To start off I just want to say that I did not really get to practice for this tournament. I had been to the lake just fishing around for fun 2 weeks before and found the bass were beginning to move shallow again as the water temperature had dropped significantly to the low 80's. The shad had also begun to move shallow which would be a good reason for the bass to follow to the shallow water. In that visit two weeks prior I had a decent amount of success fishing shallow grass, super shallow actually with most of the fish I caught that day being in around 2 ft. of water. I caught them flipping grass with a sweet beaver that day and one or two on a swimming jig. When I found out about this tournament it was only about 4 days prior to the event and I did not have a chance to practice but I thought to myself, "What the heck?." This turned out to be a good decision on my part. I made the drive down to Eufaula early the morning of the 13th and arrived at Lake Point State Park at about 4:30 a.m. to give myself some time to prepare. After registering and getting my tackle ready for the day it's time to launch.
6:00 a.m.--I was boat 8 out of 17 so it was a short launch process and I made the short run across the river to one of my favorite starting areas and a place that is almost always good to me. I wasn't alone in my choice of starting area and really didn't get to begin on the best part of the bank...I was a little concerned about this especially after I saw my company catch a nice 3 lb. bass off the area I wanted to hit. Also, as soon as I pulled into the area I noticed that the water had fallen about a foot since the last time I had visited the lake. This does not usually bode well for shallow bass that are relating to shoreline vegetation but I decided to stick with it and just ride it out and make adjustments later.
6:20 a.m.--I had become a little concerned because to this point I had only had one bite so far and it was a small non-keeper that I caught on a peacock colored swimming jig. I had chosen that color because of the presence of a massive amount of shad in the area I was fishing and the color of the water which was a slight stain. I continued down the bank in my starting area which has an abundance of shoreline grass and began to notice a strong current moving through the area. Right about that time I made a cast past some of this shoreline grass with my swimming jig and a good fish boiled on the jig. Just a short fight later and I had my first keeper in the boat, a solid 3 lb. bass. I was pretty happy with this fish even though it was a slow start. I'll never turn down 3 lbrs.
6:30 a.m.--Just a short distance down the bank and I've moved into some lily pads mixed in with the shoreline grass. I am still throwing my swimming jig and as I make a cast into the pads a bass immediately boils on the jig. After another short fight I put a chunky 2 lb. bass in the boat.
6:45 a.m.--I've run through all the good area on this bank so I decide to take a little boat ride about ten minutes down the lake to another good grassy area. I pull into the area and begin going down the grassline with my swimming jig and interchangeably throwing a frog as well.
7:00 a.m.--I get to an area with just some sparse grass and pick my frog up again and on about my fifth cast I get a blow-up from a huge bass. I saw the fish and just from the glimpse I got guessed it to be around 6 lbs. I couldn't coax it to bite after the first missed strike so glumly I continued down the grassline to no avail. When I reached the end I decided to turn around and go back through with the swimming jig and see if I could convince the big fish to bite again. As soon as I got back to that sparse grass I began getting nervous. On my first cast to the exact spot the fish had bit at before, the big fish boiled on my swimming jig as soon as it hit the water. Well let me tell you, I immediately became a nervous wreck when I set the hook on this behemoth. This was a battle for the ages as this monster bass was not giving up. She jumped four or five times and I finally managed to wear her out and lip her. I immediately put it in the livewell and just sat there for a moment to think about how big this fish was. It took me about ten minutes but I finally recovered and began fishing again.
7:30 a.m.--I am still fishing the same area as I have decided to stick it out and pound the area hard in an attempt to get another good fish from the area. The sun has come out and I have decided to pick up my flipping stick and flip the grass I have already fished with the swimming jig and frog. As I am working down the grass line I feel a tap on my line and set the hook and flip a nice 2 1/2 lb. bass in the boat. At this point I am pretty excited because it's only 7:30 and I have 4 fish that I guess will go about 14 lbs. in the boat.
7:45 a.m.--I have fished through the area and continue to move down the lake to another grassy area that usually produces for me.
8:00 a.m.--After flipping the grassline I have decided to fish for about 15 minutes I feel another thump on my line, set the hook, and flip another 2 lb. keeper in the boat. At this point it is still really early and I already have 16 lbs. in the boat so I have plenty of time to upgrade throughout the day.
8:30 a.m.--I have thoroughly fished through the area and begin working my way back up the lake to an area that generally holds fish for me that I passed on the way down. I have committed myself to the flipping stick for the rest of the day as it usually provides me with the best big-bite potential and I made the decision that it was the best way for me to upgrade throughout the day.
9:00 a.m.--As I am working through the new area I have decided to fish, I get to an extremely thick patch of grass. As I am almost to the end of the grassline, my bait falls silently through the grass and when I pick up on it I feel a slight weight on the end of the line signaling another bite. I set the hook and a nice fish is fighting back but it gets stuck to the bottom of the grass mat. I immediately rush over to where the fish is and stick my hand through the grass mat. I grab the fish and begin working it through the grass when the hook falls out of its mouth. It's now a battle between me and the fish with nothing to rely on except my hand. I eventually manage to get the fish worked through the grass and into the livewell. This bass, my sixth on the day, was a nice 3 lb. bass that culled out one of my smaller 2 lb. fish. This moved my weight up to around 17 lbs. Things are looking up!
10:00 a.m.--After thoroughly working through the area, I have had 2 more bites but did not manage to put either one in the boat. I have decided that I have found the right pattern but I needed to go to another area to try to continue upgrading. I decide that the area I started in would be a good area to try as it is about the same as the areas I was catching fish in. The pattern that I had discovered was that the fish were holding in shallow grass in the first 100-200 yards of a creek mouth.
10:30 a.m.--I am back in my starting area and already working through it and something just doesn't feel right about it to me so I make the decision to run up the river to an area that fits the pattern I am on but that I have not been to in over a year. I need a big fish and it's time to gamble.
11:00 a.m.--I have arrived in this new area well up the Chattahoochie River and I begin to flip the shallow grass mats that are up there. On about my seventh or eighth flip I again feel that mushy weight on the end of the line, set the hook, and the fight is on. When I first set the hook I honestly was not sure I had hooked a fish. The grass mat just erupted and I honestly believed that I may have hooked one of those alligators that Eufaula is so famous for. Luckily, I was wrong and I saw an enormous bass fighting on the end of my line. After what seemed like an hour long fight (I'm sure it only lasted about 30 seconds in reality), I managed to lip this beast of a bass and put it in the livewell and cull my small 2 lb. bass. So at this point it's only 11:00 and I have what I am guessing to be around 22 lbs. in the boat! What a morning!
12 p.m.-3:00 p.m.--Honestly, after I caught that big fish the only thing going through my head was, "Wow, I have a really big bag right now and I can have a massive bag if I can get rid of that small fish." Unfortunately for me, I could not do it. I don't know what happened or why I couldn't get another good bite it just didn't happen for me. I refished all the areas I had caught good fish from and tried a few that had produced for me in the past as well as some new areas but nothing produced the cull fish that I needed. I caught a few fish smaller than the smallest one I had but I never could get that big bite.
3:00 p.m.--It's weigh in time and I am worried that my small fish is going to get me beaten and I am going to go home disappointed. The first thing the tournament director says to me when I go to get a weigh in bag is, "Well, did you whack 'em today?." I honestly didn't know where my weight would sit that day so I said the first thing that came to mind, "Well I dont know what whacking 'em is for today so I don't know..." When he told me that he thought that the day was slow I started to wonder if I would have enough to win. When I finally weighed my fish I was ecstatic to find that my fish weighed in at a huge 22.40 lbs. I had also caught the big fish at 7.25 lbs. After a few minutes of nervously sweating out the weigh-in I found out that I had won the tournament by around 4 lbs. and that my anxiety over my small fish was unnecessary.
In summary, I had an absolutely great day on the water and if I can turn more days on the water into days like this, I may actually be able to make a run at this professional fishing thing!
