Farm Island Lake Renegade Bassers 7/21/13

Practice-

I had a chance to check out Farm Island lake in June while on vacation. Kyle Rodriguez and I spent a few hours looking around and familiarizing ourselves with the layout. There was many options and plenty of water. We caught a few fish, mostly good size and a nice bonus smallie before we headed back to the resort.  

On tournament weekend I spent most of my time on Bay Lake but headed out to check some stuff on Farm Island Friday afternoon. Jesse Cermak would be fishing with me on Sunday and was on his way up after work. I told him to call me when he got there and I would come and pick him up from the dock. My first order of business was to see if I could get through a drainage pipe near one of the accesses. I was pretty sure if I could get back there I would have it all to myself. It looked like I would fit but it would be tight. I pulled up to it slowly and got out the oar and cleared my rods from the holders. The opening was wide enough and I fit easily. Then suddenly I noticed it was getting smaller the father in I went. And the current from the wind was pushing me in faster than I anticipated. Crap, my trolling motor and big motor were raised up and I wasn't able to stop the boat with the oar because of the wind. Eventually my trolling motor and windshield started to scrape on the top of the culvert. I was struck and risking more damage to my boat with each minute. I didn't want to call anyone because they would take to long to get there and it would be embarrassing. The current going through was pretty strong because of the wind and I had to go against it to get out. I got down on my back on the front deck and put my feet up against the top of the pipe and pushed the boat down in the water and slowly pushed my way out. It was a tedious process but I finally made it out. Guess I wasn't going to the secret honey hole on the other side.

I took a minute to catch my breath and headed back to fish near the resort and wait for Jesse to call so I could pick him up.

Eventually Jesse arrived at the resort and he loaded up and we headed out to fish for an hour or two. It was nice to officially meet Jesse since he was a new member to the club this season. Usually the best way to get to know new members is on the water fishing since it's just you and them in the boat and you have time to chat. When I was new I felt like I didn't really know everyone until I fished with them and we got to share stories all day. The fishing was extremely slow. I think we maybe caught one keeper before we decided to head in to the resort and hang out.

Tournament -

Farm Island Day 2 didn't start out very well.  I was asking people which launch they were using but no one seemed to know for sure.  I'm not sure why people weren't using the ramp at the resort but I had no problem launching my small boat there.  I planned on doing that and just driving over to the take off site since the weigh in was at the resort anyway.  Last thing I heard we were using the launch near the culvert I was stuck in on Friday.  So we launched from the resort and headed over to the take off site.  I knew something was wrong when we got within sight and no one was around.  They left before we launched so they should have been in the water at least.  I quickly called John to see what was up and they said they were all waiting for me at the other launch.  Damn!  I was 'that' guy.  I got there as fast as I could and since I was 2nd to take off, I had to just turn around and keep going.  Usually I am there with plenty of time to spare to eat some breakfast and relax and make sure everything is good to go.  Not today!  I wasn't even sure where to start. 

We decided to start in a shallow area where I had a few frog blow ups in practice.  We gave ourselves plenty of space before we got to the reed point.  We turned back into the bay around the point and I immediately got a fish on a buzz frog.  About a minute later I had another one on.  We ended up spending the next hour in this bay and both got our limits.  Jesse was throwing a tube to the deeper edges and catching fish consistently.  I was throwing a frog mostly except I got one that missed the frog on a follow up with a senko.  Finally the bite died off and we headed to some deeper stuff. 

We went to a deep under water point near the resort and I got a good one right away.  Jesse hooked into what looked like a giant smallie from a distance as it jumped and looked dark and brown.  As it got closer I was ready with the net and it ended up being a huge dogfish!  Next thing I know Jesse asked to use my pliers because he dropped his in the lake because the dogfish lunged at him.  I gave him a hard time and said he couldn't because I didn't want him to drop mine in the lake.  Eventually I gave them to him and he got the fish off with pliers in the boat.  We made a couple upgrades but mostly had all 15-16 inch fish all cookie cutters exactly the same size. 

We briefly tried some docks and then ended up back on a weedline where I caught a good smallie in practice.  Same deal not much upgrading but plenty of fish.  From there we tried a couple different spots but couldn't find any significant upgrades.  We ended up near the resort and headed to the dock at 2pm for weigh in. 

This weigh in was cool because we didn't have to pull our boats out of the water we could just park at the dock and bring our fish up the hill.  And I could just pull my boat out right there and throw the rest of my stuff in the truck and head back home.  Normally we have to pack in the morning because check out time is usually noon out before.  But the resort had no reservations for the next day so the owner said we could stay and have the weigh in there.  Also some people from the resort wanted to see what the weigh in was all about and what we caught.  I ended up weighing in with 10.31 lbs and Jesse had 10.26 lbs.  Talk about cookie cutters, all the fish we caught were the same size.  I ended up in 7th place and Jesse 8th.  My big bass was 2.60lbs.  A 4 pounder would have gone a long way in this event.  Congrats to Walker for the win and big bass sweep of the weekend.  He caught one that was 4.02 and the next biggest was 2.90, not many big fish in the lake, but the numbers were there.  Again it was tight with 3 pounds separating 1st from 12th place.  I was just happy to get out of the weekend without bombing, and in a good position for the state team and AOY. 

Overview-

I was pretty satisfied with the day as I was one good fish from 1st.  We could have tried some more docks and maybe some other deep points.  I wish I had more time to practice but its hard on the out of towners with everything else going on.  I can tell that every once will count as there are a lot of good sticks in the club and competition will be fierce.  Next time I will make sure I check more thoroughly as to where the launch site will be especially if I'm doing something differently than everyone else.  I'm glad I didn't let it get to me too much and throw me off my game.  It was also fun getting to know Jesse better and hope to draw him as a non boater next year. 

Results

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Bay Lake Renegade Bassers 7/20/13

The out-of-towner tournaments are always a fun time.  It's pretty much a chance to hang out with a bunch of like minded guys who love bass fishing and fish and talk crap for 3 days.  Last year I bombed during the out of towner both days and that set the tone for the rest of the season.  I was determined not to let that happen again.

Bay Lake would be day 1 and Farm Island day 2.

Practice-
I arrived for the out of towner late Thursday night so I could be out on Bay Lake early Friday morning. We were staying at the Summer Breeze Resort and Ryan Ploof rode up with me after our softball games and we shared fuel costs which was great.  We hung out with the guys until pretty late.  The resort was nothing fancy but the price was right to be located right on Farm Island Lake which was our day 2 lake.  The only problem was there was no air conditioning!  I didn't realize this until we got there.  Thank God it was going to be reasonably cool for the next couple days, especially for mid July.  I got a little grief about it since I'm the one who arranged the accommodations but in the end I think it worked out fine.

I woke up early on Friday and was tempted to shut off the alarm and go back to bed.  Especially since it was already pretty windy out.  I decided to spend most of the day on Bay since I had never fished there before and had been out on Farm Island last month.

I started near the launch with some moving baits because of the wind.  I worked my way down to a small slop bay that was semi protected from the wind.  I ended up getting a couple blow ups on a frog and then headed off to find some other areas.  There was many bays (hence the name off the lake) and lots of water to cover.  I decided the best approach was to tie on a spinner bait and cover some water.  It wasn't long before I hooked into a good one.

I would basically catch 1 or two fish and mark the spot with a waypoint on the GPS and move on.  With only one day of practice I just had to find areas that held fish and hope to get the right bites on tournament day.  Plus with the tournament the next day I needed those fish to bite then, and didn't want to wear out each area.  I scouted out lots of water and dialed it into a few weed lines and some bays for frogging.


Tournament-
I was fishing this event solo and decided to start near the take off.  I worked the shallows thoroughly with no luck. I headed to my next area with no luck as well.  I finally found a keeper up shallow.  I hoped I had found a pattern but only caught one fish up shallow.  I just kept moving until I found some fish and eventually I did.

I fished a point near a buoy where I hooked into a good one.  I thought for sure it was a pike by the way it was pulling under the boat.  Also I hadn't felt any bass fight that much on this lake yet.  It finally came up and I got the net under it.  It was a good bass!  I thought it was about a 4 pounder but the scale didn't agree.  I was jacked because I thought that would be one of the better fish caught that day.  By this time I had a decent limit and went to try to find some upgrades.

Frogging yielded a few bites but nothing that helped.

Docks weren't producing any kickers either.

I moved back and forth between my most productive areas with only small upgrades.  It seemed like the longest day ever, maybe because I was solo and had no one to talk to.  Or maybe because I couldn't find a kicker and I covered so much water.

Finally, it was getting close to weigh in time so I headed back to my shallow spot near the access.  I was hoping to flip a kicker in the milfoil.  I got a few bites but nothing that would help.  Finally with about 10 minutes left I felt a good 'thump.'  I set the hook and made a few cranks and it came unbuttoned.  I didn't see it but it sure felt good.  I think it would have helped but can't be sure.  Time to head in.

It ended up that I finished in 9th place, with 10.43 lbs.  My big fish weighed 2.89lbs.  I can't believe that fish wasn't over 4lbs.  I am not the best when it comes to guessing weights but I would have bet anything that fish was over 4.  Oh well, guess my eyes were playing tricks on me.  Now looking back at the picture I think I got a little over excited, which is why I like to guess on the conservative side.  I did have a dead fish too not sure what happened there.  This would end up being my worst finish of the season which is great because 9th place is still in the top half of the club.  This out of towner was much better than last year's!

Overview-
It was a fun lake with lots of fish just not many big ones.  That kind of fishing is fun for awhile until you need a bigger bite and just keep catching the same size fish over and over.  I always wonder in lakes like this if people kept some of the smaller fish if that would help produce bigger ones.  I wish I had more time to practice but that's how it goes.  It's tough to get away to practice for lakes that are two plus hours away.   Its also tough to get dialed in practicing for one day the day before.  But it's the same for pretty much everyone else so it's an even playing field.  I just feel like if I could squeeze in any extra practice it would give me a slight advantage.

I'm not sure what else I could have done, I definitely fished hard and left it all out there.  I guess the only thing I could have done differently is fished where the big ones were.  The weedlines were producing pretty good and shallow areas were good too.  Who knows?

Results

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