Sunday, February 10 only three members of the Flint River Bass Club and one guest showed up to fish our February tournament at Lake Sinclair on a cold, damp day. In eight hours of casting, we managed to land eight bass weighing about 11 pounds. There were no limits, but everyone did catch at least one keeper.

Niles Murray continued his winning ways with three bass weighing 3.78 pounds, my two weighing 3.09 was second, Brent Drake placed third with two at 3.07 pounds and guest Mark Hawkins, fishing with Niles, was fourth and had big fish with a 1.92 pounder.

Compare that to a tournament the day before. It took five bass weighing more than 19 pounds to win and more than 12 pounds to finish in the top ten. That is amazing. The same lake only one day earlier produced that kind of weights, but we did terrible. There are lots of excuses and I have plenty of them.

In the Potato Creek tournament last month on Sinclair I didn’t do well but caught two good keepers and lost one the last hour on one point, so I headed there at 7:30 when we started Sunday. Within a few minutes I landed my biggest keeper on the same crankbait I caught my fish on last month, so I was encouraged. But two hours later, after fishing five different baits there, I had not had another bite.

Next, I went to a point that turns into a big flat just off the channel. It has a small patch of hard clay on it where I have won several winter tournaments in the past but got no bites there. I fished another place that usually holds a bass or two around docks, rocks and brush but got no bites there, either.

I had checked the Solunar Feeding times on my phone before we started. At times bass seem to get more active on them, and a minor feeding period, the only one during our fishing hours, was starting, so I went back to the point where I caught my first fish. I just knew I would catch something there but was wrong. After more than an hour fishing it nothing hit.

I decided to change tactics and went out on the main lake. The first place I stopped I realized the current was running strong down the river, something that often makes the fish feed. I fished that place, a brush pile on a dock, but nothing hit.

Current moving on riprap is a good thing, and the bridge in Little River has a lot of released fish on it from tournaments at the marina that restock it every weekend, so I decided to try it. When I stopped, I saw the river current was so strong it was pushing water upstream in Little River, with current going up and under the bridge. It doesn’t matter to the fish which way the current moves, but they do set up and feed in different positions, so I adjusted the way I fished and almost immediately caught my second keeper.

Since I had more than three hours left to fish I just knew I could catch some more, but after trying everything I thought might work, I got no bites. That makes for a frustrating day. Everything seem right to catch fish but I either fished the wrong places, used the wrong baits or fished too fast, or too slow. Some days are like that.

Saturday, April 16, 15 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters held our April tournament at Lake Lanier. James Beasley won with 9.95 pounds, Lee Hancock placed second with 9.60 pounds, Pete Peterson came in third with 9.18 pounds and Mike Cox was fourth with 7.34 pounds and had big fish with a 4.27 pound spot.

It was a very frustrating day for me. I had been seeking pictures on Facebook of a lot of big spotted bass being caught at Lanier and some of the guides were saying they were shallow and on a predictable pattern and easy to catch.

Kwong Yu fished with me and we started on a rocky island, the kind of place I had been reading about and also a place where I had caught some three pounds spots this time of year. Everything seemed perfect, with a little wind blowing in on the rocks, and we tried a variety of baits but had only one short strike there.

We tried a couple of more places that I like to fish and Kwong got a good keeper on a jig and pig. I missed one on a spinnerbait. But after three hours we had only one bass in the boat.

Kwong suggested a place down the Lake and we went there, but one arm of the creek was unfishable due to the wind blowing into it. The other arm was more protected and I managed to catch a keeper spot on a Carolina rigged lizard. And we both caught some spots shorter than the 14 inch limit.

With about an hour left to fish we went to some docks near the weigh-in site. Kwong fishes them a lot but I don’t usually fish there. I caught a 2.5 pound spot on a jig head worm from one of them, and we caught some more throwbacks, but that was it for the day.

Two keepers weighing a little over four pounds in eight hours was not what I expected at Lanier. I had heard the best bait was a Rapala Wake Bait, a new version of an old bait, but I didn’t have any. I went by Berry’s Monday and they have ordered some. I just have to have the hot bait, even if the hot bait will be something else next week!

Fishing this spring has been unusual, just like it is every spring. It seems like the weather swapped for April and March, with warmer weather in March than so far in April. That is one thing that keeps fishing so interesting and frustrating, the only thing that is consistent about fishing is it is inconsistent!

Closer to home the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our first tournament of the year at Sinclair last Saturday. The water was very muddy in the Little and
Oconee Rivers. Even the creeks at the dam, usually clear, had very stained water. I do not like cold muddy water, especially like it was Saturday when my chartreuse crankbait disappeared about two inches deep.

In the tournament, seventeen fishermen caught 45 bass weighing 80 pounds. Niles Murray showed us all how it can be done in cold muddy water by winning with five that weighed 14.50 pounds. Edward Folker placed second with two weighing 8.54 pounds and had big fish with a 5.79-pound bass. Doug Acree came in third with five at 8.10 and Ryan Edge was fourth with three at 6.65 pounds.

Niles is in the groove fishermen love. It happens sometimes that everything just seems right. Maybe he is getting that “sixth sense” that some have. He has won three of four club tournaments in the past month and also placed third in the Berry’s tournament in January against some of the best fishermen in the area.

Me, not so much. At Sinclair I started on a mud flat with a small hard clay patch I found years ago. It has produced some good fish for me over the years, especially in January. But my hopes fell when my crankbait did not show up in the muddy water.

I fished that area for about 90 minutes without a bite then decided to run to the dam to look for clearer water rather than fish the next place I had planned in Beaverdam Creek. Rocky Creek usually has the clearest water on the lake, and its rocks are good this time of year, but the water was very stained, even there. My chartreuse crankbait disappeared about four or five inches deep, better but not great.

I fished that area for over four hours and had two bites, one on a jig and one on a shaky head worm but missed both. They could have been bream or crappie, or a big bass, but I will never know. I made the decision to go back to Beaverdam Creek for the rest of the tournament.

I again fished the clay spot but got no bites, and a deep brush pile where I won a Sportsman Club tournament last January, but nothing. At 2:00 I went to where I did not go that morning. At 2:20 I hooked and landed a largemouth a little over three pounds, then a few minutes later landed a keeper on a spinnerbait. The hooks fell out of both in the net, so I knew the fish were just nipping the bait. I was lucky to land them. That was enough to make me decide to fish that point the rest of the day.

At 3:00 I hooked a fish on a crankbait. It rolled on top and I could see I had barely hooked it on a back hook and was another three pound plus fish. I carefully worked it toward the boat and put the net in the water. As may line got close to the net I could not see the bass in the muddy water. I did see it as it swam by the net and for a second though it was in it.

No such luck, the front hooks of the plug hung in the net as the fish swam under it and the bass pulled off. I ended up with about 5.5 pounds. That fish would have put me in second place, but the big ones always seem to get away. I needed Niles’ luck and skill!

Sunday, January 6, 14 members of the Flint River Bass Club fished our January tournament at Lanier. After eight hours of casting we brought n 34 keeper spotted bass weighing about 65 pounds. There were no largemouth caught. Two fishermen had five fish limits and two did not catch a keeper.

Niles Murray won with a very good catch of five weighing 12.77 pounds and Jack Ridgeway had five at 10.0 pounds for second. Chuck Croft placed third with four weighing 9.16 pounds and Travis Weatherly came in fourth with five weighing 8.16 pounds. Dan Phillips had big fish with a 4.39-pound spot.

I had just interview three Lanier guides for a January Georgia Outdoor News article on how to catch fish out of ditches at Lanier, and Chuck and Travis said they caught their fish that way. Seems like I could have used what they told me, but after two hours without a bite trying it, I did my usual, going to places I have caught bass in the past.

I thought I was on something when I caught a 2.5-pound spot from some brush 30 feet deep on a jig and pig. So, I spent the next two hours trying that pattern without another bite. That made me run to the back of a creek and fish shallow, another pattern that has worked in the past, but it produced only one keeper and one throwback the rest of the day. I placed sixth with 4.93 pounds.

When I got home, I saw on Facebook that a friend had landed 18 pounds in another tournament that day on Lanier and did not win. He said he caught more than 20 keepers in the fist ditch he fished that morning. It took over 19 pounds to win and several fishermen had over 15 pounds. Most caught their fish from ditches.

Fish bite for somebody somewhere on a lake on any day. It is fun to get out there, try to figure them out and catch them. It can be frustrating but
I love it.

—-

Congratulations to Niles Murray and Sam Smith. They placed third in the Berry’s tournament at Sinclair last Saturday. There were about 120 boats in that tournament, so it was very competitive!

I can always come up with lots of excuses when I don’t catch bass. But fishing tournaments and looking at results from other tournaments on the same lake the same day tell me they are just excuses.

The fish just didn’t bite, it was a bad day. The water was too muddy, or it was too clear. The weather was too sunny, or it was too cloudy. I fished the wrong depth, lure, place or speed. There was no current or there was too much current.

The water level was too low, or it was too high. The water was rising, or it was dropping. I didn’t spend enough time on the lake. I just don’t fish this lake enough. I’m getting old and can’t fish hard like I used to.

All are good excuses, but they don’t seem to apply to everybody else that fished the same day, for some reason. When I do everything I can think of for eight hours and catch only two bass in eight hours, like I did last Sunday, its hard to admit I am just not that good a fisherman.

Good fishermen don’t make excuses, they just figure out how to catch bass. Even though everyone, even the top pros, have bad days and don’t do well, they are much more consistent than I am, and that is true of most club fishermen. There are different levels of expertise.

I get to fish with some of the top pros in the US doing “research” for magazine articles. The BASS Elite Series and FLW Tour have some of the best bass fishermen in the world on them. Of those pros, I have spent the day in the boat with 11 guys on the Elite Series and seven of the Tour guys.

I have written about 275 Map of the Month articles in Georgia Outdoor News magazine in the past 23 years and about 100 in Alabama Outdoor News over the past eight years since it started. Not only do I go out with the top pros, I do those articles with other good fishermen, including local tournament fishermen, college and high school fishermen and men and women that guide on the lake.

Looks like I would learn how to catch fish. And I do learn and pick up tips and skills from them. But all of them have one thing in common, they go out and figure out what the fish are doing that day and are adaptable. They do not keep doing the same thing and getting the same bad results as I tend to do.

I think the really good fishermen have some “sixth sense“ for finding and catching bass. I get little glimmers of it some days, just knowing if I do certain things they will work even before I go fishing. But it is not consistent.

Some say that sixth sense comes from time on the water and experience. Maybe for some, but it has not worked that way for me.

Way back in 1983 I almost qualified for the BASS Classic through the federation route, missing going by one two-pound bass in a three day Regional tournament. I thought I was pretty good, so I signed up for the Redman Trail, the BFL now, the next year. After fishing all six in 1984 without getting a check I thought it was first year jitters.

I fished all six the next year and again did not get a check. That made me decide I am a pretty good club fisherman but not above that level. Some trips make me wonder about being good even at that level, as the results below show.

Final results from local clubs are compiled for 2018. In the Flint River Bass Club, Potato Creek Bassmasters and Spalding County Sportsman Club members compete all year for points at monthly tournaments, and the top six at the end of the year are awarded plaques and bragging rights. All three use a point system rather than total weight but we keep up with both.
In the Flint River club we award 100 points for first place in each tournament down to 10 for tenth place. There are also 20 tournament attendance points and ten meeting attendance points for each month. After 12 tournaments, I won with 1440 points weighing in 62 bass with as total weight of 112.03 pounds. I was the only member to fish all 12 tournaments so that made a big difference.

Alex Gober placed second with 670 points, 25 bass and 40.81 pounds and his grandfather Don Gober was third with 650 points and 34 bass weighing 45.3 pounds. Niles Murray was fourth with 590 points, 17 bass, 28.39 pounds, fifth was Chuck Croft with 550 points, 18 bass, 24.47 pounds and Doug Acree placed sixth with 470 points, 11 bass and 22.21 pounds. Brandon Bailey had big fish for the year with a 6.29 pounder.

In Potato Creek the same point system is used. Lee Hancock placed first with 920 points weighing in 56 bass at 98.97 pounds, Kwong YU was second with 880 points, 48 bass and 84.57 pounds and Raymond English was third with 805 points, 49 bass and 81.46 pounds.

Doug Acree placed fourth with 780 points, 49 bass, 94.47 pounds, I was fifth with 730 points, 49 bass, 83.78 pounds and Tom Tanner came in sixth with 610 points, 35 bass and 68.38 pounds. Jack Ridgeway had big fish for the year with a 5.90 pounder.

In Spalding County, points are different, with 25 for first down to one for 25, and bonus points are awarded for meeting and tournament attendance as well as big fish and limits in each tournament. Raymond English placed first with 300 points weighing in 69 bass at 116.32 pounds.

Jay Gerson placed second with 281 points, 58 bass, 88.29 pounds, I was third with 272 points, 57 bass, 107.45 pounds, Kwong Yu came in fourth with 241 points, 48 bass, 93.7 pounds, Wayne Teal was fifth with 219 points, 46 bass, 85.21 pounds and Billy Roberts was sixth with 238 points, 51 bass and 76.23 pounds. Wayne Teal had big fish with a 5.91 pounder.

If those results seem low, join one, two or all three clubs and show us how to do it. Entry fees and dues are low, and we do not pay out much money in the tournaments, but we have a lot of fun and share information after each tournament.

All three clubs are starting our year now. Flint River meets the first Tuesday of each month at Bryans, Potato Creek the Monday after the first Tuesday at Panda Bear and Sportsman Club the third Tuesday at Bryans. Potato Creek fishes the Saturday after the meeting and the other two on the Sunday after the meeting. All three clubs fish some two day tournaments, too.

Flint River met this week and is fishing this Sunday at Lanier, Potato Creek meets Monday and fishes next Saturday at Sinclair and Sportsman Club meets on the 15th and fishes the following Sunday at Jackson. You can fish alone or with a partner of your choosing that is a member of the club. And we welcome fishermen with no boats, we have more than enough to find you someone to fish with.

I joined the Sportsman Club in 1974, Flint River in 1978 and Potato Creek three year ago. I love club fishing and try to fish every tournament in all three. I will keep fishing all three as long as I am able!

The Spalding County Sportsman Club was formed in the 1950s and the group hunted and fished together. In the late 1960s the club started having bass tournaments and these rules were started from club rules at the time. No input from the Bass Angler Sportsman Society was used, unlike the Flint River Bass Club rules Those rules were developed from BASS. These rules have developed over the years and have served the club well.

I. TOURNAMENT COMMITTEES AND OFFICERS
A. Tournament committee shall be comprised of the executive officers and the top six fishermen. This committee shall make all new rules and will rule on all decisions. Its decisions shall be final in all tournament matters.
B. The tournament committee shall plan the dates and locations of all tournaments. This committee reserves the right to change the date and location of any tournament. The schedule will be presented for a vote by the club membership at the January meeting each year. After adoption, the schedule can only be changed by following the rule for a by-law change. Tournaments can be canceled by the tournament director due to dangerous conditions. NO canceled tournament will be rescheduled.
C. Recorder shall be the same as the club tournament director. Duties shall consist of keeping complete tournament records and enforcing tournament rules.
D. Tournament director will receive and distribute any tournament money.
E. Inspection officers shall be appointed by the president and the tournament director. Duties shall be enforcing all rules set forth by the tournament committee, including random live well checks.
F. The weigher shall be appointed by the president and the tournament director with approval of the tournament committee. Duties shall be maintaining the club scales and conducting the weigh-ins for all tournaments.
G. Scorers shall consist of the weigher, the recorder, and one or more assistants appointed by them.
H. Each tournament officer shall appoint an alternate if unable to perform his duties.
II. TOURNAMENT ENTRANCE
A. Former members in good standing of the Spalding County Sportsman Club must pay dues at least one meeting prior to his first tournament during the calendar year.
B. Former members in good standing must pay dues by March meeting or attend a meeting prior to fishing a tournament.
C. Each tournament shall have an entrance fee determined by the tournament committee prior to the first tournament. The entrance fee shall be $25.00 until changed.
III. TOURNAMENT RULES
A. All participants shall leave from a designated starting point and return to the same point for weigh-in.
B. Participant shall not be allowed to fish with a nonmember except a member may bring a guest to a tournament. The guest may fish only one tournament a year and will pay all entry fees and be eligible for all tournament winnings. They may participate in the tournament big fish pot but may not participate in the cumulative big fish pot. Guest will not receive any points for the tournament they fish.
C. Roll call will be taken preceding each tournament by the president and /or tournament director. Any participant missing his name at roll call shall be considered late. Any late participant must find another participating member (A club member who was on time) who will check his livewell fish and collect his entrance fee before the late member is allowed to start fishing . Failure to do so will mean disqualification.
D. Penalty for late arrival for weigh-in shall be 3% per minute up to 15 minutes late. Later arrival will call for disqualification.
E. Only artificial lures may be used. No live bait is permitted. All fish must be caught live and in a conventional sporting manner.
F. Scoring shall be determined by pounds and ounces. Tournament winners shall be determined by accumulated weight for entire tournament. 25 points shall be awarded for the largest total weight in each tournament, 24 for second, down to one point for 25th place. No points shall be awarded unless the participant has weighed at least one fish. One additional point will be awarded to anyone catching a daily limit of bass (5 except in three club tournament, 7 in it). Also , 1 additional point will be give for the largest bass caught in each tournament and 1 point for each club meeting, and 1 point for each tournament attended.
G. There will be one division and we will pay the top four places.
H. Only black bass; largemouth , spotted, red eye or smallmouth bass will be weighed. Five bass per day is the limit. Each contestant must present his own catch at weigh-in if possible. A bass will not be counted or weighed that is not at least 12 inches in length, and all bass must meet state requirements for the lake being fished. Length of a bass will be determined by measurement of the bass with the mouth closed an one tip of the tail touching. The tail will be smoothed down and pinched together As a penalty, a contestant with short fish will have one pound weight deducted for each short bass. This shall apply to both days of a two day tournament. If a short bass is weighed in the first day and the contestant has no other fish, the pound penalty shall be deducted on the second day. Any contestant weighing in more than 5 fish will have his bass culled down to the limit by culling the largest bass first. All fish taken out of the boat will be weighed in. Any bass that appears to be mangled, mashed or mauled will be measured and credited only the discretion of the weighing officials.
I. The tournament committee reserves the right to change or postpone any tournament. However, no tournament shall be postponed once it starts.
J. Weigh-ins. In case of unavoidable delays, catches must be brought to the weighing station by a fellow member and registered as the delayed members catch and reason for the delay shall be given to the recorder.
K. Any member in good standing missing a tournament because he is representing the club in a Federation Tournament shall be given his average points for the present years tournaments.
IV. Tournament Prizes
A. Total prize for each tournament shall be set at a fixed percentage of the money taken in for each tournament. The percentages are 1st – 40%, 2nd – 30%, 3rd – 20%, 4th – 10%.
B. Fifty dollars of all entrance fees shall be placed in the club treasury before any prizes are given out. This money will be used to promote the club and its activities. Examples: Patches for each member, scrapbook of tournaments, pictures, slides, film and film processing, entrance fees for members attending federation tournament and jackets for the top six members representing the club at federation tournaments.
C. Trophies or plaques shall be given to the top six and for the largest fish for the year. These places will be based on total number of points for the year. All tournaments will count in the point standing.
V. RULES NOT COVERED
A. Any situation not covered by these rules and regulations shall be ruled upon by the tournament committee but may be appealed to the club at large.
B. These rules were adopted by the tournament committee on January 12, 1993
Last Revision February 2004

The fist Sunday in November, only five members of the Flint River Bass Club showed up for our November tournament at West Point. We fished eight hours on a cold, windy day. At 3:30 we weighed in seven largemouth and ten spots weighing about 25 pounds. There was one limit and no zeros.

I got lucky landing a limit weighing 9.32 pounds to win and had big fish with a 3.11 pound largemouth. Doug Acre was second with four at 5.09 pounds, Jack Ridgeway was third with three at 4.14 pounds, fourth was Don Gober with three at 3.79 pounds and his grandson Alex Gober placed fifth with two at 2.79 pounds.

I thought it was going to be a good day, quickly catching a keeper spot on a crankbait back in a creek. But after three hours fishing in creeks, catching only throwbacks, I was getting disgusted. Something made me go to a hump at 11:00 where I had some brush marked in 22 feet of water. My first cast to it produced my second keeper.

The bite was strange, just a little mushy feeling on my shaky head worm. My next cast I didn’t feel anything but realized my line was moving. When I set the hook, I reeled in a jig and no worm. That made me pick up a Carolina rig and pulled it into the brush. I thought I was pulling the weight against the brush but felt a fish spit it out.

I put a worm on my shaky head and was ready. When it hit the brush and felt mushy, I set the hook and caught my third keeper. Although I cast to the brush until noon, I did not get another bite.

Hoping the pattern would hold, I went to more deep brush on the main lake. At the next one, the big largemouth took off with my shaky head as it sank, almost jerking the rod out of my hand. I definitely felt it! Luckily it hooked itself.

At the next brush pile a good keeper spot did the same thing. I now had four keepers and was feeling better. The next brush pile I was ready. I switched to a jig and pig and as it fell I watched may line. It twitched, and I set the hook on my biggest spot, giving me a limit.

The rest of the day I carefully fished brush and stayed ready to set the hook on any unusual feeling. I landed three more spots, culling my first three fish.
the last one hit on my last cast with just eight minutes to get in to weigh-in on time.

Today Potato Creek is fishing West Point. I’m sure all the rain has muddied up the water and dropped the temperature. But I will try my pattern again, anyway!

On Sunday, November 25 nine members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our November tournament at Bartletts Ferry. After eight hours of casting we brought 27 keeper bass to the scales weighing about 32 pounds. There were two limits and one zero.

Jay Gerson won it all with five weighing 9.22 pounds and his 4.09 pound largemouth was big fish. Wayne Teal had four weighing 6.84 pounds for second, my three at 5.60 pounds was third and Billy Roberts had five weighing 4.60 pounds for fourth.

Driving to the lake the fog was so thick it was a slow trip. I thought I would have to change my plans of running about five miles to start on a point I like where I caught fish in September, but when we got to the lake there was little fog on the water, a surprise.

I should have changed my plans anyway since I did not get a bite for almost two hours. At 8:45 I landed a 3.12 pound largemouth on a shaky head so that fired me up, but I didn’t get another bite for two more hours, then lost a solid keeper that jumped and threw my jig head worm.

About ten minutes later I hooked and landed another good keeper largemouth, making me feel a little better. But two hours later I had not gotten another bite until a keeper spot hit my worm. That was it, I got no more bites before having to go in. I was surprised to place in the tournament with just three fish, but everybody had a tough day.

I was happy to see 14 of the 27 bass were largemouth. And three of them weighed more than three pounds. Back in the 1970s and 80s we caught a lot of good largemouth there, many in the five to six-pound range. Then spotted bass invaded the lake and for years we had a hard time catching largemouth.

Spots are not native to middle Georgia lakes and when they get in one they are so aggressive they tend to crowd out the largemouth. That has happened on Jackson, West Point and Bartletts Ferry.

Hopefully the spots are getting reduced and the largemouth are coming back some. One reason Bartletts Ferry has changed is the hydrilla there. That underwater weed offers largemouth great habitat but not so much for spots.

The Chattahoochee River feeding Bartletts Ferry has had a lot of hydrilla in it for several years and it had spread to the lower lake. Last year there were thick beds of it, helping the largemouth. Unfortunately, the Alabama DNR sprayed and killed most of it on the lower lake. I wish they would leave it alone.