Category Archives: Tournament Fishing

Flashback To A Jackson December Tournament When the Lake Turned Over

Jackson proved to be as tough as Lanier, if not worse. The lake had turned over, never a good sign when it first happens. In the fall, as the surface of the lake cools due to cooler days and nights, the water at the top gets heavier. Cold water is heavier than warm water down to the point where it freezes.

All summer long the water in lakes is stable, with colder water at the bottom and warmer water at the top. This creates its own problems since the lower levels don’t get fresh, oxygenated water from upper levels. There is a section of water, called the thermocline, where the water drops in temperature and oxygen starts getting low. Below the thermocline the water is much colder and has little oxygen.

Fish tend to hold in the thermocline during the summer and move more shallow to feed. This limits them some. But as the surface water cools it starts falling and the lower levels will mix with the upper levels. This lowers oxygen content through-out the water column and makes fish sluggish most of the time. And they can move to any depth, so they become more scattered.

The water usually gets murky when turnover happens. It does not look muddy but is cloudy. Jackson had been very clear lately so when people said the lake had gotten stained, and we had no rain, I knew the lake had turned over. The water temperatures confirmed it.

The Potato Creek Bassmasters had a buddy tournament at Jackson last Saturday, the day before our two day tournament, and most of them had a tough day. A couple of fishermen had pretty good days but most did not. In fact, some members of the Flint River club that fished the buddy tournament on Saturday had such a bad day they did not come back to fish on Sunday.

We had 18 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club and the Flint River Bass Club fishing for eight hours on Sunday. There were only 27 keepers weighed in. Two members had limits but there were eight fishermen that did not weigh in a keeper. The 27 keepers weighed 34.88 pounds and almost all were spotted bass.

Kwong Yu had a good day, landing one of the limits and winning with 8.96 pounds. His 2.60 pound bass was big fish. Raymond English had the other limit and came in second with 7.99 pounds. My four keepers weighed 5.35 pounds for third and fourth was Brandon Stooksbury with three at 3.35 pounds.

By 11:30 I was very frustrated. I had not hooked a bass even though I had fished a lot of places in four hours and tried everything I could think of to try. Then, to make matters worse, I missed a bite, broke my line setting the hook a few minutes later and then missed a third bite. I was about ready to give up.

I talked to two other fishermen at about that time and they had not caught any fish either. I decided to run way up the Tussahaw and try to scratch out a keeper. The first place I stopped, on a rocky point, I got a good keeper spot on a jig and pig.

After fishing around the area for more than an hour with only one more bite, another keeper spot that hit by a dock, I ended up where I caught the first one and caught two more keepers, one on a jig and pig and one on a jig head worm. I stayed there until the end of the tournament but could not catch another fish.

The tournament year is over for all three Griffin clubs now since Potato Creek fished their December tournament yesterday. We will all start over in January so now is a good time to plan on joining a club and showing all of us how to catch bass. The Flint River Bass Club meets at Hong Kong 2 the first Tuesday each month at 7:00, Potato Creek Bassmasters meet the Monday after the first Tuesday and the Spalding County Sportsman Club meets at Panda Bear the third Tuesday each month at 7:30 PM.

Each club fishes the weekend after the meeting except when we have two and three club tournaments. Both the Sportsman Club and Flint River fish on Sunday and Potato Creek fishes their tournaments on Saturday. So you have some choices of which weekend day to fish.

We have a lot of fun in the clubs and you can learn from other members, sometimes. Most members share how they caught their fish – after the tournament is over. But that is good info for the next time. And you can get good information on boats, motors, rods, reels and fishing lures and lines from other members based on what they use.

None of the clubs have draw tournaments so you and a friend can join and fish together. If you don’t have a boat or a friend with one, you can join and we should be able to find someone in the club for you to fish with.

Catching Bass At West Point Was Tough In My Club July Tournament

Last Sunday 14 members and guests of the Flint River Bass Club fished our July tournament at West Point. After 8.5 hours of casting, nobody had a limit and three people didn’t land a keeper. We weighed in 17 bass that totaled about 32 pounds.

A teenage guest of Rick Burns, Patrick Thomas, beat us all with two bass weighing 5.51 pounds and his 4.72 pound largemouth was big fish. Chuck Croft has four at 5.47 pounds for second, third was Gary Morrow with one bass weighing 3.95 pounds and my two at 3.79 pounds was good for fourth.

Fishing was tough for us but the West Georgia Bass Club, a buddy tournament trail out of LaGrange, had a tournament the same day. They had about 180 boats in the tournament and there were many teams with good catches. It took five bass weighing 17 pounds to win and at least 11 teams had more than 12 pounds.

I started fishing between the railroad bridge and Highway 109 bridge. They took off at about 6:20 AM and I saw only about ten boats headed down the lake. I stayed in that area all day and I guess that was a mistake. Most everybody in the West Georgia club went up the river. Maybe that is where I should have headed.

I started in the dark fishing a spinner bait on rocks but never got a bite. At 6:30 I was fishing a buzz bait and hooked a keeper, and it fell off as I tried to lift it into the boat. That gave me hope I could catch some fish on topwater but I never got another bite on top.

After the sun got over the trees I switched to a jig head worm and fished some rocks in about eight feet of water. I missed one bite but a little later, at 7:30 I hooked and landed a keeper spotted bass. At least I had one in the live well and would not zero.

I fished that place hard and a couple of more without catching anything then I ran to a rock pile where I caught seven or eight spotted bass a month ago. I fished it for 30 minutes without a bite, then just as I was about to leave, hooked and landed a bass that was close to three pounds. That fired me up and I stayed there for two more hours – without getting another bite.

With less than two hours to fish I hit several more spots but never caught another fish. It was a long, tough day for me and everyone else in the club. I thought my three pounder might have a shot at big fish but there were two others bigger than mine. Just my luck.

Saturday night is the July Sportsman Club tournament at Sinclair. The tournament will run, or ran by the time you read this, from 5:00 PM to 1:00 AM. I hope the fish will bite better at night. At least the weather will be much more bearable.

Fishing Lake Weiss In June

Lake Weiss is usually a great lake to fish in June with lots of quality bass in shallow water, even in the heat, so the Spalding County Sportsman Club scheduled our June tournament there last weekend. We should have known fishing would be tougher than normal. Sam Smith said during practice on Friday he talked with several local bass fishermen and all told him fishing was the worst it had been all year.

In the tournament 12 members and guests fished for nine hours on Saturday and nine more on Sunday in extreme heat. There was little breeze either day, making the heat even worse. We landed 63 keepers weighing about 94 pounds. There were six five-fish limits and no one zeroed for the two days.
I got lucky and caught a limit both days. My ten keepers weighed 16.93 pounds for first. Russell Prevatt had the best one day catch with a limit on Sunday weighing 12.5 pounds and his eight weighing 16.51 pounds for the two days was a close second. Sam Smith had nine bass weighing 13.04 for third and fourth was Mickey McHenry with seven bass at 10.83 pounds. Zane Fleck had a pretty 6.08 pound largemouth for big fish and it broke the cumulative pot for the third time this year.
I went over on Friday and spent a couple of hours riding around to get orientated on the lake and check some spots where I had caught fish there in years past. I also looked at some places I had put on maps in Alabama Outdoor News articles. Those old articles, with GPS coordinates, really help.

Although I made only a few casts Friday one of them provided a key for the tournament. In my last club tournament there about five years ago I had caught some good fish by casting worms and spinner baits under overhanging trees along the bank. The only fish I hooded Friday hit a spinner bait on that pattern in the late afternoon.

Saturday morning I ran to a bridge and started fishing it with a topwater plug at 6:00 AM. I quickly caught a keeper spotted bass then lost another keeper that jumped and threw my plug. At that time I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be to hook a keeper so I was not too upset at losing one.

After working some gravel banks and points I went to docks at about 10:00 AM and fished a small jig and pig around them. Although I caught two keepers in the next two hours, I had fished a lot of docks without a bite.
After noon I decided to try the overhanging brush pattern and ran to the back of Spring Creek where trees overhang the water. Although the water along the edge is usually only a couple of feet deep, and you can’t hit five feet of water with a 30/06, it sometimes works. Even though the water was almost 90 degrees.
I caught two keepers in the next hour then a bad thunder storm made me head for the van, parked at the Spring Creek ramp. I sat in it for over an hour. I hated to miss fishing but will not go out when lightening is flashing. I did not get a bite after the storm.

At weigh-in I was first in line. After my fish were weighed I headed to the van and campground since another storm was coming and just got parked on my campsite before it hit. I had no idea I was in second place with my little limit.

Sunday morning I decided to try Cowan Creek since I had not found any concentration of fish in Spring Creek. As soon as I stopped I got a nice three pound largemouth on a spinner bait from a grass bed but after an hour did not get any more bites around grass. At 7:30 I cast under an overhanging tree and caught a small keeper on a spinner bait. That made me fish that pattern and I got four more keepers on spinner baits and worms under overhanging trees in Cowan Creek before the 3:00 weigh-in.

I didn’t think I had a very good catch and was surprised to win. It helped I was the only one with a limit both days.

Summer Bass Fishing and Topwater Baits

Topwater baits are often the way to catch summer bass.

Sometimes I don’t think I know what I am doing when I am bass fishing, but most of the time I am sure I don’t know what I am doing. A trip to Sinclair a week ago Friday drove this home to me. The Sunday before that trip the Flint River Bass Club had fished the lake for nine hours and it took only 6.1 pounds to win and my five at 5.68 was fourth.

The following Friday I fished Sinclair with Bo Larkin, a UGA College Team fisherman. He lives in Watkinsville and fishes Sinclair a good bit, but I am three times as old as him and I started fishing Sinclair 20 years before he was born!

We started fishing at daylight and we both caught some keeper fish. He had one about 2.5 pounds, bigger than anything I caught the Sunday before. At 11:00 we were marking holes for the GON article and stopped on a small island. I pointed to a nearby cove and told him that is where I started in the tournament and landed a small keeper, but it was the only one I caught there.

Bo said he had never fished that cove and wanted to try it. I told him I didn’t think it was worth our time since the sun was bright and I had gotten only one bite there. But we went over to it and he started throwing a buzz bait, his favorite way to fish.

I thought he was wasting his time since the sun was high and bright and the water was only about three feet deep. But he caught a bass weighing over seven pounds from the shallow water on his buzz bait. Right where I had fished. Shows how much I know.

I fished a buzz bait right where Bo got the big one but didn’t get a bite. Maybe I was fishing too slow or too fast. Maybe I was fishing the wrong size or color buzz bait. Or maybe he knows something I don’t.

It always amazes me when my clubs fish the same lake the day a big tournament is going on there and we don’t do nearly as well as they do. And when I go fishing with really good fishermen, from college team members to established pros, they fish the same baits in the same places I fish but they catch more and bigger fish.

Maybe they have some special talent or sixth sense about catching bas I don’t have.

Last Saturday Raymond English had that special something at Oconee. The Potato Creek Bassmasters fished their June tournament with19 members landing 59 bass weighing 126 pounds. There were five five-fish limits in the tournament.

Raymond blew everyone away with five bass weighing 18.85 pounds and had the big fish of the tournament with 5.52 pounder. Bobby Ferris had fve at 13,01 for second, third was Ryan Edge with 12.32 pounds and Kwong Yu had 11.32 pounds for fourth.

Raymond said he caught his fish early on a topwater frog and had a second bass over five pounds but not quite as big as the other one. Several people got fish around five pounds each early in the morning. It was a great day on Oconee.

Fishing for bass can be tough this time of year but as the two trips above show, topwater baits can still catch good fish. One of the best area to fish topwater baits in the summer is where bream or bedding or feeding. Last week during the full moon lots of bream were bedding and that is always good.

But bream live shallow all the time, so fishing a topwater bait around grassbeds and wood cover in shallow water often works. That is the pattern Bo fishes at Sinclair and most of the spots we put on the map are like that. Details will be in the July issue of Georgia Outdoor News.

Also, Mayflies hatch and lay their eggs during the summer and bream feed like crazy on them. That almost always means you can catch bass on topwater baits. Bream are concentrated in a smaller area and are intent on feeding, so that makes them an easy meal for a hungry bass.

Work a buzz bait, popping plug or plug with spinners on the ends where the bass are feeding and you should catch some. The time before the sun gets on the water is usually best, but as Bo showed it is worth trying all day long.

Fishing A Tournament At Lake Allatoona

Each month I write a “Map of the Month” article for Georgia Outdoor News. In these articles I go to a lake with a local expert and we discuss the patterns for bass fishing that will work during the month. Then we mark 10 spots on a lake map where you can fish those patterns, and describe how to fish each spot in detail.

On a Sunday a few years ago the Flint River Bass Club had a tournament at Lake Allatoona. Although I have done several “Map of the Month” articles there over the years, I have never fished out of my boat there and never fished a tournament on that lake. I did not have a chance to go up and explore the lake and try to find some fish before the tournament.

I pulled out a copy of my article on Allatoona in August, 2002 with David and Pansy Millsaps. I read it Saturday night and rigged baits they suggested. On Sunday morning I headed to hole number 1 in the article and started fishing as instructed. I quickly caught a 14 inch spotted bass on a tube jig on a boat ramp.

I kept fishing that spot and caught a two pound spotted bass on a Carolina rig. I felt pretty good with two keepers in the boat on the first place and I had nine more to fish. As I idled to the second spot I read the instructions again – fish around the point with a jig and pig, then throw a crankbait before leaving.

After fishing around the point twice, first with the jig and then with a Carolina rig, I had gotten no bites, so I started to leave. I remembered about throwing the crankbait so I picked up a rod with one tied on and hooked a good fish on the first cast. It was a 3.65 pound spotted bass and turned out to be the big bass of the day.

When I headed up to hole number 3 skiers has churned the lake up pretty bad. I fished it and caught a short bass but no keepers. It was rough fishing in the waves, and the sun was getting hot. When I headed to hole number 4 I had to idle under a bridge and the shade felt good, so I stopped and fished there.

I quickly got a hit on a small jig and pig and landed another two pound spotted bass. About 30 minutes later I caught another solid keeper on the jig and pig. That gave me my limit. I fished one more spot from the article but caught nothing there before heading to the weigh-in.

We had 14 members fishing the tournament and my five bass weighing 10.8 pounds gave me first. The 3.65 pound spot was big fish for the tournament. Bobby Ferris had a five fish limit weighing 5.12 pounds for second, Don Schafer had 4.92 pounds for third and Kwong Yu came in fourth with 4.78 pounds.

In the tournament three members caught five fish limits but there were six people without a keeper. We landed 26 bass weighing 33.61 pounds and there was only one largemouth weighed in.

For many years Lake Allatoona has been called the “Dead Sea” because it was so hard to catch a bass there. The population of spotted bass has increased over the past few years, and now some decent catches come out of Allatoona. I was real lucky to have the article I wrote three years ago help me out in my first tournament there. That information really helped.

Another tournament fishing the same places didn’t work as well.

On a Sunday a few years ago eight members and guests of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our September tournament at Lake Allatoona. Three of the members managed to land five fish limits and there were two members that did not catch a keeper bass.

Javin English had a limit and won with 5.55 pounds. Brent Terry fished with me and beat me out of the back of my boat with a limit weighing 5.48 pounds. I had a limit weighing 5.21 pounds for third and Jason Wheeler had two bass weighing 3.71 pounds for fourth. He also had big bass with a 2.73 pound fish.

Many members caught a lot of bass shorter than the 12 inch limit. Although Allatoona has been called the “Dead Sea” because of its tough fishing, the eight of us weighed in 20 bass, but they were small. It is still a lot of fun to catch that many bass. Alltoona seems along way away since you have to drive right through down town Atlanta, but it was only 74 miles from my house, about the same distance as Sinclair or West Point.

I caught my fish on a jig and pig and a jig head worm. Brent caught his on a Carolina rig. We caught most of them fairly shallow toward the backs of creeks.

Can A Hummingbird 360 Help Me Catch Walleye?

Walleye Pros Crack Code With Humminbird® 360 Imaging™
Epiphany, experimentation and verification with technology results in tournament win
from The Fishing Wire

EUFAULA, Ala. (May 13, 2014) – Water bodies and the fisheries they contain are dynamic systems, changing over time. A good example is famed Minnesota walleye fishery Mille Lacs, which has been the focus of a heated debate over the past several years.

Yet, whatever side of the debate you line up on, one thing is certain, changing fisheries require new and innovative approaches to catching fish.

Case in point, the recent success of tournament walleye anglers Jon Thelen and Mike Christensen, who took first place and lapped the field at the Minnesota Tournament Trail event held on Mille Lacs.

“Since the introduction of zebra mussels into Mille Lacs, the water clarity has steadily increased to eight feet or more. As a result, walleye behavior has changed on many different levels, forcing us to adapt,” says Jon Thelen.

But Thelen is quick to admit that he and Christensen spent four hours during pre-fishing scratching their heads trying to figure out where the fish were.

“Experience told me that given the water temperature and conditions, walleyes should have been sitting on top of rock piles in 17-23 feet of water. But, idling with the big motor over textbook spots on my LakeMaster map and using 2D sonar to find fish, they just weren’t there. I knew there was something strange going on.”

That’s when Thelen and Christensen wondered if the fish were pushing off the structure when they passed over it. “So, I deployed the 360 Imaging unit on my transom and started looking at these same areas without motoring over the top with the big motor. The fish were there clear as day – and right up on top of the rock piles.”

But Thelen didn’t stop there. He wanted proof that the boat was spooking fish off the rocks.

“We experimented with it. I trolled right over the top and we literally watched the walleyes scatter off to the sides – and leave the structure – on the 360 screen. Just proves that you can spook fish over clear, deep waters.”

The rest of the pre-fishing day was spent moving from rock pile to rock pile, looking for fish on 360. If they saw fish, they’d throw out slip bobber rigs, wait for confirmation, and then move on, dropping waypoints on their LakeMaster map for tournament time.

“During pre-fishing, I was able to move the 360 cursor to see exactly how many feet and in what direction the fish were. I like to keep the range at about 100 feet. Unlike the pro bass guys, who are running Bow 360 and moving forward, we may be anchored or positioned sideways in relation to the structure, but because of the directional GPS antenna, I’m able to know exactly where the structure and fish are in relation to my boat and scroll to them. It may be 35 feet off the bow to the right and I know exactly where to cast to those fish – and that’s exactly how we did it.”

From pre-fishing epiphany, experimentation and verification, the team put their findings to the ultimate test a couple days later during the tournament.

“We knew that during the tournament all we had to do was to anchor upwind of these rock piles and throw our floats over the top,” says Thelen.

“When the lake went glass calm on game day, I had a pretty good feeling. We rolled into our first spot and on the second cast we had a keeper in the box. The next two hours we caught a dozen fish, tanked our four fish limit and weighed in by 10:30 a.m.”

Although the fish behavior had changed, the presentation was kept classic: a 1/32-ounce pink and white Lindy jig head tipped with a leech under a Thill slip float.

“Without 360, I never would have been able to verify that the walleyes were sitting up on those rock piles. It saved hours of what may have been fruitless searching.”

At the end of the day, tournament check in hand, Thelen says he learned a valuable lesson running 360 Imaging on Mille Lacs.

“The lake went flat and everybody kept fishing the way they always fish. Could’ve easily been us. It’s undeniable proof that the way we fished just a couple years ago may not work today. Water clarity has increased and fish have gotten spookier. So, you have to adapt. We verified that fish were still on top of the same kind humps we’ve always hunted; we simply had to distance ourselves from the structure and play the stealth game. I know we were the only anglers using 360 Imaging in the tournament and it paid dividends.”

Boat Console
(1) Humminbird 1199ci HD SI – 360 screen to Amber #1 color palette. “This color allows me to see all the rocks and really pick up the white streaks I know are fish. I run everything on factory default. It’s pretty doggone close to perfect.”

Boat Bow
(1) Humminbird 859 Combo – Split-screen view of LakeMaster mapping and 2D sonar. Often set to DualBeam 83/200 kHz setting for vertical jigging.

Minn Kota 12-Foot Talon Shallow Water Anchor

Minn Kota Terrova iPilot Link 112

Humminbird LakeMaster Minnesota Digital GPS Map Card, Version 5

For more information visit humminbird.com, contact Humminbird, 678 Humminbird Lane, Eufaula, AL 36027, or call 800-633-1468.

About Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Inc.
Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson Outdoors and consists of the Humminbird®, Minn Kota® and Cannon® brands. Humminbird® is a leading global innovator and manufacturer of marine electronics products including fishfinders, multifunction displays, autopilots, ice flashers, and premium cartography products. Minn Kota® is the world’s leading manufacturer of electric trolling motors, as well as offers a complete line of shallow water anchors, battery chargers and marine accessories. Cannon® is the leader in controlled-depth fishing and includes a full line of downrigger products and accessories.

A Reunion Tournament To Kentucky Lake

Back in the late 1990s I started visiting a newsgroup, Recreation – Outdoors – Fishing – Bass (ROFB). Newsgroups were popular back then and there were thousands of them available. Each one was on a specific topic and you could go post messages to others with similar interest. They have pretty much gone now, being passed by with new forms of interaction on the net.

The guys on ROFB started having a get-together tournament on Center Hill Lake in Tennessee, called the Mid-Tennessee Classic. I could not attend since I was still working but I enjoyed reading about those trips. I planned on attending when I retired and had time to go.

In June, 2001 when I retired Steve Huber in Rhinelander, Wisconsin decided to host the North Woods Classic in the fall with the same group. He invited us to come to Rhinelander and experience the fishing there. So, on Labor Day that year, I hooked up my boat and headed 1100 miles north.

Those were great trips and I went to eight of them, as well as attending three of the Mid-Tennessee Classics. I made some good friends on those trips and got to fish with guys from all over the US. But the Tennessee tournaments ended after a few years and in 2009 Steve moved to Paris, Tennessee, ending the trips to Wisconsin.

Some of us still keep in touch through Facebook and emails and we decided to revive the Mid-Tennessee Classic this year, but on Kentucky Lake, near Steve’s new home. So a little over a week ago I hooked up my boat and drove 400 miles to Paris. We had a great time, renewing old friendships and making new ones. We ate together each night and I fished with a different person each of the three days I was there.

I had not fished Kentucky Lake since 1983 so it was like visiting a totally new lake, especially since we were about 40 miles by water from where I had fished so many years ago. I drove up on Wednesday and met up with Larry and Moe from New York and Steve Thursday morning for breakfast. We headed to the lake about 9:00 AM and Larry and I went exploring.

On a new lake I try to find something that looks familiar to the way I like to fish here, but after four hours I was very confused. Kentucky Lake is huge, over 100 miles long and over a mile wide where we fished, and it is very shallow near the bank in most areas. By 1:00 I had landed a few small bass, including the five Larry and I caught in 15 minutes beside one cypress tree in two feet of water on an island. Bass there have to be 15 inches long and they were hard to find.

A little after 1:00 I spotted something that reminded me of Clarks Hill – a gravel point at the mouth of a small feeder creek. When I got near it the water was about 10 feet deep a good cast off the bank, and there were button bushes in the water and a big willow tree hanging over the water. Larry and I started fishing and when I pitched a jig and pig under the willow I caught a 18 inch largemouth that encouraged me.

A few yards further down the bank I got a hit and landed a beautiful 19 inch smallmouth. That was really encouraging. Smallmouth have made a big come back there since 1983. That year, in a three day tournament I fished with 72 fisherman, exactly one smallmouth was weighed in. Now they are fairly common.

After fishing into a small pocket further down the bank Larry hooked a nice keeper largemouth that jumped then broke his line when it ran under the boat. I told him I knew where I would start the next morning. That night we had a great meal at a small BBQ place, sat around a picnic table at the motel and talked, then got some sleep.

Moe fished with me the next day and we headed to my honey hole first thing. But we could not catch a keeper even though baitfish were everywhere. At about 10:00 Moe got a keeper but all I could catch were short bass, so we decided to go somewhere else. While going under a bridge I saw current was running, a good sign, so we stopped and started casting to pilings.

We caught over a dozen short bass and I managed to land a very skinny 15 inch keeper. At least I would not zero! With an hour left to fish I told Moe I really wanted to go back to where we started and he agreed. With 30 minutes left to fish I caught a keeper largemouth off the gravel bank then got another keeper on a rocky point on it.

At weigh-in I had three weighing 5.5 pounds and was in first place, a big shock! That night we ate and shot the bull, and I drew Kevin as my partner the next day. Kevin is from Illinois and I had fished with him in Wisconsin so I knew we would have a good day. Of course we headed to my favorite place and Kevin quickly caught a three pound largemouth, a good start.

After a couple of hours I had not caught a keeper. We went into a very shallow pocket and I said it was way too shallow, but I got a hit by a bush in a foot of water and caught a short fish, then caught a keeper off the next bush. That seemed worth trying so we worked further into the creek, pitching a jig to very shallow bushes. By one I got a hit and landed a 4.5 pound largemouth.

We kept working that pattern and I caught two more keeper largemouth, lost two more that would have gone about three pounds each, and a smallmouth that was so close to 15 inches I really wanted to keep it but didn’t take the chance. With just an hour left to fish I was casting a jig head worm to the rocky point and landed a 17 inch smallmouth, filling my limit.

I was shocked at weigh-in when I had five of the eight bass brought to the scales. They weighed just under 13 pounds and my four pounder was big fish. So I won our reunion tournament, and really enjoyed seeing everyone. We are planning on doing it again next year!

—————————————————————–
Saturday night I left Paris at 9:00 and arrived at the ramp at Sinclair at 5:00 AM for the Flint River June tournament. It was tough, with 15 members and guests landing 38 bass weighing about 50 pounds. There were two limits and one person didn’t have a keeper.

Larry Cook won with four bass weighing 6.10 pounds and had big fish with a 3.08 pounder. Rick Burns had four at 6.10 for second, Niles Murray had a limit at 5.76 pounds for third and my five at 5.68 pounds was fourth.

I was worn out but made it home and got some sleep!

What Is A Game Plan for Tournament Success?

Game Plans

Smart Prep For Tournament Success

By Dan Johnson
from The Fishing Wire

:Plan to catch big small mouth like these

:Plan to catch big small mouth like these

Loading up on smallmouth like these takes pre-planning and lots of scouting.

Anyone who’s fished a tournament knows there’s more to competing than simply showing up on game day and relying on sheer luck to put fish in the boat. Especially if you want to win. Serious runs up the leaderboard require a dedicated blend of research, practice and preparation.

“Given the level of competition at everything from local club tournaments to larger regional events, you really have to do your homework,” says veteran bass tournament angler Scott Bonnema. Following are his thoughts on gearing up for success.

Discovery Phase

When fishing new waters, research is a great ally in the quest for victory. “It’s all about identifying where catchable fish will be during the tournament,” says Bonnema. Fortunately, a variety of sources offer intel.

Naturally, the internet is an amazing tool. Everything from angler forums and fishing reports to Google Earth and state fisheries departments can provide insight into specific fisheries. Tournament results from events held on the lake you’ll be fishing-especially during the same time of year-can also be golden. “Websites like ClassicBass.com, which post results and tournament news, can give you an idea of top locations and presentations, along with what kind of weight it may take to do well in an event on that body of water,” says Bonnema.

On-Site Recon

Bonnema is a big believer in on-the-water reconnaissance, and credits extensive scouting for his recent top-five finish and big-bass honors at the recent Sturgeon Bay Open, which saw 150 teams battle on Wisconsin’s legendary Sturgeon Bay.

“I arrived two weeks ahead of the tournament, and also fished a Cabela’s North American Bass Circuit event the weekend before, which gave me a great idea of where and how to fish during the Open,” he explains.

Where you position your boat is critical

Where you position your boat is critical

Pinpoint boat positioning is critical to properly fishing prime lies. Often, this is impossible in crowded “community” holes.

He cautions, though, that early recon must be tempered if you expect the fish to move between then and the tournament. “When fishing partner Mark Fisher and I started breaking down Sturgeon Bay, the water was cold and most of the bass were still in deep water,” he says. “We knew that warming water would bring them in by game day, so we focused on areas we thought would hold fish during competition.”

Given the likelihood that waves of sag-bellied smallmouths would swarm the shallows once water temperatures warmed, that meant looking for fast-warming bays with ample depths in the 2- to 6-foot range. “We focused on large bays that allowed the fish to be in seven or eight spots instead of one or two, which gave us better odds of being able to fish at least one of the areas properly,” he noted.

Which brings up a key point in Bonnema’s pre-game planning. Knowing that 150 tournament boats and countless recreational anglers would descend upon the bay’s prime lies, he focused on spots that could handle the pressure, while providing an opportunity to thoroughly fish productive areas. “Boat positioning is critical,” he explains. “So we ruled out small spots that could only be effectively fished by one or two boats.”

To find potential hot zones, Bonnema cruised the shallows, both visually scanning with polarized glasses and using the side-imaging feature on his Humminbird 1199ci HD SI sonar-chartplotter combo to pinpoint and map prime structure. “We looked for anything that would attract bass or funnel their movements, such as subtle depth changes of six to 12 inches, or the edge where a line of rocks transitioned to sand,” he says. “Such spots may vary by species and from lake to lake, but there will always be key features that concentrate whatever fish you’re after. Finding them before the tournament is critical.”

Mapping is a matter of marking points of interest with icons that enable instant recall, even months or years after the initial scouting run. “Take time to choose symbols and names that mean something, and will help you remember what the waypoint is for,” he says. “For example, I use a Red Cross medical symbol to mark hotspots where I can ‘get healthy’ in a hurry if I’m struggling in a tournament. I also use small symbols for boat position, and larger icons for structure.”

Plan to catch tournament winning bass

Plan to catch tournament winning bass

Solid pre-tournament scouting helped Bonnema bag big-bass honors at the 2014 Sturgeon Bay Open with this 8.29-pound smallmouth.

When charting a choice piece of cover or structure, Bonnema advises highlighting both the area you expect to hold fish, as well as where you should position your boat to work the spot. “In clear, shallow water, long casts can be key, so keep your boat as far from the fish as possible,” he adds. “Humminbird’s side-imaging makes it easy to mark waypoints on structure 60 to 100 feet from the boat, without ever driving over the fish.”

Lure Selection

While some anglers pare down tournament tackle to a handful of rods, reels and baits needed for a few pet presentations, Bonnema brings a complete arsenal on the road. “I’m not saying you need to spend a fortune on tackle,” he says. “But, you’re already spending hundreds of dollars on gas, food and lodging. You don’t want to lose because you don’t have the right size or color spinnerbait.”

At Sturgeon Bay, for example, Bonnema and Fisher dialed in a very specific combination of rod, reel, line and lure to fool the system’s biggest bass-including the monstrous 8.29-pound bronzeback Bonnema landed during competition, and another 8-pound behemoth taken during practice.

“After much experimentation and tweaking, we found that light-green, 3½- and 4 ½-inch, paddle-tail Trigger X Slop Hopper produced better fish than standard grub bodies,” he says. The softbait was threaded on a 3/16-ounce VMC Darter Head Jig. “Having the line tie stick straight up on the jig head was key, because we were moving it very slowly, barely ticking the tops of the rocks,” he says.

A 7-foot, medium-light Team Lew’s spinning outfit engendered long casts and solid hooksets, while transmitting details on bottom ticks and subtle takes alike. Bonnema spooled with 10-pound Sufix 832 superbraid mainline and added a 5-foot, 7-pound Sufix Invisiline leader for added stealth. “Swapping out any one of these components completely changed the presentation and resulted in fewer big fish,” he adds.

As a final tip to budding tournament competitors, Bonnema recommends building a game plan with multiple fallback strategies. “After figuring out the best locations and right equipment, put together a few ‘Plan B’ options to allow for wind and weather changes, fishing pressure and other factors that cut shut down your main program,” he says. “That way, you won’t be scrambling when the bite changes on game day.”

Clarks Hill Fishing Memories

On an April weekend members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club were fishing our April tournament at Clarks Hill. This is something of a tradition, we fish it almost every April and have missed very few years since I joined the club.

It is almost unbelievable to me that this is the 40th anniversary for me in the club. Jim berry and I fished the Sportsman Club April tournament at Clarks Hill in 1974. That was the first tournament I ever fished and I have been in the club every year since then and have missed very few club tournaments.

In 1975 I was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the club and have held that office most of the years since then. The first bulletin I sent out in 1975 had Vol. 11, no.1 at the top and I have kept that running since then. The April bulletin this year was Vol 50, No. 4. I assumed that meant the club had been in existence for l0 years when I joined but now think it was just the bulletin that has been around since 1964. I have been told the club started in the 1950s.

Gary Hattaway was in the club when I joined and is still in it, although he was not a member for a few years when he lived in Alabama. So, I am the only member left that has been in the club every year, and Gary is the only one left that was around way back then. I have made some great friends through the club but far too many of them are no longer around.

I moved to Griffin in 1972 and lived at Grandview Apartments while teaching at Atkinson Elementary. Each morning I drove College Street to 6th, turned right and went out to where it ends at Hill Street, then on to Atkinson. I reversed that in the afternoons which meant every afternoon I passed by Berry’s Sporting Goods that was located on 6th Street for many years.

Few afternoons passed that I didn’t stop and spend way too much of my princely teacher’s annual salary of $5600.00. But I got to be friends with Jim and we started fishing together some. He and Emmett Piland took me to the Flint River wading the first time, and we fished many local ponds, too.

In March, 1974 I bought my first bass boat and joined the Sportsman Club the next month. It was a big club back then, with about 75 members, and at the tournament we had 44 fishermen, many more than now. The Sportsman Club had just started fishing bass tournaments a few years before I joined and the club tournament rules still reflect that early start, with few rules and restrictions that most tournament have.

Back then there were two divisions in the club and newer fishermen went into “B” division since they were based on points from previous tournaments. We were more relaxed, with camping and fish fries more important than the actual tournament. There was a card game by the campfire most nights and we had a great time. I still do have a great time at tournaments, but it is a little more intense.

In that first tournament I just knew I would do well since I grew up on Clarks Hill and expected to catch a lot of fish. But that tournament taught me how different tournament fishing can be. Jim and I caught six keepers each day, far short of the ten fish limit back then. But many in the club had limits both days and I was surprised at the size of fish brought in.

That taught me real fast that someone would catch bass no matter what the conditions, and they could catch bigger bass than I thought possible. In that tournament Jim Goss had a bass weighing over six pounds and several five pounders were weighed in. My l2 in two days weighed about 14 pounds! But I still finished third in my division, but my catch would have been 15th in the other division.

Tackle, electronics, boats and expenses have come a long way in 40 years. My first boat was a 16 foot Arrowglass with a 70 horsepower Evenrude motor. And it was pretty top of the line, there was only one boat in the club with a bigger motor. My last boat costs over $30,000 used and the electronics I have on it cost more than my first boat!

I fished back then with two Mitchell 300 spinning reels, presents from my parents when I was 17, and an Ambassadeur 6000 casting reel, a present for my 21st birthday from Linda. Now I have 15 to 18 rods and reels on my deck in a tournament, with at least ten more in the rod locker. Line is much better as are plugs and plastic baits. And trolling motors and batteries are much stronger and last longer.

The biggest change is knowledge of what the bass do. Back then we pretty much fished shoreline cover and that still works, especially in April, but many bigger fish are caught from offshore structure like humps, and are caught much deeper than we used to think they lived.

Even with all the changes I still love it and it is great fun.

Fishing A Tournament At West Point in August

In 2004 Ronnie Gregory showed me around Lake Eufaula before the Top Six Tournament and the places and patterns he put me on helped me place 7th.

On a Friday in August the next year Ronnie and I went to West Point. He fishes there a lot, and he helped me get ready for a Flint River club tournament we were fishing on Sunday. Ronnie’s knowledge of the lake was impressive, and he took me to some spots that I never fished before, even though I have been fishing that lake since it was built.

In five hours of fishing from 6:30 AM until 11:30 AM we landed five keeper bass and several under the legal size. Ronnie started the day right with one weighing about 4.5 pounds and it was the only largemouth keeper. The others were all spotted bass.

Most of the fish hit in brush down about 12 feet deep and I hope that pattern holds up for the tournament today. We are fishing until 3:00 PM and Ronnie showed me some places he says the bass bite better after noon. We did not catch anything there but I will try them. That is detailed knowledge of a lake when you can predict what time the bass will probably hit.

Then on Sunday 20 members and guests fished the Flint River August tournament at West Point Lake. Fishing was very tough and there were only 28 keepers weighing 47.13 pounds brought to the scales. There were eight largemouth and 20 spotted bass weighed in.

Kwong Yu won the tournament with 3 bass weighing 7.23 pounds, Tom Tanner was second with 4.66 pounds, Roger Morrow placed third with 4.41 ponds and Tony Roberts came in fourth with 4.40 pounds. Bobby Ferris had big fish with a bass weighing 4.20 pounds and placed fifth.

After Ronnie Gregory showed me some brush piles on West Point before the tournament I was fairly confident about this tournament. Ronnie and I fished for five hours and landed five keeper bass weighing about 10 pounds. Those five would have easily won the tournament, but they hit too early.

The brush piles that produced keeper fish on Thursday morning had nothing but short bass in them during the tournament. I did manage to land one barely legal spot weighing right at a pound and placed 14th. Linda fished with me and although she caught more bass than I did, all her fish were too short to weigh in.

Sometimes it seems practice before a tournament hurts rather than helps!