Entries Tagged 'Fish Stories' ↓

I thought about this driving down here, but I just never seem to have any luck catching fish in Florida. I’ve never been down here at a time when fish were biting good, so I just don’t know anything about the patterns.

I wish I could say things were different this week, but as of today - Thursday - nothing’s changed. I caught three fish that total 7 pounds, 4 ounces.  Believe it or not, I’m not out of it because most everybody else is struggling, too.

Ready to Launch on the Potomac.

I’ve been away from the blog for a few days, so I need to point out that my practices before this tournament, the Capitol Clash on the Potomac River, were awful. But I wasn’t alone. Almost everybody was complaining.

So I’ve been real surprised and happy at the way this tournament has gone so far. After the second day I’m in 21st place. That may not sound great, but trust me - I’ll take it. 

I’m feeling pretty good right now. Just finished the final round of the Empire Chase on Lake Erie, and I wound up in sixth place. I’m happy with another top 12 finish. I started the day in tenth place, got a bag of just over 20 pounds and wound up sixth.

Edwin Evers won. Nobody could catch him. I thought there might be some luck involved in this one, because most of us were generally fishing the same way. But Edwin led every day, and that does not sound much like luck.

Lake Erie is a fantastic place to fish, one of the great smallmouth fisheries in the country. Lots of two- to four-pound fish. Really, there’s probably not another place in the country like it for those kind of fish.

On Sunday, just like the first two days, I caught my fish in about 25 feet of water. Same strategy. And they just kept coming.

Now it’s on to Syracuse and Lake Oneida for a major tournament. If you looked at this blog, you heard me whining about being sick last week. Well, I feel better, but now I’m just plain tired. I’m doing this blog while driving from Buffalo to Syracuse, where it will be up again early Monday morning to start getting ready for another tournament.

It’s a good thing, but I am tired.

Here is are some photos from the tournament:

The 12 Elite Anglers heading out of Buffalo on Sunday

Talking to a reporter before the Sunday launch (above) and signing autographs (below)

Day 3 at the Golden State Shootout wasn’t everything I hoped it would be.

I had a great deal of success on day 2 and thought day 3 would bring me some luck sight fishing. Well… it didn’t work out that way. Click the play button below to hear my thoughts on the downsides of sight fishing in this audio clip.

Click Here:

Well, I thought it was going to be a real good day. And I guess it would have been a good day if I’d been fishing on any other lake in any other tournament.

I caught a little over 17 pounds and that put me at 68-9 for the tournament. That would probably lead any other tournament we have this year. But not this one. I finished at 26th place.

The thing about it is I’m not that disappointed.

The people having success out here are fishing swimbaits. Those are big ole’ giant baits, about 12 inches long - just a big, nasty jumbo bait. They’re designed for fishing lakes out west.

When you reel in the swimbaits they look a dying fish. You can catch some big, big fish on those baits if you know how to use them. But I’ve never had a lot of luck with them. I just haven’t spent enough time on these lakes to figure out whether I’d feel comfortable using them.

It’s really only in the west where these things work. They were good at Amistad and out here in California. You throw those swimbaits back at some of the lakes we fish in the south and the east, it’ll scare the fish to death.

I was talking to Skeet Reece, and he said he threw the swimbaits all day Tuesday and they didn’t bite. But look what he did today. He had more than 35 pounds.

I was hoping we’d have good conditions for sight fishing, which is what I do well. But it didn’t happen. We had great conditions the first two days, and today the wind picked up and made the water choppy and I just couldn’t see as well I needed to. It was weird. It was coming from a different direction, like from the northeast.

I went to one spot where I was pretty sure I could get some big bites, and the wind, like all of a sudden, picked up. So I anchored my boat and just there, waiting for it to die down. But it never did.

To be honestly, I wasn’t unhappy with the way I fished. I probably caught 20 fish during the day, but catching a whole bunch of 3-pounders just won’t get it in this tournament.

The second day was even better than the first. I went from 24-7 to 27-4. I also jumped up to eighth place, so I’ve got nothing to complain about.

I caught all my fish sight fishing. Just enough of the fish moved on the beds today to make it real interesting.

I got into an area today that’s got 8s and 10s, and it’s quite a sight to look out and see a 10-pound bass swimming near your boat. If they lock down on the beds tomorrow, I might be catching some big fish. And I think they’re going to lock down. It will be either tomorrow or Sunday.

Right now my confidence is great. This is my kind of deal. I like fishing this place. So at 6:50 tomorrow morning when we launch, I’ll be ready.

But as good as I feel, Gutierrez is over 66 pounds. He’s 11 pounds ahead of me, and that’s a hell of a lead. He’s way ahead of everybody. But you never know what’s going to happen. Let’s say he catches 25 tomorrow. He would fall back, then you never know what could happen on Sunday. It happened to Ish Monroe today. He had over 32 yesterday and less than 21 today.

The big thing is, though, I’m in eighth place and there aren’t going to be but 12 anglers out there on Sunday. So I’ve got to go out and do it again tomorrow or I won’t be around to see if I can catch him.

It’s a funny thing about fishing. People don’t realize how difficult this. I used to be a 2-handicap golfer. Most people who play golf understand that you’ve got have technique, but all the technique in the world doesn’t help if you’re not on your game mentally.

It’s the same way with fishing. I personally think fishing well is just as hard, or harder, than perfecting your golf game. You’ve just got to be on your game.

In all sports, there’s some luck involved. And there’s some in fishing. But you’ve got to wonder why Kevin VanDam is in the hunt almost every tournament. In golf, why is Tiger Woods in the hunt almost every tournament? It’s because he’s mentally tough and he knows what he’s doing.

But really good golfers and good anglers have bad days. Michael Iaconelli is one of the best anglers on this tour, and he didn’t make the cut. I think that’s two bad tournaments in a row for him.

My good friend, Jeremy Starks, who’s a really good angler, thought he was going to have a good tournament and had an awful one.

This stuff will mess with you if you’re not careful.

Today was a good day.

They call this the Golden State Shootout, and it’s going to be a shootout.

Clear Lake is a great fishing lake, and I had a pretty good day to start this tournament. I was pleased with 24-7 because that’s not a bad bag. But I’ve got to go out and do it again tomorrow.

The leaderboard is going to go up and down. Some of the guys that are in the high twenties are going to fall down to about 20. Other guys are going to move up. I just hope I’m the one moving up.

It’s an interesting leaderboard.

You’ve got a couple of California guys – Greg Gutierrez and Ishama Monroe – at the top. I hear they went over 30. As you might figure, Kevin VanDam is up there near the top. He’s probably going to take an overwhelming lead in angler-of-the-year points. It just amazes me the way Kevin is in it every time. I mean every time. And Skeet Reese is another California guy. He’s up there, too. That’s not a surprise, either.

I have to admit the last two tournaments were not what I wanted. At Lake Amistad I just didn’t put in the effort that I needed. Coming off the Classic, there were lots of demands on my time. I should have spent more time on the water, but I didn’t get to do that. As a result, I had a bad tournament.

Then we went to the Delta. And I fished hard at the Delta. But to be perfectly honest, the Delta just whipped my ass. We had about two-and-a-half days to work on that water, and that just wasn’t enough for me.

So coming here, I’d had two bad tournaments in a row. I can’t honestly say I was nervous or in a slump or anything like that. But I needed a good day.

I love Clear Lake. It’s a reservoir, and there are certain principals that apply when you’re fishing on a reservoir. I kind of have a feel for where fish are going to go. And man, there are some giants out there.

I caught two 7-pounders today.

I had time to work with them and I was able to bring them in. And I actually found another one that was not locked on a bed, he was swimming. When they’re swimming, you have to work them and it takes time.

But I like Clear Lake, because it’s about sight fishing is one of my specialties. If you’re not familiar with the term “sight fishing,” it’s hard to explain. Basically, I mean when a female goes on the bed, they won’t bite. You have to annoy them. Sometimes you cast around them, sometimes you go right at them. But pretty soon, out of anger they’ll bite.
It’s kind of like stalk hunting. You respond to the fish. You do whatever seems to irritate them. Sometimes you even hit them in the face.

Anyway, there was very little wind today and that makes for good sight fishing. I hope we have the same thing on Friday. My plan is to catch the limit, and I hope to get a big bite early.