TNT # 6

We fished O'Shaughnessy for tournament #6. I tried to go with smaller baits since we had not had any luck at the lake yet this year. I primarily used a beatlespin and a crappie skirt on a 1/16th jig head as well as a shakey worm on a 1/8 oz. shakey head jig.

We drew boat number 17 and went straight to the cove we wanted to fish but it was already occupied by another boat by the time we got there so we fished the points in front of the cove and went around to the next small cove. In the next small cove I caught an 11 1/2 largemouth right away. We worked our way around and I caught another 11 inch smallmouth. Mizike caught a crappie on a crankbait.

We worked our way back to the other larger cove that I wanted to work a drop that went from 5 to 9 ft. quickly. On the way around I had a hit at a weed edge. I set the hook and my line snapped. I caught about an 8 inch largemouth off the drop. Mizike wanted to try a different spot so we went toward the dam and fished a large cove for quite a while without a bite. We decided to go back to the first cove and see if we could catch a keeper there. No luck! We started working the bank line towards the ramp.

We had about 15 minutes left and I saw a small cove similar to the first so I pulled into it. I saw a little ditch extending into the water and thought that it might go out a few feet. There had to be a fish there so I cast to it. The lure barely hit the water and I had a hit. I reeled it in and it felt pretty nice. As I got it to the surface I noticed it was a nice fish but the wrong species. It was a huge crappie. I cast back and got another large black crappie.

The tournament was over so we headed back to the ramp fishless again. Next tournament at O'Shaughnessy we will work the whole lake a few casts at each spot before moving on. I did get a tip from a person that fishes the lake a lot. He said O'Shaughnessy and Griggs are really good tube lakes. I will have to figure out how to effectively use bass tubes.

This Thursday's tournament is at Alum Creek. I have been thinking of possibly just fishing the Alum Creek tournaments or one tournament a month. We have not been doing good and have not came close to placing yet in fact the most fish we have weighed in is 1. We could save money and practice to get better. I don't think Mizike would be able to get out if we were not in the tournament though. I want to get better and have been getting better each week. If we don't get out each week we will not get better.

I am already getting pressure from the wife that I am fishing too much and not doing enough as a family. My weekends have been taken up by family stuff and I have only made it out a handful of times to practice fish for bass. This last weekend we took the girls and kids to Lake Erie. Next weekend we have already been told no fishing. I guess we will keep fishing the tournaments just so we can go fishing.