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After our solid outing the previous saturday on Wheeler, I was super stoked to be able to put a solid pattern to work. Brad and I had learned a whole lot and I was ready to double down on the pattern on a Friday night.
You can read about our tournament in the following link
Alas, it seems that anytime you dangle a fishing trip like a carrot in order to get you through the week, it is destined to disappoint. Maybe that's just me. But, the only thing that kept me motivated was the thought that I was on fish and I could wack 'em Friday night out of First Creek.
Josh and I would be fishing together. Not only was there a check on the line for that tournament, but also an opportunity to close the gap between ourselves and the gentleman who is in first. With only the Classic remaining, it was imperative that we cash a check. Chances were, our opponet would. Which is why he is currently a full tournament's winnings in front.
Our game plan was to work grass lines for about 30 minutes while the sun was still up and hot. We figured we would throw frogs and flip from 6-7PM before heading to our real patterns.
That pattern would be throwing Pop-Rs in shallow cuts on the main river for smallmouth.
But, about time we fired the big motor up to make the lengthy run to the main channel, a very nasty storm blew up. We waited it out in a slip in the marina. The storm cleared and darkness settled on us, completely eliminating the bite that we hoped to cash in upon.
With those shallow cuts having so many logs, we didn't want to risk getting thrown in the water or worse by hitting them. We moved to main river points, instead.
Initially, I began fishing the 10 foot contour line, but as I trolled us, I stumbled upon a mound of fish in 14 feet. They were holding onto a rock pile adjacent to a bait ball. It was very obvious that this was exactly what I was looking for. I made a comment to Josh and backed us off into 25 feet before tossing a C-rig with a PTL 6" Gator onto the ledge.
A fish snagged the bait and I hoisted aboard our first bite of the evening. Josh boated a second fish just seconds later on the rock pile.
Yes. This is what we needed.
And then, nothing.
We fished the ledge hard, but we could not get the fish to bite. I trolled us around, trying to relocate the rock pile, but the fish had moved off of it.
We moved to the next point, this time side scanning and graphing instead of fishing. Nothing.
We managed to have one other bite that was from a bass around 12:45, this time on a PTL 5" Sick Stick, but it was soo short.
Weigh in was as expected. There were two limits weighed in. The winning bag was 8 pounds. Third took just two fish, both bigger than the two we had.
The most frustrating part is that our AOY opponet also zero'd in terms of a check. Meaning, we had the exact opportunity we needed to make up ground going into the Classic.
Our inability cost Josh more than I, as he was statistically eliminated from winning AOY. In order for me to win, I have to win the Classic with Big Fish while my opponet must not cash a check of any kind. That seems highly unlikely, though it is possible, as I did it just two years ago. But, my luck ain't that good.
That good news is, the Big Fish of the Year is only 4.8 and Big Smallie of the year is 3.1, both beatable. Both of those are checks I could cash, regardless.
I wish I could say what we did wrong, but I think the weather was the primary factor and it didn't matter WHAT you did. That's my story.
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