I was fishing with a new member this year Ryan G. I had found a few good areas in practice so I was pretty confident going in. I caught a ton of fish in practice but not many big ones, I was just hoping I could get the right fish on the right day. I needed a good finish and a couple other guys to stumble a little if I was going to win AOY. I was leading going in but actually behind by 30 points if you count the throw away tourney.
I wanted to start in the small bay near the take off but three guys ahead of me headed that way along with the goose hunter that was already there so I decided to go with plan b. We went to another shallow area where we tried frogs, buzzbaits, and swim jigs. Besides losing two swim jigs on two casts to pike, nothing was biting.
We decided to move to the far back bay and try some docks where I caught them good in practice. Nothing home here either except one short on a swim jig. Tried senkos, frogs, swim jigs, and a little heavy flipping.
Starting to get a smidgen discouraged, we tried a deep hole near the other launch in the back bay. Although the sonar was blowing up with bait fish and arches, they either weren't bass or wouldn't bite.
I knew there would be fish on the main lake weed lines that I found, but I was hoping to find some bigger fish shallow before we went out there. With only 1 short fish in about an hour, hour and a half, it was time to head deep. We arrived at our first weed line spot and I got bit right away. I managed to put a couple in the box and felt a lot better. They were eating black and blue tube craws pretty good. I was switching from power worm to tube to tube craw and tube craw definitely was the ticket for the bigger fish. Also the bigger fish seemed to be on the very deep edge of the weed line.
When the action slowed down I wanted to hit this inside turn down the shoreline but as soon as I was ready to move, another boat moved in on it. Ok fine, I'll just wait them out and go check it out. They worked it very quickly and soon we moved. My first cast I got hammered and it was an 18". That was one of the many decisions that worked out for me that day. Also that bite was one of the few bites that hit it good. Most bites that day were very light and hard to tell weed from fish.
We worked that spot awhile longer and caught a few more before we left. At that point I was putting a decent limit together I had probably about 10lbs in the box. After the rough start I was very relieved.
We decided to hit the spot where I wanted to start quickly. The shallow bay near the launch. My trolling motor stopped working so I had to take the prop off and clear off the weeds then it was fine. We got zero bites in the area but saw a huge northern. It was very calm, clear water, and blue sky, plus got hammered all morning by many anglers.
Back to the weed line where we started. And upgraded again with another 16". Now I had an 18", three 16's, and a 15. We decided to go back to the back bay and try to flip some heavy cover.
We started in the pads to the left of the boat ramp and it didn't take long to get hit. I set the hook and flipped the fish in the boat and over my shoulder, and it was a good one. It came off and flopped on the floor and for a second my heart stopped because I thought it jumped back in the water. I turned around and saw it on the floor and pounced on it. It was another 18"! I was jacked, I couldn't stop shaking for like 20 minutes. Ryan said it bounced off the side of the boat and if it was a bass boat it would have been gone. Since my boat is a Tracker V-16 it has about a 6 inch lip between the front deck and the side. Now my smallest was 16 and I thought I might have an outside shot. I thought I had at least 12lbs on the conservative side. I like to underestimate and be pleasantly surprised instead of overestimating and being disappointed.
I tried to calm down and we fished the rest of the pads on both sides and got a couple more bites but didn't hook up with anything. We then went back to the weed line where we caught most of our fish to finish out the day. I knew I had a shot to win and a shot at big bass based on how practice went. But it's never over until all fish have been weighed.
When I dropped off Ryan to get the truck, he jumped to the shore and sank about a foot down into the quick sand that Pat warned us about. I had alot of fun fishing with and getting to know Ryan G I just wish he would have been able to get a keeper in the boat. He was the pike master though. I must be tough on my non boaters because this is the 2nd tourney in a row they got skunked. I better stop front ending them. Lol.
I weighed in 14.82lbs for 1st place and my big fish was 4.09 and good enough for big bass of the day. I ended up sealing the deal on the angler of the year. I was so stoked. I knew I had a chance but I didn't want to let the stress get to me so I was in the mind set of just going out and doing the best I can. It's certainly been a great year!
Overview-
Not sure how critical I can be on a tournament that I won. I was thrilled to have won. It's been two years since Pokegama that I've won a tournament, and I felt like I was so close on Medicine and Goose earlier this year. These are hard to win and it must have been my time. Brian scared the crap out of me again as he waited until last to weigh in again and had 14.48lbs. I only heard that I had 14 something pounds and my heart sank for a second as I thought he beat me when I heard his weight. Turns out I got him by less than half a pound. I got the big bites I needed even though I didn't catch any real big fish in practice. I got the "right fish on the right day" as my buddy Pat Porter always says. If I were to fish it again I would start deep instead of starting in a shallow area where I never really caught many fish. Also I would have rotated between flipping and deep a little more throughout the day as I caught one big fish deep and one shallow.
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