Chilly Regional Bassin'

We competed in our regional bass tournament yesterday and it felt like deer hunting weather. It was a chilly 37 degrees when we launched at 7:30am. Jim and I were both wearing our Under Armour ColdGear, jackets, and gloves. Even with that stuff on, it was a cold boat ride to our first spot of the day.


The fishing was slow initially, but picked up about 9:00 and we caught a few fish. Then the bite stopped around 11:00. We didn't catch any bass again until after 1:00. Even with the mostly sunny skies, the air temperature was slow warming up. The water temperature was in the mid to upper 60's. What really gave us fits was the wind which blew 10-20 mph all day long. We couldn't get away from it even in the coves.


When the bite picked up again in the afternoon, we caught several more bass, most on points where the wind was pushing bait fish toward the shore. We stopped fishing at 3:00 so we could get back to the dock and have our chip at the weigh-in table by 3:30. Each team had a poker chip with their boat number on it. The first group of teams had to be in no later than 3:30 and the second group had to be in no later than 3:45. The lake has some long areas that are "idle only" and we had to allow enough time to get through those.

Boats coming back for the weigh-in

There were 34 teams competing in this regional tournament based on their point standings from the regular season tournaments. The fishing was tough and many of the guys talked about how hard it was to get a bite. Several teams had no fish to weigh in and others had one. Jim and I caught 17 bass, two of which were keepers, for a total two fish weight of 5.10 pounds. The winning team came in with a total weight of 8+ pounds with three fish. Nobody brought in a 5 fish limit. When it was all said and done, Jim and I finished 9th out of 34 teams. The top 11 teams from this regional tournament automatically advance to the Nitro Classic tournament being held next spring. That is a 2 day tournament where the top qualifiers from the various regional tournaments compete. The Classic gives away a new boat to the top three teams and holds a random drawing to give away a fourth boat. That's in addition to the prize money. Depending on how many regional qualifiers show up, there will be 200-400 teams competing at the Classic.


Even though we had hoped to bring in more fish, we had a good time and were happy to move on to the Classic.

Team members filtering in for the weigh-in

Don't Mess With Mother Nature

Jim and I had our last bass tournament yesterday (Saturday) and, since it was a night tournament, we decided to go to the lake early in the afternoon and fish for recreation prior to the tourney. We began fishing at roughly 1:00. It was mostly sunny with big white clouds scattered about and although rather hot, it was a nice day. We caught a few bass and at 5:00 headed to the ramp where the tournament boats would launch. I went up and talked to the director, signed in and paid our fee. At this point, it was still a nice day with those big puffy clouds occasionally hiding the sun.

The tournament started at 6:00 (scheduled to end at midnight) and we were number five in the line-up for launch. We ran wide open to our first spot where we've caught big bass in the past, although always when we're not fishing a tournament. It's funny how that works. Anyway, we fished that spot, moved to our second, and later our third location. While fishing in our third spot, the wind picked up considerably and we noticed some dark clouds approaching the lake. We kept an eye on the sky and continued fishing. Jim was using a 10" worm fished slow on the bottom and, after a few casts, he hooked a nice bass. He said it felt like a keeper and yelled for me to grab the net. As I've mentioned before, a keeper on this particular lake has to be at least 20" long. Any fish less than that must be returned to the water immediately. We got the fish in the boat and quickly put it on the board. The bass measured 19 and 3/4 stinkin' inches! No amount of coaxing gave us that last 1/4 inch. I even tried to get the fish to stick his tongue out so we'd have 20", but he wasn't buying it. Alas, he went back in the water. That 1/4" is all that stood between us and the weigh-in. 

While we were trying to wrangle that extra bit out of the fish, those dark clouds had moved closer and they brought a friend - lightning. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am not naturally insulated against electrical shock, particularly in the form of a lightning strike. There was no rain, but the wind was blowing and the lightning began to dance wildly. Radar appeared to show the storm moving through in a relatively short amount of time, so we took shelter under a highway bridge that crossed a narrow portion of the lake. After 20 minutes or so, the clouds moved off and it appeared to be clear behind the storm. We had about 40 minutes of light remaining and decided to move to our fourth spot before it got dark.

We arrived at our next location, got in position, and began fishing. It wasn't 15 minutes before we noticed more dark clouds quickly approaching the lake - another storm. This time Mother Nature wasn't fooling around. We felt the sprinkles begin and the lightning flashed like explosions in the sky! Previously, we had been in a cove at one end of the lake near that highway bridge. Now we were on the main lake in open water with fishing rods in our hands and lightning doing the devil's dance. The 40 minutes of light we should have had evaporated to darkness. Jim and I looked at each other and we each knew enough was enough. No tournament is worth becoming a crispy critter. Before we made it back to the ramp, the rain hit full force, the thunder rolled, and the lightning put on a Fourth of July display! We saw 6 or 8 boats making a run for the other ramp. When we got to our ramp, the parking lot had virtually emptied.

We were only able to fish 2 of the 6 hours the tournament was supposed to last. And while Mother Nature did run us off the water and we missed having a keeper by 1/4 of an inch, the good news is we qualified for the regional tournament in October. That was our ultimate goal. The even better news is the regional tourney is being held on a different lake and we won't have to contend with that tough 20" minimum size restriction. Size matters. Remember? Oh, did I mention the chance of rain for Saturday was 30%?

A nice day to be on the water

Look at the pretty white clouds

The first boats arriving for the tournament

Some tournament anglers waiting for the start

The earthen dam built to create the lake

Cool cloud above the lake

A hitchhiker we picked up in the middle of the lake

More cool clouds

The first storm approaching and the bridge we used for shelter

The beginning of the second storm

The last we saw of the sun just before the second storm hit

Boxes, Bags, And Bass

In my last couple of blog posts, I mentioned that I was going to be busy for most of April and wouldn't be here much. That held true. The big project that has kept me so busy is a new house which I bought in early April. I was tied up with the closing process, packing, moving, and unpacking (which isn't done yet). I actually started looking at houses in February, found this one in March, and closed in April. I despise the moving process, as I'm sure many folks do, but it's nice to be in a brand new home. 

I just recently got Internet service and hope to be back to visiting blogs in the near future. There is still unpacking that needs to be done so I'll be working on that until it's finished - or I say it's good enough. Anyway, that's what I've been busy with the past few weeks and I'm glad the ordeal is over. 

On another topic, some people have asked about the bass tournaments I talked about in previous posts. Let's just say it has been a rough start. There were three tournaments scheduled in the month of April. I had to miss the first one due to unexpected circumstances, but the weather was really nasty that day and the fishing was terrible. Ma Nature has wreaked havoc this spring which caused the second tournament to be cancelled due to dangerous lake conditions. The third tournament was yesterday, but the lake where these particular tournaments are held just broke its record for high water level. A few days ago when I checked, the water level was 24 feet above summer pool and it's even higher now. The lake is a mess. 

My tournament partner, Jim, and I decided to change gears yesterday and fish a different lake. This lake doesn't have the feeder streams that many of our lakes have so it doesn't get all of the rain run-off which allows it to maintain a more consistent water level. This lake is smaller than the tournament lake (800 acres vs. 8,000 acres), but we wanted to catch some fish rather than battle high water. Apparently, so did everybody else because the lake was packed! The parking lots at all of the boat ramps were completely full. 

This lake is man-made and was specifically designed for fishing. Before damming up the river, the Corps of Engineers put in a lot of artificial structure which now sits at the bottom of the lake. They also left the trees which created tons of standing submerged timber. There is no swimming, skiing, or jet skis allowed on the lake. 

The morning started off slow and we didn't have any bites. Actually, the whole day was rather slow and several other anglers we spoke to said they weren't catching anything. I finally caught our first fish of the day shortly before lunch. When it was all said and done, I caught four bass and Jim caught one. I had a fifth one on, but it made a jump and threw the lure. My second fish was also the big fish of the day. I caught it in shallow water on a small, square-billed crankbait. It weighed 4.8 pounds and was 20.5" long. 

It was the first really nice day we've had in a long time and I'm sure that was part of what brought so many people out. That and the fact it was Saturday and this lake is the only one in the area that hasn't been adversely affected by all of the rain. There was also a co-ed tournament taking place on the lake (no, not college co-ed's). We saw several boats where the wife/girlfriend was reading a book or getting some sun while the guys were fishing. Since the tournament rules required a female on the team, no doubt a few husbands/boyfriends asked their significant others to come along just so they could get in the tournament. Actual fishing was a different story. We did see some women who were actively fishing, though. 

Well, I should be getting back into the full swing of things very soon. I've missed reading your blogs. I feel very out of the loop right now. It was necessary time away, though, and there really wasn't any way around it. Now if I could just snap my fingers and make these boxes and bags go away....