The first Sunday in July eight members of the Flint River Bass Club fished our June tournament at Bartletts Ferry. We also had one youth fish the tournament.  The club has a special category for youth; they fish with an adult club member or family member and there is no entry fee for them. If they catch a keeper fish they win a prize package of fishing lures. We do not give participation prizes! 

    After eight hours of casting, we weighed in 27 12-inch keeper bass weighing about 31 pounds. There were three five-bass limits and one fisherman didn’t have a keeper.   

Lee Hancock won with five bass weighing 7.87 pounds and Doug Acree placed second with three weighing 5.74 pounds. Doug also had big fish with a 3.41 pound largemouth.  My five weighing 4.96 pounds was third and Niles Murray placed fourth with five at 4.80 pounds.  

Fishing with Lee Hancock, Jett Collins won the youth division with four bass weighing 3.57 pounds, enough to place fifth in the regular tournament.   

I started out pretty good with a keeper spot on a buzzbait within five minutes of our start at 6:00
AM. Then just over an hour later I got a keeper largemouth on a weightless worm under dock. Two in the livewell in less than two hours gave me hope. 

At noon the hope was about gone. It was miserably hot with no breeze to cool me off. And the lake had gotten really rough from pleasure boaters by 9:00 and it was dangerous to sit out in open water fishing. Too many folks do not pay attention to where they are going when driving a boat.  

Even halfway back in coves I thought I was going to get run over twice, once by a pontoon boat full of folks cruising the shoreline and once by a big wake boat pulling two little kids. 

At noon I decided to go to an area with some docks that have produced some keeper fish in June for me in the past.  My first cast with a shaky head hit a post and I got hung. Rather then go in and get it and mess up the fishing, I put that rod down, picked up a rod with a whacky rigged Senko on it and skipped it under the dock. 

A keeper spot grabbed the bait as it sank and I was able to pull it away from the post and land it.  Then on the next dock my first cast produced a keeper spot then another keeper spot, giving me my limit.  Then the same dock produced a spot too short to weigh. 

That was it. I fished docks for the last two hours and caught a couple more short fish, but no more keepers.  

The hot summertime is not the best time of the year for bass fishing.  Many bass go to deep water to avoid the heat and bright sun, and others get as far back into cover like docks for the shade. They are hard to cast to and even harder to land. 

It can be dangerous, too. Way too many folks get in boats and run around without a clue there are rules on driving a boat, just like a car.  I can’t count the times I have been meeting a boat going in the opposite direction and they insist on going to my right to try to pass me, the exactly opposite of the law. 

I prefer fishing at night this time of year, it is more comfortable, the fish bite better and there are fewer boats out there. The clubs used to have night tournaments in the summer but some members don’t like them so they got them ended rather than just not fishing them. 

It can be dangerous at night, but no more dangerous than during the day, and with fewer boats there is less dangerous.   

Bigger lakes offer places to hide from the pleasure boaters.  Fishermen can go way up creeks and rivers where stuff in the water keeps some pleasure boats out.  But skidoos seem to thrill in running such places and making them tough to fish. 

There are a few ways to cool off. I try to fish shady banks as much as possible. And dipping a cap full of water and dumping it over my head helps. Riding on plane in my boat creates a nice breeze, but the water is often so rough that is no fun. 

Even with all the problems, I would rather be out there fishing rather than sitting at home at a computer wasting time! 

 Two weeks ago 13 Flint River Bass club members and one youth fished our June tournament at Lake Oconee. We landed 23 keeper bass longer than the 14-inch minimum size that weighed about 41 pounds.  There was one limit and two members did not catch a keeper.

    Niles Murray wore us all out with a limit weighing 12.49 pounds and had big fish with a 3.99 pound largemouth.  My three at 5.34 pounds was second, Wes Delay placed third with two weighing 4.53 pounds and Don Gober was fourth with two at 4.34 pounds. 

    Harrison Edge, fishing with dad Ryan, won the youth division with two keepers weighing 2.22 pounds.  We allow youth to fish all our club tournaments with no entry fee and they compete only with other youth.  Any youth catching fish win a prize package rather than cash.

    Last Saturday 16 member of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our June tournament at Oconee.  We landed 26 keeper bass weighing about 49 pounds.  There was one limit and four members zeroed.

    Ryan Edge won with five weighing 9.27 pounds.  Donnie Willis placed second with four at 7.97 pounds and Jack Ridgeway came in third with four at 7.07 pounds.  William Scott placed fourth with three weighing 7.13 pounds and had big fish with a 3.60  pound largemouth, and my two weighing 3.5 pounds was good for fifth.

    Last Tuesday I went back to Oconee with Brad Stalnaker, a local tournament fisherman that knows the lake well. We fished nine hours in the rain getting information for the August Georgia Outdoor News Map of the Month article.

    The day was perfect for throwing a buzzbait on shallow grassbeds and seawalls, Brad’s favorite way to fish in the summer.  We landed about six keepers and Brad had one that weighed about 3.5 pounds.  Even with the good conditions, fishing was tough. I landed one keeper.  I am seeing a disturbing downhill pattern on Oconee for me, and the Sportsman Club is fishing it today.

    In the first tournament, I landed 11 bass under the 14-inch minimum size limit and just three keepers.  In the second one I had a dozen short fish and only two keepers.  With Brad I landed about eight short fish but only one keeper.

    I hope the fishing for keepers is better for me today and does not follow the pattern. If it does I won’t catch a keeper!  I am torn trying to decide whether to fish my pattern that produced five keepers in two trips or Brads that produced more keepers, but the conditions were very different.

    Lake Oconee is getting as bad as Lanier with all the big off-shore boats running around.  It is hard to fish after about 10:00 AM with huge waves rocking the boat and crashing into the bank.

    I hope it rains all day today!

Last Saturday 14 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our July tournament at Lake Sinclair.  Fishing from 5:30 AM to 12:30 PM unsuccessfully trying to beat the heat, we landed 24 bass longer than the 12-inch minimum with a total weigh of about 39 pounds.  There were three five-fish limits and six people did not have a keeper.

    Lee Hancock had a good catch far outpacing the rest of us with five weighing 11.80 pounds for first.  Raymond English was second with five weighing 5.42 pounds, Dan Dupree’s three weighing 5.23 pounds was third and my five weighing 5.19 pounds placed fourth. Donnie Willis had one fish but it weighed 4.94 pounds for big fish.

    Since we started before daylight I just knew I could catch some bass around lighted boat docks, but after hitting three in the first half hour I had not gotten a bite. I then went to a rocky point leading into a cove with grass beds and docks where I have caught many bass in the past.

    A good fish hit my buzzbait on the point but I missed it. I did not get another bite in that cove.  The next stop was a deep rocky point with a brush pile on it and I caught a short bass there. In a nearby cove nothing hit around docks but I finally caught a keeper at 8:00 AM in a brush pile about eight feet deep on a jig head worm.

    I got no more bites until 10:00 when a bass hit my jig head worm on a point. I set the hook and the fish came to the top and I saw it was a two pound plus bass. I guess I got too excited and tried to get it in the boat too fast.  It came unhooked as it came over the side of the boat, hit the deck at my feet, bounced twice and went over the other side. I almost went into the water trying to grab it.

    After that I was totally disgusted.  It was hot and I had lost a fish. But at 11:00 I decided the sun was high enough to drive some bass into the shade under docks. The third dock I fished, skipping a Senko under them, I caught my best fish of the day, about a pound and a half.

    I continued to fish docks and at noon caught my fifth keeper. I just had time enough to secure all my tackle and make a long run in very rough water back to the ramp.

    The Sportsman Club is fishing our July tournament today at Sinclair. I wonder if I can catch a bass under docks?

I could have stayed home and cut grass last weekend rather than going to Lake Guntersville for the Potato Creek August Tournament.  In two days nine of us landed 24 keepers weighing about 58 pounds.  There were no limits and three fishermen didn’t catch a keeper in two days, I think.

    Kwong Yu won with six weighing 17.15 pounds and had big fish with a 5.47 pound largemouth, Tommy Reeves had four weighing 10.52 for second, Ryan Edge came in third with four weighing 10.35 pounds and Raymond English was fourth with five at 10.27 pounds.

    Fishing was tough.  The first day I tried everything I knew to do, from shallow grassbeds to deep ledges.  I caught some short fish that I could not weigh in.  The size limit at Guntersville is 15 inches for largemouth and smallmouth and there is no limit on spotted bass but our club has a 12-inch size limit on them.

    At 11:00 I hooked and lost what felt like a decent fish that hit a jig and pig on a shellbed on a 14-foot-deep ledge.  I fished several other places then at 2:00 went back to the shellbed and caught a 15-inch spotted bass on my first cast with the jig and pig.  An hour later I landed a 16-inch spot there that hit my jig as I reeled it in for another cast. That was a suicide spot that was just meant to get caught.

    That day Ryan led with four weighing just over ten pounds and Raymond was second with four weighing eight pounds.  The second day I never hooked a keeper although I fished the shellbed hard, starting there at daylight. 

    Kwong had the kind of day we all hope for the second day. On the first day, like me, he had two keepers weighing three pounds. But on Sunday he landed four weighing almost 14 pounds, including the big fish, and won.

    Fishing will continue to be very tough for at least another month, then the cooler weather should make fishing more comfortable and encourage the bass to bite.

Last Friday and Saturday 13 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our May tournament at Lake Hartwell. From 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM Friday and 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM Saturday, it took us 18 hours to land 98 keeper bass weighing about 173 pounds.  There were 13 five bass limits and no one zeroed.

    Raymond English won with ten bass weighing 20.71 pound, beating Niles Murray who came in second with ten weighing 20.68 pounds.  Unfortunately for him but good for Raymond, Niles had a .06 pound penalty for a dead fish that made the difference!

    Lee Hancock had ten weighing 18.27 pounds for third and Glenn Anderson had ten for 18.9 pounds for fourth and his 5.0 pound largemouth was big fish. My nine at 14.42 pounds was way back for fifth.

    Hartwell seems to get me every year. Potato Creek has fished Hartwell this same weekend in May since I joined the club seven years ago, and it seems I always come up short.  Even though I went up Tuesday and camped at Hartwell State Park and looked for something that would catch fish for two days before the tournament, I did not find it!

    We put in for the tournament at the mouth of Little Beaverdam Creek, many miles by water from where I camped but only 15 minutes driving on the road.  Wednesday I drove to Hatton Ford Ramp, the tournament site, and looked around that area then put in at the state park to practice in that area on Thursday.

    I tried a variety of places and lures both days.  I thought I had found a pattern casting a weightless Trick worm to shallow cover on shady banks, catching a few keeper bass doing that on Wednesday. And Thursday I caught some on a buzzbait on a shady bank. That gave me something of a plan.

    I started the tournament pretty good, catching a limit of keepers before 6:45.  I ran back in a small creek I have been fishing since catching fish there in s Top Six Tournament in the 1980s and caught two on a spinnerbait around bushes.  Then at one dock I caught two on a topwater plug, missed two more on it, and caught my fifth fish on a whacky rigged worm.

    At about 8:00 I started running different things, hitting a couple humps and points.  Then at 10:00 I went back into a small creek and started catching better fish on a Carolina rigged Baby Brush Hog.  I quickly culled all five I had caught early then spent the next two hours culling up, landing about 15 keepers in two hours.

    For some reason I stopped getting bites around noon.  I tried a lot of different things that afternoon but had five weighing 8.71 pounds to weigh in, putting me in sixth place.

    Saturday morning I ran back to the same small creek where I started the day before and got one bite, from an 11 inch bass!  It started as “one of those days,” no keepers and on one cast the side plate of one of my favorite reels fell off, hit the deck and bounced into the lake!

After setting up another rod, I then ran to the creek where I had caught so many the day before, and got one bite, this time a 13-inch spot.  I have no idea what changed other than it was cloudy Friday and sunny Saturday, and there were a lot more boats running around Saturday.

    I kept fishing and caught two more keepers but broke my line setting the hook twice and missed two more bites.  Everything just went wrong. With 30 minutes left to fish I went back to a point near weigh-in and caught my fourth fish on a roadbed with ten minutes left to fish.

That was the best ending I could hope for on a bad day!

Last Sunday 11 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our May tournament at West Point Lake.  We fished nine hours, from 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM, to land 43 bass weighing about 74 pounds.  There were six five bass limits and one person did not weigh in a keeper.

    Raymond English blew us all away with a great catch of five bass weighing 17.01 pounds and had a 5.33 pound largemouth for big fish.  Glenn Anderson came in second with five at 12.58 pounds and had a 5.12 pound largemouth for second biggest bass.  Doug Acree had a five bass limit weighing 7.87 pounds for third, Lee Hancock had five weighing 7.60 pounds for fourth and my five at 6.88 pounds was fifth.

    I had a very frustrating start.  On a rocky bank that usually has some feeding fish at daylight, I hooked four bass that looked like keepers, and lost all four.  Two jumped and threw my buzzbait although had a trailer hook on it. And two jumped and threw my popping plug.

At 7:30 I finally hooked and landed a keeper spot on a shaky head worm, then at 9:00 I landed another keeper spot on a Carolina rigged worm.  I had tried a variety of places and baits without much luck and that continued until 11:30.

I decided to try something different so I went to one of the few docks in the area and skipped a whacky rigged Senko under it.  I saw a fish swim over and go down after it and hit it, and I landed a very skinny 16 inch largemouth.

The next three docks I fished produced two more keepers, one spot and another skinny largemouth, giving me my limit by noon.  Then it got tough again. I kept looking for docks to fish and caught another largemouth that culled one of my small spots at 2:00.

While Zane backed my trailer in for me I skipped the Senko to the dock at the ramp, saying this is my last cast today. I landed my seventh keeper, a small spot that did not cull, before I had to load my boat.  

Last Saturday nine members of the Flint River Bass Club fished our May tournament at West Point. We cast from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM to land 21 keeper bass weighing about 30 pounds.  Three people had five bass limits and two members did not catch a fish.

Niles Murray won with five bass weighing 8.05 pounds and had a 2.99 pound largemouth for big fish.  Lee Hancock came in second with five weighing 6.19 pounds, my five at 5.88 pounds was third and Doug Acree placed fourth with four at 5.46 pounds.

I have a favorite shallow gravel point in the spring at West Point near the dam. Shad spawn on it and I have caught many fish on it in April and May in past tournaments.

In one tournament about ten years ago I got seven hits on my first seven casts with a topwater popper. I landed five, putting my limit in the live well in less than ten minutes.  They were 14-inch spots and I ended up culling all of them later but that was a fast, fun ten minutes!

Shad were spawning there Saturday morning and I caught two keeper spots and two hybrids in the few minutes before the sunlight hit the water.  Then it got tough.  I had only one bite, a small keeper fish that jumped and threw my buzzbait at about 9:00 AM. 

The wind got strong and it was surprisingly cold.   I headed up the lake to fish a protected creek at 11:00 AM and noticed a small secondary point that I like to fish in a cove. And it looked protected from the wind.

I pulled in there and caught three keepers, filling my limit in the next 30 minutes.  Although I fished hard I got only one more bite, a keeper that culled my smallest spot, at 2:00, just 30 minutes before weigh-in.

Two of my bass and both hybrids came on a topwater popper, two on a Carolina rig and one on a shaky head worm.

See the leadup and practice for this tournament here.

The fishing was as bad as expected. Twenty-five members of the club fished for nine hours on Saturday in the ridiculous, dangerous wind and seven more on Sunday, a much better day. But we caught only 29 bass weighing about 81 pounds. There were 13 zeros and only three limits.

As always someone catches them. Sam Smith won with ten weighing 30.65 pounds and had big fish with a 5.36 pound largemouth. His partner Carl Heidle had seven weighing 16.95 pounds for second, Raymond English had four weighing 7.83 pounds for third and David Martin had four at 7.79 pounds for fourth. My four at 6.82 pounds was good for fifth.

When we finally blasted off, I ran around to what I thought would be a protected area behind an island but the wind was so strong I could not fish. That made me go to the small creek hoping the wind would not be too bad in there, and there were a few areas I could fish without losing my cap to the wind.

I was pitching a jig and pig to the edge of grassbeds, letting it fall to the bottom in water a few inches to a few feet deep. At about 10:00 I got a bite but when I set the hook my line broke in the reel – a sure sign I had missed a bad place in it about 20 feet up when I checked then night before. To add “insult to injury,” the keeper fish jumped trying to get rid of my jig stuck in its jaw!

I finally got another bite at about 1:00 but the wind had my line bowed out and I missed the fish. Finally at 2:00 one hit my jig and I landed a 1.64 pounder, and was proud to have something to weigh in the first day.

Sunday as much colder but the wind did not blow.  For the first hour or so I had to dip my rod in the water after every cast to melt the ice out of the guides. And it started just as bad, with no bites until about 11:00. Then a fish grabbed my jig and ran toward the boat but spit it out before I could set the hook.

At noon I finally landed one small keeper and about gave up since I was tired, there was three hours left to fish and I did not have much hope. But at 2:00
I went to the grassbed where I caught my keeper on Saturday and caught a decent keeper, then got a second one off a nearby dock on a shaky head worm. Then it was time to go in and face the results of two tough days!

I hope the weather settles down soon!!