At Sinclair 12 members of the Sportsman Club fished our February tournament on a rainy but fairly warm day. We had 35 keepers weighing about 62 pounds. There were five five-fish limits and only two fishermen didn’t have a keeper in the 8.5 hours we fished.

I was lucky enough to get five weighing 10.98 pounds for first, Billy Roberts had five at 10.36 pounds for second and big fish with a 3.57 pound largemouth, third was Niles Murray with five at 8.83 pounds and fourth was Zane Fleck with five at 8.15 pounds. Those weights were fairly close but for big fish I had a 3.53 pounder and Raymond English had a 3.50 pounder. The three biggest fish were separated by seven hundredths of a pound!

I have had a good year fishing with a Rapala DT 6 in crawfish. Of the four tournaments I have fished this year I have two first, one second and one fifth place, all on that one plug. I have weighed in 14 keepers and all but two of them hit it. I think I will keep fishing it!

Sunday morning I started on a steep rocky bank with docks and brush on it but didn’t get a bite. My second stop was on a point with a good drop on one side, then a very shallow clay flat for about 30 yards before a series of docks start I fished the point without a bite then started toward the first dock.

I usually don’t fish the shallow flat in February but I cast the DT 6 up into about two feet of water as I headed toward the dock, and caught a 3.5 pound largemouth. That got my attention so I started hitting the flat hard. It took 30 minutes, but then I got the 3.53 pound keeper, my big fish. A couple of casts later I got a third fish about 1.5 pounds.

After switching to a jig head worm I got my fourth keeper, one about 1.5 pounds. I felt pretty good, especially after working down the docks and catching a short fish by a dock post, then a keeper about 1.3 pounds on the next cast. I had a limit.

With an hour left to fish I was back on the flat and got a 2 pounder on the crankbait, culling my smallest keeper. I missed a bite on a jig head worm and on a Alabama rig, and had one come off the crankbait before I saw the fish, but I didn’t need them to win. But would one of them have been big fish? I will never know.

Last Sunday ten members of the Flint River Bass Club fished our February tournament at Bartletts Ferry. We had a beautiful day to fish but the fish didn’t seem to know it. There was one five-fish limit and four fishermen didn’t have a 12 inch keeper after fishing eight house. We weighed in 16 keepers weighing about 25 pounds.

Jordan McDonald won it all with a limit weighing 8.90 pounds and his 3.68 pound largemouth was big fish. Chuck Croft was second with four keepers at 5.87 pounds, Brian Bennett placed third with four at 5.03 pounds and Don Gober had one at 1.96 pounds for fourth. My 1.37 pound spot was fifth and Niles Murray was sixth with one at 1.30 pounds.

I am getting paranoid about February tournaments at Bartletts Ferry. Two years ago Jordan fished with me and beat me like a drum then, too, winning the tournament with five keepers weighing about 13 pounds and had big fish. I had one keeper. Last year Javin English fished with me and had two fish for second place and I zeroed. And Jordan fished with me again this year. I hate getting beat from the back of my boat!

Jordan and I fished several places from 8:00 to 11:00 without a bite, then I caught my one keeper on a crankbait in very shallow water. Then at noon Jordan got his first keeper on a worm beside a dock. About two hours later he caught two keepers on a crankbait almost on back to back casts, then got his big fish on a jerk bait a little later. With five minutes left to fish he caught his fifth keeper on a jerk bait.

I had my chances, missing a fish beside the dock where Jordan caught his first fish. I felt a tap and saw my line moving out, but when I set the hook all I landed was half a worm on my jig head. Then I missed a hit on the jighead on some rocks and Jordan immediately caught two from the same place.

I also really messed up by not paying attention. I cast the jig head to a small brush top beside a dock and felt a fish take it. When I set the hook my line broke. I am sure it was frayed from all the rocks I had been dragging it through. To make it even worse, we fished on down the bank, came back to the dock and Jordan caught his big fish by the same brush pile.

Some days are just like that for me. I make dumb mistakes, like not checking my line for frays or not paying good attention and missing a strike. And I should have tried different baits like Jordan did to find out what they would hit. I never threw a jerkbait although I had one tied on. Carpal tunnel surgery six weeks ago keeps me from working one like it has to be fished.

I will come back from the Classic on Saturday so I can fish the Sportsman Club tournament Sunday. Jordan is fishing with me again. It may be his last trip with me if the same results happen, but he fished with me at Jackson in January and I had a limit and he had one. What goes around comes around!

The last Sunday in January last year 14 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club braved the cold and muddy water at Jackson for our first 2014 tournament. It was very tough except for one very lucky fisherman with only one limit and five zeros. We had 15 keepers weighing about 28 pounds total. Surprisingly, seven of the 15 keepers were largemouth.

I managed to catch a limit weighing 11 pounds for first. Second was Mickey McHenry with two at 5.48 pounds and big fish weighing 4.15 pounds. Third place was Mark Knight with one keeper weighing 2.14 pounds and fourth was Keith Chambers with one at 1.91 pounds. Second through fourth place are new members to the club this year.

I knew fishing would be tough and planned on stopping on a rocky point in a creek near the mouth of Tussahaw Creek then going on up Tussahaw to try to find clearer water. The water was very stained and 43 degrees when we took off at the dam at 8:00 AM. Where I stopped I could see my chartreuse crankbait down only about five inches.

I fished around that point four times, trying two different crankbaits, a jig and pig and a jig head worm. I also jigged a spoon where I saw bait and fish down about 20 feet deep in three or four places. After 55 minutes of casting I felt weight on my line and set the hook. The three pound spot did not fight much in the cold water and I landed it.

After another 30 minutes of casting I was going to run up the Tussahaw but decided to go across the small creek to the other side. On my first cast with the same crankbait the first bass hit I got a good keeper largemouth. After putting it in the live well I threw back to the same spot on the seawall and got another keeper largemouth.

That made me fish on around the creek, and at 10:40 I hooked a 3.85 pound largemouth. It fought a little bit but not much. After working around the creek I was back on the point where I started and landed my fifth fish, a keeper spot.

Although I fished hard the last four hours in Tussahaw Creek, where the water was a little clearer, I never got another bite. I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time with the right bait to land a limit. I had to crank the plug down then just crawl it along almost like fishing a worm to get a bite in the cold water.

The last Sunday of February last year 18 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our February tournament at Bartlett’s Ferry. After eight hours of casting we brought in 53 keepers weighing about 78 pounds, much better than the Flint River club did two weeks ago there. The warming weather really made it better.

There were two five-fish limits brought in and only two people didn’t land a keeper. Most were spots, with only eight largemouth caught. We must be doing something wrong, though. A club weighed in just before we did and that tournament was won with an incredible five fish limit weighing over 19 pounds. That sounds like a Bassmasters Classic catch!

Sam Smith won with a limit weighing 7.1 pounds, Mark Knight was second with four at 6.85 pounds, Micky McHenry was third with four weighing 6.5 pounds and Gary Hattaway’s limit at 5.3 pounds was fourth. Niles Murray won the big fish pot with a 3.4 pound bass.

My day started wrong, as usual, with problems latching the trailer hitch on my trailer. I have got to figure out what is causing that problem. At least I didn’t follow the detour this time and made to the ramp on time.

Then, on the first place I fished, a bass hit my jig and pig by a dock but when I set the hook the line was around the concrete piling and broke. I caught my first keeper off that dock a few minutes later.

It took an hour to get another bite but I landed my second fish on a Texas rigged tube in about a foot of water on a seawall. Almost an hour later I saw a bass swirl at my crankbait right at the boat and saw others suspended off the bottom on that point. I threw a jerk bait to the area and caught my third keeper but no more hit.

Another hour passed then another bite. This one hit a Shadrap near a log. That made four. A few casts later I hooked a big, strong fish on the Shadrap and it fought hard, but I was worried. It stayed deep and did not fight like a bass. Sure enough, when I got it to the boat a five pound channel cat had my plug in its mouth. Good eating but I couldn’t weigh it in.

I landed no more fish. I did hook a good two pound keeper on a crankbait but it came off the second time it rolled on top. I was trying to keep it down but it would not stay underwater. I guess it knew it could get off by coming to the top.

Although we had a cold week this past week, everything is setting up for the bass to start feeding a lot in shallow water. The water early in the morning on the main lake at Bartlett’s Ferry was 49 degrees but that afternoon, back in a pocket, it was 57 degrees. Even though the sun was not bright it warmed the water a lot.

Get ready to catch some bass, they will be ready to hit soon. And the crappie are already eating jigs and minnows, and a catfish should eat some liver if that one hit my crankbait.

Bass fishing was tough last month with the water temperatures in the 40s but it will start getting better this month when we have a few warm days in a row. But since bass clubs here fish 12 months of the year, we put up with the good and bad.

Three weeks ago the Flint River tournament at Sinclair was won with just over nine pounds but it took only 4.89 pounds for fourth place. The water got even colder by the next Saturday when the Potato Creek Bassmasters went to Sinclair.

In that tournament a week ago last Saturday 15 fishermen landed 35 keepers weighing 55 pounds. There were two limits. Raymond English had five weighing 7.57 pounds for first. William Scott placed second with four at 7.35 pounds, JJ Compton had five at 6.19 for third and Mike Cox, with just one fish, but the right one, was fourth and had big fish with a 5.18 pounder.

Last Sunday the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished Jackson for our February tournament. After fishing eight hours 13 members brought in 19 keepers weighing about 25 pounds. There was one limit and three fishermen didn’t have a keeper.

I won with five at 7.34 pounds, Chris Davies had two at 4.03 for second and his 2.54 pound spot was big fish, third was Sam Smith with three keepers weighing 3.03 pounds and Jordan McDonald had one weighing 1.74 for fourth.

This year has been Déjà vu all over again for me. Last year and this year in the first Flint River tournament at Sinclair I got second place and second biggest bass. Lee Hancock beat me for both first and big fish both years. Last year at Jackson I had the only limit and won, and had second biggest fish, just like this year. I hope I break that pattern since the Flint River club is fishing Bartletts Ferry next Sunday and last year I zeroed that tournament!

Jackson was tough. Linda and I had gone to Jackson on Wednesday and rode around, mostly looking for baitfish, a good sign bass are in an area. I fished a little and landed one keeper on a crawfish crankbait.

On Sunday Jordan and I started on one of my favorite rocky points but got no bites. After about an hour we headed to the creek where I won last year and there were six boats fishing the area. I will not pull in right ahead of another fisherman so I went to another place.

After working a few points and banks I cast a crawfish crankbait to a boathouse and ramp in front of it and thought I hooked a stick.

My line went a little sideways but I felt nothing. Then it pulled a little and I landed a keeper largemouth at 10:10 AM.

We started fishing places I fished years ago but had not tried for a long time. The reason I fished them was the shad I saw on my depthfinder in the areas on Wednesday. At 11:10 I hooked a spot off a seawall and rocky point and landed it, and on the other side of the point Jordan got hung on the rocks. As he pulled his crankbait loose his keeper hit it and he landed it.

At 12:10 I cast to another rocky point and landed my biggest fish, a two pound spot. Then I cast to a seawall and started reeling and again my line went sideways like I had hooked a stick. But I saw a flash in the water and landed my fourth keeper at 12:45.

After trying a few more places I went to where I had landed the keeper Wednesday and again my line went sideways coming off a seawall. It was another keeper largemouth and filled my limit at 2:15. After that I started fishing a big jig and pig hoping for a big fish and giving Jordan a chance to cast his plug to places first. I was trying to help him catch more keepers as well as trying to land a big fish myself, but it didn’t work for either of us.

The bass were very sluggish in the 45 degree water and I was surprised to land three largemouth. Spots usually bite better in cold water and there were only five largemouth brought to the scales out of 19 keepers in the tournament.

When the water is that cold I fish a crankbait very slowly. When it hits the water I turn my reel handle a couple of times to get it down to the bottom then move it as slowly as I can to keep it there. I told Jordan I thought he was fishing too fast. He was making two casts to my every one cast.

Until the water starts warming and gets above 50 degrees, fishing slowly and fishing for spots are your best bets. Some really big bass are caught this time of year. You may not get many bites, but they may be bragging size. Most of my biggest bass, including my first two eight pounders, my biggest ever, a nine pound five ounce largemouth and my last eight pounder, a eight pound thirteen ounce largemouth, were caught at Jackson in January and February. All but one hit crankbaits.

Don’t let the cold keep you home. You can catch bass this time of year.

If you have ever thought about joining a bass club, right now is the perfect time. All three Griffin clubs are starting their new years this month. If you want to join a club, the three clubs give you a variety of options.

The Flint River Club meets the first Tuesday each month so our first meeting is this week. We fish a tournament every month, usually the weekend after the meeting. Most are one day tournaments fished on Sunday but we do have two or three two-day tournaments on Saturday and Sunday.

Since the Flint River club is affiliated with both BASS and FLW Federations you can join either one or both, but you have to be in at least one. Members qualify to fish the state Top Six tournaments in these federations, giving you the opportunity to advance all the way to the BassMasters Classic or the FLW Championship.

Dues in the Flint River Club are $70 in the FLW Federation, but that pays local, state and National dues and gives you FLW membership. For the BASS Federation dues are $60 per year but you must also join BASS separately. Or you can be in both for $110 per year if you also join BASS.

Tournament entry fee is $20 each month, and we pay back the top four places in each tournament. There is also a voluntary $5 big fish pot in each tournament ant the winner of the big fish wins all of it. In addition a cumulative cig cish pot gets you into competition where the first person to catch a six pound bass wins everything in the pot.

The Spalding County Sportsman Club meets the third Tuesday of each month and fishes the following Sunday, with two or three two day tournaments.

This club is in the FLW Federation only. Dues, including local club dues of $25, are a total of $75 per year. Members can qualify for the FLW state top six, held in late March or April each spring. The BASS Top Six is held in November each year.

In this club the tournament entry fee is $25 and we pay back the top four places. There is also a big fish pot and a cumulative big fish pot just like in the Flint River Club. In both clubs, if no one catches a six pounder during the year the member in the cumulative pot catching the biggest bass during the year wins it. And in both clubs, the pot starts over if someone catches a six pounder so it is a new competition.

The Potato Creek Bassmasters meets the Monday after the first Tuesday each month. The clubs stagger dates like this so we don’t have conflicts. They fish the Saturday after the meeting and have a couple of two day tournaments, too.

The Potato Creek club is not affiliated with a federation. Instead, they have their own Classic where members can qualify to fish a tournament for the money in a pot raised during the year. It can be a fairly big amount. They also have the two big fish pots like the other two clubs.

All three clubs allow members to fish by themselves or with another member. We do not have draw tournaments. Also, in both the Flint River and Sportsman clubs members can bring a guest, limited to one time per year per guest. Guests can enter the tournament and daily big fish pot but not the cumulative pots. Members must be at least 16 years old, but youth can fish with adult members in a concurrent youth tournament each month in the Flint River and Spalding County clubs.

All three clubs also award points in each tournament to those catching bass. At the end of the year the point standings earn plaques for the top fishermen and “bragging rights” for a year. Some work hard to do well in all tournaments to place high, and the teams going to the Top Six tournaments are based on point standings, but some don’t seem to care about them.

In the Flint River Club this past year I won the points standings, Chuck Croft was second, Niles Murray was third, fourth was JJ Polak, fifth was Travis Weatherly and sixth place was John Smith.

I also won the Spalding County points standings last year, Raymond English placed second, third was Kwong Yu, fourth was Zane Fleck, Russell Prevatt was fifth and sixth was Niles Murray.

The Potato Creek top six were Raymond English first, James Beasley second, Bobby Ferris third, Lee Hancock fourth, Niles Murray fifth and Mike Cox sixth. As you can see, some of us fish with two clubs and a few are even in all three!

In all three clubs we have more members with boats than members without boats, so we can usually find someone for you to fish with if you don’t have a boat but want to give club fishing a try. It is a lot of fun and a great way to learn how to catch bass better.

I loved bass fishing from the time I caught my first one at about age 12. While catching bream with a cane pole, cork and earthworms below Usury’s Pond dam something pulled my cork under. Rather than the usual circling pull as I raised my pole, a small bass about 11 inches long jumped out of the water several times while I tried to land it.

That bass hooked me worse than I hooked it. After more than 50 years of trying to catch them, I still love to cast for them and sometimes hook one. When they jump and fight it is still a thrill. I get excited every time I set the hook.

One day not long ago while fishing with a partner in a tournament I hooked a bass. After I landed it my much younger partner said he could not believe I got so excited. After all, he knew I had caught thousands of bass in my life.

I told him the day I didn’t get excited about catching a bass was the day I would quit fishing. I don’t think the thrill will ever go away. It doesn’t matter if it is a tap on a plastic worm or jig, the surge of one hitting a crankbait, the jerk of one eating a spinner bait or the explosive splash of a topwater strike, I love it all.

Back when I started fishing in the 1950s no one thought about fishing in the fall and winter. It was a spring and summer sport. I didn’t find out how good fishing can be from October through February until I got my first bass boat in 1974. Some days you catch a lot of fish in the early fall but December, January and February are great months to land a big bass.

My first two eight pound bass were caught in January tournaments and my biggest every, a nine pound, seven ounce largemouth, hit the first weekend in February. And I have caught a lot of six to nine pound bass during this time of year. That is why I had high hopes of catching a six pound plus bass at Jackson last Sunday.

Last Sunday 27 members and guests of the Flint River Bass Club and the Spalding County Sportsman Club fish a combined tournament to end our year. We landed 59 keepers weighing about 73 pounds. There were five five-fish limits and 11 people didn’t bring a keeper to the scales after casting for eight hours.

Chuck Croft won it all with five weighing 9.50 pounds and his 3.52 pounder was big fish. Guest Tim Ledbetter had five at 8.47 for second, Sam Smith had five at 8.05 for third and Travis Weatherly had five at 6.21 for fourth.

I set my goals too low. Although I wanted to catch a six pounder since it would win both club’s cumulative big fish pots and be worth over $1400, I knew if I caught one 12 inch keeper I would win first place in the point standings in the Sportsman Club. I had already wrapped up first in the Flint River Club and I wanted to win both.

I started casting a DT 6 crankbait running rocky points and banks. It took almost two hours, but at 9:20 a 12.5 inch spot hit my crankbait and I landed it. That made me relax and fish much slower, not really working at it the rest of the day.

After landing the keeper I picked up a big jig and pig and started fishing it on deep rocks, thinking that was the best bet for a big fish. Within 20 minutes I landed a 14 inch spot on the jig so I knew the fish would hit it. But it didn’t work out.

For the next four hours I fished places where I had caught big bass this time of year in the past. I had one thump on the jig at about 11:00 but nothing was there when I set the hook. And at noon I had a fish pick up my jig on some rocks beside a dock and swim under it. When I set the hook it pulled drag for a second then just came off. Maybe that was the big one.

At 2:00 I picked up the DT 6 crankbait and caught a two pound bass on a rocky point. Maybe I should have been fishing crankbaits all day, but I didn’t get another bite on it for the next hour. At 3:00, with just 30 minutes left to fish I went to the rocky point where I had caught my second bass. I got two hits on a jig head worm but missed both of them.

I should have had a limit but ended up with three weighing a little over four pounds, not even as much as I had hoped my big one I dreamed of catching would weigh. But it was a pretty day even if a little cool and there is no where I would have rather been.

We landed 20 largemouth and 39 spots. The cold front Sunday after the rain on Saturday may have made it tougher to catch largemouth. Spots tend to hit better under tough conditions.

I kept the two spots I landed and fried them dusted with panko bread crumbs. They were delicious. Jackson is full of keeper spots, it would be a good place to go to catch some to eat. And Jackson is where I caught my first two eight pounders and the 9-7. I think I will go back tomorrow!