Follow my Fish of 2014
"You didn't think we would actually cash two checks in back-to-back tournaments, did you?"
That pretty much summed up last night's wildcat tournament out of Ditto Landing.
We decided to change some things up. First off, there has consistently been 3 and sometimes 4 other boats on the spot we really like to start off on. And, since we hadn't really caught anything on that spot, we decided to try this other spot that we HAVE been catching fish on.
But, as we blasted off and ran to the spot, it was easy to see that there was ZERO current. We hadn't fished this spot without current. Additionally, the water was down several feet, which meant that the rock piles the fish were keyed on were now out of the water.
We started fishing and quickly caught 2 or 3 short fish. Mine came on a PTL Sick Stick.
But, it didn't produce a measuring fish after 30 minutes. When you have 3 hours to catch a limit, 30 minutes is a long time to waste on nothing. We jetted upriver to the Flint, where we fished a variety of depths and cover with a plethora of different baits.
While we burned water, Josh went to flipping wood. I didn't have a flipping stick with me, so I started flipping a shakey head on my sissy stick....no easy task. I flipped a sick stick into a lay down and got a heavy tap. I snatched the line and the fish wrapped around a submerged limb. We had no idea how big it was or WHAT it was, so we quickly set the trolling motor on high and positioned the boat over the lay down. I let the fish work itself free, which was the only option I really had on such light line. After it came free, it made several runs and I knew it wasn't a bass.
When it showed it's face, I contemplated cutting the line. But Josh said that we should get a picture of this rare beauty! It's not every day you catch a flat head!
Man, everything from flatheads to bream LOVE that sick stick!
After hitting every piece of wood, pushing out on the point, all without so much as a nibble, we ran to the point of Hobbs. We pulled up just in time to get into a gnarly school of white bass. The water was exploding around us as they fed.
In the past, largemouth have frequently been mixed in with these guys, so we went to catching them.
Truth be told, we had little to no confidence that we would catch a largemouth, but it would make the evening a lot more enjoyable. So, we caught a good many of them before we moved on.
By 730, we hadn't caught a measuring fish, though we had caught a good many short bass, white bass, and one big flat head.
We hit the rip rap outside of Ditto and managed to get one keeper in the boat along with 3 other short fish. We kept the small guy thinking...well...you never know what may happen.
Indeed, the streak of 4 fish winning the wildcat continues. There were 2 12 pound bags weighed in...and not much after that. The winning bag had a 5.5 largemouth in it...which is an absolute BEAST on that stretch. It was enough that the 4 fish with the kicker beat the 12.5 pound bag. The good news is, both the boats that won were dudes we enjoy talking to and are good peeps. So, congrats to them.
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