Monthly Archives: May 2014

Does Practice Sometimes Hurt You In A Tournament?

Last Sunday members of the Flint River Bass Club had a tough tournament on Lake Oconee. Fishing from 6:00 AM until 2:00 PM the 19 members and guests landed 33 keeper bass weighing 56.94 pounds. There was only one five-fish limit and five members did not catch a keeper during the tournament.

Doug Kohn had the limit and his 7.94 pounds won the tournament. Lee Hancock had three bass weighing 7.17 pounds for second and his 4.30 pound bass won the big fish award. Bobby Ferris places third with 6.80 pounds and Jack Ridgway was fourth with 6.73 pounds.

Doug said he caught some of his fish on topwater plugs. Lee said the big bass hit a crankbait and his others were caught on a Texas rigged worm. Bobby said he caught his fish on a jig and pig. Fish were caught on a lot of different baits so no one pattern really worked better than others.

We lucked out on the weather. It was cloudy and windy all day, which usually makes fishing better. As I pulled out of the parking lot at 2:30 PM to head home a few drops of rain hit my windshield. By the time I got to the main road it was pouring and it rained hard all the way back to Griffin. I surely am glad the rain held off until the end of the tournament!

I had gone to Oconee on Saturday to check some deep water holes where I have caught fish this time of year in the past. I also wanted to try a pattern I was told was working there. I thought I had found something that would help me in the tournament but it may have actually hurt my fishing.

I rode over a point with some brush down in 20 feet of water and saw baitfish and bigger fish around the area. This was the brush where I caught a 7-7 bass and several other keepers in a July tournament a few years ago so I felt good about catching something there and did not even cast to them, not wanting to bother them the day before the tournament.

The second point I went to and checked I also saw brush with baitfish and bigger fish around it in 20 feet of water. I threw out a marker and cast a Carolina rig a few times, but nothing hit. I picked up a Mag 2 worm Texas rigged and the first cast produced a hit. When I set the hook the back half of the worm was torn off.

I quickly rigged another worm and cast back to the same place. When I felt a fish I set the hook and this time was rewarded with something pulling back. It was a 3.5 pound bass and I marked that spot to fish the next day.

For the next few hours I rode over points and found three more that looked just like where I had caught the bass. Brush, baitfish and bigger fish seen on a depthfinder is usually a good indication you can catching something this time of year so I planned on fishing those spots. I had caught one of my five keepers off one of the places two weeks before in the Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament so that also gave me confidence.

Brent Terry fished as my guest in the tournament and we stopped on a main lake bank with docks on it first thing Sunday morning. I started throwing a spinnerbait and Brent chose a buzzbait. On the first pass I hooked and lost a bass that looked like it would be a little short of 14 inches long, then caught three more short bass before we left.

Fishing similar places I finally landed a good keeper on the spinnerbait and then another one on a Texas rigged worm. After a couple more hours without a fish in the shallows I told Brent we should start hitting the deeper holes. I felt sure in the four hours we had left to fish we could catch some keepers.

That feeling was bolstered when Brent got a keeper on the first point we fished, the place I had landed a keeper two weeks before. Although we fished all the places that looked good the day before, and we caught some short fish, we did not catch a single keeper the rest of the day.

My two keepers weighed 3.76 pounds and put me in 9th place. That just goes to show the best laid fishing plans often go astray! Now I wonder if I had kept fishing shallow water if I would have done better. Sometimes practice for a tournament may be counterproductive. Who knows?

That’s why we call it fishing, not catching!

Tips for Keeping Your Pontoon Boat Safe and Shipshape

How to keep your pontoon boat safe and shipshape
from The Fishing Wire

Pontoons offer lots of space to swing a rod, lots of comfort and a shallow draft that lets them work around weedbeds easily. (Photo Credit Manitou Pontoons)

Fishing from a pontoon

Pontoon boats are among the most trouble-free of watercraft; they’re simple, WYSIWYG rigs that don’t require much maintenance and don’t cause many problems. But BoatU.S., which maintains insurance claim files on all sorts of watercraft, reports there are ten recurring items and incidents that most often lead to trouble on these family friendly boats.

1. Anode awareness: Galvanic corrosion, which occurs when dissimilar metals are in contact with an electrolyte such as salt water, can quickly destroy aluminum. And unfortunately, most insurance policies don’t cover this damage. In salty, brackish and even freshwater, aluminum sacrificial anodes are best as they outlast other alloys. Outboard engine zincs also need replacement if they have deteriorated to less than half their original size.

2. Get Wired: In order to protect the boat and engine, the pontoon needs to be electrically connected to the pontoon’s engine via a ground wire. If not, galvanic corrosion can set in.

3. Avoid the “pits”: Pontoon logs that sit on muddy lake bottoms during low water can become pitted with corrosion. This occurs because the mud prevents dissolved oxygen in the water from making contact with the aluminum, which relies on an oxidized layer or “skin” for corrosion protection. Consider pulling or moving the boat if water levels drop.

Up to four anglers at a time can fish from most pontoons-and there’s also room for Fido. (Photo Credit Tracker Marine)

Lots of room to fish in a pontoon boat

4. Don’t “plow” ahead: When seas build, pontoons have a tendency to plow into waves, which can lead to a significant amount of water over the deck. Pontoons are also challenging to handle in following seas. If you can’t avoid rough weather, slow way down and trim weight aft.

5. Passenger injuries: One big difference with pontoon boats is that they don’t bank in turns, which can lead to injuries when passengers are thrown to the deck or even overboard in a hard turn. Large wakes from passing vessels can nearly stop a pontoon if taken improperly. Passengers should always remain seated while underway.

6. Watch out for windage: Another reason to slow way down in heavy weather is the increased windage from a pontoon’s large bimini top. Never trailer a pontoon without removing the bimini. The boats also tend to “kite” in the wind when you’re trying to dock them or put them on a trailer.

7. Don’t Under-size-me: The normally benign wind conditions on many small lakes and rivers can also lull pontoon owners into using undersized dock lines and too few fenders. Since many pontoon boats don’t have rub rails, damage can occur quickly during summer thunderstorms.

Small four strokes like the Yamaha F70 offer plenty of power for most pontoons, plus low fuel consumption and very low noise levels. (Photo Credit Yamaha Marine)

you don’t need a huge motor for a pontoon boat

8. Swimmers take care: Because they make great swim platforms, pontoons are involved in a fair share of swimming injuries, often diving related. If you’re going swimming, it’s safest to enter the water via a ladder – not head first.

9. Grand theft pontoon: No, it’s not a new video game. Because it’s difficult to hide or secure expensive gear on a pontoon, things like chartplotters, fishing tackle and iPods should be removed at the end of the day.

10. Four-legged vandals: Raccoons, muskrats and their furry brethren enjoy upholstery and wiring like a vegetarian at a salad bar. There’s no simple solution to keeping critters off the boat, but reducing fish or food smells by washing it down, or using commercially available repellants such as fox urine, have been known to help. (Unfortunately, the repellants may repel humans, too–use with discretion!)

BoatU.S. – Boat Owners Association of The United States – is the nation’s leading advocate for recreational boaters. See more at www.boatus.com.

How Do I Catch Marinated Catfish

Juicy New “Meat” Methods Reinvigorate Bait for Catfish

By Ted Pilgrim
from The Fishing Wirw

Mar • i • nate (v) – to put meat or fish in a sauce for a period of time to add flavor or to make the meat or fish more juicy and flavorful.
___________________________

Which steak would you take? An unseasoned slab of meat, or the same steak slathered with juicy flavors just before slapping it onto a sizzling grill?

On this point, it appears, catfish and humans agree. Among those whiskery Ictalurids, scent and taste are powerful enticements. So it stands to reason why catfish often prefer their meals pre- seasoned and spiced, as opposed to bites of bland and flavorless flesh.

Monster Catfish

Whopper catfish like this one are easier to come by if you add “seasoning” like Scent Trail, which puts an added chum slick in the water.

At the recent Cabela’s King Kat national catfish tournament on the Missouri River near Jefferson City, elite catmen John Jamison and Mark Thompson registered a winning weight of blue catfish, employing creative bait methods not unlike those of master chefs.

The theory and practice of adding scent to baits is, of course, nearly as old as fishing itself. In the early days, anglers doused lures with such oddities as anise oil, Preparation-H and WD-40, plus volumes of fishy formulas meant to play on a gamefish’s olfactory abilities.

If you think bass, panfish and trout can smell well, consider catfish, the aquatic equivalent of a truffle-sniffing pig. For fish, the difference lies in “olfactory folds,” the mechanism used to detect underwater aromas. While a big adult largemouth has just thirteen of these structures, a small 2-pound catfish has 142.

Playing on this powerful sense, Jamison-a legendary figure on the national catfish tournament trail-has during the past year made some keen discoveries regarding the scent and taste preferences of goliath blues. “I’m not quite ready to discuss some of our findings,” Jamison admitted following his tournament win. “What I can tell you is at this last King Kat event, marinated baits worked almost like magic. Cutbaits soaked in Scent Trail were the only things we found that consistently triggered bites during the tough tournament conditions.”

At the major one-day event, Jamison and Thompson employed a variety of different baits, including filleted carp, shad and skipjack herring. But bait species itself, Jamison said, proved “almost irrelevant.”

Rather, to induce reluctant cats to grab their baits, the Kansas-based anglers placed pre-filleted fresh or fresh vacuum-sealed baitfish into Keep Kool bait containers and doused them with large volumes of Scent Trail attractant, effectually marinating them for an hour or more.

Spray Catfish Bait

The spray bottle is an easy way to freshen baits that may be starting to wash out and loose their attractiveness.

Jamison added that local weather conditions turned what had been a torrid bite in prefishing into a test of patience during the event. “For years, we’ve sort of kept the scent-marinating deal under our hats. It’s pretty amazing how Scent Trail can invigorate and re-energize baits when catfish get fussy and hesitant about biting. Plenty of folks have seen us do it now in these tournaments, so we just figured it was time to share the secret with folks out there who fish for catfish in everyday situations. It’s going to help add lots of catfish to your stringer.”

A super-concentrated bait additive, Scent Trail has been manufactured by boutique catfish company Rippin Lips for the past several years. “The stuff is nothing but omega-3-rich natural fish oils, blood and amino acids,” Jamison notes. “These are the actual scent and taste compounds catfish hone in on to hunt food and eat; that’s it, no fancy fillers or extra ingredients.

“We use the product to recharge baits on our hooks. Every time we reel in, we’ll give our baits a few squirts of formula, which restores the bait’s natural juices.

“In tournaments, we’ll fillet a bunch of bait-size chunks ahead of time and stash them in the Keep Kool. If things get tough, we’ll sometimes pour in an entire bottle of Scent Trail. Really let the stuff soak in. Put one of these baits in the water and you’re setting up a mini chum line of flavor. You can’t believe how much difference this can make in a tough bite.

“It’s like setting the table at dinnertime. Put a bunch of delicious food out and let the aromas work their magic. Pretty soon, you’ve got people from all over the house gathered around the table, mouths watering. Now imagine if people had the powerful sniffers of catfish. You’d have flocks of folks arriving at your table from all across the neighborhood, ready to gobble up the food on your plate.”

Fishing A June Tournament At Lake Oconee

Last Sunday 16 members and guests fished the Spalding County Sportsman Club June tournament at Oconee. We lucked out and it was a rainy, cooler than normal day for late June. Fishing from 6:00 AM until 3:00 PM we brought in 43 keeper bass weighing about 72 pounds. There were six 5 fish limits weighed in.

Mike Dalton brought in a limit weighing 12.25 pounds to win the tournament, and his 3.57 pound bass took the big fish pot. I had five weighing 10.35 pounds for second and my 3.54 pound fish, just 3 hundredths of a pound smaller than Mike’s big one, didn’t win anything!

James Pilgrim, Jr. had four bass weighing 7.66 pounds for third, Butch Duerr had five weighing 7.22 for fourth and Ben Puckett had 3 bass weighing 6.53 pounds for fifth.

Mike said he caught his fish on crankbaits. Butch said he caught his on buzzbaits. There were a good many fish caught on worms and spinnerbaits, too. The cloudy weather made the fish bite pretty good.

I used all my bass fishing skill to land my five keepers. I headed to a favorite point to start but there was a boat on it, so I went to a nearby point to wait and see if they left. My second cast with a spinnerbait to a dock there produced my biggest bass of the day. After the boat finally left I went to that point and caught a second keeper on the spinnerbait.

Linda fished with me and needed a break so at about 9:30 I went to a nearby marina. While she was inside I cast a Texas rigged worm to the gas dock and landed a 16 inch keeper. When I headed back to my favorite point there was a boat on it again, so I went to the other side of them and caught my second biggest bass of the day on a worm from a dock there.

My fifth keeper came on a Carolina rig on a point. So, of the five keepers I landed, three came from places I did not plan on fishing. Maybe I should plan where to fish then change my mind at the last minute from now on.

Linda and I caught a bunch of bass. We probably had 30 with many in the 13.5 to 13.9 inch range, just under the 14 inch minimum. Linda had one 16 inch keeper and placed 11th in the tournament. She also caught three channel cats of a crankbait. I have caught them on crankbaits before but never three in one day!

Noodling for Catfish in Georgia

On Friday, July 1, 2004 it became legal to noodle for catfish in Georgia. So if you have an overwhelming desire to go down to the river or a pond and stick your hands under logs and into holes trying to find a catfish, you can do so legally now. Noodling season in Georgia runs from March 1 – July 15 so you have a couple of months left to give it a try this year.

Noodling it a tradition in the south and it is now legal in six states. I have never tried it, but have watched it on TV. That is probably as close as I will get to the real thing. There are way too many critters with teeth, fangs and beaks that like holes in the water for me to want to stick my hands in one.

Can you imagine wading waist deep in water in a creek or river and sticking your hand up into a hole in the bank under the water. You might find a catfish. If you do you grab it in the gills and pull it out for supper. If you find a snapping turtle or snake I guess you ease your hand out slowly and hope your fingers don’t become supper.

Give noodling a try if you want to – but you might want to wear gloves!

What Is the Down and Out Technique for Walleye?

Down and Out Technique catcches walleye

Skarlis and Lahr give up their tournament-winning methods for finding “hidden” walleye

Press Release
By Mitch Eeagan

Nice tournament walleye

Professional fishing tournament twosome Tommy Skarlis and Jeff Lahr are no strangers to catching walleyes from fast-flowing waters, including the Mississippi River in Hastings, Minnesota. In fact, it was in this area—within the fish-laden Pools 2 and 3—that the band from Iowa took top honors at the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit’s “Artificial Challenge” May 2-3, 2014.

But the bite did not come easy.

The fact was their 35-pound 8-ounce total two-day sack consisted of only six fish; with only two landed the second day.

Had it not been for the duo using high-quality electronics to locate specific-spots where the post-spawn females were laying, figuring out fish wanted lures pulled one way and one only, as well as using rods that aided in identify bites that would normally gone undetected, the tournament teammates would never have taken the podium.

Think outside the cone

Unable to pre-fish much before the derby, Skarlis and Lahr were depending on two choice areas where they had found fish a few years before with an Aqua-Vu underwater camera.

“After spawning, big hen walleyes tend to belly up to bottom right on the steep drop-offs leading to the main river channel. Unfortunately, it’s this type of area that a one-dimensional sonar’s “ping” often misses the mark (fish on bottom on sharp banks being just outside the cone-shaped signal),” says Skarlis. “Without an Aqua-Vu underwater camera, or Humminbird with two-dimensional Side Imaging, anglers would never realize those fish were there.”

Use a good depthfinder to find walleye

On this particular trip, Skarlis and Lahr were able to verify the walleyes were still there with Humminbird Side Imaging; the fish lying tight to bottom showing up clearly on the 1199’s unit’s large screen.

But confirming the location of the fish wasn’t enough; the lethargic post-spawners were still not willing to eat, but rather had to be coaxed into biting.

Slowly I pulled…

The pair discovered they had to employ very specific procedures to produce strikes. And then after all that, the bites were so subtle they could’ve been easily be missed.

The winning way? Pulling 7- to 12-MM long, slender-shaped stickbaits upstream at a crawl. However, only when the lures were swimming down the bank and out towards the main river bed, not up the break or along it, did walleyes respond.

Not wanting to waste time, Skarlis used his bow-mounted Minn Kota Fortrex to quickly pull the 3-ounce bottom-bouncer rigs with stickbaits up the steep breaks in 16- to 22-feet of water, and then reduce their speed to a creep at one-half-mile-per-hour. The slower speed was necessary to get the walleyes to commit.

Humminbird electronics are responsible for divulging the whereabouts of countless walleyes for tournament pros, guides and the everday angler. Photo by Bill Lindner Photography

A secondary technique took fish when the stickbait bite slowed. When the cranks quit, Skarlis and Lahr vertical jigged down and out along the same sharp breaks with 1/2-ounce jigs tipped with soft plastics.

“While most anglers use the lightest jigs they can get away with, Lahr and I often use heavier jigs, up to 3/4 ounce, as they displace more water and the fish are able to pick up the vibration through their lateral lines. Using larger jigs is doubly important in such stained water,” notes Skarlis.

Jig tied up and deployed, the anglers found the best technique was employing no action all, literally just holding the bait up off bottom a few inches and working it down the bank.

Feeling odd

No matter the technique, there were never any arm-jarring strikes. In fact, the bite was quite the contrary.

“Most anglers feel the spit, not the hit, and by that time it’s too late to set the hook,” states Skarlis.

“St. Croix’s LegendXtreme rods were one of the biggest factors in the win. The fish would bite light and swim along with the lure. If anything felt “odd”, anything at all, we’d set the hook and sure enough there was a fish.

Both anglers used St. Croix’s 7-foot medium, fast-action Legend Xtreme rods for jigging, and the medium-heavy, fast-action model for pulling stickbaits. However, when the technique called for heavier applications yet, the 7’1” medium-heavy, fast, Legend Tournament Bass rods were pulled from the rod locker.

“There are three reasons the Legend Xtreme is a superior rod,” claims Skarlis. “The blank is ultra-sensitive, of course, as well as light, so there’s no arm fatigue when fishing it all day. And the rods micro guides cut down on wind drag, keeping the tip from blowing around, creating even greater sensitivity. And because of its perfect backbone, they have the ability to hold fish on the hook once stuck.”

Down and out

Looking to land more post-spawn walleyes from rivers? Heed the down-and-out technique Skarlis and Lahr used to land a winning weight from the Mississippi. Use the newest electronics to locate fish hidden from standard sonar, and no matter the method employed, use sticks that telegraph even slight bites.

St Croix walleye rods

St. Croix Rod’s Legend Tournament Walleye (pictured) and Legend Tournament Bass are staple sticks in the boats of many professional anglers and guides.

Mitch Eeagan is an outdoor writer who lives and survives off the land within Michigan’s Upper Peninsula’s cedar swamps.

June Club Tournament at Lake Weiss

Lake Weiss proved to be an interesting lake for a club tournament in early June a few years ago for the Flint River Bass Club. Although the weather did not treat us very good, with rain all day Saturday and strong winds on Sunday, most of the members managed to catch some bass.

Bobby Ferris had an outstanding catch on Saturday bringing in a limit of 5 bass weighing 17.64 pounds. That is the kind of catch you see in pro tournaments. He had five more on Sunday and his ten keepers weighed 26.14 pounds and gave him first place. He also had big fish in the tournament with a 4.74 pound largemouth.

I thought I had a real good catch until I saw what Bobby had. My ten bass in the two days weighed 22.13 pounds and gave me second place. Gary Blackmon had limits both days and came in third with 15.95 pounds. Roger Morrow had 9 bass in the two days and placed fourth with 15.52 pounds.

The 17 fishermen brought in 76 bass weighing 135.98 pounds. Half of them were largemouth and half were spotted bass. There were nine 5 fish limits weighed in during the two days.

I went over on Thursday and met state fisheries biologist Kevin Dalmier at the lake. He has a cabin on the lake and not only studies fish, he loves to bass fish. We fished together in practice but a family illness kept him from fishing with me in the tournament.

On Thursday afternoon we fished the lower lake, about 20 miles by water from where the tournament launched. Kevin showed me some great places we planned on fishing in the tournament, including a hump near the dam. He told me as we approached it he had never seen another fisherman on it but had always caught bass there and we should catch some big spotted bass.

Sure enough, I hooked a 2.5 pound spotted bass almost as soon as we started fishing there. Mine got off but then Kevin hooked and landed a 3 pound spot, then a 2.5 pounder. I landed one about 2 pounds before we left the spot, and I was sure we would catch fish there in the tournament. Unfortunately, the wind and rain kept me from returning during the tournament.

While fishing Thursday Kevin at one point made the statement that “I am no expert but…” I stopped him, saying if he was not an expert on fish, who was? He explained just knowing fish biology was not a guarantee of catching them. That made me feel real inadequate – if he is not an expert after going to college and studying fish all his life, how could I ever hope to be one?

I did see how great fishermen are during my trip. On Saturday morning Bobby told me some lowlife had stolen the tail lights off his boat trailer while it was parked in the marina lot on Friday. I had not locked my trailer to my van that morning and was worried about it.

By 8:00 AM I had a limit of fish in the boat and decided to go to the ramp and lock my trailer. As I got out of my boat at the ramp a father and son idled up to leave. We talked as I walked toward my van, and when I reached under my rainsuit pants for my keys they were not in my pocket. I was afraid I had missed my pocket in the dark that morning and dropped them down the pants leg of my rainsuit.

The man I had just met helped me look for them, then took his boat out of the water and went to a nearby store to get the number of a locksmith for me. While he was gone I found my keys in the boat, I had dropped them when taking my cell phone out of my pocket.

He returned with the phone numbers and I thanked him. He went out of his way, in the rain, to help a stranger out.

On the way home I had a blowout on my van and pulled over to fix it. Club member Dan Riddle stopped behind me and helped me change it in the miserably hot sun. Without one of his tools I would not have been able to get my hubcap off. That is another good example of how great fellow fishermen are. Thanks, Dan!

During the tournament I made a dumb mistake and broke a club rule. I was fishing a buzzbait and a fish hit at it and missed it. I quickly threw a worm to where the fish hit and sure enough, as soon as it hit the water the fish grabbed it. I fought the three pound bass to the boat then got a sick feeling. I had not stopped and reeled in my buzzbait before casting the second bait.

A club rule says you can use only one rod at a time, so I broke the rule. It made me feel awful to let the bass go, but rules are rules even if I don’t like them. As it turned out that fish would not have helped my weight enough to catch Bobby, but I did not know that at the time.

May Fishing Tournaments At Lake Lanier

Tom Perdue and I fished Lanier on a Wednesday in early May a few years ago, trying to find some bass and a pattern for me to fish in the Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament that weekend. We had only three keepers so I am not sure we were successful.

Tom was determined to catch a fish on a jerkbait and he threw one a lot. He accomplished his goal when a pretty 2.5 pound spotted bass hit his jerkbait and he landed it. Several hours later we were near a dock and I cast a Trick worm under it when I saw a bass hanging there. It hit and I landed a 3.5 pound spot, one of my top four I have ever caught.

Although we caught a lot of bass shorter than the 14 inch limit, I landed only one more keeper just before we quit. It hit a tube bait near the bank and probably weighed about 2.5 pounds. I hope I catch two as big as the two I got Wednesday in the tournament today!

Lake Lanier was good to Donnie Willis the past few weeks that year. He won both the Potato Creek Bassmasters’ April tournament and the Flint River Bass Club’s May tournament there. Winning back to back tournaments in two clubs is hard to do, even on the same lake.

On April 16th 25 members of the Potato Creek club fished Lanier for nine hours. They brought in 48 bass weighing about 93 pounds. Lanier has a 14 inch minimum size limit on bass and a 14 inch keeper will usually weigh at least 1.5 pounds.

Donnie had a five fish limit weighing 13.34 pounds for first. Chris Corley had five weighing 12.21 for second and had big fish in the tournament with a 4.99 pound bass. Raymond English had five weighing 8.44 pounds for third and Brian Lee placed fourth with 4 bass weighing 7.94 pounds.

Two weeks later on May 1st the Flint River Bass Club fished Lanier and Donnie won with five bass weighing 9.35 pounds. Gary Morrow was second with 8.76 pounds, I placed third with five weighing 7.97 pounds and Tony Roberts was fourth with 7.95 pounds.

There were 16 fishermen in the Flint River tournament and we brought in 40 bass weighing 75.21 pounds. Donnie said he caught his fish on jerk baits and Carolina rigs. I did not have a bass at noon that day after fishing docks and shallow water all morning. At noon I decided to move to main lake points and caught my five in less than an hour on a spinnerbait.

Fishing In the Wind at Clarks Hill

It was windy the last weekend in April a few years ago. If you were on an area lake, like 19 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club, you know what an understatement that is! The wind had Clark’s Hill white capping as far as the eye could see, and waves breaking on the riprap at Price’s Bridge threw spray up on the road.

Wind can make lakes dangerous, and there was a wind advisory for lakes in Georgia last weekend. Four times in my life I thought the waves might sink a boat I was driving, and two of them were at Clark’s Hill. One of the other one was at Eufaula in a Top Six tournament and the other was at Lake Lanier in a club tournament.

When I was a teenager my family had a 18 foot outdrive with a 120 hp motor. I ran all over Clark’s Hill in that boat, skiing, fishing and just having fun. We often ran from Raysville Boat Club down to the dam to meet friends and enjoy the lake.

When you come out of Germany Creek where Raysville Boat Club is located, you can look east and see Price’s Bridge about 13 miles away. That is a lot of water for the wind to blow across, and wind out of the west doesn’t have much to slow it down other than a few islands.

That weekend four of us had gone to the dam to a picnic and the wind got up. We headed back up the lake and the waves were awful. We would go down into the trough of one and not be able to see the banks the waves were so high. I was younger and dumber and didn’t really get scared, but looking back, if the motor had died I am sure the waves would have turned the boat over.

Years later Linda and I had run down to a cove we liked to fish in April, and stayed there most of the day. We knew the wind had gotten up, but did not realize how much until we came out across from Mistletoe and hit the waves coming down the lake. They were so big all I could do was keep the boat at a high idle and break through them.

We were in our brand new 17.5 foot Procraft bass boat with a 150 hp motor. I got really scared when I looked back and the waves we crashed through would come back together and almost cover the engine. I was afraid it would drown out and we would capsize. We finally got near a bank where it was more protected and made it back safely.

The waves were different this past weekend. They were shorter and more choppy, but even so while trying to fish in the wind and hold the boat, every few minutes a series of big waves would come along and make the front of my 20 foot Skeeter bass boat dip water. It was not real dangerous but it was hard to fish.

Gary Hattaway battled the wind and had a great catch Saturday. He brought in a 7.13 pound bass and had five weighing 17.69 pounds. He added two more keepers Sunday and got first place with 7 bass weighing 23.27 pounds, and his seven pounder was big fish for the tournament.

I got a limit each day and had 10 bass weighing 22.36 pounds for second. I did not catch a bass weighing over 3 pounds, I just could not find a kicker bass. I had a feeling I could catch a big fish off the riprap if I could fish it with the wind blowing into it, and I did. I landed an 11 pound channel cat on a crankbait. It gave me a great fight but I could not weigh it in.

Billy Roberts battled his brother George both days and managed to beat him, barely. Billy had 8 keepers weighing 14.52 pounds for third and George had 9 weighing 14.36 for fourth. Wayne Gibbs had 8 weighing 13.69 for fifth place.

The wind was so bad, and it was so cold Sunday morning that eight of the 19 fishermen didn’t show up for the second day’s fishing. There were 7 five fish limits on Saturday but only two on Sunday. We weighed in 89 bass during the two days.

I caught bass on Carolina rigged Baby Brush Hogs, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and Trick worms. Most of my fish hit on wind blown points and humps and my best bait there was the Carolina rig. With the full moon I thought bass would be bedding, but the cold and wind turned them off, I guess.

Water temperatures on Saturday ranged from 60 to 68 degrees but areas that were 68 degrees Saturday afternoon had dropped to 62 by Sunday morning. I could not believe I needed to wear a snowmobile suit on April 25 here in Georgia, but I kept it on all day and it felt good!

Ott Defoe On Using Electronics To Catch Bass

The View from Ott’s Boat

Advice from Bass Fishing’s ‘High-Tech Redneck’
from The Fishing Wire

Admit it. Our eyes are drawn to fancy, new-fangled objects. It’s all over pop culture: Pimp My Ride. The Bling Ring. Tricked Out TV. Every time we turn around, it seems, someone’s flashing another superficial doodad or device. In fishing, it’s a slightly different story.

Ott Defoe studies his electronis

“The high-tech redneck himself, Ott DeFoe angles from the helm of his tricked-out office.” (Courtesy of Ott DeFoe)

“Man, the front of your boat looks like an aircraft carrier!” quipped a Bassmaster fan, studying Elite Series angler Ott DeFoe’s ride at a recent event. Flashing his trademark grin, the affable bass pro nodded and casually replied “Yessir, I’m a high-tech redneck.”

DeFoe, who in a short span of four years has racked up some impressive credentials on the B.A.S.S. tournament trail, has also emerged as one of the more techno-savvy anglers on tour. In a game that’s increasingly driven by technology, however, competitive fishing for DeFoe is still mostly about dropping the trolling motor and zinging casts down the bank.

But even the trolling motor’s a techno-tool. Albeit after decades of routine use, the common bow-mounted device has become as synonymous with bass fishing as a plastic worm. Like a rod and reel, livewell or crankbait, the trolling motor serves a purpose; has a singular function that helps put more fish in the boat. So while DeFoe speaks with many folks each year who puzzle over his vast network of electronics, he’s comfortable saying that each and every device plays a critical role in his success on the water.

As one of the nation’s top bass anglers, DeFoe freely admits he’s in an enviable position that gives him access to all the sweetest stuff. (Admit it, you would too.) And if the ‘bling on his bow happens to carry a certain “cool” factor, that’s just fine with him.

“These days, no matter where I go, I probably get more questions from folks wondering about electronics than any other topic or piece of equipment,” says the Knoxville, Tennessee based angler. “Specifically, they want to know how electronics can help them catch more bass. That’s the main reason we spend the money and put ’em on our boat-trolling motors, Side-, Down- and 360 Imaging, Talons, GPS mapping and underwater cameras. If they don’t help us catch bass we’re not going to use ’em for very long.”

Shallow Water Scouting

For years, many anglers neglected their sonar-fish finder units. The reason was simple. Most bass anglers spent most of their time in shallow water, casting to visible cover along the bank, where sonar beams couldn’t “see.”

Last season, DeFoe and a few other anglers on tour began using a new sonar tool that unlocked the unseen shallows. Not only was it now possible to see structure below the boat, but the new 360 Imaging device also revealed the water in front of and on all sides around the boat-even in 10 feet of water and less.

A breakthrough occurred for Ott at the 2013 Elite Series event at Lake St. Clair. “On day one, there were three of us fishing this 8 foot point. Little wolf packs of big smallmouths were working all around it, but the point didn’t seem to have any cover to actually concentrate fish.” DeFoe and several others had taken numbers of 3 to 4 pounders off the point, but at day’s end, it seemed to have dried up.

On the second morning, after a few bites, the fish again appeared to vanish. “After the other boats left the area, I decided to hang around a little longer. I felt the fish were still close by, so I returned to my waypoints on the spot, and just moved along studying the screen of my Humminbird 360 Imaging unit.”

Finally, DeFoe spotted a single object on screen-a moderately sized boulder lying on the otherwise clean point. Set to search 100 feet all around the boat, the 360 unit allowed him to determine that the boulder was approximately 75 feet ahead of his position. “I picked up a tube,” said DeFoe, “cast toward the target and immediately got bit. As I fought the 3-1/2 pound smallmouth, I spotted a bunch of his buddies following him to the boat.

“DeFoe calls his underwater camera an ‘awesome time management tool,’ confirming fish species seen on sonar, as well as bass size and their position relative to cover.”

“In my head, a light switch went off. The bass hadn’t left at all but had simply moved away from the boat traffic and repositioned around this single insignificant boulder. Without 360, I would have never seen or caught this fish without spooking him first. Nor would have I stayed and caught several more good fish off the same rock on day 2 and day 3.”

Classic Conditions

At the 2013 Bassmaster Classic, DeFoe cashed a sweet 4th place check, riding the same 360 Imaging unit to success. “Worked awesome for identifying the sweet spots on offshore structure. I could quickly zero in on the stuff that looked good and fire casts right to targets that held bass.”

DeFoe indicated that ultimately, his specialized “full-circle” sonar guided him to key little ditches that cut across main river bars. “Fishing new water on Guntersville, the 360 showed me stuff all around the boat that I couldn’t have found in days or weeks of random casting. At the Classic, you don’t have time to scout. But if you can scout while you’re casting, that’s huge.”

“The coolest thing about 360 was that while I fished, it helped pick out targets-stumps, small patches of emerging grass-before my boat reached them and potentially spooked fish. It showed me these little low spots on the bar, where I eventually caught most of my fish. Got to where I could come pretty close to hitting on-screen targets on the first try. Often, I’d get bit right away.”

Camera Confirmations

Strategically placed among two giant 10-inch Humminbird LCDs, a Minn Kota-mounted 360 Imaging unit, and a HydroWave sound attractor, DeFoe’s boat also houses an Aqua-Vu Micro underwater camera. Underwater viewers, he says, help solve mysteries, yet can also be tremendous time management tools.

“In practice, we’re always trying to find active fish, but not necessarily catch too many of them before the tournament starts. Last year on the St. Lawrence River, which has really clear water, I pulled in to a spot, made a few casts and finally started catching them on a dropshot with a Berkley Gulp Fry. I was marking a few fish on my sonar, but it was hard to tell how many were there. I dropped the Aqua-Vu and immediately saw a nice looking rockpile and probably several dozen smallmouths cruising around. It gave me the confidence to leave the area alone, so it would be fresh come tournament day.”

At the recent Elite Series event on Table Rock Lake, DeFoe’s 2-D sonar identified a massive school of sizeable fish, suspended in timber 20 feet down over 35 feet of water. “It looked like the mother lode. So I spun around and threw a swimbait through the zone. Fished this way for 20 minutes without a bite. I could see fish on sonar, grouped so tightly they almost cluttered out the screen. Finally, I dropped the Aqua-Vu, and saw . . . Gar. Piles of ’em.

“For that reason alone-fish identification-I always keep the camera in the boat. Imagine how much time over the years we’ve spent fishing for the ‘wrong’ species, and wondered why they wouldn’t bite.”

A 360 Degree Sonar helps find fish and cover

“At the 2014 Classic, meticulous use of 360 Imaging sonar lead to a 4th place limit, anchored by Ott’s final day 8-pounder.” (Courtesy of Humminbird)

DeFoe adds that he often simply uses the camera to confirm or disprove what he’s seeing on sonar. “It’s awesome for showing bass that get lost in cover-grass, brushpiles or under docks. I like to watch how they’re relating to the cover; how they move around and alongside it. Fun to watch all this on screen. My kids love it. But it’s also a great learning tool that can help determine patterns or even indicate what type of presentation will work best.”

Whether your rig resembles a tricked-out tournament battleship or not, the game’s the same. Find bass. Catch a few. Look cool . . . well, who really cares? Just have fun. So says bass fishing’s high-tech redneck.

–Ted Pilgrim with Ott DeFoe

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