2011 CO Pro Teen Classic Recap -CA Delta

Last Sunday July 17^th marked the 14^th annual Conroy Oakley Pro Teen Classic on the California Delta.  This year we saw more then 75 teens matched up with Local Pros take to the water for this fantastic event.  Andy “Cooch” Cuccia with Cooch’s Fishing hosted the event putting together an all star line up with Vince Harris of the Future Pro Tour being the weigh master, Scott Dipman with SC Environmental Services helped obtain sponsors and coordinate the weigh in, Roger Nelson being the computer brains and photographer, and TNT Baits provided Wadda Jigs and Claymores,  Ron Howe with RBbassfishing.net reached deep with sponsor support to bring together some of the biggest raffle packs and fishing gear for the teens raffle.

Saturday the 17^th was the Nutcase Rally, we had 20 boats come together from Westernbass.com for fishin, food, fun, and fellowship.  Saturday was an excellent day of fishing for me on the Delta, the fish were really chewing on the high low switch and I followed this tide for about 3 hrs. My starting line paid handsomely for me.  My first stop was in Franks Tract I through the Super Spook around some tulles with current and stuck a nice 1.5lb fish.    I then ran over to Lil Mandy and cought a 3.5lb fish on the Black Limit Lures Buzzbait, and a solid 2.5lb fish on the Trash Fish.  I proceeded to fish rock walls with a short hydrilla grass line and tulles in about 8’ with the Brown TNT Wadda Jig with a Double Tail Yamamoto 284 trailer and pulled 8 nice fish that averaged 2.75lbs these fish were absolute clones of each other.  The jig fish were in the hydrilla clumps and the best bite came on the High Low Switch – with current moving across the grass.  Excellent day of fishing my best 5 would have gone for 14.5 – 15.0 lbs.  Needless to say I was stoked about the possibilities        of what was in store for the C.O. Pro Teen Classic and was looking forward to fishing on Sunday.

For the C.O. Pro Teen Classic, I had an Excellent day as well, I was fortunate enough to draw a young man named Aranz, who showed up with his Dobyns Rods, Skeet Rods and was dialed into fishing. These young men have better mechanics and instincts then a lot of the guys I have fished with over the year. We met up on Saturday evening and had a care package put together of a Black Dog Shell Cracker, Miller Punching Weights, Limit Lures Buzzbaits, and TNT Wadda Jigs and Claymores - this alone had Aranz beside himself and stoked about being apart of the CO PRO TEEN CLASSIC. 


We fished our buts off Aranz cought two crank fish first thing in the morning to start us out with our first keeper a nice 1lber and a few rats then dumped a nice fish, it happens especially out here on the delta fishing structure. We through the topwater and swimbait around the flats with nothing to show for it, then we proceeded to fish the TNT Wadda Jig in the 1/2oz Brown with the 284 Yamamoto Double tail grub, for the better part of the day we caught quite a few fish on the TNT Wadda Jig but had a hard time finding the keepers. We limited out on the brown Wadda jig at about 11:30 - I looked at Aranz and I said OK decision making time - we can go fish cranks, drop shot or punch for the next hour what do you wanna do - he looked at me like hugh you want my input - YUP - the way I see it is we can catch a ton of numbers drop shotting, we can crank and stumble upon a nice fish or go punch and look for that one good bite. He asked, what would you do? I grin and said if it were me I would go punch and look for that ONE good Bite. This guy was such a sport he grins back and says LETS GO PUNCH!

We ran down to Sandmound and started punchin Aranz had a fish just blast him and just couldn’t connect, about 5 minutes later he gets doubled up - GOT HIM! now how do we get in there - I tell him you just do what you do and I will do what I do keep that fish pinned up in the grass and Ill go gettum - unfortunately when we pulled pu to the area the fish was no longer there - it happens and we both were but this young man never gave up, kept a smile on his face and we had a great day. We ended up with a limit for 7.87 but this day has filled my spirit for the rest of the year ----well until my first born arrives in December

Big Thanks to Cooch, Scott Dipman, Roger Nelson, Ron Howe, and Vince Harris and ALL OF THE BOATERS for stepping up and making this such a successful event - I am sure that there are more people that worked behind the scene's and I am sorry if I missed your name.

CA DELTA C.O. PRO TEEN CLASSIC and RALLY

July 17th will be the 14th Annual C.O. Pro Teen Classic  put together by my good friend and Delta Guide  Andy "Cooch" Cuccia  there are two events that I just CAN NOT MISS throughout the year and one is the CAST for Kids Event hosted by Folsom Bass Team and the other is the C.O. Pro Teen Classic.  There is just something about being a small part of a young persons development in this sport that really completes me for the rest of the year.  If you EVER have an opportunity to take a young person fishing, please do for the future of our resources and heritage depend upon it.

Saturday the 16th is the Nutcase Rally - where us Westernbass.com Nutcases get together fish, lie, and eat this is a fun no cost rally for braggin rights and ball bustin - we're going out of Russo's Marina  around 5:30am so if your in the neighborhood come on down.

Ok so I have not been on the Delta since my Hero To Zero Day but as always I am pumped up for the POTENTIAL that this fishery has to offer.  The REPORTS are in and it sounds like the bite could be poppin down on da river, so here is the starting line up for Saturday:

Super Spook

Blade Runner Swim Jig

Trash Fish

Senko (Black Blue / Green Pumpkin)

TnT Wadda Jig   Starting off with The Brown Jig and a Purple Trailer



LIMIT LURES Buzzbait

Fishing Folsom in the Summer

Fishing Folsom Lake in the summer can seem tough - most fisherman like to get there EARLY in the morning fish from 5 and off the water by 9:30 10am - or go out at 5pm and fish until they kick you off around 830 -9 - either way you beat the heat, minimize the experience with the wake boats, jet skiers etc... and enjoy some quality time on Folsom. 

First there is a ton of water still in this lake and fishing the trees that are in 12' is still a good bet a senko pitched directly onto the main trunk or on the shadow side of the tree - keep you boat at a distance 15' away is ideal and pitch nice a quietly - Greens work well - green pumpkin or watermelon seed.  for the daring a wacky rigged.

The other thing to consider is that there is Current on this lake right now and the main river arms have unseasonal cold water still coming through - I would focus my efforts on the South Side of Main Lake Coves, points and secondary points.  I havent seen or heard of a shad spawn yet, but keep an eye out for the dimples in the backs of coves first thing in the AM - A nice topwater bait like a Gun Fish would be my first choice to pull the bass out first thing in the am - keep an eye and  a nose out for the shad, when the spawn it smells like anise or fish oils.  

The old trusty for me is the Jig or spoon bite once the sun pokes up and the topwater cant be found - I tend to focus on the 15-25' zone and will prod deeper with my graph until I see fish activity - a great way to minimize the search is Steep Walls and Large Rocks I like 5% to the mouth of the North Fork for my jigs and spoony love - once the sun comes out the fish will have a tendancy to be on the shaded side of the structure - so a good rule of thumb is keep the sun at your back and cast forward.

Dont forget the sunscreen - Be safe and let me know how you did!

HERO TO ZERO - Birthday Experiances on the CA DELTA

I wanted to share my Birthday Experience with you all -so I am here to embarrass myself and get your suggestions or thoughts on how this could have ended differently.

I fish the California Delta quite a bit, this is a tidal water fishery with over 1100 miles of fishable shoreline - Water temps were 75 - 76 - tide was low at 8:30 high at 12:30 with a 2.0 foot swing from low to high (not much movement) winds were stable NNW 5-10 overnight lows around 56 stable for two days coming out of three days prior of 100+ days and lows of 78.

On Friday (my birthday) my partner and I went back to a magical area of ours where Mark Keyes pulled a 15.77 frog fish this time last year 366days ago. 

We pulled into the area on Friday and threw Senkos down the inside weed lines and pulled two fours - I quickly told Mark to put the rods down and we need to go do some looking as we had a tournament on Saturday.  The FIRST thing we noticed was an 8lber suck down a bluegill - the SECOND thing we noticed were blue gill beds - lots of em and not the lil guys but the big bull bluegils; you know the ones that are bigger then your hands. I put the trolling motor on high and we began looking and fishing with our eyes this area was LOADED with big fish, several over 8 and a couple over 10 as well as enough 1-3 to put on a fish fry for a village – just unbelievable for a cove that is approx 300yrds around.   We fished the outer edge where the bigger fish were not just to see how to get them to eat – Frogs, Senkos, Tubes all produced fish – needless to say we were STOKED on the area – this is what fishermen dream of and we knew that we found our spot for our 6 hr tournament and that the event was ours to lose.

Game day we draw boat 36 (I just turned 36 on Friday) first flight (we wanted first flight for the outgoing tide) and we were the second boat out!  Luck is on our side – we get to our first spot and I start throwin the senko as Mark is workin the frog in the cheese – I connect with a rat and BOOM SPLOOSH wild commotion Mark has a frog fish on – BOOM BABY 5lber in less then 5 minutes, two more casts with the senko and I have 3lber (and we are not even in the best part of the cove)  we work our way down the grass line carefully dissecting each grass point and pocket – but something has changed our insideline has been blown back with the cheese – the mat has shifted and moved and the big bluegill are not on the bank only the lil guys.   I knew find the bluegill find the bass – so we slid out to the next open lane in the cheese – we find cruisers in the 6-7lb range throwing senkos and tubes in front of them to no avail – The Grass is sticky (dying angel hair grass) and the bass have hunkered down in the grass – we limited out on two Buba – Shot Fish and Three Senko Fish two pounders – we knew our big fish didn’t get up and swim out of the cove – they were there in the grass – just not active – the angel hair didn’t let us get our bait down to the fish and when you did get the bait down it was so slimed up it looked like a glob of goo.   We weighed in 12.5 lbs for our best five – the fish beat us this day, we had the right spot, the right size fish all around us – just couldn’t get a bait effectively to them.   So I ask – have you ever experienced this type of situation?  If so what did you do to solve the problem?   If not what would you have done differently? 

Delta Days

For some "The Boys of Summer" means baseball - to me its time on The California Delta - there is nothing like this body of water west of the Mississippi, three Major rivers run from the Sierra Nevadas, meet to form The Delta and out through the SF Bay this fishery is the life force that brings Salmon to their migration creeks, Stripers running, Sacramento Shad, Sturgeon, Small Mouth, Spotted Bass, Catfish, Blue Gil, Crappie, a commercial Shad and Crawdad fishery and the result of it is HUGE strong Large Mouth Bass.  This river system is a heartbreaker that takes me to my highest of highs to my lowest of lows and some times from one day to the next it is truly an awesome fishery that will test any anglers mettl Armed with 2 swimbaits, a crank, a chatterbait, zara spook, and WADDA JIG, flip rod with a Danny Miller Punching weight and a small compact Robo Worm Pitchin craw for the unxpected bass - If you have not seen the Danny Miller Punchin Weight ya need to check it out!  Even if you are not punchin a 2oz through hyacinth and extra thick vegetation this is a killer weight for flippin lay down tulles /reeds grass pockets, milfoil, hydrilla, etc... today I started with a 3/4oz miller punch weight just enough to get ease the weight down through the lay down tulles and fold over grasses - I wanted that lighter weight to control the fall of the bait - with a snelled Owner 4/0 j hook i am good to go!  This bait works by flippin or pitchin your bait to the cover lifting the rod tip up to put the weight on end  and she goes bloop and slides on down - gone are the days of blasting a 2-2.5oz steel rocket 30+feet up into the air to get it to crash down on mama bass - now i can scale down my weight and slide the bait precisley to where she lives!

Now for how the day played out - Weather was overcast, slight drizzel and small breeze (2mph) the first two hours which was the last two hours of the incoming tide.  I immiedatly retied the spook to a buzzbait and our first spot was a great stop of buzzbait fish - nada - i changed the buzzbait to a blade realizing that they are not going to break the surface today.   Second stop was a rip rap main point into a slough raining steadily now with a 10mph , throwing up tight I had three bumps on the chatter bait, started casting out to 12' working the grass tops and hooked into a 3, then through the swimbait over the same area and connected with a 2.5 - Mark was throwing the crank up tight and found out that those bumps I was getting were short fish - but the crank vacummed them up and got into some keepers too.   Ran rock points and eddies for about 2.5 hours with bites all on the outside over 12-14' no fish up tight, tulles needed to be near by but couldnt get the worm fish in the tulles.    Top of the tide in W.S. Mark connected with a nice 4lber on a crank bait - isolated tulle on the inside of a point out about 6' from the tulle - this was key for the bigger fish - think troughs.    I wanted to check some water down south so made the run across the San Joaquin Delta only to find the winds are now BLOWIN 35mph - the area was choked with weeds and there was no place to really get out of the wind - ran back to W.S. for the rest of the day - winds blowin 35mph - gusting to 45mph

Keys of the day - Rip Rap, Grass Flats - Isolated Tulles nearby - Covered Water, if we didnt get bit in within 5 min - GONE - my hypothosis is that these fish are in all 3 stages of spawn STILL - the 's had the tail tell signs of being bucks not bitches - although they very well could have been fry guard with the wind up its hard to see any fry in the water.  Water temp 62-63 felt much warmer, air temp 64 winds WINDY, Rainy -3 tide

Fishing the Delta -

Tomorrow begins my two day tour on The California Delta with a follow up stop next Friday24th and Saturday 25th.  General reports will be posted on Sunday and details after the 25th - SORRY buts i gots to win dis one and cant spill all the beans.

Saturday is a falling barometer (thats good) over night low expected at 54degrees ( a 4 degree drop from the previous evening) Day time temp of 78 (7 degree drop from previous day) NW winds 20mph for friday night, SWS winds 10-14 late afternoon Saturday - High Tide is at 7 and low at 3

Starting June 15 - Sept15 the 6 Hour tournament rule is in affect so a shorter window of time to catch some big healthy pigs.   The goal WIN - the gameplan...... keep an open mind - starting line up

Topwater
Frog
Chatterbait
Spinnerbait
Flip
Flip
Senko
Dropshot
Shakey Head

Ah the kitchen sink - as you can see by the starting line up I am a junk fisherman. 

No Lip Fish

I caught this fish on the Delta on 6-5-11, the sound quality is pretty bad because of the wind...but check this fish out he was just under 4 and his top lip was cut sheer off - I mean down to the bone clean strait line.  As you can see there is a Marina in the background and my only thought is this guy was suspended under a boat when the captain decided to start it!    Pretty funny video as I thought Mark was taking a picture and it turned out to be a video.  Fishing report from this day will be out in about a week so check back to http://fishingasarookie.blogspot.com/ on 6-18-11

Folsom Lake Fishing Report - CAST for Kids

May 21st 2011 marked Folsom Bass Teams 5th annual CAST for Kids event held on Folsom Lake California  Folsom Bass Team in conjunction with Capitol Autism hosted over 32 kids and families for a wonderful day of fishing, BBQ, trophies and a day that everyone will remember.  Thank you for all that participated!

A BIG thank you to Mother Nature who was kind enough to give us a good day of fishing, Folsom Lake is currently full of water, meaning the willows have water on em and the fish LOVE hangin in these willow trees.  The morning was overcast with a slight breeze coming out of the east, i made a quick run to a cove that had willow trees and worked my way down the bank First willow flip a Yum Dinger in Watermelon Seed and have a fish just swim off with it, set the hook to pass the rod over to my kid and oops she came off.  I quickly changed hooks and went to the next willow in about 14' flip the senko and BOOM fish on a chuncky 3lb spot, flip the next willow for nada and the next for a 2lb spot.  The key here was that the Yum Dinger had to be up against the tree trunk on a vertical fall, the trees in 14' - 10' held fish the shallower ones not so much.  The other observation is these fish have not fully spawned yet!

Later in the afternoon I was able to get out with Dick and fished a swimbait for the rest of the afternoon - what i witnessed was something else first cast on the swimbait and a BIG smallie was tracking it - second cast another cruizer working down the bank I would bang the swimbait into the rocks and these fish just jumped on the swimbait - Unfortunatly it was a new bait for me and I was not dialed into it - but by the end of the afternoon we saw multiple 4's and 5's cruising the 10' ledge coming into the coves - these girls are just moving up come June 17th full moon you have best be on your best water cause I believe the fish will be on a big move to the bank!    Folsom is great this time of year, take a kid fishing.

California Delta - Low Tide Fishing part 1

I am definatly no guru on the California Delta and im learning each and every trip out there, the Low Tide can be a mystery for many fisherman who fish tidal waters. Just hours ago you were flipping into the Tulles up on the bank and wackin fish, now comes the dread low tide and those tulles have inches of water on them leaving one to scratch thier head..."where did all my fish go?" I still find myself asking this question but what really helped me advance was donning a new lense to look through - and I wanted to share it, cause it just may work for you too.

The Lense I use for looking at Low Tide situations is to look at the grass lines the same way I  look at a topo map - what i mean by that is if you flatten out the grass and dont look at it as grass - just look at the structure aspect and topography.

 Fig 1   John Crews Fishing The Delta on Low Tide                                                         Fig 2  Topo Map     

   Compare the above two pictures look down at the grass you will begin to see points, dropoffs, edges and ledges - you will see structure in terms of rocks and tulles, stickups, and ditches - once you start recognizing the vegetation (and you dont need to know it by name) you will notice changes in vegetation - i treat these like i do rock transitions on lakes - the interesting thing about the vegetation and starting to learn it is that you will see that certain vegetation likes certain bottom composition - like hippie grass likes sandier areas.

The other thing to do is to pull the boat off the bank and not just the bank the flat that you are on as well so that your boat is in 10-14' and look from there Fig1(see how crews is well outside the grass line) - low tide is more of a mental hurdel then anything else. I dont have it all figured out but when i started looking at it through the eyes of topography it started to make more sense for me.  It was no longer a bunch of grass clumps, they started to take familiar shapes and forms that I could easily interpret - main lake points, secondary points, humps, creek channels all on a macro level!

I highly encourage anyone who is "stuck" when fishing low tide to plan your fishing days for the majority of the day to be on the low tide look around and embrace it - you will start to see a whole different fishery and by learning the low tide you will greatly improve your fishing skills on the high tide. 

A great guide and a good friend Andy "Cooch" Cuccia has an excellent article on Solving the Delta Low Tides

Delta Bound - June 4th

I am Delta Bound this weekend June 4th - i can feel the electricity in the air as I am getting geared up to go out and scout out some fish for the Upcoming WRL tournament on June 18th, but I think the electricity in the air is literally from the thunderstorms that are passing through the region. 

I think this year the lesson that the fishing gods are trying to teach me is to fish in the moment - each and every cast is a new moment - cause that is the weather I have been in ALL EFFIN YEAR! So prefish for the Delta is going to be Rain Showers throughout the day and winds SSE with a barometric Press at 29 and dropping, temp is looking to be around 63 with a low in the 50's tide is 3+ high at 7:am and -.5at 14:30 lots of water coming through the system and it be cold water - Of course our tournament in two weeks will be in the 80's no breeze and same tide - well at least the tide will be the same!  

School of Bass - Guest Speaker Gary Dobyns - Thurs June 2nd

I just wanted to give a big thanks to Damon Witt for his dedication to SABF - for those of you who in the Sacramento Area that have not attended you are really missing out on some inside information on what is going on RIGHT NOW and what is coming up in the next few weeks out on our lakes. This is a great place to network, make friends and learn some really current and relevant information. Every First Thursday of the month at C&C Marine in Citrus Heights!

Big thank you to Gary Dobyns for coming out to SABF and share with us some of his thoughts on the DETAILS of bassfishing, these are the non-glamorous, seemingly mundane but BIG distinctions between just going fishing and taking your game to the next level. Gary spoke on Boat Control, Hook Design, Hook placement, presentations, tweaking baits, and getting into the nuts and bolts of how to stack the small things into a large average of your success - it was really cool seeing how he breaks down a hook design and the details that go into the decisions in his fishing and into Dobyns Rods.

C&C Marine has a great selection of Dobyns Rods that are a part of the dealer demo program call Mike at C&C for the details Lots of people ask about what rod does someone else like to fish with - this demo program is an OPPORTUNITY for you to figure out what rod works best for you and your style of fishing.

Good to see Wayne with WesternBass.com and Kent with Ultimate Bass hanging out and enjoying the fun.

See you out on the Water!

Ash

CYA - On Line Purchases through Private Parties

CYA - On Line Purchases through Private Parties

I purchase through online classifieds from time to time and my biggest concern is knowing that the seller is legitimate and that the transaction is processed smoothly for each party.  There are unscrupulous people out there that are liars and cheats that want to make off with your hard earned money, and the internet is a hot bed for these "Characters."   I have put together a very simple letter of agreement that I submit when buying or selling through online public classifieds, this is a CYA approach that vets people through selling of stolen goods, committing internet fraud, and documentation in case you ever are put into a position to go to court. 

Use PAY PAL https://www.paypal.com/ if the buyer or seller refuses to use paypal I walk away from the deal.  Never send Money Orders, Personal Checks, or credit cards for private transactions.  It takes 5 minutes to setup a paypal account and paypal verifies that the funds are available.

I also write a letter of agreement or an “Invoice” if I am the buyer or the seller, if the person refuses; WALK AWAY

The letter of agreement or invoice needs to state the details of the transaction.  Detail your information, legal first and last name and address, detail their information first and last name and address.  List the the items being purchased with a description of what is expected and condition of the product being purchased or sold (ie carpet rash, good working order, New In Box) the amount paid, and the delivery time frame.

 Then email it to the seller and request that they acknowledge or agree with Letter of Agreement.   

This way if I ever do get burned I can go to court with ample evidence to get my money back, and file charges.  It takes just minutes to plug in the information but it protects both the buyer and the seller from internet fraud. 

Letter of Agreement - Sample

                                                                                                                                                                Date:

To Mr. XXXXX

This letter is an agreement of purchase between XXXX(seller) and XXXX(purchaser) for one 4 Blade Renegade Propeller 13.5x25P, slightly used, hubbed for a Johnson Lower Unit, that does not include a thrust washer.  Purchaser agrees to pay seller the total amount due of $XXX.XX, which includes shipping.

 Once payment has been received through Pay-pal the seller agrees to provide the purchaser a tracking number or shipment verification, of the propeller, shipment is expected to be received within 10 business days.

©Jonathan M Ashcraft http://fishingasarookie.blogspot.com/

Folsom Lake - Pre Fish Jan 8th 2011

 The boat hasn't been on the water since October in the WRL TOC.  After hearing Mike Tuck speak at Folsom Bass Team's meeting on fishing Folsom I was PUMPED up to catch me some swimbait fish and mainly go target shallow winter time bass.

 The conditions - Low 35 day time High 46 FOGGY and Cold what I like to call perpetual morning.  The moon was Waxing Crescent.  The Lake was at 405' and dropping 1/2 per day but maintaining.

For me this trip was really about three things 1.) I have changed some of my setups on my rods in terms of line, rod and reel combos and I need to get use to them before my tournament season begins.  2.) Fish aggressively all day, look for a reaction bite, as I have a tendency to just pick up my jig and grind it out when I should be looking for the aggressive fish.   3.) Gather some info in terms of where the fish are positioning on the lake, bait, depth, and areas - via sonar for the club tournament.

One of the changes in setup I made this year was on my swim bait rod. I am using 30lb Power Pro Braid with a 20lb Maxima fluorocarbon leader.  Prior to this event I purchased approx $150.00 in swimbaits from Sportsman's Outdoors in Roseville. On my second cast with the Osprey Top Hook 6" swim bait I get a bad backlash that causes my line to stop suddenly and my bait to continue  - $20.00 I was trying to cast this thing like a huddelston and learned very quickly that an underhand roll cast is the best at allowing the line to come off the spool as it keeps the bait never pauses in the air, prior to this I was using the "deckhand cast" the challenge there being that the inertia  of the bait pauses in the air as it reaches the peak and gains speed on the descent causing my reel to backlash MOST of the time or me putting way to much thumb on the spool limiting my casting, so 20.00 lesson on the best way to cast the heavier swim baits especially on braid.

I work the break line near the launch ramp, in the granite rocks and barren banks - nada.  I work the humps on the outside working uphill - nada.  I run up to where I know fish spawn on the lake and follow the creek channels out looking for fish hide outs - nada  the whole time deep crankin, ripbaitin, swimbaitin and few football head jigs for good measure.

I talk to my tournament partner and great friend Mark Keyes he has two good fish on worms in 50' ok i note that but I am still lookin for my aggressive fish and lose another 20.00 in the rocks - note to self i really need to make me a heavy duty lure knocker!

I fish until 4pm without a bite up one end of the lake and down another, heck I even end up wormin in 50' when I graph fish but I just cant get a bite to save meself.  My fingers are numb, my toes are frozen and its time to haul in for the day.  First trip of 2011 a bust in terms of fish and a bigger bust in terms of losing baits.

However, as always with fishing, I learn something new each outing whether I am on them or not; so to recap the success of my three goals:

1.) I have changed some of my setups on my rods in terms of line, rod and reel combos and I need to get use to them before my tournament season begins - The 30lb braid is too thin for throwing these big baits and when it does back lash it is HELL to pic out, so new adjustment is to go to 65lb braid.   Changed casting style for these big baits from deckhand cast, to an underhand roll cast, perfect the Tony Pena Knot.  Create a lure knocker for trout baits.  The drop shot with a braid to fluor leader was excellent in terms of sensativity and castability, only down fall is tieing leaders on the fly.

 2.) Fish aggressively all day, look for a reaction bite, as I have a tendency to just pick up my jig and grind it out when I should be looking for the aggressive fish. Success and fail - I did pick up the reaction baits and stuck to it all day, however my instinct was to slow way down and fish the jig and dropshot on the 40-50' ledges.  I ignored this voice in my head due to my goals and conditions - filing this one away for future use, check the reaction bite, but focus on the current fish activity.

3.) Gather some info in terms of where the fish are positioning on the lake, bait, depth, and areas - via sonar for the club tournament. - Catching fish and not catching fish are all forms of information - my information was that there were fish down in 40-50' on secondary points on the leaward side.  I found bait dispersed out through these areas as well.  My network also gave me some valuable information in regard to a jig bite (which makes me froth at the mouth) on rumors of a 5lber. I did not go to some spots where I know I have had big bites before - At the river temp breaks I did not see any grouping of fish, most fish metered were in the North and behind Mormons island - so I have some sort of Idea of how I want to attack this lake for the Tournament.

2011 Fishing Trips

I am actually going to start this out in December of 2010 as that was my first tournament of the season with Folsom Bass Team.  We fished Lake Comanche , fishing in December is always interesting and I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of the weather and the fish.

Typically when fishing tournaments I try to get out and "Pre-Fish" or figure out what the fish are currently relating to, and what the activity level is on the lake, this trip I went "Blind" without seeing the lake since this time last year.  My partner told me the water level, and I knew where I was going - Main Lake Points out by the damn.  I have a good little rock pile that has deep water nearby, a must for winter time fishing, that I have caught 4 pounders off of in the past.  So first stop of the day is the rock pile, but the only problem is the base is in about 5 feet, shoulda pre-fished, no worries there are old trees that stick up about 6' from the base of the rocks, and the creek channel comes right up on them.  

My plan was to throw a swim-bait along the sides of the rock and then work jigs, but the water level doesn't agree with my plans.  So I pick up my trusty M.S. Slammer wake bait and toss it out, right  at the base of the rocks and work it slowly - very slowly, just enough to get the wood to knock - nothing - a trout jumps off to my right - nice they are working a school in here. So my third cast with the M.S. Slammer is at the base of the trees and BAMO - a fish just annihilates the bait up on top right as the slammer nicks the tree - I start skiing her to the boat - its a good one, and has the bait choked down to the back of its mouth, first fish of the day 4lb Largemouth, NICE!   We work through this area including the rocks off to the right and nothing more to be had, OK on to the next point, and the next point, and the next point - my partner was out the day before with "The Blademan" and they got them on worms in the narrows.  Its 10:00am and I have one fish in the boat - time to go catch some worm fish.  

We go back to the narrows and work a submerged road bed, nothing damn - we come out and on the point I meter on the  Lowrance HDS-5 5-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter with Sounder (Pre-loaded Lake Insight Charts) a school of fish with bait nearby.  I pickup my Drop Shot rod and lower it strait down with my trusty Margarita Mutilator worm, tink - I get a bite, call for the net, its a good one, as a matter of fact its an awesome 3.5 lb TROUT - ugh I sink - we fish hard for the rest of the day but no other bites.  The 4lber is good for big fish of the tournament, so I cash a check which is always a good thing in a tournament.

What this is all about

I thought about doing this last year during my fishing season, as I enjoy the perspective of other tournament anglers.  So instead of thinking about it, I am doing it! I will be blogging my fishing activities, thoughts, successes and failures throughout the season.   I hope this can provide the reader with some insights and laughs on this crazy adventure of tournament Bass Fishing.