This
is my second in a series of short tales of my fishing adventures. If you’re new
to this story line it involves a chronicled stories with information requarding
tournament strategies, tactics as well as the results from those decisions.
My
hopes are to share this information to show non tournament bass anglers what is
really involved with tournament bass fishing as well as some tips or tricks to
those experienced tourney anglers.
The
Tournament Lake is Lake Oroville, this is the second tournament this month on
this lake and it is being very stingy with the larger bass. Oroville is full of
spotted bass and catching fish is not a problem. I have been averaging about 30
to 50 fish a day but still not catching many fish in the 2-pound range.
The
weather has been very cooperative with us so far with milder temperatures and
little rain. There is a small frontal change with some clouds and a little
south wind to make fishing nice and comfy.
I’m
introducing my buddy Mark to his first Pro/Am tournament. He has fished in many
team events but has never experienced any thing like a Pro/Am tournament. He
sure did pick the right one to start with W.O.N. (Western Outdoor News) has
been around for a while is celebrating their 100th tournament at
this event. In addition this just happens to be a new record for California,
hosting a Pro field of over 150 boats.
My
first day of practice of course I had to check some of the areas I fished last
week. these areas helped me to finish 7th in the previous tournament
so I wanted to give them a little peek just to be sure there are still some
good fish there.
As
I moved from spot to spot I notice a lot more boats had moved into these areas.
I hate to just pull up and show others what kind of structure I’m keying in on
so, I have to take a little more time to position my boat
As
I worked my spots I was careful not to catch any fish in front of the other
competitors. When I was getting a bite I would shake them off and not set the
hook. that way I still had a chance to catch those fish on tournament day.
My
second day of practice was very productive I had found a couple of small areas
that were holding a lot of fish this was something I could use as a back up
incase I needed a fish or two during the tourney.
The
first day of the tournament and I was off and running the weather was great.
Our little storm front was passing and the wind was now blowing from the north
and putting a little chop on the water. Boy does my boat (Nitro, 901 CDX) love a little chop!
My
first couple of stops were not very productive, I was catching fish but they
were small. The fish I was catching were ranging in the 13 to 14 in range.
I
had a couple of techniques that were using smaller finesse’ baits. Plastic
worms rigged on a dart head and also drop shotted were the ticket to catching
the fish.
I
would slide a 6” hand poured worm onto a 1/8oz-lead jig head. This technique
really adds a lot of action to the soft plastics with out having to move the
bait very fast. This was very important to keep the bait in the fishes strike
zone long enough for them to bite the bait.
As
I worked the steep canyon walls I would walk the worm down the rocks trying to
get it into the crevasses. This way it would hang up on the near vertical rocks
and allow the fish swimming by to get an easy snack, and of course a chance for
me to set the hook on a big fat spotted bass.
As
the day wore on I moved around looking for a couple of bigger bass. During
practice I had found a rock wall that went for zero feet to 65 foot of water in
about 5 foot of horizontal distance. There were fish hanging out on this rock
and the couple I caught were fairly nice ones too.
Around
noon I ran to the wall witch was about a 10 mile run witch isn’t very far. The
only draw back was a 15 minute idle through a no wake area to get there.
As
I approached the rock I noticed a boat near the wall. I also couldn’t help but
notice that the north wind was being channeled through the narrow canyon and
seemed to be blowing at about 30MPH (I guessed that from my days on a
helicopter fire crew)
I
positioned the boat so that I wouldn’t interfere with the other angler and
started to make a cast. I whipped my 6’ Cameron rod with all my might,(kinda
like Kevin VanDam does) and only got out bout 10 yards. Wow was it blowing in
there.
I
was using 8# test mono and an 1/8 oz dart head and I needed the bait to fall in
a slow spiral so it would hit the wall and slide off then do it again.
This
is a great technique for spots, providing you can cast your line out far enough
and your bait isn’t being pulled back while your boat is too, or you can’t feel
a bite with a 10 foot bow in your line.
I
tried about 10 casts to get to the wall and wasn’t having much luck when the
suddenly the wind laid down for a moment. I reeled up and got in a good
cast…wham! Fish on. After the fight I had a nice little 2-pound spot in the
boat.
I
kept trying for about an hour to cast to the wall. That wind was blowing hard I
did get a little lucky and I caught 1 more two-pound fish. I weighed in with
9.24 pounds; witch was good enough to put me into 9th position.
Our
weatherman said the wind would blow from the north in the morning and lighten
up in the after noon so you know what my plan is, you guessed it, same
thing…different day!
As
we blasted off the wind was blowing a little less but still enough to make my
wall hard to fish. I decided to wait and run up there after I had a limit. By
then the wind should have lessened.
My
limit came a little slower today I had to move to a couple of areas to finally
get a small limit of around 6 pounds.
Around
10 am I noticed the wind had started to die down and I figured I could work the
wall for the rest of the day, so off I went to my honey hole, and man was I
excited.
I
pulled into my area and noticed a boat not just near my wall but smack dab on
it, OH NO! As I got a little closer I could see it was a buddy of mine. I
pulled in and asked how he was doing. His reply was heart breaking “I whacked
em Greg I got 10 pounds, 5 spots and they all weigh 2 pounds”.
I
asked him if they were still biting and he said he hadn’t had a bite in a
couple of hours, he invited me to fish so I gave it a try, you guessed it
NODDA, ZIP, Nothing.
It’s
panic time now. I started to wonder what am I going to do now? Oh ya that’s
right I saved a couple of stops just for this situation. I caught a couple more
fish that helped my limit, but not quite enough. I weighed in that day with
7.09 pounds for a total of 16.33 and a 24th place finish in the
tournament.
My
most important lesson learned on this event was. “If you have a good place and
need the fish to do well you better get there before some one else does”.
Oh
and my buddy Mark ended up finishing in 3rd place. I was really
happy for him he did very well at his first Pro/Am.
Next
stop is the BFL on Lake Oroville…man this is getting old.