Southern Collegiate Stop #2 : Lake Wheeler

I really had high expectations for last weekend on Wheeler.  We launched out of Ditto Marina outside of Huntsville and were able to fish between the I-65 bridge and Guntersville Dam.  We only had one day of practice on Thursday and I spent the majority of my time up on the north end just below the dam thinking I could really win the tournament there.  The water was only being generated at around 45,000 cfs which is typically a smaller current than those fish are used to.  The lake came down almost 6ft in the last two weeks which I thought also could have thrown the bite off.

Day 1 was spent up at the dam for the majority of the dam and the only time anyone got a bite was when the locks opened up and a rush of water came by.  A boat from UAB fished right beside us and had basically the same amount of bites but ended up with 17lbs and we had a mere 9.50.

A few good buddies of mine(War Eagle) with some nice fish

Day 2 wasn't much better.  I made the bonehead decision to return to the dam since several of the bigger bags on day 1 came from there and the weather was constantly changing.  The temperature had dropped over night and the lock doors didn't open up a single time.  No one caught them near as well as they did on day 1.  We left the dam and tried to scramble around to catch fish, but only caught some small keepers.  We finished up with 10.96 and 20.46 for the two day tournament.  Maybe I will be able to pull together a better pattern for the next southern collegiate out of Ingall's Harbor on the southern part of Lake Wheeler.



On another note, a really good friend of mine was involved in a boating accident Friday night on Lake Pickwick.  He and two other people were in the boat and somehow they survived with only broken bones and are in stable condition.  They were out riding around at dark and probably relying on a GPS too much.  Be safe on the water and keep Tyler and his friends in your prayers!!

ProPatterns : The Fishing Shows Just Keep Coming!

In my last post I wrote about MLF Fishing and how great I thought it was despite my original ideas.  Since then I have started watching more and more of the ProPatterns videos.  ProPatterns took on a neat approach, filming an individual elite angler for an entire practice day prior to that respective 2011 event.  I needed to really catch up on sleep last night after spending the last couple of days scrambling to catch up with school before leaving tonight for a college event on Lake Wheeler, but that didn't happen.  Between Gerald Swindle's comedic show and Aaron Marten's informativeness, it was really tough to turn off the computer and call it a night.

These shows definitely take on an approach in professional fishing like none have before.  They give you complete access to the actual practice days of the elite anglers.  They are scrambling around, not trying to catch a couple of good looking green fish for TV, but trying to find fish in order to get paid!  You can sense the urgency in each angler as they try to establish a pattern.  Even with them being preoccupied with finding fish and not entertaining viewers, most of the anglers do a great job of explaining their mindset and giving reasoning for their decision making.  If you read my last post and ordered the MLF show, you probably were not disappointed!  I encourage you to check out ProPatterns website and buy an hour long video of your favorite angler and check it out for yourself!!

Major League Fishing : Season Opener

I just had to write a quick blog entry on the MLF season opener on Lake Amistad that I watched today.  I knew before my brother bought the program that we were not going to pass up the opportunity to watch the show at almost any cost (us begin the fishaholics that we are).  Let me tell you first hand that for $2.99, this show was a STEAL.  This was one of the best fishing programs I think I have watched in a long time.  I believe the entire show was approximately 115 minutes long and 110 minutes of that was actually getting to watch anglers go through their thought process and make on-the-second decisions.

Each episode is split into stages.  In each stage there is a group of 8 anglers fishing against each other to achieve a top 4 finish and move on--similar to a bracket style competition.  I thought the tournament might  lose some of its "umph" with anglers being able to catch as many fish possible during competition, but boy was I wrong!!  I will leave y'all with a couple of teaser photos from the action and let you watch it yourselves to see how great you think it is.  I would give some more detail on what happened also, but I think I am going to sit down and watch the entire show again.  AWESOME!

Misery on Seminole

It would be pretty typical that the weekend right after we have our full moon of February, an almost three week warming trend is suddenly snapped by an arctic blizzard.  As most people know, those Florida strain largemouth love an blizzard.   Needless to say we were going to spend Saturday and Sunday down on Seminole and the trip got cut short a day because of the forecasted weather.  We had fun anyways and we usually do.  I guess I should, too, explain who "we" is.  Shane Powell, Jordan Lee(my brother) and I are the three who embarked on the weekend venture.  We barely boated a fish out on the water today but we did have one interesting catch...

Don't worry.  This amphibian was not harmed in anyway!  We practice catch and release.  At least something got our blood pumping out there!

Lake Harding

Got to head over to Lake Harding last friday.  It took over 20lbs to win a local tournament there the Sunday before!  Granted, 12lbs was second, but that is still a pretty hefty bag of fish.  My brother had been over to the lake about a week ago and said that it was rolling mud.  I expected the water to still be muddy but surprisingly enough it had cleared up a good bit.  Went a couple of hours with only two or so bites so I thought it was time to change up a bit.  What do I pull out?  Yes, the A-Rig.

I am trying to really learn how to throw this bait and have been experimenting with the different head weights and sizes.  My swimbait head of choice is the J-Will Buckeye Head from Buckeye.  They come with a massive 5/0 hook so you can keep those fish pinned.

On another note, I heard that the first round of MLF results have been posted.  I have heard that one angler caught over 50 lbs the first day of the initial Amistad tournament on, of course, the Alabama Rig.  It is noteworthy though that I think you weigh and count every fish you catch though.  So could have this person just caught 25 2lb fish?  I do not really get this tournament rule, but maybe I will have a better understanding soon.  Let me know your thoughts on this!!  Have a great week everyone!

Lake Martin: Weekend Series Preview

Got to fish Lake Martin a week and a half ago.  Water temps are around 60* and the lake is really muddy in the upper regions.  I have always been a fan of this place, even though my time spent out on it has been limited.  I caught almost 13lbs on Martin on a Megabass shallow crankbait during a fall qualifier last semester.  I really like the way the upriver portion of the lake looks and I tried that region out first in practice.  The upriver fishing didn't exactly go as planned.  I spent most of the day catching only keepers.  I guess these fish are not acclimated to the muddy, warm water yet.  I cannot remember the last time I saw water that was in the sixties in January!  After my failed trial of catching them upriver,  I went to a few points I have caught decent fish on before and caught this nice largemouth.

This was by far my best fish on Saturday, weighing in at 5lbs 6oz.  Sunday I tried to expand on this pattern a little bit and caught a lot of spotted bass, but only one decent fish.

Turns out I will not be able to fish the Weekend Series even because of some complications with my boat so that is the reason for this delayed post, sorry.  The colder weather might hinder the weights a little bit for this Saturday's event, but overall I think a lot of people will see Lake Martin's true colors and it will not surprise me at all for over 16lbs to win this event.  Good luck to all of my buddies that are fishing!

An Alabama Rig Experiment

Finally got a chance to head back out to Lake Guntersville last Sunday.  The weather was just right-warm and foggy.  It is just the kind of morning you dream about when catching a trophy bass is in the mix.  Of course my bait of choice for the day was the infamous Alabama Rig.  I know several of my close buddies are against the Rig and some are very much for it.  Personally, I do not have a strong stance either way.  I do know one thing for sure, if I don't figure out the ends and outs of it and quick or I will continue to get my eyes beat in by it.  Every boat you see at Guntersville has one tied on and rightfully so.  I didn't exactly catch a ton of fish, but the few I did catch were good ones!  I didn't even have that many of the same colored swimbaits in the boat, or much less good swimbait heads to throw them on.  Getting a basstrix swimbait and a J-Will swimbait head will just about cost you an arm and a leg these days. Anyways it was a really fun trip Sunday and here are just a couple of pictures from the day. 

On another note, I am really going to try and be loyal to this blog.  I know I have thought that before but I recently talk to Tyler Brinks and he re-entergized me to give this another shot.  Hope everyone enjoys reading!!

War Eagle!