Twin Rivers Bassmasters Fish Off Results

The weather cooled off for us this weekend. On Saturday the warmest part of the day was when we arrived to the lake. The wind picked up early. We fished several different areas and I stuck to a roboworm most of the day. The fish were somewhat active at the beginning of the day and I was able to pick up about 1 keeper every hour and a half. Then it got slow.

It started to Drizzle and the temperature dropped more. The fish stopped co-operating. Finally, I started deadsticking the worm. I would cast it and let it sit on the bottom next to the bank for 30 - 40 seconds then real it in and cast to the next spot. I picked up my last 2 fish towards the end of the tournament doing that.

I was in 2nd place after the first day with my 5 fish.

The next morning was cold. We started out the tournament at 46 degrees and it ended at 52. It was raining most of the day and blowing all day 10-15 mph with gusts of 25. It must have been gusting all day.

Fishing was tough on a good lake. There were close to 100 boats going out of the ramp we were going to start at, so we switched ramps. We started out a little later than that tournamnet and squeezed between boats to fish our first spot.

I was casting a buzzbait to start but it was too windy so I switched to a storm swimbait in chartreuse. I had 1 bass chase it so I cast out a similar colored roboworm and caught it. It was a little short. I cast the swimbait some more and had a nice hit. When I got it to the boat it was a nice white bass.

We worked quite a few more areas with no luck. We hit grass, shoreline, rocks, wood, and even a nice ledge with a drop shot and a carolina rig but couldn't get a keeper. I had 3 short fish by 2:30 and no keepers.

With 1 hour left I switched to a purple D.C. finesse worm. I cast next to a lay down and my rod loaded up. I set the hook and pulled in my first keeper. The wind was blowing us down the bank pretty fast so Ken turned the boat around to go back over the three laydowns that were next to each other.

We made it back to the laydown I had caught my first keeper on and I cast back to it. My rod loaded up again and I had my second keeper. The fish were tight to the laydowns. We hurried and fished a few more laydowns in similar types of water. Laydowns next to deep water. We didn't have any luck.

My 2 fish were enough combined with the weight of the first day to keep me in 3rd place. I got 3rd place fish off money plus 3rd place tournament money. It was about as much as I won for 1st place and big bass at another club tournament so I was happy. I wish I had figured out a pattern earlier in the day to win the tournament but just being able to place after my 2nd day was a blessing.

On the way home we decided to take a different route back home to avoid a stop light and traffic in Washington Courthouse. I had thought I came in on highway 50 the first time. I was wrong. Highway 50 took us through Cincinnati and cost us an hour on the way home. I'm sure the guys in the club will have a good laugh on that one.

Delaware Club Tourney 6/26/10

I'm finally catching up from vacation and have tons to write about. I will have to shorten some stories or I will be on the computer for days.

First about my June 26th tournament at Delaware lake. In a previous post I mentioned that I haven't fished the lake for bass but had for crappie many times. I knew the layout of the lake and studied a few different maps to decide where to start.

I pulled into the lake and realized there must be another tournament going out. Shure enough another club tournament was going out of the other ramp in the state park. Not only that, there was a big tournament the next day with lots of people pre-fishing. The water was going to get beat up.

I pulled into my first spot, a high bank that has produced some big crappie. The drop from bank to deep water made me want to give it a shot. I started out a ways from where I wanted to end up since I was the only person to stop at this particular bank. I had a boat pull in behind me after a bit but I was able to work the whole bank area first. The first fish didn't hit the shakey MiRketti until about 8:00, then it was on! The first fish was a good keeper on a point of a small cove and on the other point of the small cove I pulled in another keeper.

I fished quickly to my main area as boats started pulling in quickly and there was a rocky area I wanted to post up on. Once there I pulled several short fish in. I cast a spinnerbait seeing if a larger bass would hit and wham, fight on. I didn't have any more luck on the spinnerbait so I kept fishing the shakey MiRketti trying to work my way through the short fish. There was no shortage of 11 - 11 3/4 inch bass. This lake is going to be great next year.

I caught over 20 bass during the tournament but only had the 3 keepers. I did try a few other areas with laydowns on the main lake and another cove that didn't seem to get as much pressure as some of the rest of the lake.

At the weigh in my fish came to 4.37 pounds after a dead fish penalty for 4th place. I had one die at the ramp while waiting for weigh in. I went through 2 bags of ice throughout the day but needed more. My boat doesn't have a recirculating livewell and the surface water was heating up quickly throughout the day. I feel really bad losing a fish, especially a keeper of that quality. Next tournament I will have rejuvenate and an aerator with lots of ice. The fish did not cost me a place but the crayfish that one of them spit out definately did. It was absolutely huge and if not spit up would have moved me into 3rd place money. It had fascinating colors and I wish I would have taken a picture of it. It had a greenish body with some oranges mixed in and the tips of its claws were blue. That is why you should dip the tips of your claws.

It was still a great club tourney. You can't beat catching 20 bass even if a majority of them are short fish. The talk at weigh in was that everybody whacked short fish.

Leo's first fish of 2010

Yesterday afternoon my oldest son Leo said he wanted to go fishing really bad. I asked him, "What if you don't catch any fish?" He told me, "I will just keep fishing to practice."

I was going to wait until I was sure he would be able to catch fish before I took him out. The fish are moving really slow right now and like a slow presentation due to the cold water. After his comment I realized how badly he wanted to just fish, whether he caught something or not.

I called my buddy Gene and we picked him up and headed to the river where I had some luck last weekend.

The crappie and bluegill were really biting. We caught over 50 and ended up keeping 11 fish.

Leo caught his first fish of the year and the biggest gill of the day. He was casting into a good spot and I kept telling him to slow down when reeling in. Finally he got it slow enough and when his bobber went under he set the hook and brought the fish in. I think he's ready to fish this year. He did leave shortly after catching the fish to tell his Mom who was sitting up the bank in the van. It was getting cold so she kept him in the van to play.



Mizike had called me earlier in the day to say he was fishing in Oklahoma. I told him I was going fishing later and he ended up telling me he was not fishing and the weather there was not cooperative for the weekend. I thought it would be funny to spell out his name with fish and pic message it to him. I also let him know that Leo had caught a fish before he did this year. I think he was mad or a little jealous because he did not respond.