Sunday, January 7, only five Flint River Bass Club members braved the icy cold to fish our January tournament at Jackson. When we took off at 8:00 AM it was a brisk 24 degrees, the wind was blowing and the water temperature was 45 degrees. At the 3:30 PM weigh-in we had 12 keepers weighing about 23 pounds. There was one limit and one zero. I was surprised there were five largemouth, usually spots are about all that hit in water that cold.

I got lucky and made a good decision or two and landed five weighing 10.97 pounds for first and had a 3.64-pound spot for big fish. Jordan McDonald had three at 5.91 pounds for second, Niles Murray was third with three at 5.18 for third and Doug Acree placed fourth with one at 1.38.

Knowing how cold it was going to be, I decided to set up a “milk run” of rocky points near the ramp. I did not want to ride far in the cold and wind, and rocky points are a good place to fish this time of year. So at blast-off I idled to a point near the ramp and started casting.

On my second cast a keeper spot hit my crankbait and I was thrilled. I knew I would not zero! Then a few minutes later I caught a largemouth on the same crankbait. It weighed almost three pounds so I was really happy. At 8:15 I landed another keeper spot on a jerk bait. That was a really good start, but it got tough after that.

I idled to another point and tried to fish it but the wind was blowing on it and my hands started burning. I missed a bite on a jig head worm. I thought I felt a bite but ice in my rod guides made the line scrape as I reeled it in, and I was not sure.

I dipped my rod into the water to melt the ice and before I could get back in position the fish took off and spit the hook. That was disappointing. A few minutes later I landed a largemouth that was just shorter than the 12-inch line on my keeper board.

After trying to fish some brush on a point in the wind I gave up and went back into a small creek that was somewhat protected from the wind. I would cast out a crankbait, reel it a few feet then have to dip my rod into the water to melt the ice. I just kept working around the creek, casting and dipping, out of the wind.

At 11:00 I got my next bite, the big spot. It hit the crankbait on a shallow rocky point. Four in the livewell with two decent fish. I started hoping I might catch a limit.

At noon I cast a jig and pig to some brush near a dock, got a bite and missed the fish. Knowing sometimes you can get another bite on different bait I picked up my jig head worm and caught another keeper largemouth, filling my limit.

For the next three hours I cast my crankbait and other baits. It was finally warm enough that ice did not form in my guides. At 2:00 I caught a keeper spot on the crankbait that was slightly bigger than the one in the livewell so I culled.

At 3:00 I went back to the point where the big one hit. With ten minutes to weigh-in Niles and Zero rode by headed to the ramp. Then, as Jordan came by, I caught my last fish with five minutes left. It was a keeper spot that hit my crankbait and culled my smallest fish.

I never got my boat faster than idle speed all day. And it worked!

The fishing year for all three Griffin bass clubs ended with our December tournaments. All year we compete not only each day but get points for each tournament, based on where we place, and the top fishermen each year in the point standings get plaques and bragging rights for the next year. And the top six in two of the clubs qualify for the state federation Top Six tournaments.

In the Flint River Bass Club, I won with 1310 points, weighing in 48 bass weighing 85.9 pounds over the year. Niles Murray was second with 960 points, 35 bass and 65.73 pounds. Don Gober placed third with 780 points, 26 bass and 27.21 pounds. Alex Gober was fourth with 740 points, 21 bass and 27.21 pounds. Chuck Croft was fourth with 620 points, 22 bass and 32.63 pounds. Sixth was John Smith with 450 points, 10 bass and 13.41 pounds. Niles won big fish for the year with a 6.62 pounder caught at Oconee in March.

In the Potato Creek Bassmasters Raymond English won with 1065 points, 67 bass and 113.18 pounds. I was second with 1000 points, 55 bass and 99.05 pounds. Kwong Yu placed third with 770 points, 47 bass and 92.75 pounds. Lee Hancock was fourth with 945 points, 45 bass and 91.24 pounds. Niles Murray placed fifth with 650 points, 41 bass and 73.67 pounds. Sixth place was Donnie Willis with 635 points, 45 bass and 69.62 pounds. Tom Tanner caught an 8.09 pounder in March at Wedowee for big fish.

I won the Spalding County Sportsman Club standings with 313 points, 61 bass and 102.08 pounds. Zane Fleck was second with 279 points, 49 bass and 70.95 pounds. Raymond English placed third with 274 points and 49 bass weighing 94.4 pounds. Fourth was Russell Prevatt with 247 points, 36 bass and 58.87 pounds. Fifth was Billy Roberts with 179 points, 32 bass and 44.48 pounds. Sixth place was Kwong Yu with 177 points, 37 bass and 68.97 pounds. Kwong also had big fish of the year with a 6.4 pounder caught at West Point in February.

In both Flint River and Potato Creek, first place gets 100 points for first, 90 for second down to 10 for tenth place. Bonus points are also awarded for meeting and tournament attendance. In the Sportsman Club first gets 25 points, second 24 down to 1 for 25th place, with bonus points for meeting and tournament attendance as well as big fish and limits in each tournament.

All three clubs start over with our January tournaments. Flint River meets the first Tuesday of each month with a Sunday tournament the following weekend. We also have three two-day tournaments. Potato Creek meets the Monday after the first Tuesday and fished the following Saturday, with three two-day tournaments. Spalding County meets the third Tuesday and fishes the following Sunday with two two-day tournaments.

This is a good time to join and club and compete, not only in each tournament but for the point standings for the year. Both Flint River and Spalding County send their top six to Federation tournaments, but the Potato Creek club has its own special tournament, the Classic, for money taken in over the year.

If you look over the results above and think “I could do better than that,” come on our and join us. Join one club or all three as Niles and I do. Several others are in two of the three clubs.

Dues and tournament fees are not expensive. Annual dues in Flint River are $60 and you also have to join BASS. Potato Creek has $50 dues and is not in a federation. In the Sportsman club the dues are $75 but that includes an annual membership in the FLW.

Entry fees are $20 for each tournament in Flint River. We also have optional daily big fish pots of $5 and two other pots, a cumulative big fish pot of $5 that is taken up at each tournament. The first person to catch one over six pounds wins it all. If no one breaks six pounds, or if it is not broken again after a six pounder is caught, the person with the biggest fish after it is broken wins it. There is also a $5 points pot. The person winning the point standings for the year gets half of it and the other half is drawn for from everyone that has been in it all year.

In Potato Creek entry fee is $30 with a $5 big fish pot and a $5 cumulative pot. Sportsman Club has a $25 entry fee with a $5 cumulative pot.

On Sunday, January 21 at Sinclair 13 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our January tournament. We landed 18 keeper 12 inch bass weighing about 38 pounds in 7.5 hour of casting. There was one limit and four people did not have a fish.

I won with five weighing 12.14 pounds, Wayne Teal placed second with two weighing 7.83 pounds and his 5.91 pound largemouth was big fish, Jay Gerson fished with Wayne and had three at 4.05 for third and Russell Prevatt’s 3.29 pounder placed fourth.

January showed how important a trolling motor is to me. I won two of the three I fished with limits in both and had big fish in one of them but placed eighth in the other one. The two I won my trolling motor worked, in the other one it did not. I had to fish where the wind blew me or sit in one place and cast with the power poles holding the boat in place.

I fished some of the same places at Sinclair but could ease along slowly, making casts, with my trolling motor. The week before I blew past the brush piles with only one bite where I caught all five of the fish I weighed in Sunday. I had three more keepers
I culled, the first from behind a dock I had tried to fish the week before but without a trolling motor could not cast to that specific spot. Two of the other keepers I did not weigh in came while easing around a cove where I could not fish the weekend before because the wind blew me around too much.

We started at 8:00 AM fishing a shallow bank I like. I had heard fish the weekend before were caught shallow on crankbaits but did not get a bite until 9:20 AM when the first small keeper hit my crankbait behind the dock. At 10:00 we had not had another bite, so I decided to try some deep brush.

We pulled up to a brush pile that was in water that dropped from 10 to 30 feet very fast. I had tried to fish it the weekend before, but with the wind all I could do was pull into shallow water behind it, put my power poles down and try to make cast to it. I never got a bite that day but Sunday, while moving a jig and pig very slowly through the brush, I caught two of my biggest fish.

We tried some other places and I caught one keeper on a crankbait and one on a shaky head worm but ended up culling both. When we went back to the deep brush and I caught my biggest of the day, just over three pounds. By then I realized the bright sun and lack of breeze drove the fish to deep water, so we fished it the rest of the day.

I caught two more good keeps on the jig that culled my smaller fish, both out of deep brush where I tried to fish without a trolling motor the week before but could not because of the wind. I had to fish extremely slowly, and the fish did not hit hard, I would just feel my line get “mushy.” That’s when another advancement, quality, light-weight, very sensitive rods, help a lot.

What a difference having a working trolling motor made!

Lake Martin produced a lot of fish, as always. Although it was very hot and the lake was full, the first time I have seen it full in October since I started going over there in 1975, we still had a lot of fun.

In the two-day tournament 25 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters, Flint River Bass Club and Spalding County Sportsman Club landed 194 keeper bass longer than 12 inches that weighed a total of 268 pounds. There were 31 five fish limits and everyone caught at least one keeper.

Raymond English won with ten weighing 21.58 pounds, I placed second with ten at 18.46 pounds, Lee Hancock caught ten at 17.64 for third and Kwong Yu was fourth with ten at 17.33 pounds. Gary Hattaway had big fish with a 3.16 pounder.

I went over on Wednesday and set up camp in my van in my usual spot at Wind Creek State Park, got my boat in the water and relaxed. That night I had to run a fan blowing on me all night but still did not sleep well due to the heat. I should have taken my air conditioner.

Before daylight Thursday morning I was on the water and landed three nice spots on a spinnerbait just as it got light. Then I caught a few more trying different things, but it got tough with the bright sun. I was afraid that was an indication of things to come, and it was. The lake was totally different with the full water.

Friday morning, I slept in and then tried a pattern a guide had told me was working. I landed six fish throwing a rattletrap but they were all small so I did not think it would be worth fishing in the tournament. That afternoon I took up money and we drew boat numbers for take-off.

I went out first Saturday morning and ran to the point where I had caught three on Thursday, but did not get a bite. On another point nearby I watched as a six pound plus bass followed my spinnerbait to the boat then turned away. I guess he could identify my bait as fake in the very clear water.

By then I was already frustrated. My pattern was not working so I went to things that had worked in the past, fishing brush piles and docks, and landed my first small keeper at 9:00. Fishing hard for the next eight hours I managed to land ten keepers on a jig and pig and a shaky head worm, but my best five weighed only 7.5 pounds. Raymond shocked us all with five weighing 13.15 pounds that day.

Sunday I was last going out and ran to another point where I had caught fish in the past. Within minutes I had landed three good spots, two on a spinnerbait and one on a jig and pig. I have no idea why it was so different. As the sun came up I kept throwing a jig and pig and landed five more bass, the biggest a 2.69 pound largemouth.

My best five weighed 10.99 pounds and I won for the day, and my largemouth was second biggest fish, missing big fish by only .05 of a pound. It had gotten very tough after 10:00 and all my best fish hit before 8:30 that morning.

I was so worn out after not sleeping good for several nights that I decided to stay another night and woke to rain Monday morning. I went out and bass were easy to catch, just like in the past. I swear those bass know when it is the weekend and quit biting!

I’m already looking forward to the trip next October!

Unfortunately, my biggest catch at Lanier in the Georgia Bass Nation Top Six last week was a cold that just won’t seem to go away. In five days on the water the weather went from windy and cool to pouring rain to very cold with strong winds. And fishing was tough.

I met fellow club and team member Dan Phillips at the ramp Wednesday morning after camping out the night before in my van. We stood around for more than an hour waiting to register the team, then went fishing. The wind blew and it was cool all day.

Dan showed me a good hump in the mouth of Wahoo
Creek he liked to fish but we got no bites there. By 3:00 PM we had fished many places we both liked, working down the lake to Browns Bridge. As we fished around a shallow secondary point I noticed some rocks out in 12 to 14 feet of water. They showed up on my Humminbird 360 Scan depthfinder.

A cast to them with a jig and pig produced a three pound spotted bass, our first keeper of the day. I went looking for similar places and a nearby point with rocks at a similar depth produced another keeper. By then it was time to head back to the ramp. I hoped I had found a little pattern that would work in the tournament.

Thursday morning was cooler and foggy. I launched alone and started fishing up the river, finding it very muddy not far about Clarks Bridge. One small creek was full of shad flipping on the surface but all
I caught there was a 13-inch spot, too small to keep, that hit a spinnerbait.

Fishing around another small creek up the river I cast a jig and pig to some brush out in front of a dock and caught a 15-inch keeper spotted bass. A little further another one that size hit the jig in a tree top, then I caught a two-pound largemouth beside a shallow dock on a shaky head worm. By then it was time to head in to get ready to go to the meeting to draw partners.

I drew boat #11 out of 77 meaning I would go out near the first on Friday morning but near the end on Saturday. Order of take-off is reversed on the second day. My first day partner was a first time Top Six fisherman from Clayton County and my second day partner was from north Georgia. I had met him and been on a state team with him in the past.

That night my chest started feeling congested but the next morning I was ok. I met my partner early since we were going out early and there were also 40 boats in the College division fishing and I was afraid it would take a long time to launch.

I should not have worried. We were in the boat ready to go by 6:45, expecting to take off around 7:25. Due to a fog delay we finally blasted off at 9:38! We ran 15 minutes to the two points where I had caught fish on Wednesday but got no bites. That was the pattern.

At noon I finally caught a keeper, and my partner lost a nice bass that hit a topwater plug. At two o’clock we decided to go back up river to Wahoo Creek since he had caught some fish there, and I got my second keeper on the hump Dan had showed me. We stayed in that creek the rest of the day and my partner broke his line on one big fish and landed a three-pound spot, but I never hooked another one.

Saturday morning I woke to rain drumming on the van roof. We took off on time and my partner and I decided to make the short trip to Wahoo Creek and stay there all day since he liked to fish it. The first stop on the hump Dan had showed me produced a three-pound spot for me on a spinnerbait.

My partner caught a keeper spot on a nearby point, and I landed three more keepers on a jig and pig on rocky banks by noon, but neither of us hooked a fish the last three hours we had to fish. I came in 32 out of 77 boaters with six weighing 11.47 pounds, not as good as had hoped. It took ten bass weighing 21.44 pounds to win.

The only bad thing I saw with the pro-am format that I had been worried about was some of the boaters bragging that their no-boaters did not catch a keeper all day. That was stupid. Boaters did not compete with no boaters and I wanted my no boaters to do good each day.

Sunday morning I met “Lanier Jim” at a ramp. He spent about an hour on the water fine tuning my deptfinders, making them show much better results. The wind was howling and it was very cold. I was glad he did it quickly. By the time I got home that afternoon my chest was very congested and I had a runny nose, that is still bothering me on Friday!

Last Sunday (in September) 10 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our September tournament at Lake Oconee. We landed 14 keepers over the 14-inch minimum limit weighing about 33 pounds. There were no limits and four people did not have a keeper.

I made three lucky casts and won with three weighing 10.39 pounds and my 4.18 pound largemouth was big fish. Raymond English placed second with three at 7.18 pounds, Russell Prevatt came in third with three at 7.19 pounds and Randall Sharpton was fourth with three weighing 4.81 pounds.

JR Proctor met me at the ramp and we blasted off behind everyone else at 7:00 AM since I was acting tournament director. We stopped at a lighted boat dock and JR caught a hybrid on a crankbait but that was the only bite. Our next stop was another lighted dock but we got no bites.

At the third stop, a riprap bank on the main lake, I caught two short fish on a topwater plug. We then went to a dock that I knew had some brush in front of it but got no bites, but I saw brush down 22 feet deep, further out than I thought, on my depthfinder, as we fished the more shallow brush.

After working past the dock with no bites I hooked another bass on top but it came off as I swung it into the boat. It would have been close to a keeper. After fishing to the back of the cove, we cranked up to leave, but I decided to idle to the dock with brush and fish the deep stuff I had been directly over the first time.

My first cast to it with a jig head worm resulted in a thump. I knew it was a good fish when I set the hook since my drag slipped and that was the 4.18 I caught, landing it at 8:20. We wore that brush out with a variety of baits but got no more hits.

Our next stop was at another dock with deep brush but we got no hits. Then we went to a narrow rocky point that drops into the old river channel. On a cast with my jig head worm a fish almost pulled the rod out of my hand when it hit the bait as it sank and took off. Somehow, I hooked and landed that three pounder at 9:40.

We fished several more places, catching some short fish but no keepers. Then, on a fairly shallow rocky point I got a thump and landed a third keeper, another three pounder, just before noon.

We fished hard the rest of the day and caught several short fish but no more keepers. I ended up landing 16 bass, several close to the 14-inch limit but not over it, but only three keepers.

I have no idea why those three big fish hit my bait and not JR’s. Just lucky casts, I guess. It was strange to catch so many fish but nothing between 13.9 inches long and those three over three pounds each.

Maybe we should have tried bows and blowguns at West Point last Sunday. In the August Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament nine members managed to land 12 keeper spots weighing about 13 pounds at West Point. We did not weigh in even one largemouth. There were no limits and five of the nine fishermen did not have a keeper.

Randall Sharpton won with four spots weighing 4.62 pounds, my four weighing 4.35 pounds placed second and I had big fish with a 1.62-pound spot, Zane Fleck had three at 3.70 pounds for third and Russel Prevatt was fourth with one weighing .98 pounds. That was it, all the fish that were caught!

I knew it was going to be a tough day and it started wrong. I had to be tournament director since Sam did not fish. I thought I was late getting my boat in the water but when JR. Proctor and I idled out to the no-wake buoys at 6:30 for blast off everybody else was still tied up at the dock or standing around talking in the parking lot.

The first place I stopped was on a rocky point and I tried everything from topwater to shaky head worms without a bite. We next eased over to a deep bank with blow down trees and I got a bite. When I set the hook my line broke, something that should never happen. I think the jig head had bumped against the rocks and gotten a weak place in the line. I should have checked my line.

I retied and soon caught my biggest fish. Then I got a bite in a tree top and set the hook. The fish wrapped my line around a branch and I could see it but it came off before I could get to it.

I did find some fish feeding on a shallow point and landed my other keepers and several short fish there. But I had another keeper that looked bigger than my biggest jump and throw a jig and pig. It was just not meant for me to catch a limit. But several others said they also lost fish.

I can’t wait for cooler weather and, hopefully, fish biting better!

We should have used spottails or some other live bait at Clarks Hill last weekend. In the Flint River Bass Club August two day tournament, six members fished for 15 hours to land 21 keeper bass weighing about 29 pounds. There was one five-bass limit and one member did not catch a keeper in the two days. It was hot, tough fishing at Clarks Hill.

I won with seven bass weighing 10.46 pounds, Travis Weatherly was second with four weighing 8.32 pounds and big fish of 3.69 pounds, Chuck Croft was third with six weighing 6.58 pounds and Alex Gober places fourth with three at 3.31 pounds.

I made a lucky guess and started on a bridge riprap Saturday morning at 6:05. I caught my first keeper at 6:10 and had five at 6:35, all on a spinnerbait. Then, for the next 7.5 hours, I landed three more keepers. I was shocked at weigh-in that I had five, Chuck had two and nobody else had caught a keeper in eight hours.

Sunday I started at the bridge and caught keepers on back to back cast at 6:20. One of them was a good bass weighing 3.21 pounds. Although I fished hard until weigh-in I never caught another fish.

It was a better day for others. Travis caught his four on Sunday after not catching a fish on Saturday and Alex got his three after zeroing the first day. All five of the other guys stayed at a cabin at Soap Creek and I stayed 17 miles away in my mobile home at Raysville Boat Club. Maybe they shared information!

I got really frustrated Sunday. It was miserably hot, without a cloud in the sky, contrary to what the weather guessers predicted, and there was no breeze. Even worse I broke my line three times when setting the hook, something that should never happen.

The first happened when I was fishing down a shady bank and saw a big rock in about three feet of water. I pitched my shaky head worm to it, felt a thump and set the hook, breaking my line. I figured my line was over the rock and got cut.

Later out on a rock pile on an old road bed I was bouncing my bait through the rocks felt a bite and again broke my line when setting the hook. I again figured it was cut the rocks so I retied and it happened again a few minutes later.

I switched to heavier line to try to stop that from happening again but never got another bite!

Last Sunday 12 members and guests of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our July tournament at Lake Sinclair. We landed 24 keeper bass weighing about 29 pounds. There were two five-bass limits and two zeros.

Raymond English found the big one and a limit to place far out in front with 11.0 pounds and big fish of 5.81. My little limit weighing 5.15 pounds was second, third went to Jay Gerson with four keepers weighing 3.93 pounds and Robert Proctor was fourth with two at 3.92 pounds.

At least I am consistent. The weekend before I had five weighing 5.19 pounds. I caught all five of my keepers on a weightless Senko skipped under docks. The first one, my biggest, hit at the end of a dock about six feet deep at about 8:00 AM. After that I was surprised at how shallow the rest of the fish were.

At about 10:00 AM I was going between two docks along a shallow bank. The riprap dropped to about two feet deep and the water was clear enough to see the bottom where they ended. I cast the Senko to a little grass patch on the rocks and caught a short fish, then a few feet further I landed another one about 11 inches long.

At a patch of shade from the seawall I saw my line move out as the Senko sank. I figured it was another small bass and may not have set the hook hard enough. As soon as I set the hook a two pound plus bass flashed in the water. I fought it almost to the boat and it just came unhooked.

As I approached the next dock I saw a man and his dog come out of the house and head toward the dock and I figured he was going to fuss at me, so I started moving past it. But he was very friendly, asking me how I was doing and pointing to where his brush piles were underwater.

I got the far side of the dock and skipped the Senko under the walkway and caught my second keeper. Then, as I worked toward the next dock he said right where is banana plant grew on the seawall was a good place. I had passed it but threw back and landed my third keeper. It should have gotten off, as I lifted it over the side it came unhooked, hit the top of the gunnel and fell into the boat.

I caught one each on the next two docks, landing my fifth at about 11:20. That was it, I never hooked anther fish before the 2:00 weigh-in.

I didn’t think fishing could get any worse than the three tournaments in July but last Sunday West Point proved me wrong. I thought I had a really bad day until weigh-in.

At the Flint River Bass Club July tournament 10 members and guests fished from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM to land 11 keeper bass weighing about 13 pounds. There were six spotted bass longer than the 12-inch size limit and five largemouth over their 14 inch limit. No one had a limit and there two people didn’t have a keeper.

I won with two fish weighing 2.40 pounds, Wes Delay came in second with two at 2.30 pounds, third was guests Glen Holcomb with one weighing 1.86 and that was big fish. Alex Gober was fourth with one weighing 1.71 pounds.

I started with a buzzbait near the ramp, something that has worked in the past but I never got a bite. After 30 frustrating minutes I ran about five miles down the lake to some trees in the water on a steep bank, the kind of place a friend told me it was easy to catch a limit of small keepers.

At 6:40 I threw a jig head worm to a small pine top in about four feet of water and when I tightened up my line it was moving toward the boat. I set the hook and landed a 13-inch spotted bass and knew at least I would not zero.

After working more trees over the next two hours I ran back up the lake to some more blowdowns but did not get a bite. I knew there was some brush a fisherman had put out way out on a long, shallow point and I fished the point out to my waypoint on it. When I cast my jig head worm to it I got a thump but before I could set the hook the fish took off, luckily for me setting the hook himself,

That was a largemouth weighing over a pound and a half and it hit in 22 feet of water. I decided I needed to fish deep and tried a variety of places but got no bites.

At noon I stopped on another long point with some rocks out in 20 to 30 feet of water and quickly caught four short bass, all under the size limit. I ended the day fishing the brush pile where I had caught the largemouth, hoping another one had moved to it to feed, but got no more bites.

It was so hot by 9:00 I realized I was fishing places where I could sit in the shade or in the little breeze, not really fishing where I thought the fish should be. I wish we still had night tournaments when it is cooler, boat traffic is much less and the fish bite better!