Getting Back into the Game for 2013!

Time has been flying by and the fishing itch is starting to kick into high gear!  Had the chance to go ice fishing with a local buddy and got into some of my first fish of the season.  First bass is on the board, and about 5 bluegills.  Also got out one day with Darkstar and caught my first crappie of the season.  Looks like I will have to start the scoreboard over for the new year!  You will notice in the next month that the blog will be getting a face lift to organize some things better.  You will also notice that I will be going through previous blog posts and expanding on certain topics and fine tuning with new details that I have learned over the past year.   This blog will start to read more and more like a how to on a few broad topics.  This way you aren't trying to piece through 10 different blog posts on crankbaits to try and find what you are looking for.  So be prepared to suck in some new tips and tricks of the trade!!!

Moving on to the main reason for this blog post....I want to take some time in the "downtime" of the open water season and teach you guys how to get your gear ready for the fishing battles to come!  Fishing gear can be a big investment, and the ultimate goal is to have that investment last for multiple seasons.  So here are some basic tips to clean and inspect your gear that will help prevent potential issues when you are finally ready for the water.

RODS

All rods are pretty much equal component wise.  Some materials are different between manufacturers, but cleaning them should be the same across the board.  The main items that I want to have on hand when I go through this process...

- Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

- Bowl of Warm Water

- Pledge Furniture Polish

- Elmers Wood Filler

- Microfiber Cloth

- Q-Tips

- Fine Sand Paper

These are pretty generic around the house items, but they work wonders to clean up any rod that you have.  The magic eraser is a FANTASTIC product and will bring any cork grip you have back to new in an instant.  Just use some warm water and give the cork a good scrub and BOOM looks brand new!  This magic eraser can also be used to remove dirt stains on EVA handles as well as hard to remove dirt or grime on the rod blank.

The Pledge furniture polish along with the microfiber cloth will be used primarily for the blank.  It does a really great job of breaking down all the residue left over on the blank as well as the rod guides.  Just spray some on a section at a time, let it sit for 20 seconds or so and then rub the blank down with the cloth.  You are cleaning the rod and polishing the blank at the same time...ends up looking like new!  For the hard to reach places you can use some Q-Tips and that should do the trick.

The last thing you want to do is look for any missing cork or holes in your cork grips you can use wood filler to fill the holes.  I would recommend doing this after you have cleaned the cork and let it dry.   Just use the pressure of the bottle to help squeeze the wood filler into the hole and let it overflow slightly.  Let it dry, and then sand down the excess....no more holes!  Make sure you also use a wood filler color that matches your cork....it can be noticeable if you use a different color.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to do a before and after of one of my dirtier rods, but I am telling you first hand that this brings it back to life!

Final checks of the rod will be to make sure that all of the handle pieces and reel seat are not loose or falling apart.   You will also want to check for nicks in the blank as well as scratches or cracks in any of the guides.  It is essential to check for this beforehand...the last thing you need is a broken rod out on the water and you weren't prepared for it.  If you have any damage I would recommend to shoot Ed Schmitt an email at FourSeasonAngler@gmail.com to see what he would recommend doing to get your rod back in shape.

REELS

I will forewarn anybody before continuing on with this section, that they understand that the amount of small parts can get hairy when dealing with a reel for the first time.  I would be very cautious when taking one apart and be as meticulous as possible when pulling a reel apart.  With that said, lets continue...

Baitcasters:

If you are wanting to do just a basic external cleaning I would recommend you do a couple things....

1) Remove the reel spool and remove any old line

2) Clean the outside of the reel thoroughly with a rag and a degreaser with warm water

After this is completed I would recommend having some low viscosity oil and some reel grease.  There are many brands of reel oil and grease, so try to find which one works best for you.  A good start would be www.biggreenfish.com and click on the oil/grease section on the left side.  I use Cal's Drag Grease and Yellow Rocket Fuel for my bearings.

The main things that you will be doing with the grease and the oil will be to grease the worm gear and oil the spool bearings and spool shaft and pinion gear.  The worm gear is the gear that moves the line guide back and forth on the front of your reel.  This gear can collect a bunch of dirt over one season so it is essential to clean this out.  What I would recommend doing is taking a paper towel and wiping away the grease on the gear...then turn the handle a half turn and wipe away the grease again.  I would do this until you have most of the grease removed from the gear.   If you need to you can also use a degreaser (not water) on a rag to remove the grease as well.  After the grease has been removed, push a small dab of new grease onto the gear.  Once it is on the gear start turning the handle and the line guide will help push that dab of grease over the entire gear.  First task is done!

Now when it comes to the spool bearings this can get slightly hairy.   On most spools you will have 2 spool bearings....others might have 3.  For the spools that have three bearings the third bearing is usually held onto the spool by a pin.  That pin requires a special tool (spool pin pliers) that can be found on www.bocabearing.com.  I wouldn't recommend using anything but this tool because an ordinary pair of pliers may damage the pin.

The first of the other two bearings can be found on the inner side of the non-handle side plate.  Usually this bearing is held in place by a snap ring style wire.  That wire can be removed with a good pair of tweezers.   I have almost lost that snap wire a few times so be careful when you take it out, it will shoot out like a rocket if your aren't careful.

The last bearing is usually on the handle side under the spool tension knob.  Just unscrew the knob until it pops out.  Pull the spring out that was sitting underneath the knob, and make sure you don't loose any metal or felt washers that are under the cap or spring.  After that is taken care of, take a Q-Tip and remove the cotton from one end of it.  Use that side of the Q-tip and insert it into the inner diameter of the pinion gear (from the spool side as shown below).  What this will do is help push the bearing out of the hole that it is sitting in on the handle side.

Once you remove all of the bearings, take a bowl or plastic storage cup and fill the bottom with isopropyl alcohol.  Drop the bearings in and make sure they are completely submerged in alcohol.  Here comes the next trick....take an electric shaver and place the bowl on top of the shaver while it is turned on.   Instant deep cleaning of the bearings!  Give them about 10 minutes and remove them from the alcohol.

Next take a sharpened pencil and place the bearing on the sharpened side of the pencil.  Place your thumb on the point with the rest of your hand holding the pencil and use your other hand to spin the bearing.  By spinning it a few times you will help remove any alcohol that may be left in the bearing.  Once that is done, put the bearings back into their appropriate spots on the reel.   Then take your bearing oil and squeeze one drop only into the inner race of the bearing as shown below.  Let it seep in for a second and then add oil in the same fashion to the remaining bearings.   After that make sure that the shaft of the spool and the inner shaft of the pinion gear are wiped down with isopropyl alcohol.  Then add one drop onto the shaft of the spool on both ends and then one drop into the center of the pinion gear.

After you oil the non handle side bearing you want to put the snap wire back into place.  Watch as I said before, because that wire will go flying on you in a heart beat...so hover your thumb over the top of it as you snap it back into place.  As for the spool tension spring and cap, make sure the larger end of the spring goes back in first and snaps back into place over the handle side spool bearing.  It should not be able to pull out easily.  Once that is complete, turn the spool tension cap back onto the reel.  It should go on easily and be aware that it can get crooked during installation, which might damage the plastic threads.  So be careful during assembly.

Once that is complete, give the reel one more good wipe down with a rag and you are done!  Simple maintenance that will go a long way.  If you use your reels as much as me, you might want to do this at least a couple times a season.

Hope this helps and I will add on to this thread once I get a spinning reel apart for you guys.  Spinning reels are a little easier to maintain but follow the same principles of greasing and oiling.

Remember **grease gears and oil bearings**

Tight lines,

Fluke

December Potbellies!

The weather still seems to be sending us small windows of unseasonably warm Fall weather....so what else is there to do besides fishing in a t-shirt and jeans? For this entry I thought more about diving into my thought process on how I broke down the body of water I was fishing. Although as scary of a concept of being inside my head is, it made a lot of sense looking back on the day I had.

Water Depth, Water Clarity, and Weather...

The body of water I was fishing today was a pretty decently sized pond with a big dog leg to the left....below you can see what I am talking about. The deepest part of the lake was probably in the 6-8 foot range with some shallower parts in the 1-3 foot range near the shoreline. The water clarity was in the 2-3 feet range with the deeper water slightly cloudy. The weather shot temperatures into the high 50's to low 60's....which helped to warm the air up enough to change the barometric pressure. The water if I had to guess was in the low 40's to high 30's considering there was ice a few days prior on some of the shore edges. The wind was blowing steadily out of the South West around 5-7 mph.

What lures should I have tied on?

A lot of this is decided before I even leave the car. This is where some experience comes into play with having prior knowledge of the lake. But in the case of it being your first time there are some key lures that I have done well on in the Fall the past few seasons.

1) Weighted Plastic

Ex: 1/8 oz bullet weight, 3/0 wide gap hook, NetBait Baby Paca Craw

2) Spinnerbaits

Ex: 3/8 or 1/2 oz white spinnerbait

3) Squarebill Crankbait

Ex: Strike King KVD Squarebill in Gizzard Shad

4) Small Swimbait

Ex: YUM Money Minnow (4") with 1/8 oz weedless swimbait head

5) Lipless Crankbait

Ex: 1/2 oz Strike King Red Eye Shad

6) Jerkbait

Ex: 95 Lucky Craft Pointer

7) Swim Jig

Ex: 1/4 oz KVD Swim Jig with Big Hammer Tail

If you notice...90% of the lures mentioned key in on a shad bite. If there isn't much shad present in the lake you are fishing then I would start adapting to another food source like bluegill, worms, or craws. You will also notice that most of the lures focus on a reaction bite. When trying to fish a new lake I usually like to cover as much water as possible to find out where they are hiding....if there is even fish there to begin with. Once you find them then it is a matter of time to figure out what they are keying in on. Best thing to do is either stick with a similar lure that you caught them initially on or slow it down with a plastic or another slow moving bait.

Now what do I do when I get to the lake?

Best thing to do is pick a spot that has some form of cover....if the spot looks fishy to you then there may be a good chance that fish are hiding somewhere. Again, I have prior lake knowledge so I chose a spot that has produced for me the last two outings. I fished for an hour at that particular spot....threw several lures that produced for me in the last few weeks....and drew a big ol' blank. What changed? Was I doing something wrong? Are the fish even here? Should I just head home?

....absolutely not!

Ice was on the lake two days ago....and the ice was probably more prevalent on the side of the lake that received the least amount of sunlight. Which ended up being the side I was fishing....so guess what? The water was probably colder on the side I was fishing! Then it hit me....what direction was the wind blowing? The weeks prior the wind was blowing directly at me in that spot and the fish were stacked up there. Today the wind was blowing in a different direction and the fish were no longer there. Wind blown shoreline = warmer water = baitfish! I packed up my stuff and headed to the next spot on the lake...a wind blown point. For some reason bass love points...and with this being the only point on the entire lake I figured one of them was sitting somewhere near by. I tried all of my reaction baits with no luck, so I slowed it down with the craw to give the area a different presentation. About 30 minutes into the new spot, I finally felt the "thunk" of fish picking up the Paca Craw.

11:22 AM: A 17" bass was on the board that weighed roughly 3.1 lbs.

No more fish to be had in that spot after a dozen more casts. I still wasn't fishing directly on the shoreline that received the most wind so I moved down to a third spot. I usually don't like fishing this shoreline since I rarely have caught anything there....and it is usually pretty shallow. I started off with a BPS Egg crankbait, casting towards the wind blown shore and working it back at a slow steady pace. A dozen casts or so into it and I finally had a bass smack the snot out of the bait! He was tugging hard and took one good run and the trebles popped free....S#*@! Lost a nice one.

I thought that was going to be the only fish on that side since I haven't caught more than one there...but I stuck it out anyway. No more bites on the BPS Egg so I switched up to a KVD 2.5 Squarebill in Blue Herring. The KVD squarebill has a slightly tighter wobble which seems to be somewhat more productive in colder water situations. That theory is debatable...but it all depends on the day I guess. Anyway, after giving it a few casts without a bump I decided to try one more crankbait. I thought it wasn't going to make a difference but I tried it anyway. I switched to a KVD 1.5 Squarebill in Gizzard Shad (white side with black back). A little bit smaller of a bait...and a color that probably more closely resembled the shad that I saw in there a few weeks prior. (Just a tip, but the gizzard shad, blue gizzard shad, and green gizzard shad match quite a few of the species of shad found in Illinois).

First cast with the different squarebill and BAM! And by BAM I mean the fish stopped the lure dead in its tracks!

1:30 PM: A 14" bass that weighed around 2.1 lbs.

Three casts later and another smack of a bigger fish!

1:40 PM: A 17.5" bass that weighed around 3.3 lbs.

It was like I just turned the switch on....the next hour I caught 5 more bass. A couple were small in the 10-12 inch range...but I snuck in a couple that weighed around 2 - 2.5 lbs.

After awhile of catching them on that particular squarebill I decided to experiment. Did they really key in more on the action, or was it the color driving them nuts? I took out a YUM money minnow in the same black/white pattern and put it on a swimbait jighead. First cast with the swimbait and it was slammed! Had him on for the first few seconds and then the hook popped free. Definitely need to get better on timing my hookset with weedless jigheads! Just goes to show you though that having a bait in the same color with slightly different action might allow you to pick up a couple more fish that weren't as interested in the previous bait.

I tried for a little while longer, but no more fish were interested in eating my crankbait. So I moved farther down to my fourth spot. Took awhile to get anything to bite in that spot...but after a little bit of time throwing the swimbait I had a bass finally erupt on it just below the surface. I reared back on the hookset and as soon as I went to turn the reel handle....he popped free. Lost fish #2. Not to be put to shame, I switched back to the squarebill to see if I could get him to bite again. Sure enough, three more casts and he about ripped the rod out of my hands!

3:05 PM: A 16.5" bass that weighed around 2.6 lbs.

Again, the bite turned off so I started making my way back around the other half of the lake. On the fifth spot I continued to throw the squarebill. The next bass I caught I saw the whole strike from start to finish. I saw the squarebill wobbling back towards me and I saw a big wake making a v-line towards my bait. I saw the bass come up right behind it....saw and felt the strike bolt right through my rod....and I set the hook. The fish all but swallowed the bait!

3:40 PM: A 15.5" bass that weighed around 2.3 lbs

I moved to my 6th and final spot after lull in the catching to see if I could find a couple more fish in another corner I usually do well at. Nobody home. Threw everything I had one last time without a bite. By that time the sun was starting to set and the air started to get a little cooler. Just about time to head home.

So in review....what worked for me today?

- Wind blown shorelines

- Isolated rock and weeds

- Plastics, Crankbaits, and Swimbaits

- Switching spots and changing casting angles

- Experimenting with different sizes and colors of lures

- Staying on a spot for awhile longer if it produced a fish

Here is an overview of my fishing spots that I chose....the lines show the direction of the casts where I caught my fish. The brown circles show submerged wood and brush, and the gray circles are submerged rock.

All I can say is that this is the latest in the season that I have ever caught fish in open water. Who would have thought I would be standing outside in jeans and a t-shirt fishing, instead of shopping for Christmas presents? Truthfully I couldn't have spent the day any better doing anything else.

I will confirm now that this is the last open water outing for me this year. No fishing until I can freeze my butt off on hard water! Hope you guys have a good Christmas, and you get tons of new fishing gear. I believe I am getting a few new things this Christmas....can't wait to get my hands on it and field test next year!

Tight lines,

Fluke

700+ Bass Year

Open water season is officially over for me this year, but not without one last weekend of unseasonable fall weather.  This was roughly the same time last year when I hung up the rods to prepare for hard water, so I was hoping for similar results.  The weather settled in the low 60's which was warmer than I expected, and there was rain in the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday I was only able to fish in the afternoon from about 1:30 until 4:45...but in that short period of time I found myself in the middle of a feeding frenzy!  On days like that I look for several key things.  The first would be to target the wind blown side of the lake...although in the fall this makes casting a pain in the a$$, the warmer water tends to be pushed to the wind blown side of the lake.  The second thing was the warmer air temperatures and rain...warmer air will warm up the rain water which will slightly warm up the lake, which can cause quite a difference with lake water dropping into the 40's and 50's in recent weeks.  Next would be targeting isolated cover...by isolated cover I mean brush, remaining weed beds, non-accessible or overgrown shorelines, and rock.   The cold water kills off weedy areas and usually clears up the lake which allows you to locate cover you may have not seen earlier in the season.  Usually bass will hold onto what they have left for ambush points.  The last thing I look for is baitfish.  Bass boiling on the surface means only one thing....feeding time!  That is exactly what I saw when I arrived...wind blown side, some weeds and overgrown shoreline, and bass boiling the surface of the water.

Some lures that I keyed in on them with were crankbaits, spinnerbaits, small swimbaits, and the "old faithful" weighted texas rigged creature baits.  First cast to the adjacent shoreline with a crankbait....wham!  Fourth cast with the crankbait straight out from me...boom!  Then the crankbait bite died.  I switched to the small swimbait and the feeding continued.  The bass were out for blood...and they were gorging on these baits as soon as they got a hold of them.  Some were so aggressive to the point where they were biting the tails off of my swimbaits and bending out my hooks!

The crankbait that I was using was the Bass Pro Shops "The Egg" crankbait.  XXX Shad and Texas Shad were my go to colors.  The small swimbait that I was using was a 4" YUM money minnow in a silver/black back pattern.  That rigged up with a 1/4 oz swimbait jig head worked out perfectly.  The spinnerbait that I was using was a white/chartreuse double colorado blade spinnerbait by Flatlands Custom Tackle.  Great color for slightly stained water...worked like a charm on these hungry bass.  The last bait was my Netbait Baby Paca Craw in Summer Craw and Bama Bug with an 1/8 oz bullet weight.  If I didn't get them with the first three, I bounced the bottom with the craw and picked up the other sluggish bass in the area.  They were fat to say the least...like balloons ready to pop.

At the end of Saturday I walked away with 15 bass between 12 and 16 inches.  Three or four were spared on bad hooksets and air acrobatics.

On Sunday I decided to start earlier around 9 AM and made my way over to a new big fish spot that I just started fishing last month.  If anything I was hoping for that one big bite before a good quantity like yesterday.  I started out with the Paca Craw and slowly combed the bottom searching for those 4 and 5 pounders...all the while trying to not let the wind push me into the lake with those 30 and 40 mph gusts.   Kind of nice though having the wind at my back because I was launching that craw halfway across the lake.  About a half hour into it I went to go pull in a couple more feet of line when it felt like my lure was stuck on something.  Unfortunately I didn't think anything of it and popped it free....just weeds I guess.   About 15 minutes later I felt the same thing.  I just left pressure on the line without popping it free and before I had a chance to get a better feel of what was going on a huge tug at the end of the line bent the pole over.   I laid into the fish as quick as I could and we were off to the races!  I knew it was a good fish and the size of the boils got my heart racing.  It was a tough and long fight, but I landed her without issue.  A nice and healthy 19.5" largemouth in the four pound range.  I took a quick picture and set her back down in the water.   It was interesting to see such dark colors on a bass this late in the season....but since the water is so shallow in this lake it wasn't too unexplainable.

I tried the craw for a good half hour after that fish, but no more takers.  I switched up to the swimbait, but no interest in that as well.  Switched up again to "The Egg" in XXX Shad and on the first cast I had a solid bite.   A few casts later I had another good hit.  It was about 12 o'clock and didn't have any more bites so I packed it up with three bass landed.  I decided to head back to the spot that I was at yesterday to see if I could pick up a couple more.

Next spot yielded three more bass with two lost.  Two on the crankbait and one more on the craw.  Just about when I left I ran out of the paca craws and switched up to a chigger craw to finish up the day.  A new thing that I just started doing was dipping the appendages of my plastics in some chartreuse "spike-it".   Especially in darker water, the chartreuse stands out really well and drives the bass bonkers!  First cast with the chigger craw I get a really faint bite.  I wait and wait and then I see my line taking off.  Set the hook and the hook comes flying out and I see the flash of a nice bass turn up towards the surface and back down into deeper water.  Crap!  I tried several more casts to get another bite but nothing.

21 bass for the weekend....and then it hit me...I just blew past my 700 bass mark for the year.  I finished out the year with exactly 710 largemouth + smallmouth.  To say the year was great is an understatement.  Of those 700+ fish, 3 of them were over 5 pounds, 15-20 of them were over 4 pounds, and 60-70 of them were over 3 pounds.  Not only were they quality fish, but they were caught on tons of different lures....some of which at the beginning of the year I had no clue how to use.  That was a feat within itself.

Next year is going to be different though.  Although I caught a ton of bass, the mission next year will be to catch more smallmouth.  I still have very little knowledge of those brown brutes....so hitting the river next year will be on my to do list.  The other mission for next year will be breaking my personal best bass record....with hopefully a double digit bass.  My Dad and I are scheduled to head down to Lake Faclon for three days next May...now that is going to be an interesting trip!

Until next year guys, look out for any ice fishing trips and possible river wades.  I know that fishing won't be completely cut out of the picture the next four months....cabin fever sets in pretty quickly around here.

Tight lines,

Fluke

October Behemoth and the Bassin' the Midwest Prize Pack!

It is creeping closer and closer to hard water season and the dropping temperatures are definitely putting the pressure on to get the last bass of the season.  A few weeks ago I posed a challenge to the DupageAngler.com members to guess my final bass total for the season...so it has been my mission until November 5th to catch as many largemouth and smallmouth as I could...and hopefully without freezing my butt off in the process!

At the start of the challenge I had a total of 664 smallmouth and largemouth....now being October 29th, I have a grand total of 684.  Only 20 bass in the last couple of weekends...so you know that this weather has definitely put a limitation on my catching.  Although this is the case, the few bass that I have caught have been big!  The highlight of those big fish came last week when I locked into what could potentially be my biggest fish of the season.  I was fishing in a shallow lake that only a few souls know about which held the potential for a behemoth bass.  I threw a crankbait first for a little while without any luck so I switched it up to a new confidence bait of mine....a NetBait Paca Craw.  I rigged this puppy up on a 3/0 EWG hook along with an 1/8 oz bullet weight.  Since the water clarity wasn't the best I dipped the claw tips in a chartreuse dye that I have to make them stand out a bit.   First cast, let it sink...hopped it a few times...and repeat all the way back...nothing.  Second cast, let it sink...hopped it a few times...and let it sit.  Went to go hop it again and it just felt different....just a heaviness.  Usually on a weighted plastic the classic "thunk" of the weight getting sucked in is a tell tale sign of a strike...but this was not the same.  For some reason I instantly thought it was a fish and laid into her...my rod stopped half way up on the hook set and she was off to the races.  A couple boils swelled to the surface and she took off to the right.  I kept pressure on her, reeling in as quickly as I could.  A few good headshakes and I finally saw her....HOLY CRAP!  I lipped the monster and just stood there in awe.  Nobody around to witness the fish....and then came the oh crap moment when I realized I didn't have my scale with me.  With only a bump board and a camera I snapped a few pics and tried my best to guesstimate the length and girth.  She was roughly 20.5" long and 15.5" around.  According to some calculators she could have been anywhere from 4.5 lbs to 6.4 lbs.  If I had to guess, it was easily 5.25 lbs.  A lot of people don't realize that these fish are just flat out heavier when the water gets cold.   As a point of comparison, Parker and I went out to the same spot a week later and he caught a 19.5" bass that was 4.5 lbs and not as fat as the one I had.  

Here is a picture of the monster!

If you guys get out in the coming week here are a few baits to have with you....

- shallow diving square bill crankbait in a shad pattern

- Small 4" shad swimbait on a swimbait or jig head

- Spinnerbait

- Rat-l-Trap

- Jerkbait

- Weighted Plastic

- Football Jig

The season is getting close to the end and the 700 fish mark is just in range...let's see if I can get enough fish to pull it off.  If I don't, no big deal...the fishing this year was remarkable overall and I couldn't have asked for more.   To go out with a bang with this big bass too was a bonus in itself!

Good luck to the participants on DA, your prize pack is going to be sweet!  For those who haven't joined DA....what are you waiting for???

Tight lines, and thanks for all the support this year!  Next year will be even better!

Final Results: Happy Hookers Classic (Mississippi River Pool 14)

Pool 14 on the Mississippi River ended up being a bigger challenge than expected.  Fish were caught on both Saturday and Sunday, but the size of them were just not what I was looking for.  Friday's practice brought promise with two keepers both over 14" but the cold front that moved in on Saturday and Sunday shut off the fish somewhat making them move from areas that we found them in on Friday.  River fish are less effected by cold fronts and pressure changes, but it still ended up being tough.  Water temperatures remained in the low to mid 70's with the air temperatures starting in the morning around 52 degrees and working up to the low 70's.  High pressure both on Saturday and Sunday with blue bird skies as well. 

I think the key thing that made it so tough was the water level...and I think that has been a pretty consistent theme for most tournaments throughout this season.  The river was at least 5-7 feet down which made a lot of the channels and cuts inaccessible for boats.  With the water being lower than usual a lot of the structure that the fish were used to holding to was also out of the water.  So after some thinking and practice on Friday we were able to find a handful of areas that consistently held a few fish.  One of those areas was an isolated point next to a main river channel.  Basically what it looked like was an island out in the middle of the river that seperated the river into two channels on either side of the island.  On the right side there was no current due to the river being low enough to expose a sandbar, and on the left side the channel dropped down to almost 20 feet of water.  So you basically had a nice flat at a point with no current with deeper water near by....which is perfect for bass in the summer.  It took all about 3 casts  to find out that there were fish there and we caught a couple keepers instantly.  So we left it alone until Saturday.  All of the fish were at the tip of the point and to the right where the sandbar dropped down into the water.

The other area that we found later in the day on day 1 of the tournament was a stretch of discharges from a set of industrial plants in a cut off of the main river.  This provided warmer water which made this specific channel less effected by dropping water temperatures from the cold front.  There were about 8 or so discharges in total but one of them was just on fire with the amount of action from fish busting the surface while chasing after shad.  We threw everything we had at them with no luck until I switched back to a texas rigged plastic.  Then I caught two 13 3/4" largemouth within a few casts from eachother.  No keepers for Saturday...but at least that was another spot we could return to on Sunday.  In any case where we found fish the other piece to the puzzle was baitfish...without a food source the bass were nowhere to be found.

Sunday was a little colder and we fished the same two areas again...which produced good fish but again nothing over 14".  My boater Joe pulled up to the point where we caught fish and he ended up picking up the only keeper out of that area that day.  I caught several 13" fish but just couldn't find that bigger one.  Same went for the discharge...had one just shy of 14" but nothing after that.  I caught about 12 bass on Saturday and 8 on Sunday, so I was happy at the fact that we did find fish and we did catch a decent amount for the conditions that we had.  I also caught a small 24" northern and a few hybrid bass as well, which gives you a glimpse of the diversity of this fishery.  Fish were caught primarily on crankbaits and texas rigged creature baits.

At the end of Sunday we knew that a couple of the guys figured the fish out and they shared with us what they had done.  I guess they found a cut with a couple of wing dams in them that had a good deal of shallow water.  Like I said earlier, the water levels were down so a lot of the guys were leery to venture into some of the cuts so they didn't damage their boats.  Well, that ended up being the big difference that added to their win.  Wing dams are long rock structures that jut out from the shore on some of the main river stretches and cuts that basically create a buffer for current in the river.  Since the water was so low some of the wing dams were exposed above the surface of the water.  These rock piles almost always hold fish...but are very hard to fish since they are hard to find if you don't have an accurate contour map.  The shallow areas that they were in were loaded with fish and the two guys that found them had limits on day 2.   Almost all of them were caught on spinnerbaits and were in an area where baitfish was plentiful.  Shallow water and cold fronts just didn't mix in my brain as being logical...but for some reason that is where the fish wanted to be.  That's the beauty of fishing...its always a puzzle and patterns always change from day to day.

The weekend still ended up being a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about a river that I have never fished before.  I finished the year on a positive note by coming in 7th place overall in our club standings this year.  That means then that I will be the first substitute for the 6 man state team for next year.  On the non boater side I finished in 1st which I was really happy about.  On the ABA side I finished with a ranking of 629 out of all of the members of the ABA circuit in the US.  If I would have fished the classic for the ABA I am pretty confident I would have finished in the top 500 which qualified me for the National Event.  So overall, I am extremely grateful for how I did this year.  All of the prep work, the learning, and the time spent on the water this year was worth it.  I couldn't really ask for more than that. 

Thanks to all who have commented and sent positive thoughts my way throughout the season, the encouragement really helped keep me on my game this year.  The fishing season is starting to come to a close in the next few months so I will still update you with my other catches this year....but until then happy fishing and tight lines!

Fluke

Happy Hookers Classic: The Mighty Mississippi (Preparation)

In a few hours I will be heading out for a single day of practice and a two day tournament on Pool 14 of the Mississippi River.  All my hard work for the year has come down to this and I am ready to go!  I am currently sitting in 6th place in our club and if I can hold my own this tournament I will claim a spot on the 2013 State Team.  The main goal throughout the season has been to try and remain consistent and I am happy to say that I have achieved that so far.  On one side I have our bass club and the other was the ABA division 39 tournament series that I also competed in.  At one point I was 1st in points and got a letter about a month ago to let me know that I qualified for the National tournament in Kansas.  I would have loved to go and compete with the top 500 guys in points...but it just wasn't in the cards this year.  This whole season has also been aimed at just taking baby steps into the sport of tournament fishing.  It can really become a consuming hobby and one can lose sight of the fun in all of it...but I can definitely say that all of it has remained fun and enjoyable.  I got my butt handed to me in some tournaments and I kicked butt in some tournaments....that's just the way it goes.  Still lots to learn but I remain grateful for the opportunities that I have had this year, and the people that I have met and fished with along the way.  Not to mention those of you that have supported me and have read my blog entries...a big thanks to you all as well!

So rods and reels were all cleaned, relined, and starting lineup lures tied on.  The tacklebox has been organized and every last detail though about.  Now I just need to get out there and hit the water and get a pattern together.  The weekend calls for rain and cooler weather and the river is low.  Game plans will probably change as the weekend goes along....but keeping a clear head and thinking through things will help get some mojo going!

Wish me luck guys, be safe, and have a great weekend if you can get out on the water!

Fluke

Why do you fish?

I am sure a lot of my readers have just as much passion for fishing as I do...so what makes you keep wanting to come back for more?  Comment below and let's hear the answers!

Thanks guys....in a few weeks I will have some good news to give you all, and the plans coming up for next tournament season.