The biggest tournament of the year for me! I pre-practiced for this event for a couple of days with a great friend Rob Hicks. We had a great time and some great fellowship. I had been told of a chance to use an aluminum boat and run up the river for spots and shoal bass. Rob and I tried this during pre-practice and it seemed like it could work. We also waypointed some good brush piles to try in official practice.
Practice: The first day of practice I decided to go down the lake. We fished the brush that Rob showed me. The bites were few and far between. We did catch 3 keepers and a few other bites. After this poor day it was time for the river! Within the first 5 minutes, I had caught a 2 1/2 pounder. We stayed up there all day but didn’t fish very hard. I wound up catching about 7 keepers and would have had over 10lbs. The next day was spent back down wasting time. We did stop about noon and take a float trip down the upper part of the river. This was an adventure all of its own! The last day I spent down the lake again. It was very slow again.
Day 1: It was a very easy decision for me to go to the river. I took the new Tracker up the “Hooch”. It started very early. On my fifth cast I caught a 3 1/2 pounder. It took a while to catch the next one but it was a 3 pounder. I finished my limit about 1. I culled one time after that. Most of my good fish came on top water and some flipping. I ended with 13-10 and in fifth place.
Day 2: There was a large storm that came through in the area around the river last night. When I got there the river was a foot high and muddy. I thought about leaving then but decided to stick it out. It was a long day only catching one striper. After a very dissappointing day I fell to 37th.
Added edge: The tunnel hull Tracker was a huge advantage in this tournament. If ther rain would have stayed away, I think that I would have had a great event. Thats river fishing but I would do it again tomorrow!