally went to one of my spots where i hooked up with a nice keeper size fish only to have it come off 10 ft away from the boat this fish came on the finesse worm described above. Went back to the spot where i caught our only fish with about a 1/2 hour to go and started to throw a deep diving crankbait. Caught a 13 incher with about 5 minutes to go and tossed it back. Headed back across the lake in 4-5 foot waves. Turns out we werent the only ones to have a bad day. 1st was about 30lbs 10 fish limit 2nd was in the low 20s and 3rd was 13 or 14lbs. Big fish was 3lbs 6ounces. I and another guy had the second biggest fish both going 2lb 13oz. Too bad no 2nd place for big fish
Dominant pattern for the tournament was burning spinnerbaits a tactic that hadnt worked for me or my partner in prefishing. We stuck with soft plastics for most of the day until i tried the crankbait. Should have tried the spinnerbait with wind and clouds it turns out but im still learning only my 3rd tournament ever so I wasnt to upset. I thought i was on good fish but didnt really hit my spots until way late then only had about a 1 and 1/2 hours to fish them. Bad part about not driving the boat i guess. Learned a lot though and thats what matters.
Fletcher Floodwaters is this weekend 8/21 and im heading down there early in the morning to prefish for the tournament on Sunday. Sounds like this too will be a tough tournament with 25 mph winds and a coldfront on the way. I like the tough conditions so far though, it seems to even things out. Ill give this report for it when i get the time.
The morning of the tournament i woke up to the distant sound of thunder and hurried to take down camp without getting wet. Wind started howling and soon it was raining and lightining like crazy.This was a draw tournament and i met up with my partner and put my gear in his boat. We waited until 7:30 to launch due to some pretty intense lightning. Finally after launching we went to my partners first spot in the main lake on weeds. He lives on the lake and was on fish too so my spots were put on the back burner. Fished in a downpour for about an hour when my partner landed a walleye dragging a tube. Lighting and wind were terrible making fishing seem a little crazy. It was nasty and i was fishing away but then a scary thing happend. My line started floating. First time it ever happend to me and i told my partner. He didnt like the weather from the get go so we headed to shore quickly. Waited about a 1/2 hour before the lightning clouds passed and it was still raining hard when we headed back out. We hit his spot out in the mainlake. It soon became apparent that the wind and waves were going to make it very difficult to fish out here. We moved into a cove at about 11:00where i caught our first and only keeper bass. Got it on a tube. Wind and rain was making it a real pain. We plugged on until about 2:00 with no fish. Finally went to one of my spots where i hooked up with a nice keeper size fish only to have it come off 10 ft away from the boat this fish came on the finesse worm described above. Went back to the spot where i caught our only fish with about a 1/2 hour to go and started to throw a deep diving crankbait. Caught a 13 incher with about 5 minutes to go and tossed it back. Headed back across the lake in 4-5 foot waves. Turns out we werent the only ones to have a bad day. 1st was about 30lbs 10 fish limit 2nd was in the low 20s and 3rd was 13 or 14lbs. Big fish was 3lbs 6ounces. I and another guy had the second biggest fish both going 2lb 13oz. Too bad no 2nd place for big fish
Dominant pattern for the tournament was burning spinnerbaits a tactic that hadnt worked for me or my partner in prefishing. We stuck with soft plastics for most of the day until i tried the crankbait. Should have tried the spinnerbait with wind and clouds it turns out but im still learning only my 3rd tournament ever so I wasnt to upset. I thought i was on good fish but didnt really hit my spots until way late then only had about a 1 and 1/2 hours to fish them. Bad part about not driving the boat i guess. Learned a lot though and thats what matters.
Fletcher Floodwaters is this weekend 8/21 and im heading down there early in the morning to prefish for the tournament on Sunday. Sounds like this too will be a tough tournament with 25 mph winds and a coldfront on the way. I like the tough conditions so far though, it seems to even things out. Ill give this report for it when i get the time.
