Trying To Catch Bass At Sinclair

Last Sunday 12 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our September tournament at Sinclair. After seven hours of casting we brought 26 12-inch largemouth weighing about 33 pounds to the scales. Thankfully no spots are showing up at Sinclair yet. There was one limit and three people did not catch a keeper.

Raymond English wore us all out with five weighing 11.40 pounds and had big fish with a 5.37 pounder.
Robert Proctor placed second with three weighing 5.46 pounds and had a nice 2.96 pounder, Chris Davies was third with three weighing 4.47 and fourth was George Roberts with four at 4.21 pounds.

I’m very glad the hot summer fishing is about over. I managed to place fifth with three weighing 3.69 pounds for the second time in the last two tournaments. It can be very frustrating this time of year, but I keep telling myself I am just happy to be able to be out there.

First thing that morning I thought I could catch some fish on topwater, but I guess I started at the wrong places. I did hook and lose what looked like a short fish on a buzzbait and missed a hit on a frog, but those were my only two bites the first hour.

At 8:00 I gave up and started fishing brush with a shaky head worm. I quickly caught a keeper in some deep brush, then 15 minutes later caught a small keeper from some shallow brush. After running to another cove, I caught my biggest keeper out of some brush beside a dock, then caught a short fish in more brush.

At 9:00 I felt pretty good with three keepers in the live well and five hours left to fish. I spent another hour fishing brush but never got a bite. I was mostly letting the sun get higher and creating shade under docks.

Usually I can catch some small keepers at Sinclair this time of year by skipping a weightless Senko under docks, but after trying that for three hours without a bite from even a short fish, I gave up.

The last hour I went back to fishing brush and rocks but never got a bite in the last five hours of the tournament. I must have been in the wrong places using the wrong bait at the wrong time, or maybe the bass were just not eating.
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