Sometimes I wonder why I go bass fishing in the winter and if a bass can be caught out of ice water. A Sunday in late January, 2011 at West Point really brought those thoughts on strong. The Spalding County Sportsman Club held its January tournament there and nine brave members showed up to fish seven hours. There were a total of two bass weighed in!
Sam Smith won it all with one keeper largemouth weighing 2.26 pounds, getting first place and big fish. As close behind as you can be on our scales, Niles Murray came in second with a spotted bass weighing 2.25 pounds.
The rest of us had stories of casting practice and one member told of losing a big one a the boat. I never had a bite all day although I tried everything I could think of to find a fish. A huge part of catching bass is confidence and when my surface temperature gauge showed 38 degrees at launch I lost all hope.
To show how much I know and how good we are, there was another tournament going on that day. West Georgia Bass Club is an buddy tournament trail open to anyone wanting to join and they fished the same day we were there with 93 teams in the tournament. I saw other bass boats all day that were probably in the tournament.
Almost one third, 33 of the teams, had a bass to weigh in. I was shocked to see the winning team had five bass weighing 19.08 pounds. It took 14.19 pounds for second, 13.59 for third and 12.98 for fourth. Those weights amazed me and I wonder how they caught such good stringers of bass under such bad conditions.
I have fished with several of the guys that caught fish in that tournament. They took me out and showed me how they fish for articles for Georgia Outdoor News. They fish just like I do, with much the same tackle and equipment. Yet they made decisions that day that allowed them to catch bass while I never got a bite.
Sometimes I think the ability to catch bass is almost a sixth sense or special ability. It is like playing baseball – anyone can learn to play. But no matter how hard most practice and work at it, they will never reach the majors. The same goes for concert pianists. Anyone can learn to play the piano but no matter how hard they practice only a very select few will ever go on tour.
Anyone, even me, can learn to bass fish. But no matter how hard I try I keep having days like that Sunday. And so far at that point that year it wass the only kind of day I had. I had not caught a bass in 2011!