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Monday, December 9, 2019

Fishing Report for Wheeler/Dry Creek Marina Open 12/7/19

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Got a lot to unpack from this weekend and I will try and make it not turn into a novel. As many of you know, mid-November and December have been FANTASTIC to me over the last year. It's not that previous years haven't been good, I just haven't fished as much in the winter. But once I started figuring some stuff out, it has made for must-fish days. You can read about some of those by clicking the link below.


Ok, so let's get right to it. We've had some decent days this winter, won some small tournaments, caught a lot of fish, but we haven't had big bags like we had last year. On my birthday, I got out by myself and, wouldn't you know it, the big ones were biting. I racked up around 21 pounds of smallies, largemouth, and spots while catching around 20 total fish. You can read about that by clicking the link below.


But over the last two weeks, I've been practicing for the Dry Creek Marina tournament. I wanted to prove to myself that we could do more than win smaller events and occasionally get a check in the Alabama Bass Trail. With three kids and a job, "practicing" became an hour here and there but never enough time to really nail down the finer points of where, when, and how of catching fish. I'd usually have time to fish three spots and decide if they were there and what they would eat.

Thursday, I fished Aldridge Creek and the mouth of Ditto, two areas that I consistently catch fish when there is current, and on Thursday, there was over 100,000 CFS. I didn't get bit on either of these spots, nor could I get bit on any of the individual rock piles that have been holding big smallmouth. I also fished a couple of new areas that I hadn't fished, but had some of the same features, but nothing seemed to be home. I ended Thursday catching one measuring fish, but I wasn't terribly concerned. The river was blown out and muddy. Plus, I knew that it might take a day or so for the fish to settle down after the flooding and extreme current. 

Friday left me with cause for concern. I went back to those two spots and caught fish. They did seem to bite whatever I threw, whether that was a Stike King 6XD, a swimbait or a jig, but they were all small. Now, I am glad I didn't catch any monsters, but I didn't expect monsters to be at those two places. 

Aldridge and Ditto are mere litmus tests for the rest of the upper end of the river. If they are there and they have decent size, then I know exactly what I need to do elsewhere to catch the big ones. So, when I went to my other areas expecting to catch decent fish, I was disappointed to find that I simply could not get bit. Leaving Friday afternoon, I wasn't really sure what to do. I knew we could get a limit of spotted bass from around Ditto, but it's a long way to ride from Decatur just to catch a limit of spots, and even if big spots showed up, we knew there was no way to exceed 15 pounds. 

So, you can imagine my level of concern when we pulled up to Ditto and had exactly two bites that resulted in me dumping a two pound spot at the boat and nothing else. We wondered if we needed to let the sun come up, as it hadn't cleared the trees quite yet, but that meant fishing another hour or so in a critical part of the day. We knew one thing: the current had stabilized to around 80,000 CFS and there would be high skies, meaning that the off-shore bite should be phenomenal. 

Instead of waiting, we decided to make a move to the off-shore areas earlier than we normally would. Just like summertime on Guntersville, all we've done is scanned the main river channel for abnormalities in the form of rockpiles and current breaks. Of course, there are a LOT of those, which is why it is imperative to get out and fish leading up to your tournament to know which ones have fish and which do not. 

Settling into the first off shore spot, Josh caught our first limit while I alternated baits. It became fairly obvious that either I wasn't throwing the right bait or the angle I had from the back of the boat was such that I wasn't going to get bit. So, I decided to throw the same thing he did. As I slow rolled a swimbait, I eased it over a rockpile, letting current take it. The hit felt like a smaller fish and even when I set the hook, it didn't feel like the fish had any weight to it. I told Josh not to bother with the net, but that became a mistake when I realized that the 5.25 smallmouth was running right at me. I reeled down and added a second hookset to make sure the fish was buttoned up and we netted her. That fish, plus a series of consistent culls by decent spots put us around 12 pounds by 8AM. 

Following that flurry of about 10 keepers, the bite died and we made our way to one of my big smallie spots. Typically, the big one will bite within five minutes, so fifteen minutes later when we hadn't been bit, we knew it was time to move on. 

We stopped on a bluff that I had randomly stopped at a few weeks ago and caught largemouth on before going back on the 24th and catching a five pound smallie. Obviously, there is something there that the fish want. They weren't EXACTLY on the same spot, but Josh boat flipped a three pound largemouth that helped the cause and brought us up to around 14 pounds. It was the only fish we caught on that stretch so we continued to move up river and stopped at the mouth of a creek. 

This creek is always hot or cold and it is that way year-round. It will either blank you or load the boat with nothing in between. I had caught a decent number of fish on the 24th on this spot, but none that would help. For the first ten minutes, it didn't seem like it was going to produce, but Josh made a slight boat position change that allowed the current to keep the bait in the strike zone longer. This paid off as we culled another couple of times, but we were spending more time on the cull beam than we were fishing. Still, we upped the sack to around 17 pounds, but three of the fish were all 2.5 pound clone spots and we hadn't caught but the one single largemouth and smallmouth, giving us serious doubts that we were going to cull up again, at least at that spot.

Now, Friday night and on the drive to the lake Saturday morning, I had said that 17 pounds would put us in the mix to be competitive. Knowing how the bite had toughened over the last few days, I figured someone would hit 20 pounds but the weights would plummet after that. My thought was that we should start rotating the big smallie holes I knew of and avoid areas that we knew held spots. That essentially meant there were three spots left that I had, one at the dam, one back around Ditto, and one in Decatur. 

Josh had a different plan and it is one of the best audibles, if not the best audible, that I have personally witnessed. 

This will seem like an aside, but just follow me. There are about three boats in the Thursday night wildcat crew that consistently win. Two of these, in particular, fish some areas that look completely and utterly random. Over the last few months, Josh and I have scanned all of these areas but we've never really fished them, nor have we seen fish on them. However, Josh noted that there was a SIMILAR area very close to us, so we motored over to it.

In the middle of his first cast, he made a comment that "if there are big smallies biting, we will catch them here." Before he got "here" out of his mouth, he set the hook on a fish, but we didn't think it was a smallie. It looked like a huge fish as it loaded the rod, but the bottom composition didn't look like anything a smallie would be on. For the most part, it was completely flat, but when the fish boiled yards from the boat, we knew we were in business. We boated a five pounder. Fist bumps all around.

Within five minutes, I had caught two more in the same ball park. We now had five brownies, only one of which was under four pounds and two of them were legit studs. It was only noon. 

We spend the rest of the afternoon just fun fishing, recycling areas and catching more and more fish. By 2PM, the size of the spots had gone up even more and we were throwing back three pounders consistently. Turned out, I was wrong on those spots. There was enough big ones to have been competitive on the spots alone. 

We weighed in 21.5 pounds and took home the win. 



Monday, November 25, 2019

Fishing Report for Wheeler (November 2019)

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November has been really, really special the last two years on Wheeler. I was starting to wonder this year because despite spending a lot of time on the water, it wasn't producing nearly the same as last year. Initially, I believed it was because this time last year, the water was up, the current was up, and we hadn't had such a brutally hot and long summer. TVA dropped Wheeler really, really low last month and there hasn't been a ton of rain. 

Pulling up posts from last year, which you can click on below, it was pretty obvious what the differences have been. Water level and current. We were seeing 75,000 CFS and high water, which positioned fish tightly to break lines and in big groups. A day here or there, we've had decent current, but it's typically been in the 30,000s. 


I've fished several wildcats this November and while we've done extremely well in them in terms of winning, weights haven't been stellar. We've fished mostly out of Ingalls in Decatur. Some days we've stuck around Decatur. Some we've run up river. It hasn't seemed to matter. The best bags we've seen came on Veteran's Day when we had a tournament out of Ditto. Some competitors had a 17-pound bag with two massive smallies. Second was 12 pounds and the weights plummeted after that. When we've won, it's been less than 12 pounds to take the win. That's a far cry from what we were seeing last year. 

Interestingly enough, we've caught our better fish around Decatur, literally within two miles of the ramp. It makes it really hard to justify running to the areas we know best, especially early in the mornings when it's super cold. Until last week, we hadn't bothered to fish the upper end of the lake at all because it just hasn't produced. 

In regards to Decatur, the best baits have easily been the A-rig. I've tried not to throw it, letting Josh throw it in front of me while I fished a variety of other baits, but it's been mostly futility. We've caught them on a spinnerbait as well, with Wyatt having caught several nice ones in the same areas that the A-rig has produced. Find the bait and throw the flashy baits at them. 

Starting last week, we started fishing the upper end a bit more. The first trip, we found that the fish were acting mostly the same as the ones in Decatur. They would only eat the rig and occasionally a single swimbait. I would fish a shakey head and a jig and I simply could not get bit. They also wouldn't touch a crank or a spinnerbait. On Friday, our best five went around 14 pounds, anchored by this massive largemouth I caught. We caught around 20 or so and it was a good day, but we had to cover a TON of water to find them. 

Last Saturday, Josh did all the hard work, with me only catching a single one of our best five. We did find that the fish were starting to group up, but we couldn't find bigger bites and the smallies were nowhere to be found. All we could find were spots. We culled and culled, but could only get 10 pounds, which was still enough to win.

I was out on business the following few days and then decided to go fishing solo. I put in at Ditto and hit some of my favorite spots from last year. If you read those reports, what you will see is that I started catching small spots, then days later it was bigger spots, then the smallies moved in. So, when I started catching decent spots, I finally had some sort of confidence that the fishing was finally getting better. I moved around a good bit that day and found that they were finally hitting crankbaits, but still wouldn't touch a jig or shakey head. I caught around 20 fish, but nothing bigger than three pounds. Still, it was a positive sign.

So, I got out yesterday for my birthday. I headed down river to some bluffs with rock piles, marked some fish on the Lowerance, backed off and laid a jig in there. First few casts, I got bit with one pulling off as she went to deeper water. I could tell it was a big smallie. Fired it back in and boated what would be my biggest of the day, a 5.25 smallie. She went over 19 inches long and was completely fed up. 

Couldn't get bit again, so I headed to the mouth of a creek. Caught a few on a 6XD, which was a change. Mostly, these were spots but there were some largemouth. Was headed to a bluff when I saw a boat fishing it, so I stopped short of where I normally would fish and my first cast on a 6XD netted me 4-pound smallie. 

Eventually that boat left and I fished a deep drop off that has fish piled on it. Caught a few two pound spots on a swimbait, but they weren't biting as good as I would like so I kept on moving. At this point, I thought I had a good bag going. That escalated quickly.

I was running a rip rap bank were I've caught a ton of smallies, alternating between a jig and a crank, and when this fish hit, I knew it wasn't a smallie so I assumed it was a drum. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a five pound largemouth! It happened so fast that I had to boat flip her and boy was that fun. 

Again, I thought the day couldn't get better. I had 17 pounds or so. Boat flipped a 3.5 pound largemouth on a shakey head, the only one of the day on a shakey head. Now I had four nice fish and one decent spot. I decided to make a little longer drift down a bank of rip rap than I normally do and BAM, a smallie rocked my jig. Swung her aboard. Another four pounder. 

By the end of the afternoon, I had 21 pounds in my best five, catching around 20 fish. Amazingly enough, I had ZERO non-keepers. The majority of fish came on a 6XD. 

I talked to a guy at Ditto and he was asking me where and how I caught fish. Truth is, I caught fish everywhere I went, even places I don't normally fish. They were just biting yesterday. I think it had a lot to do with the water temps hovering around 58 in combination to the flow of 45,000 CFS and the cloudless skies. 


Monday, October 28, 2019

Fishing Report for Guntersville

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Hey folks, sorry it's taken me so long to check in. It's been a tough few months fishing, with record high temps and record lows in rain fall. If you recall, we had a club tournament out of Jackson County where we didn't get bit very often, but did manage to catch a few fish on a frog. The best part of that post was that I threw back enough fish to get big fish and likely 3rd place because I just didn't think two fish was worth taking to the scales and I really wanted to listen to Auburn vs Texas A&M. But I digress.

You can read about that trip by clicking the link below:


Anyways, two weeks later, we had our Classic and, wouldn't you know it, it was BACK on Guntersville. Why that lake got as many votes as any other lake, I will never know. But it did and it was drawn. 

It was another busy Saturday on the G with tournaments out of every ramp including a big frog tournament. Since our only success in catching measuring fish had been frogging, we decided that was what we would do. We headed into the back of Roseberry and began by throwing Pop-Rs around scattered grass, which yielded around four short fish.

When the sun peaked out, we swapped to hollow belly frogs and toads but couldn't buy a bite in the spot where we had caught fish just two weeks before. We began moving out towards the main river.

We alternated frogging and flipping, but I was able to catch one keeper on a Spro frog after the fish lazily rolled on it the cast before. But at least we were on the board. We ran another 300 stretch of main river grass without a sniff.

Moving to bank grass, I picked up the toad and caught a second keeper on my first cast. Then nothing. Next patch of grass, same result. 

We frogged all day, but didn't catch our forth keeper fish until five minutes before weigh in. It took 16 pounds to win, but there were only two limits weighed, total. I believe that means that in two tournaments in two weeks, our club weighed in less than five limits in two tournaments. Yack. 

In all, we caught around ten fish with only four of them measuring. I hooked all six fish that actually got to the frog with that amount split even between the Spro and the toad. 

There isn't much else to say about the G, aside from the fishing has been tough all-around. Had we been fishing the Spro tournament that same day, we would have finished right in the Top 20 with a payout of $225. Instead, we sulked home. 

The Alabama Bass Trail wrapped up with their Championship this past weekend where it took 34 pounds in two days to win a brand new Phoenix bass boat. While I'd love to point out how much of a struggle that would have been and how I might could have done well, I didn't exactly make the Championship, so it's a moot point. 

Monday, September 23, 2019

Fishing Report for Guntersville

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It was a quick turnaround from Friday evening when we fished Ditto from 5-9. Brad and I both were one tournament short of qualifying for the Cargo Club Classic, so we both had to fish this event. However, neither of us were able to get out there and prefish and we both knew it was going to be really tough. At one point, we were content to fishing the morning just for fun and then eating the entry fee and heading home.

My daughter had a softball tournament. My son had a football game. Brad had plenty of things going on and both of us really wanted to watch football as well. But, we made a deal just to go fishing and see what happens. 

The water temps inside of Roseberry were right at 78 degree but there was no current being generated at Nickajack and Guntersville dam was dropping water. Not a great recipe for success.

We started the morning fishing a spot Brad had caught some fish this time last year on topwater. We actually caught several fish on Pop-Rs at this little flat outside South Sauty in less than six feet of water. The grass was scattered and wasn't topped out anywhere in this area. The fish were all small and we quickly abandoned this because it was obvious there was tons of small fish. While Brad caught a bunch more than me, I tried to get them to bite several other baits including spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, but nothing was biting.

From here we hit a couple of other similar spots but couldn't get a single bite. Because there were no clouds, we figured we would start looking deep. We checked several places where we've found schools of fish this time of year. One in particular had a few fish but they were scattered due to the lack of current and we couldn't get them to bite. I had one pull a worm off my hook, but that was it. 

We combed these areas with jigs, worms, and cranks. 

We went back to a shallow water spot or two. No popping and no action. 

On a whim, we scanned the bends entering south Sauty and found a school of fish on a stumpfield. On my first cast, I caught a keeper on a jig. Brad boated a short on the next cast. We were REALLY excited at this point thinking we might be on to something. But we weren't. Those were the only bites we had.

At this point, it was 11AM and we had one keeper and it was getting hot. We decided that we would fish from 11-12 in the back of Roseberry frogging. First few mats we hit, no popping and no bites. I was about to give up but we decided to hit one more.

Immediately, I had two blow ups and they were fairly weak hits. Third was a great hit and the fish came completely out of the water. It was a really good fish and it took me what felt like five minutes to get the fish in the boat. It was a six pound head and and a five pound body, but it was a start.

Few casts later, another blow up from another four pounder, but she didn't get it. I boated a short on the frog and had about two other blowups. Then it quit. 

We ran the rest of the stretch, came back and tried it again, but never got another bite. At that point, we gave up and dumped the fish. That might have been a mistake as it took 13.61 to win, 12.67 to get second and just 6.61 to get third. Big fish was 3.61 and the fish I had caught would have beaten that.

However, I was glad to get off the water when we did. In all we caught around 10 fish with top water being the only thing we caught multiple fish on. 

Reckon we will stick to fishing Wheeler in the evenings. We plan to fish again this Friday 5-8 out of Ditto. Message me for details. 

Fishing Report for Wheeler 9/20/19

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As many of you know, Josh and I started hosting a little Friday evening wildcat out of Ditto. We really, really, hoped that the weather would cool and the bite would turn on. The first week we hosted it, which you can read about here, it seemed to look that way. Everyone seemed to catch fish and there were some good bags weighed in. 

The next week, well, it came back to earth. Only two limits were weighed in and they weren't great. We probably caught seven fish all night.

The hot weather remained, but on Friday it had dipped from the mid-90s to the upper 80s and TVA was pulling 45,000 CFS. It's too bad water temps were still around 83. We had a good turnout of boats and I expected good bags and a fair amount of fish to get caught.

Josh and I started where we have been starting: just outside of Ditto. We've been catching fish pretty quick on cranks here, but they weren't having it. I swapped to a worm, dumped a 2.5 pounder at the boat but we both put in a decent keeper. We didn't get bit again so we moved down river a bit. Only had one bite, but it was a keeper and it came on topwater, or first of the fall.

Three fish in the tank, we hopped around and we both caught a keeper on a spinnerbait on wood on back to back casts. We thought we might be on to something, but we didn't get touched afterwards. But, hey, we had five. 

We ran up to the point of Hobbs where we've caught our bigger fish. The first week we caught a ton of fish including several over three. Last week, only one but it was a 4.5 pound smallie. Not today. Not a sniff. 

The sun was down and while we caught a couple of shorts around Ditto, we were going to spend the rest of the evening inside Ditto throwing a spinnerbait. Josh caught the big fish of the tournament while tossing the spinnerbait around boat docks.

We didn't have much and while that three pounder helped, we thought surely someone would have even more. 

Unfortunately for everyone else, finding five fish was just as hard for them but we managed to find one good one. 

We took a win with almost 9 pounds. It was far from stellar. 

Eventually the weather is going to turn and it's going to get good, but not yet. We caught most fish on a spinnerbait, but really, that was only two or three. 

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Fishing Report for Wheeler/Ditto Landing 8/30

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First, let me start off telling yall that I am trying to host a nearly weekly wildcat out of Ditto on Friday nights. We started running some wildcats during they winter and I had so many people ask me to keep a running tournament during the fall and winter, so I am doing my best. Message me through my Facebook Page for info. We are fishing this coming Friday, the 6th from 5-9 for $25. 

Anyways, so we had the Ditto Classic, which is a two day event. We were on board the struggle bus, once again. We've never done well in the Classic, but this year in its entirety was just brutal. We just never found fish. 

So, we sulked about it for a few weeks and I started having people ask me if we would be willing to start hosting a Friday tournament. We gave it a shot this past week, even though we didn't have a whole lot of time to advertise it, we still had enough to fish. 

Josh and I decided to change things up. All year we went to the dam and all year we struggled. It's crazy how you can get bit prefishing and then strike out on tournament day, but it kept happening. So, we just went fishing. We decided to just junk fish around and see what happens. 

We started near the mouth of Ditto because we saw some schooling fish and the current was around 45,000 CFS which should be more than enough to turn them on, even though the water temps were around 88 degrees. I lost a two pounder on a crank, caught a keeper on the very next cast, then nothing. We had a few worm bites, but nothing that would take the worm. 

We decided to move down towards the bridge and I got swiped at with my crank a few times. I think Josh caught a keeper. I put down the crank and picked up a spinnerbait. I don't know why. The conditions don't seem to be very spinnerbait friendly, but my buddy Wyatt swears by it and it seems to work for him. Sure enough, first cast on a spinnerbait, I catch a four-pounder. We find that isolated wood seemed to hold fish, but getting them in the boat was tough as they were pulling the tails off my trailor. Josh did manage to boat a bunch of short fish, but for the most part, we didn't catch anything worth talking about.

As the sun went down, we decided to fish some current breaks up river. It was like a light switch went on and we caught around 10 fish on consecutive casts including smallmouth, which were mixed in.

I had boated a few keeper spots and then one loaded up. All the fish feel big on my custom crank rod, and when it got in the current, it felt like all the other fish as it swam towards me. Then it decided it didn't want to get in the boat and I realized it was a much bigger fish than I had thought. The fish short lined me, made some nasty turns, evaded the net, but eventually we boated a near 4-pound smallie. A few casts later and I boated a 2-pounder smallie. Josh caught fish as well, but none helped up. 

Then the light switch went off and we didn't get bit again from 7:30-9. Luckily, we had 11.5 pounds and the 4.30 big fish, which was enough for the win. 

The story from upriver was that the fish were biting just as good, with some big ones showing up, but Wyatt was fishing alone and couldn't get all of his in the boat. He had enough to beat us, had he been able to boat them. 

The topwater bite is non-existant and the worm bite is just as bad, seems like. That will change when the temps go down, I think. 

Looking forward to this Friday. Hope yall come!

Monday, August 12, 2019

Fishing Report for Wilson 8/10/19

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Has it really been a month since I posted? I reckon it has. There's a reason for that. I haven't been fishing much. I've been able to fish the Ditto Wildcat about every other week and one week, Wyatt and I even got to fish the day before. It's been a few months since I fished more than one day in a week and typically I am going weeks in between fishing. 

Again, there are reasons for this. First, just haven't had the time. We've moved. All three kids are in sports with one of them playing hockey AND football.

Second, the last month has been awful, at least on Wheeler. Even when there has been current, which there HAS been good current on some Thursdays, the fish just won't bite. Now, Wyatt and I did have a 12 pound sack that didn't include a five pounder that we broke a rod on trying to boat flip it. But the very next day, Josh and I couldn't catch anything even remotely the same size as the fish we had caught just 24 hours before, though we did at least catch some decent numbers. The Ditto Classic is this Thursday and Friday, so it would be a great time to find some fish.....

However, this report is for Wilson. Our club had a tournament this past weekend and I had to fish it so that I could make the Classic. However, Brad was on vacay and I had to burn a guest pass and get Josh to come fish with me. Neither of us had fished Wilson in....oh......months? Like at least four months. 

Our game plan was to fish shallow at day break and then go out to the 30-35 foot depths and look for off-shore schools, which Wyatt had told me to find. However, Saturday morning, Wyatt sent me a cryptic text that said, hey, if they aren't there, keep moving. Considering that's the only thing we had to go on, it opened up the day with a lot of skepticism. So did 85.6 degree water at 5AM. 

So, we hit Shoal Creek first in a spot that hasn't been good for me in the last few years, but has been one of the best spots I've found, when it's on. Shocker, it wasn't. We had a bite or two, caught some short fish. But it became pretty obvious that we weren't in the right place so we headed to McKerrnan Creek and started scanning the 30-35 foot ledge, specifically a ditch that ran along the leading edge of a flat. We marked a few fish here and there, but nothing that looked promising, though we did make some casts. Nothing. 

We moved up onto the flat and got a bite or two, but nothing in the boat. Got on the grass up shallow and Josh boated a first keeper, down the grass some more, another small one. We turned around and fished the grassline again, but didn't get any more. So, we moved to the other main river point of McKerrnan and I picked up first number three, a nice three pounder, on a spinner bait. We were up tight to the grass, so I saw the flash, and I tried to boat flip it, thinking it was just a keeper. First flip failed spectacularly. Second was successful. 

At the end of a grassline was a dock and Josh got bit, I got bit, but it was bream bites. I flipped my shakey head to the steps of the dock and the line shot sideways. I set the hook and the fish didn't move an inch. Just kept pulling towards the deeper water. Then she tried to jump, but just rolled. I yelled for the net. She tried several times to jump, but she was too big. Eventually we netted the beast. Eight pound head with a five pound body, but still, it was the kind of fish we needed, especially in a three fish tournament.

After trying to establish a pattern, we established that there was no pattern nor was there any bait that caught them better. Essentially every fish we had caught had come off a different bait.

Around noon, we checked the current on the TVA app and saw that it had gone from 19,000 CFS to around 32,000  at around noon. An hour would give the fish enough time to get into a stable condition, so we headed to Wheeler dam.

We fished up and down the seams without getting bit, but eventually I had two consecutive fish hit a 5XD. Neither got in the boat, but neither would have helped. Josh did cull up once with a decent little smallie. He caught another couple and I didn't get bit the rest of the day.

Our 10.5 pounds was enough to win with second and third being right there around our weight, but just not with a kicker. After what has been the toughest year I can remember, it sure felt good to get back to winning ways! 

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Key to Victory


If you've learned anything about me, you've probably gathered that I hate losing more than I love winning. After wins, I typically yuck it up with my players and their parents. I might talk to a player about something specific I saw or congratulate them for doing something great. We rarely have post-game talks after wins. 

Losses are another story. There's typically a lengthy post-game talk. I still might pull a player to the side and discuss something. More importantly, I usually have some introspection by myself, away from the team and even away from the other coaches. Typically, I start out mad about how bad we hit, then I will cuss myself for base coaching errors, and then I will typically open up the GameChanger App, (you can follow us at AO1 14U) walk myself through the play by play and check the box score.

After a thorough review of this second loss of pool play, before the next game, we have a pre-game talk. First, we discuss why we aren't hitting. We can't win if we can't score and losing 3-2 or 2-0 isn't any different than losing 13-2 or 20-0 because we aren't hitting well enough to make a difference. 

Then I bring something else up for discussion. We shouldn't be losing games with the defense we are putting on the field. From my perspective, it IS about our hitting performance, but it's also about how we are booting easy balls or making terrible routine flaws. More importantly, we are making these impossible plays on defense to keep us in the games and if we could just make the easy plays and put a few more balls into plays, we would win a lot more games.

I call it the razor's edge and this team rides it like no other. 

Let me give an example. It's the last inning and we are tied with two outs. We need to get this last out so we can get back to bat. Batter lays down a bunt, Hay charges, scoops up the ball and fires it a mile over our first baseman's head. Next pitch, runner steals and Key comes up to throw and we get the out. Except the field umpire calls safe because he claims Lindsey dropped the ball, which she didn't. We appeal the call and don't get it. Next pitch, runner executes a delay steal since our pitcher wasn't watching. Key throws a rocket, Hay puts down the tag but the runner cleats the ball out. That's the third time we should have this player out and we should be hitting. If I was the catcher, I'd be losing my mind, first at my own team and second at the umpires.

The base runner is feeling her salt and decides that she's going to continue to mess with Key, our catcher. She dances off the bag the next pitch, just begging to get thrown at. 

She dances too far and Key throws her out at third. 

Great play? Yea. We needed it. 

Routine. At least for this catcher. 

A few months ago, I am talking to a fellow coach and we are talking about pick off plays and what our catchers' throw-out percentage is against base stealers. 

When I gave him my guesstimate of 80%, he laughed. His default response was "well, the base runners at our level are too good to get thrown out like that."

I didn't argue. I don't know what kind of talent he refers to. All I know is what I've seen. I've seen Key hold players at first and third an entire inning because coaches are terrified of what she is capable of doing and does on a weekly basis, or they wouldn't fear her. 

Key, along with her pitcher and shortstop have consistently executed the old first-and-third baserunner steal pick off play to the point that it's become routine. It's so routine, we don't have a visit in the circle to talk about it. We don't even have a sign. If there's less than two outs, she's going to execute it and bait the runner at third to come home. If there's two outs, she's going to throw the runner out at second. I've seen them get both runners out at least three times. In terms of straight stealers being caught? It's gotta be around 90%. Teams don't even bother straight steals, anymore.

What I would give for people to have feared me as a player and keep them conservative. What I would give to have the talent to strike that kind of fear in other teams.  I've been able to do neither in my life. I'd be insufferable if I had. 

So as I sat and wondered how we were staying in games where we were being out-hit 7-2 or 10-5 or whatever, the same thing kept coming up. Other teams could not get free bases on us and when they tried, we got outs. That was all on Key. Key consistently makes these clutch, game robbing, desperation outs.....with the assistance of her teammates of course. We have girls who make circus plays all the time, my own daughter being responsible for a lot of them. None of them as asked to do it every game.

Without Lindsey at short catching those throw downs or Zay's rifle shot from right field, none of those outs happen. Still, catching the ball in that pressure cooker of a situation and catcher's gear is hard enough. Getting that tag down while blocking the plate and doing it consistently is something that few can do. In terms of a team, this team can do the impossible on the field, if they could just do the grind of routine fielding and hitting. 

On the flip side, Key's hitting hasn't been where it needs to be and I've taken it personally that what she does great has nothing to do with me and what she's struggled with IS on me. I pitch to her in the cage enough to know what she's capable of doing to balls, but it hasn't translated to numbers during games. She's getting on base often enough, but she's done it by getting hit, by being walked, and beating out grounders to first. 

More often than not, she's popped up to the infield, not from a lack of power but because she tries to do everything herself, which is the mindset of a great catcher. The other teammates and coaches see the helmet getting thrown, the bat tossed, the scowls, the bad side of her intensity. They don't see the other side of it. There has been nothing more heartbreaking than to be on the other end of the basepath from her as she's having a crying meltdown as she runs to first because she's under-performed again. As far as the team is concerned, Key is emotionless on the field. She's too big and tough to cry. 

Everyone sees the toughness. Everyone sees the grit, ability, and the domination behind the plate. Everyone hears her yelling in the dugout. No one sees her other side. So, in last week's championship game when she absolutely unloaded on a pitch that hit halfway up the wall and never got above 10 feet, I got to see something else no one else saw: the relief in her eyes as she watched that ball soar. 

Key is my Spirit Animal, my Power Creature. If I could be any player on our team, I would be Key. 

She's fearless and relentless, aggressive, quick to forget mistakes but plays with a chip on her shoulder after them. She loves to prove doubters wrong, whether it's about her speed, or her arm, or playing through injuries or errors, she's going to prove you wrong. She wants you to know when you've messed with the wrong player, just as she did with that baserunner. When she doesn't do it, she goes on to the next play. But when she does, which is more often than not, there's no chest beating. It's a point to short. It's a fist to right. It's get back in her crouch and go to the next play. It's getting the catcher's gear off to hit and help her team. 

Obviously, when we desperately need an out, she's one that we can count on to make that out, whether it's just holding on to a third strike, diving for that foul ball, blocking up the plate, or fielding a do-or-die throw from right field while blocking up the plate to save the winning run. And she did all of that just last tournament and she will do it again next tournament, over and over. 

During our tryout last year, Key was the first player to greet me at tryouts and she did so with a hug. Now, I shy away from hugs and I don't like people in my bubble. I especially don't care for any of that to come from a 15 year old girl, especially one that's sweaty and stinky. So after she had jumped in my arms and hugged me, none of which I could stop since she is bigger and taller than me, she smiled as only Key could smile and said:

"Remember when I picked up with your team last year and you said you didn't like physical contact or hugs? I remembered!" 

I was in no position to debate that, though I couldn't really remember her playing and I felt like I would remember her. So, I made an assumption that she must not have been good enough to remember if I couldn't recall a twin blonde braid, all smiles, biggest kid on the field with the biggest smile. 

Almost a year later and I can't figure out why she's still playing for me when she could be playing for anyone else. For that, I certainly thank her and her parents for their trust in me, but coach Alex most importantly for recruiting her and getting her on the field with us. 

I want to bring her out of her shell at the plate. I want her to swing at the first strike and do so without swinging out of her shoes. I want her to see her future and how bright it is, if she will embrace it. I have NO DOUBTS this kid can play college ball, if that's what she wants. She wants me to hug and dance, and wear a tu-tu during games. She wants me to be "extra" when I coach first and dance around. I try to meet her halfway. 

Whether or not she knows it, she's a heart of the team(there are a couple of them) and while she doesn't QUITE embrace it, she's a natural born leader. She has all the qualities if she will just put it all together. She's who we send to the circle to calm our defense. She's who we turn to to get the dugout loud. She's who we will bunt when we need to move a runner, even though she's one of only three on the team capable of hitting a dinger. She's so close to being as good as player as she is a teammate. And what a teammate she is. 

 She's our Key to Victory.

Monday, June 17, 2019

Fight Through the Night Together

The Importance of Being Well Rounded
I Ain't Never Been Nothin' But a Loser

It was just after game three of the day and I was standing just outside the tent city that our team would call home for 21 hours. I can't recall if we had a team talk as we usually do after games. The hotter and later it gets in the day, the more we typically just let the girls decompress before we reassemble for the next challenge. It was hot and it was late, not in terms of the time, but because of losses that were piling up. 

I felt the losses piling up on my shoulders like the weight of the world. Through three games, we had been outscored 16-1, 2-0, and 6-5. It was essentially the mirror image of the week before and the week before that. Can't hit. Can't score runs. Can't win. 

I sensed doubt in the players. I sensed doubt in the parents. That could be real or imaginary. I had doubts in myself and that was very, very real. I was worried that our players had lost faith in us and the parents wouldn't be far behind. It happens all the time and you can't blame parents for wanting what's best for their players. 

Doubts. Regrets. Questions. 

I'm not saying I know much about hitting. It's not like I went to a hitting coach school and I never played fast pitch softball. I was never a great baseball hitter. As these thoughts piled up, I reached the conclusion that maybe it was time to seek help or accept reality that I had overstepped my bounds and ability. 

In these dark moments, you analyze everything. What are we missing? What's the X-factor? How can we motivate them? How can they grow as a team?

Over the last month or so, we've identified and addressed team chemistry a lot. They weren't fighting for each other or pushing themselves past their preconceived ideas of their abilities because they weren't seeing their teammates doing the same.  "Getting along" has been the focus because we thought that being a family off the field would make them a family on the field, which would likely fix a lot of what we were seeing. They are a group of really good players playing well below their ability. 

All they needed was that galvanizing tournament. They needed that moment when it wasn't just difficult but hard to seemingly even impossible to win. They needed to hold not only their teammates accountable, but more importantly themselves and they decided that 11 girls would push together in the same direction. It's so easy to point fingers and fracture that trust and push each other apart. 

Game four is an elimination game at 6PM. In all honesty, I fully expected to lose and go home. I didn't see a team that wanted to fight through the night and all the way through the losers bracket. They are smart girls. They know how schedules work. I wasn't going to be shocked if they lost and we were home by 9PM. I wasn't going to be shocked if parents and players alike started looking elsewhere. Who could blame them? 

In the pregame we take a different approach. I went right at them. I told them up front that this was the same shtick they've heard from a dozen different coaches a dozen different times but I wanted eyes on me. All of them. And I better have their attention until I was done talking. 

"Do you want to be here? Do you believe in us? Do you believe in each other? If any answer to those questions is no, then let's call it and go home.  Don't get there and decide it's not worth it. Accept the challenge or let's walk away. Decide now if you want to fight through the night together and win it all, or let's go home now." 

And then I did the hard part for a grown man. I had to be emotional. 

"We love each and every one of you more than you know. You have to love each other and us, not in the personal sense but how we coach and believe in you. This is never going to work if you can't love each other and us. If you doubt, you are on the wrong team." 

Instead of trying to be the home team at the coin flip and worrying about that first inning, we decided that we would be the visitor and we would take it to the opposing team. 

And then we went to work. 

8-3 win and we never trailed, but more importantly, when the team scored, AO1 dropped a six run last inning on them and buried the team from North Georgia. Ball after ball is barreled. Three doubles and one triple on the six total hits. 

Then it was the team that beat us 16-1 with first pitch at 9:45 PM. The team from Cobb County Georgia punched A01 right in the mouth in the first inning, dropping four runs after A01 put up 3 in the top of the inning. 

Here is that moment. This has been the situation that has demoralized this team game after game, week after week. Couple that with the knowledge that if they win, it's three more games back-to-back-to-back. In the way lies a one-run deficit to a team that blasted them earlier in the day. 

AO1 scores one run in the second to tie it and hold the team hitless. Something is different with the team. Coach Alyse is yelling at Emma, the pitcher, to keep giving 100% every pitch. It's a reminder for her, but also for the defense behind her to give their own 100% and have her back. Emma pushes harder than I've seen in the years I've known her. Alex has the defense and pitch calling down. The defense is pushing behind Emma. Both teams are hitless and scoreless in the third. 

It's 4-4 in the fourth so we go to International Tie Breaker. Now we have to hit. Now we see if they've responded to me as a hitting coach. AO1 drops a five run fourth inning on them and backs it up with another flawless inning to win the game. Nine hits. Nine runs. Emma throws four innings of hitless ball and has pushed herself passed what she thinks she's capable of. More importantly, it sets the bar for the rest of the team, but most for the next pitcher, Deanna whom I refer to as "Smoke". 

It's 11:45 PM for the next game against another Georgia team. The bats are still white hot and swinging with confidence. AO1 is up 6-0 in the bottom half of the last inning when the team scores two meaningless runs. "Smoke" throws 60 total pitching in the game, 35 for strikes while piling up six Ks and allowing just one walk and two hits. Smoke has always had the capability, but we've never seen her push like that before. It's inspired pitching in front of a defense she knows will have her back. 

It's now 1:10 AM on Father's Day and we are on to the first Championship game against another team that beat us earlier in the day. 

Alex asks the girls do they want to be home or hit? It's unanimous. 

"HIT!"

AO1 throws three runs on the board in the first. Smoke shuts them out in the first. Nothing for us in the second. Smoke gives up a homer with one out. Promptly walks the next hitter. Then the next. Then a triple. It's a tie game. 

Here we go. This is when the wheels come off. This is when the defense fails the pitcher and the pitcher fails the defense and the hitting fails all while the blame game spins in the background.

But Smoke is angry. Weak groundout for out two. Three straight strikes to end the inning. Nothing for either team in the third, so again we go to ITB. AO1 throws up two runs, which would have been an impossibility before now. 

Leadoff reaches on an error and now there's runners on first and second with no outs. It's Gut check time. A past ball puts the tying run in scoring position. Ball hit to second. Aubree goes to Emily at first with it. Emily goes home to Key. Double play at the plate. Next batter ends the contest on a dribbler to Smoke. 

It's 3:07 AM and we start with a Shoot Out game, which is essentially ITB rules for one inning. First two hitters strike out and things aren't looking so hot but Hay is up and she's not only our best over-all hitter, she's been on fire the last four games. First pitch she sees, she destroys. If not for the humidity in the early morning air, she'd have a homer. A01 is up one.

Other team scores one and we are headed for another inning before the umpires inform us they've had enough softball. We are forced to call the "if necessary" game a draw and split the championship. No fancy talks. No trophy presentations. Just one little girl in the car with me having an absolute meltdown about how hard her team pushed and how far they came and had nothing to show for it

I feel for her but I'm smiling at 5AM while driving into the sunrise. 

Nothing to show for it? Not true. 

Not when you fight through the night together.