Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Equipment Review for Bass Pro Extreme Series Spinning reel
As many of my readers will know, I have made an honest effort at getting back to the basics of bass fishing. When the water is tough and the fish won't bite the power baits, you got to be able to throw the shakey head. Considering that I didn't own a spinning reel any more, that might be a problem.
This Xmas, I received a Bass Pro card from my loving father and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. However, I didn't have much money to spend and I had learned my lesson on buying cheap spinning reels. I had heard good things on the Extreme series reels and decided that I would give it a try. I purchased the EX20B. Even got it on sale for $49.99!
Here is the link to check it out!
When I received it, I was simply amazed at the smoothness. I spooled it with 8 pound Seguar red label. The first time I got to use it was at Logan-Martin. When the day got tough, I swapped from power fishing to the shakey head. It hasn't disappointed me since. It has handled some very nice fish since.
For the money, the BPS Extreme Reels cannot be beat. Period.
My only issues with the reel are:
The drag is touchy. It goes from very loose to very tight REAL quick.
The bail is setup in such a way the catches the line every few casts
Other than that...terrific piece of weaponry!
Equipment Review for Bass Pro Extreme Combo Caddy
Read about all of my Fishing Adventures!
We were visiting Nashville this past weekend for the annual Lads to Leaders Convention (Church convention that features Bible based competitions). We have been coaching the senior puppet team for the last few years (we won 2nd this year!). Anyway, made a stop at Bass Pro and they had these dandies on sale:
Because I fish out of other people's boats frequently, I have a hard time transporting my tackle...specifically my rods. I usually take between 4-6 as a back boater...which I feel limits me. Even with this "small" amount, there are hooks everywhere. They get tangled up in each other and it is down right dangerous to the rods. I have broken many rods in transportation. Well, this thing looked like it would be awesome. It holds 8 combos. So, I bought it.
http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Extreme-Combo-Caddy-Rod-and-Reel-Carrier/product/15114/65040
My initial questions were:
can it REALLY fit 8 bait cast combos?
will it keep the hooks from going everywhere?
The answer is yes. It does a fantastic job of wrangling 8 bait cast combos.
My only complaint is that they say it will fit up to 7'2'' rods. it's more like 7'0''. And I have 2-3 rods that are 7'3''-7'6''. Why not make it a little larger to fit them all?
Anyway, solid piece of equipment. If you tote your rods around, this is a MUST HAVE!
Free Swimbait contest!
That's right folks! FREE FREE FREE!
All you have to do is send me a screen shot of being the 10,000 hit on my blog, I will ship you 5 FREE CUSTOM POURED SWIMBAITS!
The 15,000 hit will get 10!
The 20,000 hit will get 15!
All you have to do is pay shipping!
All you have to do is send me a screen shot of being the 10,000 hit on my blog, I will ship you 5 FREE CUSTOM POURED SWIMBAITS!
The 15,000 hit will get 10!
The 20,000 hit will get 15!
All you have to do is pay shipping!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Custom Poured Swimbaits Update
I have some good news and some bad news....but the bad news is kinda good news.
Most of you have seen my swimbaits:
http://best5zach.blogspot.com/p/zachs-custom-swim-baits.html
I usually pour swimbaits 1-2 times a year. Once you get everything setup, it just makes life easier. Well, back in January, I poured over 300 swimbaits. I gave a few away. I used maybe 5 of them (they are hardy baits). The rest, I sold. I got an email yesterday from a gentlemen from Columbus GA asking about buying some swimbaits. Well, I knew I was low. In fact, I knew I was down to my own personal stash....usually those that weren't judged as "perfect". But, I told him I wold look. Turns out, I had less than 20! He was happy to buy what I had. Well, I just shipped off the LAST of my baits.....in April! What a terrific feeling! Guess I will be ordering more plastic today.
If you have a need for swimbaits, let me know! Email me at :
zach.taylor@yahoo.com
Most of you have seen my swimbaits:
http://best5zach.blogspot.com/p/zachs-custom-swim-baits.html
I usually pour swimbaits 1-2 times a year. Once you get everything setup, it just makes life easier. Well, back in January, I poured over 300 swimbaits. I gave a few away. I used maybe 5 of them (they are hardy baits). The rest, I sold. I got an email yesterday from a gentlemen from Columbus GA asking about buying some swimbaits. Well, I knew I was low. In fact, I knew I was down to my own personal stash....usually those that weren't judged as "perfect". But, I told him I wold look. Turns out, I had less than 20! He was happy to buy what I had. Well, I just shipped off the LAST of my baits.....in April! What a terrific feeling! Guess I will be ordering more plastic today.
If you have a need for swimbaits, let me know! Email me at :
zach.taylor@yahoo.com
Monday, April 9, 2012
Fishing with the kids
When Publix built their store on the corner of Jeff and HW53, they setup a land trust complete with two fairy large ponds. I had heard they were stocked and upon inspection last year, saw that indeed there were small bass and other pan fish. Since bass only grow a pound a year, I didn't want to wait for 2-3 years to catch fish of decent size. So, I did what most fishermen do....I brought home some good fish from both Wheeler and Guntersville and stocked it myself. I didn't expect that to pay dividends....maybe even ever. At least not for me. But maybe the gene pool would get deeper. Maybe someone would catch the biggest bass of their life. After all, not every body has access to a boat or can afford to fish.
Well, I had been over there a few times. After all, it's only about 10 minutes from my house and about 2 minutes from my parents. First few times I went over there with the kids, no luck. Well, that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it. I am trying to get my kids some successful trips so they can learn. Other than a few good photos, the first trips were kinda boring.:
A few weeks back, my mom wanted to go fishing and she wanted us to come. So, we met her over there. I asked my friend TJ if he wanted to come, and he agreed. we showed up and went to it. But, no bites. I was throwing everything I had at them without luck.
TJ, however, finally found some fish on the deep section of the lake on a lizard. Nothing big, but at least we had something to show the kids.
A little aside here, but this year, as you either know from reading, or can witness by the LACK of posts so far this year, has been tough. It could be bad luck, could be that I don't pick the good days, but PERSONALLY, I think it's because I am geting to confident (head strong) in my methods....namely, power fishing. Until a month ago, I didn't even have a spinning rod. I never throw plastics. So, starting at the Logan-Martin tourny last month, I decided that I would make a serious effort this year to re-learn finesse fishing...which is what I grew up doing.
So, on Saturday, I had some spare time in the afternoon. I picked up my spinning reel, a packet of Yum Dingers and a packet of Spot Remover Pro shakey heads, and took Griffin up to Publix. My current finesse combo is a Bass Pro Extreme Series Spinning reel and a Gander Mtn. Spinning Rod strung with Seguar Red Label in 8 pound.
Just so you can see what I am using..haha!
Well, call me superstitious...call me whatever...but when I take the kids, I literally pray that I can catch something for the kids. After all, you need success to get them hooked! As we pulled up, the parking lot was full. After all, it was a beautiful day. Luckily, every one was fishing right next to the parking lot, so I put him on my shoulders and started walking.
With big bushed lining the banks, you have to find openings...which are far and few in between. But, at the first corner of the square lake, I started casting. After a few minutes, I was lifting the tip and heartedly shaking...and the line got heavy. Then it started moving..RIGHT AT ME! I tok up slack as fast as I could, but I couldn't keep up. The fish jumped right in front of us and threw the hook! It was a little bank runner, but no matter. I had one bite and I missed him! According the the luck I have had this year, that would probably be the only bite I got all day! But, I kept at it. A few casts later, felt one nibble on it. So, I swung on hi, and hooked up. After a few jumps, I could tell I had him hooked good, so I handed it over to Griffin and let him reel it in!
He was a lot more excited than he looks in this picture. I promise! we had one of those afternoons....one that I hadn't had in a long time. The kind where you actually caught a lot of fish! Now, none of them were very big, but he didn't care....so neither did I!
A funny thing did happen, though. I busted a sandle as far from the car as you can get and had to call my dad to bring me some shoes! Also, on the way out, we passed several people fishing. We exchanged pleasantries, but I found out through conversation that NONE of them knew there were bass in the pond! Hmm.....guess I shouldn't be writing any of this, huh?
Fast Forward to yesterday. I worked all afternoon as hard and fast as I could go. About 4:30, I decided to take Aubree with me. If I had the luck I had the day before, maybe Aubree could finally catch a fish all on her own. First thing I noticed was the amount of people fishing. Sure, it was probably the same as yesterday, but they were all spread out now! So, we decided to walk around to the far side of the lake....quite the haul! So, picked up the shakey head rod and her pink reel on a full size rod and went at it. Didn't take long to find that they were biting just as good, if not better, than the day before. I had to keep on Aubree to keep casting...and slowing down...but, she would listen and she was rewarded!
Caught it on a Yum lizard. I was catching more and more dinks, but I didn't mind. Better than catching nothing. One one particular cast, I felt one pick it up, so I slammed it. now, because I had been accustomed to the dink...and I was trying to re-learn setting the hook, I had been letting the fish have it. Most of the time, jerking them clear out of the water. But this guy just sat on it. Then he surged. And it stripped line. I pulled back, and he pulled harder. I thought it was a cat fish. Had to be. Cause, if it wasn't...it was a 5 pounder. And there was no way that I had stumbled upon one of those that I had put in here. Then it tail walked...and every head on that end of the lake turned towards us. The secret was out and in grand fashion. I worked him and he worked me. After several minutes, I lipped him. *DISCLAIMER* I don't normally embelish on fish...but there pictures don't do it justice. Don't know if it's because Aubree took them or what...but this fish was every bit of 4.5.
By the time I retied my shakey head, every bass fisher on the two ponds was within 20 yards of me...HAHA!
Thinking it was 1 in a million, I was ABOUT to call it a day...but the sun was still high. I made another cast and ANOTHER one inhaled it. Another few minutes later and I had another 3+ fish on the bank! UNBELIEVABLE! Few minutes later, I had another hook set and broke it off. It was another big fish, for sure. Aubree caught another few fish and we called it a day. That is as perfect as it gets! Best part is, we didn't pay $4 a gallon for gas!
Well, I had been over there a few times. After all, it's only about 10 minutes from my house and about 2 minutes from my parents. First few times I went over there with the kids, no luck. Well, that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it. I am trying to get my kids some successful trips so they can learn. Other than a few good photos, the first trips were kinda boring.:
A few weeks back, my mom wanted to go fishing and she wanted us to come. So, we met her over there. I asked my friend TJ if he wanted to come, and he agreed. we showed up and went to it. But, no bites. I was throwing everything I had at them without luck.
TJ, however, finally found some fish on the deep section of the lake on a lizard. Nothing big, but at least we had something to show the kids.
A little aside here, but this year, as you either know from reading, or can witness by the LACK of posts so far this year, has been tough. It could be bad luck, could be that I don't pick the good days, but PERSONALLY, I think it's because I am geting to confident (head strong) in my methods....namely, power fishing. Until a month ago, I didn't even have a spinning rod. I never throw plastics. So, starting at the Logan-Martin tourny last month, I decided that I would make a serious effort this year to re-learn finesse fishing...which is what I grew up doing.
So, on Saturday, I had some spare time in the afternoon. I picked up my spinning reel, a packet of Yum Dingers and a packet of Spot Remover Pro shakey heads, and took Griffin up to Publix. My current finesse combo is a Bass Pro Extreme Series Spinning reel and a Gander Mtn. Spinning Rod strung with Seguar Red Label in 8 pound.
Just so you can see what I am using..haha!
Well, call me superstitious...call me whatever...but when I take the kids, I literally pray that I can catch something for the kids. After all, you need success to get them hooked! As we pulled up, the parking lot was full. After all, it was a beautiful day. Luckily, every one was fishing right next to the parking lot, so I put him on my shoulders and started walking.
With big bushed lining the banks, you have to find openings...which are far and few in between. But, at the first corner of the square lake, I started casting. After a few minutes, I was lifting the tip and heartedly shaking...and the line got heavy. Then it started moving..RIGHT AT ME! I tok up slack as fast as I could, but I couldn't keep up. The fish jumped right in front of us and threw the hook! It was a little bank runner, but no matter. I had one bite and I missed him! According the the luck I have had this year, that would probably be the only bite I got all day! But, I kept at it. A few casts later, felt one nibble on it. So, I swung on hi, and hooked up. After a few jumps, I could tell I had him hooked good, so I handed it over to Griffin and let him reel it in!
He was a lot more excited than he looks in this picture. I promise! we had one of those afternoons....one that I hadn't had in a long time. The kind where you actually caught a lot of fish! Now, none of them were very big, but he didn't care....so neither did I!
A funny thing did happen, though. I busted a sandle as far from the car as you can get and had to call my dad to bring me some shoes! Also, on the way out, we passed several people fishing. We exchanged pleasantries, but I found out through conversation that NONE of them knew there were bass in the pond! Hmm.....guess I shouldn't be writing any of this, huh?
Fast Forward to yesterday. I worked all afternoon as hard and fast as I could go. About 4:30, I decided to take Aubree with me. If I had the luck I had the day before, maybe Aubree could finally catch a fish all on her own. First thing I noticed was the amount of people fishing. Sure, it was probably the same as yesterday, but they were all spread out now! So, we decided to walk around to the far side of the lake....quite the haul! So, picked up the shakey head rod and her pink reel on a full size rod and went at it. Didn't take long to find that they were biting just as good, if not better, than the day before. I had to keep on Aubree to keep casting...and slowing down...but, she would listen and she was rewarded!
Caught it on a Yum lizard. I was catching more and more dinks, but I didn't mind. Better than catching nothing. One one particular cast, I felt one pick it up, so I slammed it. now, because I had been accustomed to the dink...and I was trying to re-learn setting the hook, I had been letting the fish have it. Most of the time, jerking them clear out of the water. But this guy just sat on it. Then he surged. And it stripped line. I pulled back, and he pulled harder. I thought it was a cat fish. Had to be. Cause, if it wasn't...it was a 5 pounder. And there was no way that I had stumbled upon one of those that I had put in here. Then it tail walked...and every head on that end of the lake turned towards us. The secret was out and in grand fashion. I worked him and he worked me. After several minutes, I lipped him. *DISCLAIMER* I don't normally embelish on fish...but there pictures don't do it justice. Don't know if it's because Aubree took them or what...but this fish was every bit of 4.5.
By the time I retied my shakey head, every bass fisher on the two ponds was within 20 yards of me...HAHA!
Thinking it was 1 in a million, I was ABOUT to call it a day...but the sun was still high. I made another cast and ANOTHER one inhaled it. Another few minutes later and I had another 3+ fish on the bank! UNBELIEVABLE! Few minutes later, I had another hook set and broke it off. It was another big fish, for sure. Aubree caught another few fish and we called it a day. That is as perfect as it gets! Best part is, we didn't pay $4 a gallon for gas!
Monday, March 19, 2012
MFC tournament #2, Logan-Martin 3/17/12
MAN...Had I been looking forward to fishing this tournament. It's like a mini-vacation!
Last year, Josh and I fished this tournament and had a great time. We came down Friday afternoon and prefished for about an hour, then fished the tournament the next day. We did ok. I BELIEVE we had around 6-7 pounds on a tough day.
So, we repeated the process again this year. The first thing I noticed as we put the Bullet in the water was how low the water was. Even though it was 80 degrees, technically, it's still winter and therefore, at winter pool. According to Alabama Power, it was 5.25 feet below full pool. As we left out, we realized that last time we were here, we were skimming over underwater humps...which were now out of water. We fished some of the spots that we fished last fall without much success. So, we pulled out the Topo Map and started looking for spawn transition spots then went off to find them. What we found on the map were creek channels sweeping next to out of water, underwater humps.
I couldn't catch a cold...although I did have ONE good hit.
I was thumping an XCalibur square bill off of stumps in about 6 feet of water...specifically around some man-made crappie attractors.
A fish laid into the lure, and I gave it a good sweeping hook set. He pulled back on me...so I pulled back on him. And then he REALLY pulled. He stripped line from the reel like nothing I have hooked into in fresh water save for hybrid stripe bass. The speed that this thing swam at was incredible. It had to be Huge fish. And smart too...as it made for the first crappie pile it could find, tangled me up, and snapped the line. That was about the only bite I had, as I stuck to power fishing only...which turns out...was a mistake.
Josh caught a NICE spot on the Bama Rig
Then, he had a BIG blow up on a Lucky Craft Sammy. Luckily he didn't hook it.
on the way into the ramp, we stopped at a hump on the main lake channel. Josh was throwing a shakey head and bagged several fish and had lots of bites. Now, if you read much of my posts, you KNOW that I don't throw plastics much. I don't mean finesse..I mean, plastics...period. A shakey head is the LAST weapon in my arsenal. I mean, if I were a soldier and I had an arsenal...fishing with the sissy stick would be the proverbial last bullet in the gun....that I would use to end my misery. But...I can't argue with success....so I started throwing it. And I had bites. Lots of them. But I had SO little experience with it, that I couldn't stick the fish. This isn't something that has crept up on me. This is something that I KNEW I had to improve upon. I didn't even OWN a sissy stick until a month ago. The last few years have been fairly good to me...and even on TOUGH days, power fishing has gotten me a limit. But THIS year has been different. I have fished a lot more different lakes already, and there have been days that I didn't catch a fish at all, so I HAVE to make this a weapon I can wield. So, no luck on it...although it was working.....hint. hint.
I think Josh caught 6 fish total that afternoon. But we were able to figure out that the NUMBERS of fish were sitting on creek channels wrapping around under water humps that were now out of water. But the bigger fish were on the flat side of the humps.
So, Josh and I put the boat on the trailer and decided to have a boys night out in Pell City...whoop whoop!
So, we went and got some Mexican food. Had a good beer. And went back to the hotel...HAHA! We poured over the map and located more of those creek channels sweeping next to the humps. Now, I don't want to make more of our abilities than actually exist, but I will say that Josh and I do our due diligence on map study. We spend about an hour to 2 hours per tournament mapping out the day. So, with the spots circled, we hit the sack.
We expected the ramp to be busy..as it always is...and it turns out that, once again, there was a 150 boat tournament and we found ourselves in line to get in. Wasn't a problem, though. I dumped Josh in the drink, collected my phone, keys, and gun and shoved them in my pull over pocket. I don't believe on boarding the boat with anything in your hands because you might slip. And when you slip..you drop things. Well, the joke was on me. I slipped. Something fell out of my pocket and fell right in the water. Josh heard it and said "gun, keys, or phone?" I felt around. It was my phone.
This is probably the ONLY time that I wiped my brow and went "WHEW!". I have an original iPhone 3G. It's slow. My contract on it is long since up and Alyse has been asking me to get a new phone FOREVER! Now, the problem was that I couldn't call my club members and link up with them, so Josh and I trolled around in the dark...boat to boat...looking for the NASA club members. Finally, we gave up and started fishing. We ran to the first hump, where Josh had caught that nice spot and missed another good one. With our backs to the main lake, it was a long flat on the right of the hump, and the creek channel hugged the left side of the hump on it's way back into the slew. I was throwing the bama rig and had a SOLID hit. Pulled it in and we had a solid chunkie spot. Josh was throwing a crank and had one hook up. We got it to the boat and as I got the net dipped, Josh tried to turn it, and it shook loose. We watched the 3 pound spot swim away. We thought that maybe we had them fired up, but they showed us that we didn't know anything about fishing and the spot dried up.
We gave up on the spot and went to the next hump and had the same luck. We had made up our mind that if we hit two humps without luck, we would fish an intermediate spot. Something LIKE the humps, but also a shallow flat imitating the backs of a creek. Again, nothing. So, we eliminated water and went to the next type of fishing....fishing the back of creeks. Josh made a change and started throwing a natural color Bandit crank with a "thumbnail" bill, which would give it the deflection of a square bill and the depth of a regular bill. On the way to the back of the creek, he started fishing boat docks. He boated our second keeper on the crank. Made another cast and had our 4th. On the next boat dock about 10 yards away, he boated a non-keeper. So, I searched for a crank similar and tied on my Spro "Little John".
I made the remark to Josh:
"Man, I LOVE this lure....I can't tell you the last time I threw it. I bet it's been 2 years." He agreed. We talked about how this lure is just SICK on Wheeler...and yet we haven't thrown it in a long time. The VERY FIRST cast, I bagged a keeper. We were up to 5, although we had two fish that were REALLY small and we had no kickers. Next cast, short fish. Two casts later, another short. We decided that either we had caught all the good fish, or we needed to let the spot rest. So, we idled back so far in the pocket that we were kicking up mud. The area looked perfect for a spawning flat. There were stumps everywhere. So, I started throwing the bama rig. Low and behold, I caught a stump. josh was already cussing me...because I get hung up a lot. One of the lessons I have learned about bass fishing is...if you want to catch MORE fish, you have to take MORE chances. So, I throw into areas that most people may not chance. Which means, I get caught a LOT. Now...I admit...for some STRANGE reason, Josh doesn't get caught up as much as I. Must be that he is still better than I. I will go with that.
So, he got on the trolling motor to go fetch my lure, but we soon were grounded in the shallow water...30 yards short. So, I had a choice. Get in the water and wade out to the lure or eat another 40+ dollars worth of bait. Well...loosing a cell phone was bad enough, so in I went. The water was about 3 feet deep...which means it was chest level for me...HAHA! All I could think about were those scenes from "Mudcats" with the snapping turtles and snakes and whatnot. Makes me shiver just thinking about it. But, nothing bit me and I retrieved my lure. WHEW!
So, went back through those docks and Josh boated one that culled our small 5th. What a GREAT feeling. We were now culling on what was otherwise a tough day, well, at least for us.
It was 12:15. We had 1 hour and 45 minutes. There was another hump that we had circled the night before. While the humps hadn't provided us the fish we thought we should see, we decided to fish this one since we hadn't been to it yet. So, we ran to it. Of course, there was another boat on it...so we did the courteous thing and watched which way they were fishing it and we went the opposite way. After a few casts, we watched the other boat bag two solid keepers. But, we noticed that, once again, we had concentrated on the shallow side of the humps instead of the creek side. The boat finally packed up and left, so we maneuvered to the deep side. Like I had said earlier, the numbers the day before were on the deep side. So, we figured that numbers of small fish were better than no big fish.
Josh caught a few short fish on the shakey head, so I heaved a huge sigh of frustration and picked up the sissy stick. We were sitting in 15-20 feet of water and throwing to 2, then walking it down the drop. Immediately, I started having hits. Almost every cast. But, I was a novice at throwing this thing and I missed fish after fish after fish. FINALLY I stuck one. And I knew right away I had a monster. I backed the drag WAAAAAYYY down. After a 5 minute fight, we pulled a LONG spot into the boat. While it wasn't fat, it was long. We figured it was 3.5 to 4 pounds. Meaning that it was probably the biggest spot I had ever caught (3lbs 6 ounces). that culled the last small fish. I retied the shakey head and went back to it.
With 30 minutes remaining, we went back to our opening spot. With clouds gathering overhead, Josh started throwing the Sammy. It paid off as he pulled in another 1.5 to 2 pounder. We had one more smallish fish we wanted to cull. As we went around the backside of the hump, I went back to the shakey head...looking for that kicker.
A few minutes in, I hooked into another one. It FELT bigger than the one before. It surged to deep water, stripping drag.
"GET THE NET!" What a great thing to be saying with just a few minutes left. But, after a few seconds....it popped off. As in, broke the line. What frustration! But, we felt good with what we had.
We had to fight the crowd of the other tournament "Fishers of Men, North East Alabama"..who...by the way...throw a GREAT tournament. I felt pretty cocky about what we had, so as I pulled by the weigh in tent, I listened to the weigh ins. It took 18 pounds to win their tournament. That's a great sack..but the kicker was...the big fish was on that stringer and it was only 4 and a half pounds. That means that, besides that 4 pounder, their other 4 fish averaged about 3.5 pounds apiece! Wow. Suddenly I didn't feel so good about what we had. However, I did feel good that I had the big fish.
We met up with the club and weighed in at 10.20 pounds with a big fish of 3.49 pounds. Not bad not bad. As I started to beam with pride...I saw that it was good for 3rd. 3rd!!!!! And I missed, not only big fish of the tournament...but even big spot!
Our club brought their A-Game today. 1st had 13.67 with a 4.04 pound largemouth and a 3.76 spot! 2nd had 11.54 pounds.
Turns out, 2 out of the 3 teams taking home a check in our little 6 boat tournament would have taken a check in the 150 boat tournament. Josh and I were ounces away from taking one home as well.
So, congrads to our club. You guys showed out. I am proud of them. But I am proud of us as well. Seems like I never quit learning lessons!
1) keep your gun and keys close, but keep your phone closer!
2) when you least expect it, that weak method that you quietly have hidden...will eventually rear up on you.
3) Never. Ever. Underestimate your club members. They will stomp on you in a second!
HAHA! What a great time. Can't wait to go back!
Last year, Josh and I fished this tournament and had a great time. We came down Friday afternoon and prefished for about an hour, then fished the tournament the next day. We did ok. I BELIEVE we had around 6-7 pounds on a tough day.
So, we repeated the process again this year. The first thing I noticed as we put the Bullet in the water was how low the water was. Even though it was 80 degrees, technically, it's still winter and therefore, at winter pool. According to Alabama Power, it was 5.25 feet below full pool. As we left out, we realized that last time we were here, we were skimming over underwater humps...which were now out of water. We fished some of the spots that we fished last fall without much success. So, we pulled out the Topo Map and started looking for spawn transition spots then went off to find them. What we found on the map were creek channels sweeping next to out of water, underwater humps.
I couldn't catch a cold...although I did have ONE good hit.
I was thumping an XCalibur square bill off of stumps in about 6 feet of water...specifically around some man-made crappie attractors.
A fish laid into the lure, and I gave it a good sweeping hook set. He pulled back on me...so I pulled back on him. And then he REALLY pulled. He stripped line from the reel like nothing I have hooked into in fresh water save for hybrid stripe bass. The speed that this thing swam at was incredible. It had to be Huge fish. And smart too...as it made for the first crappie pile it could find, tangled me up, and snapped the line. That was about the only bite I had, as I stuck to power fishing only...which turns out...was a mistake.
Josh caught a NICE spot on the Bama Rig
Then, he had a BIG blow up on a Lucky Craft Sammy. Luckily he didn't hook it.
on the way into the ramp, we stopped at a hump on the main lake channel. Josh was throwing a shakey head and bagged several fish and had lots of bites. Now, if you read much of my posts, you KNOW that I don't throw plastics much. I don't mean finesse..I mean, plastics...period. A shakey head is the LAST weapon in my arsenal. I mean, if I were a soldier and I had an arsenal...fishing with the sissy stick would be the proverbial last bullet in the gun....that I would use to end my misery. But...I can't argue with success....so I started throwing it. And I had bites. Lots of them. But I had SO little experience with it, that I couldn't stick the fish. This isn't something that has crept up on me. This is something that I KNEW I had to improve upon. I didn't even OWN a sissy stick until a month ago. The last few years have been fairly good to me...and even on TOUGH days, power fishing has gotten me a limit. But THIS year has been different. I have fished a lot more different lakes already, and there have been days that I didn't catch a fish at all, so I HAVE to make this a weapon I can wield. So, no luck on it...although it was working.....hint. hint.
I think Josh caught 6 fish total that afternoon. But we were able to figure out that the NUMBERS of fish were sitting on creek channels wrapping around under water humps that were now out of water. But the bigger fish were on the flat side of the humps.
So, Josh and I put the boat on the trailer and decided to have a boys night out in Pell City...whoop whoop!
So, we went and got some Mexican food. Had a good beer. And went back to the hotel...HAHA! We poured over the map and located more of those creek channels sweeping next to the humps. Now, I don't want to make more of our abilities than actually exist, but I will say that Josh and I do our due diligence on map study. We spend about an hour to 2 hours per tournament mapping out the day. So, with the spots circled, we hit the sack.
We expected the ramp to be busy..as it always is...and it turns out that, once again, there was a 150 boat tournament and we found ourselves in line to get in. Wasn't a problem, though. I dumped Josh in the drink, collected my phone, keys, and gun and shoved them in my pull over pocket. I don't believe on boarding the boat with anything in your hands because you might slip. And when you slip..you drop things. Well, the joke was on me. I slipped. Something fell out of my pocket and fell right in the water. Josh heard it and said "gun, keys, or phone?" I felt around. It was my phone.
This is probably the ONLY time that I wiped my brow and went "WHEW!". I have an original iPhone 3G. It's slow. My contract on it is long since up and Alyse has been asking me to get a new phone FOREVER! Now, the problem was that I couldn't call my club members and link up with them, so Josh and I trolled around in the dark...boat to boat...looking for the NASA club members. Finally, we gave up and started fishing. We ran to the first hump, where Josh had caught that nice spot and missed another good one. With our backs to the main lake, it was a long flat on the right of the hump, and the creek channel hugged the left side of the hump on it's way back into the slew. I was throwing the bama rig and had a SOLID hit. Pulled it in and we had a solid chunkie spot. Josh was throwing a crank and had one hook up. We got it to the boat and as I got the net dipped, Josh tried to turn it, and it shook loose. We watched the 3 pound spot swim away. We thought that maybe we had them fired up, but they showed us that we didn't know anything about fishing and the spot dried up.
We gave up on the spot and went to the next hump and had the same luck. We had made up our mind that if we hit two humps without luck, we would fish an intermediate spot. Something LIKE the humps, but also a shallow flat imitating the backs of a creek. Again, nothing. So, we eliminated water and went to the next type of fishing....fishing the back of creeks. Josh made a change and started throwing a natural color Bandit crank with a "thumbnail" bill, which would give it the deflection of a square bill and the depth of a regular bill. On the way to the back of the creek, he started fishing boat docks. He boated our second keeper on the crank. Made another cast and had our 4th. On the next boat dock about 10 yards away, he boated a non-keeper. So, I searched for a crank similar and tied on my Spro "Little John".
I made the remark to Josh:
"Man, I LOVE this lure....I can't tell you the last time I threw it. I bet it's been 2 years." He agreed. We talked about how this lure is just SICK on Wheeler...and yet we haven't thrown it in a long time. The VERY FIRST cast, I bagged a keeper. We were up to 5, although we had two fish that were REALLY small and we had no kickers. Next cast, short fish. Two casts later, another short. We decided that either we had caught all the good fish, or we needed to let the spot rest. So, we idled back so far in the pocket that we were kicking up mud. The area looked perfect for a spawning flat. There were stumps everywhere. So, I started throwing the bama rig. Low and behold, I caught a stump. josh was already cussing me...because I get hung up a lot. One of the lessons I have learned about bass fishing is...if you want to catch MORE fish, you have to take MORE chances. So, I throw into areas that most people may not chance. Which means, I get caught a LOT. Now...I admit...for some STRANGE reason, Josh doesn't get caught up as much as I. Must be that he is still better than I. I will go with that.
So, he got on the trolling motor to go fetch my lure, but we soon were grounded in the shallow water...30 yards short. So, I had a choice. Get in the water and wade out to the lure or eat another 40+ dollars worth of bait. Well...loosing a cell phone was bad enough, so in I went. The water was about 3 feet deep...which means it was chest level for me...HAHA! All I could think about were those scenes from "Mudcats" with the snapping turtles and snakes and whatnot. Makes me shiver just thinking about it. But, nothing bit me and I retrieved my lure. WHEW!
So, went back through those docks and Josh boated one that culled our small 5th. What a GREAT feeling. We were now culling on what was otherwise a tough day, well, at least for us.
It was 12:15. We had 1 hour and 45 minutes. There was another hump that we had circled the night before. While the humps hadn't provided us the fish we thought we should see, we decided to fish this one since we hadn't been to it yet. So, we ran to it. Of course, there was another boat on it...so we did the courteous thing and watched which way they were fishing it and we went the opposite way. After a few casts, we watched the other boat bag two solid keepers. But, we noticed that, once again, we had concentrated on the shallow side of the humps instead of the creek side. The boat finally packed up and left, so we maneuvered to the deep side. Like I had said earlier, the numbers the day before were on the deep side. So, we figured that numbers of small fish were better than no big fish.
Josh caught a few short fish on the shakey head, so I heaved a huge sigh of frustration and picked up the sissy stick. We were sitting in 15-20 feet of water and throwing to 2, then walking it down the drop. Immediately, I started having hits. Almost every cast. But, I was a novice at throwing this thing and I missed fish after fish after fish. FINALLY I stuck one. And I knew right away I had a monster. I backed the drag WAAAAAYYY down. After a 5 minute fight, we pulled a LONG spot into the boat. While it wasn't fat, it was long. We figured it was 3.5 to 4 pounds. Meaning that it was probably the biggest spot I had ever caught (3lbs 6 ounces). that culled the last small fish. I retied the shakey head and went back to it.
With 30 minutes remaining, we went back to our opening spot. With clouds gathering overhead, Josh started throwing the Sammy. It paid off as he pulled in another 1.5 to 2 pounder. We had one more smallish fish we wanted to cull. As we went around the backside of the hump, I went back to the shakey head...looking for that kicker.
A few minutes in, I hooked into another one. It FELT bigger than the one before. It surged to deep water, stripping drag.
"GET THE NET!" What a great thing to be saying with just a few minutes left. But, after a few seconds....it popped off. As in, broke the line. What frustration! But, we felt good with what we had.
We had to fight the crowd of the other tournament "Fishers of Men, North East Alabama"..who...by the way...throw a GREAT tournament. I felt pretty cocky about what we had, so as I pulled by the weigh in tent, I listened to the weigh ins. It took 18 pounds to win their tournament. That's a great sack..but the kicker was...the big fish was on that stringer and it was only 4 and a half pounds. That means that, besides that 4 pounder, their other 4 fish averaged about 3.5 pounds apiece! Wow. Suddenly I didn't feel so good about what we had. However, I did feel good that I had the big fish.
We met up with the club and weighed in at 10.20 pounds with a big fish of 3.49 pounds. Not bad not bad. As I started to beam with pride...I saw that it was good for 3rd. 3rd!!!!! And I missed, not only big fish of the tournament...but even big spot!
Our club brought their A-Game today. 1st had 13.67 with a 4.04 pound largemouth and a 3.76 spot! 2nd had 11.54 pounds.
Turns out, 2 out of the 3 teams taking home a check in our little 6 boat tournament would have taken a check in the 150 boat tournament. Josh and I were ounces away from taking one home as well.
So, congrads to our club. You guys showed out. I am proud of them. But I am proud of us as well. Seems like I never quit learning lessons!
1) keep your gun and keys close, but keep your phone closer!
2) when you least expect it, that weak method that you quietly have hidden...will eventually rear up on you.
3) Never. Ever. Underestimate your club members. They will stomp on you in a second!
HAHA! What a great time. Can't wait to go back!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Family Fishing 3/10-11/12
Aubree had softball practice fairly early on Saturday and when she was done, we had a whole day with nothing planned. So, we went and picked up the boat and headed to Wheeler (Army Rec). We headed up to Flint River to find some white bass. I was really hoping that we could find a mess of them and they could both use their new rods that Santa gave them to catch some fish.
However, as soon as we arrived, I dropped the trolling motor and realized that the trolling motor batteries didn't get charged. Suddenly that stiff current became fairly insurmountable. I bet they were pulling 4-5mph current! I couldn't even hide behind the upper river point of Flint River. There was so much flow down river and out of the Flint that it would pull us right along with it. Flustered, I tried to swap batteries around to get a good combination, but 2 out of the 3 were toast. About the time I looked up, the boat was headed for the rip-rap on a solid pace. Fast enough to poke a hole in the boat, so I sprinted back up the walk way to get us away, stepping on Aubree's new rod and snapping it in two...along with her heart. :-(
After about an hour of fighting with the boat, I decided it was a lost cause, although my wife had been telling me that for 45 minutes. So, instead, we did doughnuts with the boat. I let Griffin drive a good bit, which he loved.
Not being satisfied with this, Sunday afternoon, we headed over the the Publix off of Highway 53 to the land trust. Now, I know that there are some decent fish in there...because I put them there. I also know that they stocked it. However, it is a young lake...shallow...with no cover. Which makes fishing it a crap shoot. To improve the odds of catching fish, I called my friend TJ and he met us there. It's a good thing too, because he caught the only fish! Even if it WAS a tiny bass.
We made a makeshift stringer and put the fish on there and let Griffin and Aubree play with him, which made their day of course.
A little later, he caught another solid pounder, so I know there are some stocked fish with decent size that haven't been eaten withe big ones I put in.
All in all, a great way to spend an hour on a lazy Sunday. Most of all, I am just thankful that my kids have the patience to fish and that TJ caught a few for them to see.
Oh, and for those wondering, I upgraded Aubree's rod that was broken to a real 1-piece 6'6'' rod. Even upgraded the reel. It was a single handed Zebco, which I modded with a Shimano Citica double handle...because I don't believe in leaving ANYTHING factory!
However, as soon as we arrived, I dropped the trolling motor and realized that the trolling motor batteries didn't get charged. Suddenly that stiff current became fairly insurmountable. I bet they were pulling 4-5mph current! I couldn't even hide behind the upper river point of Flint River. There was so much flow down river and out of the Flint that it would pull us right along with it. Flustered, I tried to swap batteries around to get a good combination, but 2 out of the 3 were toast. About the time I looked up, the boat was headed for the rip-rap on a solid pace. Fast enough to poke a hole in the boat, so I sprinted back up the walk way to get us away, stepping on Aubree's new rod and snapping it in two...along with her heart. :-(
After about an hour of fighting with the boat, I decided it was a lost cause, although my wife had been telling me that for 45 minutes. So, instead, we did doughnuts with the boat. I let Griffin drive a good bit, which he loved.
Not being satisfied with this, Sunday afternoon, we headed over the the Publix off of Highway 53 to the land trust. Now, I know that there are some decent fish in there...because I put them there. I also know that they stocked it. However, it is a young lake...shallow...with no cover. Which makes fishing it a crap shoot. To improve the odds of catching fish, I called my friend TJ and he met us there. It's a good thing too, because he caught the only fish! Even if it WAS a tiny bass.
We made a makeshift stringer and put the fish on there and let Griffin and Aubree play with him, which made their day of course.
A little later, he caught another solid pounder, so I know there are some stocked fish with decent size that haven't been eaten withe big ones I put in.
All in all, a great way to spend an hour on a lazy Sunday. Most of all, I am just thankful that my kids have the patience to fish and that TJ caught a few for them to see.
Oh, and for those wondering, I upgraded Aubree's rod that was broken to a real 1-piece 6'6'' rod. Even upgraded the reel. It was a single handed Zebco, which I modded with a Shimano Citica double handle...because I don't believe in leaving ANYTHING factory!
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