Well, let’s just start by saying it was the soggiest tournament that I have participated in since the Weekend Series Regional down at Patoka last October.  My partner, Ricky, & I were first off, we went straight to a stretch of pads in the back of a lake.  It is where I had not a lot of bites, but they were all big.  I threw swim jigs, Black Furbit and a dark colored Gambler Cane toad and managed just one 16″ bass on the cane toad in just over an hour.  We then went back towards the main river to a slough to fish some channel banks, with grass, wood & rock.

My first cast with a junebug swim jig got me a 14.5″ fish that I threw back because it was a ‘no cull’ tournament.  I then started throwing a bone colored Yellow Magic popper (I get mine from Basspro.com), caught some short fish then caught a 3.3lb largemouth.  I continued throwing that popper for the next hour and caught 10+ fish, none of which I actually put in the well.  I then switched to 1/2 oz Fall Craw Tru-Tungsten jig with Black Neon chunk and boated a nice keeper.  Rick then also boated a nice fish on a jig.  I then switched up and started flipping a Green Pumpkin Chigger Craw right up into the grass & brush on the undercut banks.  My flippin’ setup consisted of 50lb braid, 3/4oz Tru-Tungsten flippin’ weight and a 3/0 BMF hook tied up with a snell knot.  I caught several fish with this technique, two keepers, but both of them went back in the water.

I then went back to the jig and boated another nice largemouth for the well.  At the same time Ricky started building a nice limit on a Green Pumpkin Fork Craw on a mojo rig, he even threw back a 15″+ smallie and then caught another nice largemouth before I got my limit.  Finally at 1:30pm, I threw my Fork Craw on a mojo rig up next to a weed clump and boated a 2.8lb smallie.  That fish rounded out a nice limit of 14.0lbs, which I felt very good about in a no cull tournament.  Until weigh-in, when I ended up 4th out of 13 guys.  Several guys had 4lbs+ fish, I guess never got that big bite I needed.  Well it was time to dry off, retie my rods and get ready for Sunday on Pool 5.  I made up a bunch of ground on the guy in first, but the guy in 2nd beat me and now he is the new leader to chase.  I came in about 9lbs out of first, now I sit about 4lbs back, still in 3rd.