I fished my 4th tournament of the year. I'm only fishing two trails this year. FOM Legend (averages 160-170 boats) and BFL (130 boats). Between college and work I've been busy.
Friday-Practice Day
We got to the lake at 7 and put in up at Toppers (thats the north end of the lake). We fished up that with out a bite till 10ish and decided to run down lake. Oklahoma has recieved a lot of rain recently and the lake is 3.5 feet high. Everything is flooded and there are a ton of cypress trees/hardwods/willows/bushes in the water. We flipped a lot of this stuff without a bite. We pull into a smaller cove and get a couple of bites. We're careful to not hook these these fish. We leave this area and run to another area we found on the map. Its a similar area with 10 times more trees. It had been cloudy all day friday. Around 1:00 the sun finally starts to show through. that locked a few of the fish onto the cover. We were able to find a pattern by flipping the backs of cypress trees in 3 to 4 feet of water. You could fish the front all you wanted and wouldnt get bit. If you worked the boat back behind some of this stuff you could get bit. Also, you had to fish extremely slow. I only got bit when the bait was sitting. I almost never got bit moving the bait. Around 4:00 we felt comfortable with what we had found so we decide to head on in to the hotel and get some stuff ready. We went to dinner and then got in bed.
Saturday-tournament day
What a change. Its raining and most likely the sun will never come out today. I knew that may make those fish a lil more scattered and not stick tight to cover. We pulled into our first cove and started fishin the flooded trees. After about 30 minutes I flipped to a tree that was off by itself. I get bit, set the hook and in the boat he comes. It was a nice 2 pounder to start the day off with. I ended up catching another keeper out of a small pocket in this cove. He wasnt on any cover. I made a cast to a do nothing bank and caught him. it was about a 2 1/2 pounds. My partner caught another one about the same size next to a tree near this same area. The fish were very unpredicable. yesterday they were really locked onto the cover on the back side, today we've been bit in several different spots. We ended up with 4 keepers by 10 o'clock and had about 7 pounds. My partner caught a fish that was barely 14 inches on a shaky head worm. I made the comment that we'd try to catch one more keeper then head to the other cove where I shook off a two pounder the day before. We fished another 45 minutes or so and never got bit. We headed across the lake and into the second cove. I pulled up onto a stretch of trees where it was easy to get back behind them. I started flipping a few cypress trees. I pitch to a large tree and just let the bait set on the bottom. This seemed to be key, barely moving the bait. I feel something pick it up and BAM i set the hook. My partner nets teh fish and its a solid 3 1/2 maybe 4 pounder... that gives us our limit and its about 11 o'clock. We fish this area till around 12. We then headed to a couple other spots but that proved nothing. We went back into the cove where we started in hopes to catch another quality fish. We start fishing and a little later my partner hooks a fish and gets him in the boat. We pull out our smallest fish from the livewell. The fish he had just caught is slightly bigger than our smallest fish...only difference is you dont have to pinch his tail to know its a keeper. He did have a fat stomach and probly gave us about half a pound.
We finish out the day hitting a couple of points and then head to weigh-in. Talking to different people we find its been tough. I took the fish to weigh in and they go 11.22. I knew we couldnt take over the lead but it was a good day. We loaded the boat and stand around and talk to a few people we knew. We ended up in 10th place and
Friday-Practice Day
We got to the lake at 7 and put in up at Toppers (thats the north end of the lake). We fished up that with out a bite till 10ish and decided to run down lake. Oklahoma has recieved a lot of rain recently and the lake is 3.5 feet high. Everything is flooded and there are a ton of cypress trees/hardwods/willows/bushes in the water. We flipped a lot of this stuff without a bite. We pull into a smaller cove and get a couple of bites. We're careful to not hook these these fish. We leave this area and run to another area we found on the map. Its a similar area with 10 times more trees. It had been cloudy all day friday. Around 1:00 the sun finally starts to show through. that locked a few of the fish onto the cover. We were able to find a pattern by flipping the backs of cypress trees in 3 to 4 feet of water. You could fish the front all you wanted and wouldnt get bit. If you worked the boat back behind some of this stuff you could get bit. Also, you had to fish extremely slow. I only got bit when the bait was sitting. I almost never got bit moving the bait. Around 4:00 we felt comfortable with what we had found so we decide to head on in to the hotel and get some stuff ready. We went to dinner and then got in bed.
Saturday-tournament day
What a change. Its raining and most likely the sun will never come out today. I knew that may make those fish a lil more scattered and not stick tight to cover. We pulled into our first cove and started fishin the flooded trees. After about 30 minutes I flipped to a tree that was off by itself. I get bit, set the hook and in the boat he comes. It was a nice 2 pounder to start the day off with. I ended up catching another keeper out of a small pocket in this cove. He wasnt on any cover. I made a cast to a do nothing bank and caught him. it was about a 2 1/2 pounds. My partner caught another one about the same size next to a tree near this same area. The fish were very unpredicable. yesterday they were really locked onto the cover on the back side, today we've been bit in several different spots. We ended up with 4 keepers by 10 o'clock and had about 7 pounds. My partner caught a fish that was barely 14 inches on a shaky head worm. I made the comment that we'd try to catch one more keeper then head to the other cove where I shook off a two pounder the day before. We fished another 45 minutes or so and never got bit. We headed across the lake and into the second cove. I pulled up onto a stretch of trees where it was easy to get back behind them. I started flipping a few cypress trees. I pitch to a large tree and just let the bait set on the bottom. This seemed to be key, barely moving the bait. I feel something pick it up and BAM i set the hook. My partner nets teh fish and its a solid 3 1/2 maybe 4 pounder... that gives us our limit and its about 11 o'clock. We fish this area till around 12. We then headed to a couple other spots but that proved nothing. We went back into the cove where we started in hopes to catch another quality fish. We start fishing and a little later my partner hooks a fish and gets him in the boat. We pull out our smallest fish from the livewell. The fish he had just caught is slightly bigger than our smallest fish...only difference is you dont have to pinch his tail to know its a keeper. He did have a fat stomach and probly gave us about half a pound.
We finish out the day hitting a couple of points and then head to weigh-in. Talking to different people we find its been tough. I took the fish to weigh in and they go 11.22. I knew we couldnt take over the lead but it was a good day. We loaded the boat and stand around and talk to a few people we knew. We ended up in 10th place and
