Being a Co-Angler in the FLW BFL

All feels right with the world today.  A dried leaf blows across the road sounding like puppy's feet hopping across the pavement.  There is a chill in the air, almost moist.  The trees are still green.  They will be turning soon to the browns, reds, oranges and yellows that symbolize fall.

A feeling of tranquility waved over me as I stood outside, the sun just starting to peak over the roofs of the houses in town.  Tomorrow I will be traveling.  I will be on another of life's grand adventures. 

I can picture bass on the end of my line.  The strike, the hook set, then the battle to bring them to the boat. 

Last night I started preparations for this weekend.  I gathered all my camping and fishing gear and brought it to the house so that tonight I can organize my tackle into 1 bag and change my line on my rods.  If I forgot anything, this will give me an extra day to remember.  Already, I remembered a bag in one of my hatches of the boat that hods all of my new lures.  I might not use any of them but I want to have it along in case I decide, once I get there, that one of the lures needs to go into my bag.

The timing of this tournament will fit my strengths well.  The bass should be in transition from their summer haunts on their way to the shallower waters of the coves and creeks.  If we get on to them on the main cove points it will be a blast.  Bass after bass will be moving onto the points to feed before traveling on back into the coves to continue feeding.

Being a co-angler I don't have to locate the bass.  My boater is probably out there right now doing that.  Part of the fun of being a co-angler is not knowing where or what style of fishing you are going to be doing.  You may learn a totally different technique than you have ever tried.  I have a feeling that will be the case in this tournament.  This is a new lake for me, in a different region of the country than I am used to fishing. 

At some point I would like to take over the front of the boat.  For now, I don't have the time I need to scout the waters.  The guys in the BFL's are good.  If your not prepared you are more than likely just setting fire to your entry fees.

I have looked at lake maps, at fishing reports, at the weather forecast.  I have looked at the previous years BFL tournaments at Grand Lake.  It takes a lot of weight to win it, around 13 pounds per day.  It will take about 8 - 10 pounds to move on to the 2nd day and get in the money. 

The competition and camaraderie are why I fish these.  Fishing pulses through my veins.  The void of sports as I get older has lured me into the competition of these. 

There is a lot of luck in bass tournaments, but luck is not the key component.  You have to be good.  The more edges you have the more likely you will succeed.  Good line and good equipment is a must along with sharp strong hooks.

The biggest advantage I gained was getting quality rods.  I had always thought that I could catch fish on anything, until I got a quality graphite rod.  I got power and feel out of my rods.  I could feel the slightest of bites and was amazed at how many bites I must have missed with my other rods.  I'm talking 6 to 1.  If I hook all of those I have my limit and a cull, if they are keepers.  Most of my rods aren't that much more expensive than the rods I was buying before.  I have picked several used rods up for 40.00 to 60.00.

Line is equally important.  Some lines have substantially more feel than others do to the stretch of the line.  I rarely use mono-filament any longer.  Each line has a purpose though, even mono-filament, and matched with rod and reel it can make a huge difference.

The bait used is important too.  More important than the bait is your confidence in it.  If your good at catching bass on certain baits, that will be your bread and butter.  Get good with several so you can build your arsenal and react to what the bass want.  Try different things with your baits.  Customize them to make them yours.  Find the best way to fish that bait.  People will try to imitate you and may catch fish on them, but you will do better because you know you are doing it right.

Time on the water will make you better.  The more you live with the fish, the more you think like a fish.  The more you think like a fish, the more you will catch.

Ohio River BFL Buckeye Super Tournament

I left work early Friday to make it to the pre-tournament registration early. I didn't run into any problems on the way there and actually registered an hour early. I was ranked 24th in the standings in the FLW BFL Buckeye Division as a co-angler. They mentioned at the meeting that to ensure a top 40 finish for the year I would probably need to catch at least 1 bass. I had already thought that but now I was really feeling the pressure.

After the pairings meeting I visited with a few of the other anglers, one of which was Jacob Wheeler. He's a super nice person and I have a feeling he will be a superstar in this sport eventually. He's already really good. We were talking about next year. I have been doing some thinking on it, and figure that if I can, I should use the FLW to fish some bigger waters. I will probably, if my job allows it, fish the American Fishing Series Central Division or Northern Division next year as a co-angler.

If I can sell my boat this winter and buy a new used bass boat I might also fish the BFL as a boater. I still have a little time to decide. I like being a co-angler but also like to be the decision maker on where to fish and when. In actuality I will probably remain a co-angler if I am fishing the American Fishing Series since I would not have the time off to pre-fish each of the tournaments.

I might go south this winter to fish a BFL tournament as a co-angler on a larger lake. I would like to try Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, or Oklahoma. It would give me a chance to fish for bass while the ice is still on the water here, and I could learn how to fish on some different waters.

I called Dad and talked with him as everyone was leaving the meeting area. I had plans on a place to stay but that fell through so I was thinking of staying at a campground or in the van. I decided to stay the night in the van and met some other cool people doing the same thing.

I ended up going out to get drinks and a sandwich for the next day and drive around to check the area out a little. There was a barbecue place down the road called Big Daddy's Barbecue and Lil Momma's Fixins, or something close to that. I decided to stop in. The pulled pork was great and came in a healthy portion on the bun. My stomach was stretched out from the pulled pork sandwich, onion rings and the 2 corona's I had so I decided to head back to the ramp to sleep.

The ramp area was unlit so I fell asleep pretty quickly. Dreams of poor fishing went through my head. In my dreams I would cast to all these great looking spots and not catch any fish. I woke up and was disappointed in my dreams. They were brought on by my previous experience with the Ohio River.

I got up and prepped my equipment for the day. My partner called and was entering the ramp area. I met up with him and were one of the first to get our boat put in. We were second to last boat to get to leave the area though.

We pulled up to a bank and waited as everyone got to pass us and leave to fish. Finally they called the last 2 numbers and we were off. We made around a 15 minute run and were fishing pretty quickly. My boater caught 2 keepers pretty quick.

I caught a few short fish then had one on that was close. Upon measuring the bass, he was barely short. I caught a few more that were just barely short. Then I was lifting my worm out of the water at one point and a huge bass came up out of the water after it. He just barely missed it and my side of the livewell was still empty.

It was getting later in the afternoon and I was still catching just barely short bass. I kept thinking any one of them could be a keeper but just couldn't bring one in. finally I had a nice bite next to a dock. I set the hook and the fish seemed like it wanted to surface and jump. I kept my rod tip down to keep the fish in the water until I got it to the boat. My boater dipped the net and I brought it up and into the net. It was about a 3 pound catfish. I felt devastated. I really thought it was going to be a keeper bass. I needed 1 bass for points in this tournament.

We continued fishing then my boater said we were going to hit a spot on the main river where he usually can get a keeper.

I had several bites and was getting low on the finesse worms I was having luck on. My boater brought in a barely short bass, and right after that I have a hook up that feels like a nice bass. I get it to the boat and my boater nets it. It was a 14 incher, 2 inches into the keeper category. I sigh of relief ran through me. Then the excitement hit. I was more than likely going to make the regional cut. I looked at the clock. It was 2:30. We had about an hour left to fish. I started working to try to catch a second keeper and try to make the 2nd day.

I caught 2 more nice sized catfish. One of them even jumped completely out of the water when I hooked it. The second 1 I caught came out of the same spot I had brought in the keeper. My boater was retrieving a lure he had caught up and I fought the fish to the boat and into the net thinking I had a big bass, again to turn out to be a catfish.

The time ran down and I weighed in my 1 bass. It was 1 pound 7 ounces, good for around 33rd place out of 72. The cut for the next day was a little more than a half pound away.

I had a good tournament. My boater was really fun to fish with. We caught a ton of fish, just not enough of the right size or right species. The Ohio river left a little better taste in my mouth this time. I look forward to going back now.

Thoughts After the Tournament:

1. The reason I think I caught so many short fish without keepers - the creek we were fishing was not a long ways from Tanners and is pretty well known. There are a lot of tournaments out of Tanners so a lot of the keepers probably get plucked out of there and hauled back to Tanners.

2. There was not a lot of water being pulled on the first day of the tournament. There was abut a 15 minute pull and that is when I caught my keeper. He was in a current break.

3. There were large schools of shad and fish blowing up in them. It might or might not have been a good idea to spend a little more time casting an imitation shad bait right under the balls of shad. Looking back it couldn't have hurt. It might have been a good time to try a swimbait.

4. I went through 2 1/2 bags of worms. It was good fishing.

5. I finished the season in 18th place overall. I'm within the top 40 cut so I get to fish the Kentucky Lake regional tournament October 21st through the 23rd.

Ohio River Buckeye Division BFL

This weekend was the 4th tournament in the Buckeye Division BFL out of Carrollton, KY on the Ohio River.

I was ready for revenge on the Ohio River after not even getting bit out of Maysville. I had vacation scheduled for Friday but had just taken vacation time the previous Friday for the wedding and that didn't work out to well without having any type of coverage. I decided to just leave work early Friday and leave myself time to get to registration on time.

Everything came up at work and I didn't get to leave until about 4:00. The GPS said I would arrive at 7:09, nine minutes late. Usually that's not a problem as I make it where I'm going sooner than GPS time. This time however, I was traveling through Dayton and Cincinati during rush hour. For the first time that I can remember I purposely sped when I could to make up time.

I made Cincinati in good time but it was stop and go the whole way through the city. Just as I was about to have a panic attack we made it across the Ohio river and I was flying again.

I made it to the registration site with 3 minutes left to register and by the time I got signed in I had 1 minute left. Talk about cutting it close. I found out later you can call in to register then show up to the pretournament meeting for pairings.

I met Jim a guy I had been talking to at the other tournaments and he said that he had an extra bed again at the super 8. I had been planning on camping near there but a hotel is much easier.

We went out to eat at an awesome Mexican place then went back to the hotel. The next morning we had Waffle House and headed to the ramp.

We locked through to go North and ended up having only a few hours to fish up there before we started to head back. I caught my only bass right before we moved back South. It was raining by the time we started fishing and the bass did not want to cooperate. I only had 1 good bite that I missed right after I caught my first fish.

At weigh in I had 1 bass for 1 pound 3 ounces. Only 30 co-anglers brought in fish so I placed in 25th. I also moved from 46th to a tie for 24th in the standings.

Sunday I pre-fished Griggs for this weekends club tournament. I only had a few hours but had some fantastic fishing in the afternoon. Gene went with me and caught a 2 1/2 pounder. I got one around 2 pounds and a couple smaller fish. I also felt a lot of fish hit and figured out a good pattern if it holds.

I would have a nice picture of a decent bass but as we were leaving I pulled up to the boat dock with the trolling motor. By the time I got it raised and went to step out we had floated a ways from the dock. I tried to make the jump as it didn't look that far. It turned out that with the boat swinging as I pushed off and the distance I had to make it were just to much. My feet made it on the dock but my whole body was leaning over the water and my toes were not strong enough to hold me up. My cell phone was in my pocket and there was quite an audience. I felt like a smuck after that one.

Super Tough Tournaments are Awesome!

Super tough tournaments are awesome if you are one of the few to catch a fish. The Ohio River tournament out of Maysville, KY was an especially tough tournament. It had rained a lot down there since Tuesday and the water was muddy. I'm talking barely seeing a chartreuse spinnerbait 2 inches under the surface muddy.

There were a few people that located some fish but not many. Four bass won the boater side with 5-11 and 2 bass won the co-angler side with 4-02. I don't know if you had to be lucky or good in this tournament but I wasn't either of those.

Jay Gillfillan won the boater side. That is awesome! He is a friend of a friend. I had been introduced to him at the Indian Lake BFL and talked to him after registration at this tournament.

I have to say that I am very happy with my experience in the FLW BFL so far. Everybody is so helpful and friendly. I guess we all have something in common. I was going to camp once I got down to the Ohio River. I met Jim Lovelace right away when I got to the tournament site. He had offered to be my guaranteed boater for the Ohio river tournaments so that I could be guaranteed to fish. He said that he had an extra bed at the hotel and offered to let me stay there.

We went out to eat at applebee's. We ran into my boater draw there and talked for a while why we were waiting to be seated.

My boater this tournament had a run of bad luck during prefish and had gotten mud plugged into one of his hoses. That cost him his first practice day as he worked on that and on his second practice day he ran down the river looking for spots to fish during the tournament.

Tournament morning we zoomed down the Ohio River. I knew it was going to be a tough tournament but was positive we would find a fish.




Throughout the day it got hotter and more humid. We fished hard but couldn't get a fish to bite. It was a very humbling experience to skunk in this tournament. I probably would have tried some different areas or techniques if I had my own boat. I really don't think anything I would have tried would have worked any better than what we did. Plain and simple, it was just tough fishing for all.

At one point we started to go upriver. As we were boating toward the power plant on the East side of Maysville, the air started to get hot. Hotter than it already was. It was an unbearable hot. We slowed down to look at a creek that had flowing water into the river. As we were slowing down I noticed the temperature on the electronics was showing 100 degree water temperature. I felt the water and it was hot. We left that area. We were getting low on fuel so we could not get too far away from the ramp so we fished the main river a little ways from the ramp.

It is easy to be a co-angler. All we do is show up and fish. I didn't realize until this week how much more added pressure comes from trying to get your co-angler on fish as well. At the previous 2 tournaments it was easy for the co-anglers to catch a fish, as it was easy for the boaters to know where to find the fish. This week I heard from more than one boater that they were more concerned about getting their co-anglers a fish especially if their co-anglers were doing well in the standings.

I hope my boater don't beat himself up over me not catching a fish. I had a fun rewarding experience even though I did not catch a fish. This was probably the toughest fishing I have experienced. We fished some fishy looking areas. I still can't believe that we didn't even catch a short fish or a bonus other species fish. I was waiting for a bite all day as I put my lure in more than one perfect place for the fish to bite.

Upcoming FLW BFL Buckeye Tournament Ohio River

Tomorrow will be our 3rd FLW BFL Buckeye tournament of the year. We are taking off out of Maysville, KY on the Ohio River. The last 3 tournaments will be on the Ohio River.

From what I have heard and read, it will be tough fishing. There should be a decent early morning bite. Possibly topwater and crankbait in the morning with slower action in the later morning and afternoon.

My confidence is high that I will catch some fish. It seems that I can catch fish almost anywhere with a finesse setup. My hookup ratio has gone up greatly in the last few weeks with a finesse setup. I was thinking that it was the hook that I was using but it was all in my hook set.

I was scared of setting a smaller hook as I wasn't sure if it would grab or pull free. At first I would reel fast to make the hookset or give a half hearted attempt. Now I set the hook just like i was setting the hook with a 3/0, doubling the rod over on the hookset. The more I have fished with the smaller hook I have realized that it gives a much better hookset and is harder to remove once it is set.

I hear the Ohio River is a good place for spinnerbaits as well. I love fishing spinnerbaits. Hopefully I can dial up a spinnerbait bite at some point tomorrow.

Indian Lake FLW BFL event

I made it to the lake as the rain started to pour down. The last 2 nights I had not slept well due to dreams of not catching bass. After catching so may fish at Lake Erie the weekend before I should have been having dreams of whacking them. I felt that I could get them on Indian.

Once at the registration I sat in the car for about an hour while the wind and rain pushed through. The rain slowed so I got registered.

I had plans to stay at my friend Chad's house while fishing the tournament but he had to leave town last minute so I decided to sleep in my car in his driveway.

Around 12:30 AM I awoke to a pickup driving by slowly. They came around again this time stopping behind my car. I had my driver's seat leaned all the way back. My fishing rods were in the back window. I was dazed, half awake, half asleep when I heard 2 guys walking up beside my car getting really close, then trying to open the doors that were locked. I banged on the window really hard. They ran back to the truck, jumped in and took off. I'm sure if I would have been sleeping in the house I would have came back out with busted windows and my fishing rods gone.

Needless to say, I did not sleep the rest of the night. It was starting to look like Grand Lake in a lot of ways. Rain at the pretournament meeting, no sleep the night before. Dreams of bass fishing. The bad thing was these dreams were of not catching bass.

At the tournament we started out in a good area that was filled with bass. My boater boxed a limit within an hour. I had fish follow my bait but not hit. I was casting a blue and black monsoor swim jig with a pacu chunk trailer. I also used a senko weightless and caught a short bass right away with it.

After the first pass throught the channel I switched to the finesse worm whacky rigged on a 1/16th oz hook. Finally I cast next to a laydown and felt a bite. I pulled back on the rod but did not set the hook well. He came to the surface in slow motion and opened his mouth also in slow motion. I could see he was about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds. My hook came out of his mouth in slow motion, then the world sped up. A little ways down the bank I hooked into a large catfish, then a short bass. I also missed several fish.

I felt uncomfortable fishing behind my boater. Not that I didn't enjoy fishing with him, I did. I could tell he was judging what I was using and my confidence was going to crap. He made several comments throughout the day about my lure choices.

I usually take criticism as a learning experience but this guy was knocking everything I have had any luck on in Ohio last year and this year. He wasn't harsh about it at all but had me questioning every decision I have made in bass fishing to date. He was doing good and I wasn't. I was missing being in my own boat catching bass. He did re-inforce the original thought that I had going into the tournament. I knew I needed to throw a craw and I didn't try it long enough. Toward the end of the tournament he said, "There were only 2 baits that you threw all day that made any sense to me, that was the chigger craw and the swim jig, and you only threw them for 5 minutes." I just didn't think I had the right craws with me so I didn't throw them that much. Maybe I didn't have the right craws, but I should have gave the ones I had a good effort. I know they work there.

Somewhere in the middle to later part of the day I caught another short bass. Then I brought one to the boat that looked close. He measured a squeek over 12". If he didn't get any shorter in the livewell I would save my points. I really think the boater took me to that area so I could catch a quick keeper fish. As soon as I got him in we went back across the lake to try to get him some upgrade fish. If the boater did go there so I could get a quick keeper, that was awesome of him. That fish got me 110 points for 90th place and kept me in the top 40. I wouldn't have gotten any points without weighing a fish. I am 31st in standings now.

The boater I was with also gave me some advise after the tournament to try to help me get better hookups using the finesse worm whacky style since I love fishing it so much that I cannot put it down. I appreciate all of his advice now that I am off the water and had a chance to see how much I can learn from him from that 1 day on the water.

4th Place finish in FLW BFL Buckeye Division as Co-Angler

I left work yesterday after a very stressful day and headed to Grand Lake St. Mary's to register for the FLW BFL Buckeye Division Tourmanent as a co-angler. I did not have my GPS and had not been there before so I had to make several calls to my wife to get me on the right track.

Once I arrived I checked in and waited around for the pre-tournament meeting. It was all new and exciting to me. There were several people around that helped me so I didn't feel so lost on the process.

Finally it got down to pairings and they called out the boat numbers and the names of the boater and co-angler. I must have misheard the boat number and wrote down boat 13. I went to meet my partner and an individual was calling out boat 13. I raised my hand and we walked off planning the next days meeting area.

On the walk I asked him if he pre-fished the lake. He said that he had not. He then asked me the same and I told him no. I asked him what kind of boat he had and he said a 20 foot Javelin. He then said that he would be bringing 4 poles and asked if that was o.k. I realized that one of us had made a mistake at that point and asked if he was a boater. He said no so we walked back to the FLW trailer and I was actually boat 14. I found my partner Craig that had been looking for me and he found his. Craig and I made meeting arrangements for the morning and I left to stay with a friend at Indian lake.

At Indian we went to eat all you can eat Walleye at Blackhawk Bar and Grill and I had a couple bud light limes. We went back to Chads house and I got my tackle organized for the next day. Finally, at 11:00 I laid down on the couch to catch a few hours of sleep with a plan to wake up at 3:30 AM to head back to Grand Lake.

While asleep, I had a dream that I was fishing in the tournament and caught my first keeper. My adrenaline rushed and I awoke at 1:30 AM. I laid there but was unable to fall back asleep. I felt like I was a kid waiting on Christmas morning to come. Eventually, after I realized that I wasn't falling back asleep I left for the lake.

There were quite a few cars still in the parking lot filled with anglers that were sleeping in their cars. I sat in the Blazer and waited for people to start showing up. There were a few people stirring in and out of their cars.

Craig arrived around 5:00. I loaded my tackle and poles into his boat and we went to get in line to put in the boat. It was still very dark.



Once the boat was in the water and I had parked his truck we sat in the boat and chatted with the other anglers waiting for the start of the tournament. There was a lot of dock talk going on.




I had a plan on what I was going to start out with based on what I had caught fish on last weekend. We were boat #14 so we got our choice of spots. Craig said he had quite a few fish in his areas. We arrived to the first canal we were going to fish and there was a boat there already. Luckily they were panfishing. I was casting a rubber worm and pulled it across a log when a bass swam up onto the log chasing it. It would have been a keeper bass. We continued to work around the channel to a rock shoreline made up of smaller rock. I pulled out a different rod with a 1/16th jig head on it and wacky rigged a drop shot worm on it. From now on I will refer to this as a Wacky MiRketti. It is kind of a cross between a wacky rig and a flick shake.

We worked our way down the rock bank and I got a bite. I set the hook and soon the 2 lb. 14 oz bass was netted and in the livewell. We worked around the corner and I caught a short and a bluegill on the wacky MiRketti.

We worked around the channel a little more then went to try a channel on the opposit side of the lake that Craig had quite a bit of luck on in practice. We made our way into the channel and boats were everywhere. We got to the end of the channel and there was a good rock bank similar to the one we had luck on in the other channel. One boat had just fished it and Craig asked if they would mind if we fished it. They said they would not but they had caught all the fish out of there. They had caught a catfish and a sheephead. I cast into the spot a couple times and was shaking my wacky MiRketti when I had a hit. I called for the net and I had my second bass was in the livewell. It was a 2 lb. 9 oz. beauty.

The rest of the day was tough and all I could catch were some more shorts, 4 total through the day, and a bunch of giant bluegill. We passed a lot of boats and all of them were saying the fishing was tough and most of them had 0 or 1 fish. Things were looking pretty good for me with 2 nice fish in the livewell. I wanted at least 1 more to make sure I made it in the money.

With about 5 minutes left before our return to check in Craig had a hit on his buzzbait. He got it to the boat but it got off at the boat. It was 13-14 inches and he was going to swing it in.

Craig was a great boater and got us in the areas that had fish. It was a pleasure fishing with him and I hope that we will get to fish together again sometime in the future.

I was one of the first to weigh in. My 2 bass weighed 5 lbs 7 oz and I was in the lead on the co-angler side for more than half the weigh in. It felt awesome getting the way to go's and the good jobs from the crowd when I walked off the stage. I figured 5 lbs. 7 oz. was not enough to win but with the tough day on the water I was hoping for a high finish. I was not dissapointed at the end of weigh in with my 4th place finish out of 114 co-anglers.



Now I need to keep up the momentum in tomorrow's Deer Creek club tournament.