Well this past summer was more like something out of Lemony Snickett... A series of unfortunate events. I won't even bother boring you with all the petty details, but it has all led to me returning back to sandy Sun Diego. With the return comes the positives and negatives. One of those negatives is the obvious loss of fishing opportunities. And most people who really know me, know that fishing is what I live for.
On the positive side, it affords me the opportunity to begin a more regular day-to-day type blog of all my happenings. So I'm still going to leave this blog running, but it will only be updated with fish tales every so often when I get the chance. I'll keep the two blogs seperate so you can decide what aspect you want to read about, especially if you don't care to hear about my fishing adventures. (But I hope you do!!)
So check out my new blog here
So to recap, old and new fishing adventures here, my life in general over there. Get it? Got it? Good!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The Pickwick/Wilson beatdown
I can't tell you how glad I am to be out of the sun and (gasp) off the water. I never thought I'd ever say that. The heat was intense out there, nearly breaking decades old record high temps for this time of year.
Thankfully this event is finally over. I won't bore you with all the dreadful details, so I'll skip to the embarrassing point. I weighed a total of 7-02 and finished a shameful 158th. I know I am so much better than that. Chalk it up as a learning experience and prepare for the next one, I guess. Time to make like Trevor Hoffman after a blown save; forget about it and move. Theron finished much better, around the middle of the pack in 117th, weighing a total of 16-01.
My struggles on Days 1 and 2 could be credited to drawing so-so or downright awful partners. But day 3 was just a total lack of execution and performance on my part. My boater yesterday, Allen, was on schools of fish. None very big, but they were there. He probably caught about 12-15 keeper size bass. I on the other hand, landed one keeper size fish. That was it for the day. The bite for us was usually very subtle and I couldn't tell you how many bites I missed because I detected them too late and failed to react quick enough. I also lost two fish that I managed to hook, when they jumped and shook loose.
But possibly the most frustrating thing was how many times my line broke when I tried to set the hook. I respooled my reels with new line the day before the tourney started. So I don't know what was going on. I fished with a type of line I don't usually use, fluorocarbon. Fluoro line sinks faster and has less stretch than regular monofilament fishing line. Maybe because I was so used to fishing with mono, I had had my drag set too tight. I don't know what the reason exactly, but whatever it was, it was unbelievably frustrating breaking off so many fish. I easily could have, and should have had, a 5 fish limit. They probably wouldn't have been big, but would have significantly moved me up in the standings and out of the cellar.
The biggest heartbreaker of the day came when Allen hooked a giant bass, easily over 8 lbs, and it threw the hook about 15 ft from the boat. This fish was so fat that when she tried jump, she couldn't even get her whole body out of the water. For every day of the event, they award a "big bass" cash prize of $1000. If that fish ends up being the biggest fish caught over the 4 days, and landed with a Frabill net, there is an additional $2000 bonus. After that fish came unbottoned, Allen dropped to his knees and I just kept fishing, not saying a word. After a few minutes of agony, he turned to me and said, "That was a $3000 fish." Turns out he was right, as the big bass of the tournament ended up weighing only 6-07. Ouch!!!
My predicitons for co-angler weight were actually pretty far off. There were far more, and far bigger fish caught than I thought there would be. My prediction was 25 lbs to make the final cut, the leader would have 34 lbs heading into Saturday, and 40+ lbs to win. The actual results were: 30 lbs to make the top 10 cut, the leader had 37 lbs, and the eventual winner weighed over 50 lbs (50-08). I could argue that I did say 40+ would win, but that'd be too easy.
Thankfully this event is finally over. I won't bore you with all the dreadful details, so I'll skip to the embarrassing point. I weighed a total of 7-02 and finished a shameful 158th. I know I am so much better than that. Chalk it up as a learning experience and prepare for the next one, I guess. Time to make like Trevor Hoffman after a blown save; forget about it and move. Theron finished much better, around the middle of the pack in 117th, weighing a total of 16-01.
My struggles on Days 1 and 2 could be credited to drawing so-so or downright awful partners. But day 3 was just a total lack of execution and performance on my part. My boater yesterday, Allen, was on schools of fish. None very big, but they were there. He probably caught about 12-15 keeper size bass. I on the other hand, landed one keeper size fish. That was it for the day. The bite for us was usually very subtle and I couldn't tell you how many bites I missed because I detected them too late and failed to react quick enough. I also lost two fish that I managed to hook, when they jumped and shook loose.
But possibly the most frustrating thing was how many times my line broke when I tried to set the hook. I respooled my reels with new line the day before the tourney started. So I don't know what was going on. I fished with a type of line I don't usually use, fluorocarbon. Fluoro line sinks faster and has less stretch than regular monofilament fishing line. Maybe because I was so used to fishing with mono, I had had my drag set too tight. I don't know what the reason exactly, but whatever it was, it was unbelievably frustrating breaking off so many fish. I easily could have, and should have had, a 5 fish limit. They probably wouldn't have been big, but would have significantly moved me up in the standings and out of the cellar.
The biggest heartbreaker of the day came when Allen hooked a giant bass, easily over 8 lbs, and it threw the hook about 15 ft from the boat. This fish was so fat that when she tried jump, she couldn't even get her whole body out of the water. For every day of the event, they award a "big bass" cash prize of $1000. If that fish ends up being the biggest fish caught over the 4 days, and landed with a Frabill net, there is an additional $2000 bonus. After that fish came unbottoned, Allen dropped to his knees and I just kept fishing, not saying a word. After a few minutes of agony, he turned to me and said, "That was a $3000 fish." Turns out he was right, as the big bass of the tournament ended up weighing only 6-07. Ouch!!!
My predicitons for co-angler weight were actually pretty far off. There were far more, and far bigger fish caught than I thought there would be. My prediction was 25 lbs to make the final cut, the leader would have 34 lbs heading into Saturday, and 40+ lbs to win. The actual results were: 30 lbs to make the top 10 cut, the leader had 37 lbs, and the eventual winner weighed over 50 lbs (50-08). I could argue that I did say 40+ would win, but that'd be too easy.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Picture of Wilson Lake Dam/Lock
I found a picture of all the boats that decided to lock through to Wilson. This picture is from Friday morning when the lock was almost to the top. I am in the very back row, third boat from the wall on the right. Yes, that tiny little speck back there. That's it, see me?
Too bad I can't show you what it looks like on the inside before they start to fill it.
Too bad I can't show you what it looks like on the inside before they start to fill it.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Pickwick Days 1 and 2
First things first. Damn is it HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My face isn't just red, it's almost purple. This despite 3 seperate sunscreen applications today. And tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter, reaching 98 degrees. Combine that direct sunlight with the reflection coming up off the water and there is no where to hide. When the wind really kicks up, it makes it harder to fish, but does at least provide some minor relief from the scorching heat. At this point, baring something miraculous, I won't be fishing Saturday. I don't think I could take another day out there at this rate.
Now to the heart of the matter. On Day 1 (Wed), I drew a guy named Rick from Clearwater, FL as my boater. We fished on Pickwick Lake and made the long, long run to the lower end of the lake, about 60 miles. It took a little over an hour just to reach the area he wanted to fish. He said, like many anglers, that he was on good fish until they dropped the lake level about 2 feet, and his fish moved out. He caught 5 small keeper bass (12" minimum length), and all I could manage was 2 keeper bass and a handfull of short fish. My "unofficial" weight for day 1 was 2 lb 5 oz. But I had a fish die before weigh-in and was assessed an 8 oz penalty for a total of 1-13. Needless to say, with that meager total, I started day 2 near the bottom of the standings. But hey, I was still 3 places ahead of Theron. He caught only 1 fish that weighed 1-09.
On Day 2, I drew a semi local guy named Craig, from Lawrenceburg, TN. I again caught only 2 bass, but they were slighty better quality. My weight today was 4-01 for a two day total of 5-14. I was really disappointed with my draw today. This guy really had no business fishing this tournament as a boater. He only decided to enter it last Sunday, and barely had time to prefish. He really didn't have a clue where the fish were and because gas is so expensive, he admitted he didn't want to run the motor much. I can appreciate that thought, but it is a tournament and you must consider gas as part of your expenses. We basically fished 2 spots all day and kind of lucked into the fish we did catch. As we approached one area, another boat pulled up close to us and I realized it was Theron and his partner. Kind of funny that we ran into each other out there and tried to fish the same spot. The fun ended though when Theron's boater caught a nice fish, and a few minutes later he catches one right under my nose. I was glad to see him catching some fish, but did he have to do it right in front of me with us struggling so badly? They soon took off after a few more casts without a bite. But at least we knew fish were in the area. I ended up catching a 3 lber out of that spot not long after they left, so it wasn't a total loss.
We fished on Wilson Lake today. Pickwick and Wilson (among a few other lakes) are actually part of the Tennessee River, seperated by extremely large dams. The lakes are tiered with one lake being much higher or lower than the lake on the other side of the dam. So in order to get from one lake to another you have to lock through the dam. I had never been through a lock before today, and I must tell you it is pretty incredible how they do it.
First all the boats enter the lock through these GIGANTIC doors (gate) that are more than 110 feet high, and 600 feet from gate to gate. The boats are lined up, and tied together in rows from one side to the other, about 15 boats fit in each row. When all the boats are in and secured, the gate closes behind you. All you see around you is sheer concrete walls on all four sides. A horn sounds and they start to fill the chamber with water. You slowly start to rise until you reach the top of the lock. This process takes more than 20 minutes. There is now 100 ft of water underneath you. The gates on the Wilson side open and all the boats exit.
To get back to Pickwick, they reverse the process. All the boats enter, tie up, the gate closes, but this time they pump the water out in order to drop it. A warning horn sounds and then the lock master begins to pump the water out. Just outside the damn there is this huge concrete circle. You can't see it happening from inside the lock, but as the water is being pumped out is shoots like a geyser out of the hole. It's fairly disconcerting, but strangely exiting being inside the lock as it operates. And I get to do it all over again tomorrow. My day 3 partner has already told me we're going to fish on Wilson.
Let's hope for better fortunes. It's gonna take a miracle to even get within sniffing distance of a check, but a guy can dream, can't he?
Now to the heart of the matter. On Day 1 (Wed), I drew a guy named Rick from Clearwater, FL as my boater. We fished on Pickwick Lake and made the long, long run to the lower end of the lake, about 60 miles. It took a little over an hour just to reach the area he wanted to fish. He said, like many anglers, that he was on good fish until they dropped the lake level about 2 feet, and his fish moved out. He caught 5 small keeper bass (12" minimum length), and all I could manage was 2 keeper bass and a handfull of short fish. My "unofficial" weight for day 1 was 2 lb 5 oz. But I had a fish die before weigh-in and was assessed an 8 oz penalty for a total of 1-13. Needless to say, with that meager total, I started day 2 near the bottom of the standings. But hey, I was still 3 places ahead of Theron. He caught only 1 fish that weighed 1-09.
On Day 2, I drew a semi local guy named Craig, from Lawrenceburg, TN. I again caught only 2 bass, but they were slighty better quality. My weight today was 4-01 for a two day total of 5-14. I was really disappointed with my draw today. This guy really had no business fishing this tournament as a boater. He only decided to enter it last Sunday, and barely had time to prefish. He really didn't have a clue where the fish were and because gas is so expensive, he admitted he didn't want to run the motor much. I can appreciate that thought, but it is a tournament and you must consider gas as part of your expenses. We basically fished 2 spots all day and kind of lucked into the fish we did catch. As we approached one area, another boat pulled up close to us and I realized it was Theron and his partner. Kind of funny that we ran into each other out there and tried to fish the same spot. The fun ended though when Theron's boater caught a nice fish, and a few minutes later he catches one right under my nose. I was glad to see him catching some fish, but did he have to do it right in front of me with us struggling so badly? They soon took off after a few more casts without a bite. But at least we knew fish were in the area. I ended up catching a 3 lber out of that spot not long after they left, so it wasn't a total loss.
We fished on Wilson Lake today. Pickwick and Wilson (among a few other lakes) are actually part of the Tennessee River, seperated by extremely large dams. The lakes are tiered with one lake being much higher or lower than the lake on the other side of the dam. So in order to get from one lake to another you have to lock through the dam. I had never been through a lock before today, and I must tell you it is pretty incredible how they do it.
First all the boats enter the lock through these GIGANTIC doors (gate) that are more than 110 feet high, and 600 feet from gate to gate. The boats are lined up, and tied together in rows from one side to the other, about 15 boats fit in each row. When all the boats are in and secured, the gate closes behind you. All you see around you is sheer concrete walls on all four sides. A horn sounds and they start to fill the chamber with water. You slowly start to rise until you reach the top of the lock. This process takes more than 20 minutes. There is now 100 ft of water underneath you. The gates on the Wilson side open and all the boats exit.
To get back to Pickwick, they reverse the process. All the boats enter, tie up, the gate closes, but this time they pump the water out in order to drop it. A warning horn sounds and then the lock master begins to pump the water out. Just outside the damn there is this huge concrete circle. You can't see it happening from inside the lock, but as the water is being pumped out is shoots like a geyser out of the hole. It's fairly disconcerting, but strangely exiting being inside the lock as it operates. And I get to do it all over again tomorrow. My day 3 partner has already told me we're going to fish on Wilson.
Let's hope for better fortunes. It's gonna take a miracle to even get within sniffing distance of a check, but a guy can dream, can't he?
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Stren Series - Pickwick Lake preview
Tomorrow morning I head out to test my angling skills on the waters of Pickwick Lake right here in Florence. Since it's a tournament on local waters, we decided to move up a level of competition from our usual BFL schedule. This will be my first ever foray into the FLWoutdoors Stren Series events. The good thing about this series is that I am gauranteed to fish at least three days (Wed, Thur, Fri). And should I be good enough to make the top 10 cut after Friday, I'd advance to the finals on Saturday, and fish for the "Big Money."
Being boatless right now really sucks. We were stuck praticing from shore all week, but still managed to catch some good fish and build up confidence. Last week during one of our "practice sessions," I managed to catch this nice smallmouth bass. Easily a new personal best smallmouth.
Unfortunately we didn't have a scale, but she was about 18" long and we guestamated she weighed between 3.5-4 lbs. Now if only that class of fish will cooperate for the next three days, I'll be in mighty fine shape.
My brother and I were talking about it on the way home tonight, and I think that 9-10 lbs a day should be enough to make the top 10 cut. I predict the co-angler leader will have 34 lbs, and 25 lbs will be enough to advance to Day 4 on Saturday. The co-angler winner will probably need 40 lbs over 4 days to win.
I'll try to review my day and post results at the end of each day. So stay tuned and thanks for reading. Wish me tight lines and most importantly, no lost fish. I don't want to have to share any, "fish that got away" stories with you.
Being boatless right now really sucks. We were stuck praticing from shore all week, but still managed to catch some good fish and build up confidence. Last week during one of our "practice sessions," I managed to catch this nice smallmouth bass. Easily a new personal best smallmouth.
Unfortunately we didn't have a scale, but she was about 18" long and we guestamated she weighed between 3.5-4 lbs. Now if only that class of fish will cooperate for the next three days, I'll be in mighty fine shape.
My brother and I were talking about it on the way home tonight, and I think that 9-10 lbs a day should be enough to make the top 10 cut. I predict the co-angler leader will have 34 lbs, and 25 lbs will be enough to advance to Day 4 on Saturday. The co-angler winner will probably need 40 lbs over 4 days to win.
I'll try to review my day and post results at the end of each day. So stay tuned and thanks for reading. Wish me tight lines and most importantly, no lost fish. I don't want to have to share any, "fish that got away" stories with you.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wheeler Lake Preview
Well, the time is here again. BFL Choo Choo division, stop #3 on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, AL. Last year on this lake, my brother and I both had top 25 finishes and each came home with a check. A repeat performance would be excedingly nice. Conditions have been good all week, with temps in the low 70's. But as always seems to be the case, a front is coming in Friday night and it's supposed to rain pretty hard overnight. Hopefully it doesn't muddy up the water too much or have that adverse an affect on the bass.
I've got a good feeling about this tournament. The last couple of weekends, I've been able to drive over and shore fish this lake a little bit. I caught good numbers of fish in just a couple hours of fishing, but the size wasn't there. But at least it gave me some confidence in what I need to throw. As a co-angler, a 5 bass limit weighing 8 or 9 pounds will almost certainly place in the money. Last year I weighed in 7 lbs 8 oz (on only 3 fish) and took 24th. I had 8 lbs even, but got penalized 8 oz because of a dead fish. That penalty cost me five places in the standings, and about $50-$60 in prize money.
Even though I finished in the money last year, I don't like this lake at all. It's just an ugly body of water. Deactur is an industrial city, so a lot of the shore line is spotted with factories and manufacturing plants. Because of all the factories and such, it smells pretty bad. There's a paper mill down river that just reeks. But the bass don't seem to mind as the fishing on this lake has been great the last couple of months.
As the water temp has gone up recently, the bass should be in the 3 various stages of spawning. Some still cruising around looking for a good bed, others on the bed, and the remaining bass in post spawn. I'll be looking to catch the active pre and post spawn fish. They're the ones looking to eat as much as possible in order to have enough energy to spawn, or trying to fatten back up after dropping all their eggs.
I need a good finish on this one. I've still got a long way to go in order to reach my goal of making the top 4o in year end points. And a good way to quickly jump up in the standings would be a repeat top 25 performance. That would also ensure I win back my entry fee at the very least. I predict it will take 18 lbs to win on the boater side, 14 lbs on the co-angler side, and at least 8 pounds to get a check.
I'll update everyone once I'm back home and the official results are posted. Until then, wish me good luck and tight lines.
I've got a good feeling about this tournament. The last couple of weekends, I've been able to drive over and shore fish this lake a little bit. I caught good numbers of fish in just a couple hours of fishing, but the size wasn't there. But at least it gave me some confidence in what I need to throw. As a co-angler, a 5 bass limit weighing 8 or 9 pounds will almost certainly place in the money. Last year I weighed in 7 lbs 8 oz (on only 3 fish) and took 24th. I had 8 lbs even, but got penalized 8 oz because of a dead fish. That penalty cost me five places in the standings, and about $50-$60 in prize money.
Even though I finished in the money last year, I don't like this lake at all. It's just an ugly body of water. Deactur is an industrial city, so a lot of the shore line is spotted with factories and manufacturing plants. Because of all the factories and such, it smells pretty bad. There's a paper mill down river that just reeks. But the bass don't seem to mind as the fishing on this lake has been great the last couple of months.
As the water temp has gone up recently, the bass should be in the 3 various stages of spawning. Some still cruising around looking for a good bed, others on the bed, and the remaining bass in post spawn. I'll be looking to catch the active pre and post spawn fish. They're the ones looking to eat as much as possible in order to have enough energy to spawn, or trying to fatten back up after dropping all their eggs.
I need a good finish on this one. I've still got a long way to go in order to reach my goal of making the top 4o in year end points. And a good way to quickly jump up in the standings would be a repeat top 25 performance. That would also ensure I win back my entry fee at the very least. I predict it will take 18 lbs to win on the boater side, 14 lbs on the co-angler side, and at least 8 pounds to get a check.
I'll update everyone once I'm back home and the official results are posted. Until then, wish me good luck and tight lines.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Birthday weekend
Well, Friday was my birthday, and I celebrated by driving to Decatur to watch the weigh-in for the FLW series event on Wheeler Lake. Truth be told, I didn't go just on my birthday. I had been to the weigh-ins the 2 previous days as well, and went again on Saturday for the final weigh-in of the Top 10 anglers.
I wish I had some decent photos to post, but of the many that I took, none were deemed suitable for posting, so I'm borrowing some from the FLW website. The eventual winner was Ramie Colson, Jr. He had a 4 day limit of 20 bass weighng 59-02, beating runner up Brad Hallman by a single ounce, to take home a 1st place check worth $125,000.
On the co-angler side, Derrick Snavely took 1st place with a 3 day total of 35-01, beating the 2nd place angler by nearly 5 lbs. He took home a check for $25,000 for his efforts.
I was extremely interested in the results of this event, and what the conditions were like. I have my next tournament on this same lake on April 19th. I picked up a lot of great information after talking with many of the pros every day. They said that they caught tons of fish as they moved up shallower throughout the day, but hadn't yet started to spawn. But it should be a full blown spawn by the time my tournament comes around. There were quite a few big fish caught this week, but overall fish were on the small side. Jigs and shakey head worms seemed to be the primary weapons of choice. Some pros reported catching over 100 bass a day!!! I can only hope that the bass are still biting like that a couple of weeks from now!
I wish I had some decent photos to post, but of the many that I took, none were deemed suitable for posting, so I'm borrowing some from the FLW website. The eventual winner was Ramie Colson, Jr. He had a 4 day limit of 20 bass weighng 59-02, beating runner up Brad Hallman by a single ounce, to take home a 1st place check worth $125,000.
On the co-angler side, Derrick Snavely took 1st place with a 3 day total of 35-01, beating the 2nd place angler by nearly 5 lbs. He took home a check for $25,000 for his efforts.
I was extremely interested in the results of this event, and what the conditions were like. I have my next tournament on this same lake on April 19th. I picked up a lot of great information after talking with many of the pros every day. They said that they caught tons of fish as they moved up shallower throughout the day, but hadn't yet started to spawn. But it should be a full blown spawn by the time my tournament comes around. There were quite a few big fish caught this week, but overall fish were on the small side. Jigs and shakey head worms seemed to be the primary weapons of choice. Some pros reported catching over 100 bass a day!!! I can only hope that the bass are still biting like that a couple of weeks from now!
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