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| Picou
Lunker Username: Picou Post Number: 2049 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
...Destroyer of Bass Boats I'm back from the river and if I never see that body of water again it will be too soon. My adventure in North Louisiana started later than I had hoped due to all the stuff going on around the home front. I ended up only getting one day of practice on the river and as you could imagin, none of the other competitors were willing to reveal anything or give me any pointers. I started off blind and headed down river. I stopped off at a few places on the way to my final destination and shook off some soft plastic bites. I moved up into a creek and boated some fish and shook off a few more. While in this creek I smacked a stump hard enough to pop my trolling motor out of the socket that was supposed to suppress impacts and keep the shaft from breaking -- it worked that time. I finished my run 35 miles down river and found some great looking water. I landed another fish and had more bites so decided to head back upriver and time the trip. I saw a long line of rocks on the shoreline and decided to try it real quick with a crankbait and quickly hooked into about an 8 pound gaspergoo -- fun to catch but not what I wanted.  Throughout the day it rained and at times it was a down pour. At one point I was haulin butt down river at about 57 MPH when one of these down pours started and I am here to tell you that 1/4" rain drops at that speed are down right painful. I pulled off into another creek and although it looked good I never got a single bite. Feeling pretty good about what I had found I headed to the campsite to hook up with the group to go register and get our pairings for day 1. At 5:15am I picked up my non-boater who is from Alabama at his hotel room and headed to the host ramp. We sat in line to launch for almost an hour. By the time we got to the takeoff spot they were on boat #108 (we were boat #97). We cut in line and headed south through the crisp 41 degree morning air. Debra Petrowsky was already on my first spot so we buzzed by and stopped at my second spot. The water was muddy but I still had hopes. On my non-boater's second flip with a sweet beaver he slammed his rod back and missed a fish. On my 3rd pitch with a black/blue jig I felt that wet towel feel and burried the hook deep into my first fish. I put him on the measuring board and sweeping the tail he barely crossed the 12" line. I started to dig out my culling set and thought... "Hell, I'm not going to need this fish today, he is too close!" and pitched him overboard. That was apparently a bad... bad... decision. I ended up catching 8 fish on day one and threw back my only keeper. We ran all the way back down river where I had fish on Wednesday and never even got a bite. The water was now like a mud puddle that had been driven through a hundred times. When we were headed into the creek I caught fish I had the trolling motor on high and the wind was at our back. I was trying to get around a boat that was fishing the mouth of the creek and the boat came to a sudden stop and I heard pop... crackle... snap... I looked at my trolling motor and the fiberglass shaft was split verticaly and splintering all around it. It was still in tact so I put about 10 zip ties around the shaft and went back to fishing. Ever time I hit a stump my butt puckered waiting for the shaft to snap. It was cold on Thursday and the wind was howling all day long. We fished hard all day and my non-boater landed 1 fish (dink) and missed several others. I did not miss many fish but did loose 2 of them on soft plastics when they wrapped me up after the hookset. Heck, most of the fish almost came out of the water on the hookset they were so dad-gum small. The only thing that saved them is I was hooking them around 8 foot deep. While talking to some of the guys at the ramp Robert Brown from Texas handed me a card for a trolling motor repair shop in West Monroe. Apparently he had already visited this man to have his trolling motor fixed earlier that week. I called the shop and he told me to get it there and he would fix it. Mike Kernan's wife had already gone down there to get some parts for his trolling motor that he tore up during day one so she gave me some directions. While I was there another tournament boat showed up and 2 more called for work. He told me that he was getting very little sleep this week because of this tournament. Well, $150 later I had a new shaft & bushing on my trolling motor and I was hooked up and headed to the campsite. My day 2 non-boater and I met at the ramp at 5:00am and we got into the water with very little delay. Having boat #38 this time had us leaving out much earlier than day 1. I decided to just go North this time and see if I could find better water. Not sure if this was a good decision or not, but at the first place we stopped I picked up another jig fish but this time it was too short to even consider putting on the board. We fished all around with carolina rigs, jigs, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits. I finally boated a 13.5" kentucky on the crankbait and another dink and my non-boater landed a 13" keeper also. We weighed our fish in and loaded up. I talked to several anglers on the water and around the ramp and the general sentiment is that Louisiana can keep that dang river and if BASS has the regional there again next year they will not be attending. Lots of people tore up their boats and trolling motors. Scott and many others put some new cracks in their fiberglass on this one. My boat never took on water so I assume I escaped any cracks. That is one mean river system.... Stan Lawling is one of the guys in our camp group and he made the cut for Saturday. Awesome for him and congrats. He made the long run into D'Arbonne and it paid off for him. I hope today is good to him and he can make it into the Nationals. I believe he was in 10th place after Friday. This was an experience and one that I will not soon forget. I am not dissapointed in my fishing because I caught fish. With the rain, cold front, and the winds, I caught fish but just not the right ones. Apparently keepers are few and far between out there. Most of my fish came on a bandit 200 crankbait fished down the ledges with timber laying over the breaks. All but two of my fish came off this type of structure. Some were on jigs and others were spinnerbaits or baby brush hogs pitched into the structure. Would I say it was fun? Not really. I had a good time overall, but it was very frustrating and costly. I burned 2 1/2 tanks of gas in my boat, 50 gallons of gas in my truck, and $150 to fix my trolling motor. Not to mention the other expenses for this adventure. Bottom line, they can keep this type of tournament fishing. I have no desire to compete at the national level any longer. I will stick to local events. I'll fish Media Individual next year and hopefully never have to haul 4.5 hours again.  Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Charles
Moderator Username: Charles Post Number: 723 Registered: 7-2004 Rating: N/A |
Typo? Hold you chin up high Mike. At least you were there! When is Gordan going to announce his schedule? | ||
| Texfisher
Crappie Username: Texfisher Post Number: 549 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
Sounds like a tough tournament. Don't get down though. You were out of your element. There are plenty of big time pros that struggle on certain bodies of water. I know I wouldn't have a clue what to do on a river system. Take what success you had during the year and build on it for next year. My problem is I can't take loosing so much of my money to start fishing the bigger tournaments. I guess that's why I don't gamble much. Maybe one day when my confidence overcomes my worries I'll give it a try. Right now I'm fine fishing my little club tournaments. If you're richer than me I think we're related. If you're poorer than me I know we're related. My bass club webpage http://texbass.8m.com/ 
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| Picou
Lunker Username: Picou Post Number: 2052 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
Charles, you are correct... I have fixed it. Not sure when Gordon will set the schedule but I plan on calling him next week to find out. I'll let you know what it looks like. I honestly believe that I would have done better with a few more days of practice to see more of the water. I put together a pattern that caught fish, just not the right fish. The cover out there is very diverse and I never could try all the different types of cover on the river. Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Bigun
Lunker Username: Bigun Post Number: 1154 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
You did alright Mike considering the conditions. I know the fish have been shut down here since the front hit last Wed. I fished Sat AM and it was like the fish desserted the water. Did not even see mullet jumping. Quit being a mad, little bald man! Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic. I forgot the CAMERA! | ||
| Ozziefish
Crappie Username: Ozziefish Post Number: 313 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
Hey Mike, I feel your pain and I'm not sure more days on the water would have been much good. I had 4 days to prepare and still never found anything close to a pattern to fish. After two days of tournament time I'm still not sure where I would fish if I had to go back. It was a good experience and one I will remember for a long time. River systems just kick my tail. Thank the Lord I don't have to go back to that place ever again. I guess I feel OK about where I finished it could have been worse. The Triton came back just the way she went there, all in one piece and thats a good thing. OzzieFish "In GOD I trust" |
