Fishing at Oconee has been tough the past two weekends. Last Saturday the Potato Creek Bassmsters fished our June tournament there, and the weekend before the Flint River Bass Club fished our June tournament on Sunday.
In the Flint River club 14 members and guests fished nine hours to land 17 bass weighing about 36 pounds. There was one five-fish limit and seven members did not catch a 14-inch keeper.
Chuck Croft won with a limit weighing 12.57 pounds and had big fish with a 4.55 pound largemouth. I came in second with four at 8.67 pounds, Gary Cato had two weighing 3.84 for third and fourth was guest Kevin Cato with two weighing 2.86 pounds.
Chuck said he caught his fish on buzzbaits and landed six keepers during the day, culling one. I struggled, missing several bites early on a top water popper. My first keeper hit a shaky head worm by a dock at 8:30 then my second one came off another dock on the same bait less than an hour later.
After three hours of fishing docks without another keeper, I tried a deeper, rocky point and landed my third keeper on the shaky head worm at 12:30. My last keeper hit on another dock with just an hour left to fish, hitting the same bait.
In the Potato Creek Bassmasters, 21 members fished for eight hours to land 32 keepers weighing about 58 pounds. There was one limit and four fishermen did not catch a keeper.
Lee Hancock won with five weighing 8.26 pounds, Raymond English placed second with three weighing 6.02 pounds, Buddy Laseter was third with two at 5.51 pound. Niles Murray came in fourth with two weighing 5.34 pounds and his 3.74 pound largemouth was big fish.
I was somewhat excited Saturday morning, thinking I could catch fish like I did the weekend before, but it was not to be. I started better, landing two keepers early on a buzzbait and losing one about two pounds that jumped and threw the hook right beside the boat.
At 8:30 I fished some brush on a deep point that I had found with my electronics the weekend before and landed my third keeper. That was it, I did not catch another fish although I tried the same places I had caught fish the weekend before. It is amazing how things change in a few days.
Both tournaments were hot and boat traffic kept us rocking and rolling all day. This past Saturday was the worst, with no breeze and blazing sun. About noon I thought I was either having a heat stoke or getting seasick, or maybe a combination of the two!
Fishing during the day will be hot and you will face boat waves all day on weekends the rest of the summer. Night fishing is the way to go, it is cooler for you and the fish bite better. But there are so many idiots out there, even at night, that you have to be very careful, even more so than during the day.
The only thing worst than fishing in the heat and rough water is not going at all!