Well, its moving day.  I find myself in 157th place, top 50 get a check and top 25 fish tomorrow.  My partner Adam Bain from Alabama & I are out boat 108 or something like that.  We arrive at my chosen starting point and there is a nice breeze coming in on it, which I expect would only help.  We work the point hard for about 30 minutes, with cranks, jigs & spinnerbaits, etc.  Nothing happening.  I decide to try the adjacent pockets it the wind blowing on them, figuring there could be some fish pulled up in there.  I quickly caught a 2lb fish on a my Sebile Flatt Shad, not too much longer my partner gets a nicer fish on a spinnerbait, just under 3lbs.  We went back and forth on these two pockets once more each, no more bites.

We stop and fish a main lake shoal, looks good, but nothing.  We then fish some rip rap with the wind blowing on it near the HWY 47 bridge.  Finally we make our way into a pocket and I catch keeper #2 on the Flatt Shad.  The next pocket, my partner gets a 3lb + fish on his spinnerbait.  We fish a few more pockets, points and the Little River Marina with no bites.  We then come into a pocket and it has a road bed coming into the back of it.  I catch my 3rd keeper on the Sebile, just a little squeaker that likely does not even weigh a pound.

We hit a couple more pockets, nothing more.  We decide to go hit some weed flats that my partner caught fish off of in practice, after about 10 minutes I catch a nice 3lb fish on my flatt shad, he was kind of foul hooked, so it made me think that he did not take it well and I might want to change up baits.  After a bit more fishing there, we decide to refish the pockets that had produced fish.  As we come into the road bed pocket, I make a few cast with the lipless crank.  I think to myself, I need a good fish or two, and my partner has gotten quality bites on the spinnerbait.  As I bend down to reach for my spinnerbait, my partner gets a 3.5lb fish.  He now has a really solid 3 fish limit.  The next pocket I catch a short fish and a keeper on my SWL Quick Strike Blue Herring Spinnerbait to give me 5.  Adam also gets another keeper, that did not help him.  We hit the pockets where we started in the morning, nothing more.

I saved sometime to hit a pocket where I had caught a 5lb fish in practice flipping.  I started by rolling my spinnerbait down the edge of the grass and about 10 cast into it, my rod loaded up real good.  After a brief struggle, we netted a 4lb + fish.  I was pretty jacked at that point.  I got rid of a 13oz fish with a 4lb’r.  I worked the spinnerbait a little more, then went to flip a short stretch where I had caught the big one in practice.  On about my 20th drop, my rod tip loaded up…..   I set the hook, it felt good at first, but them a small keeper came popping out of the mat, was not big enough to cull.  Few more flips, fished the spinnerbait out towards the mouth of the pocket, then it was time to head back towards the ramp.  I mentally figured I had about 10-12lbs, and that is about what I figured I needed to make the $$$ cut.  I knew deep down, I needed one more 4lb class bite to have a shot at the Top 25. 
We found a nice looking little pocket near check in with the wind coming into it.  We worked it hard for about 10-12 minutes and it was time to check in.  We fished hard to the last cast, less then a minute left when we checked in.  My partners 3 fish weighed 9.5lbs, which vaulted him into 18th place from 189th place.  I was excited to see him do well & get to fish day 4.  My 5 fish weighed 11.47lbs, which was the 6th biggest bag out of 222 boaters on day 3.  That nice bag shot me up 111 places to 46th overall.  It also helped me win a side bet with my buddy Billy Harris, we will talk about this in detail in its own blog entry

I think the biggest keys for my day 3 improvement, were covering more water and the right kind of water.  Fishing the current conditions instead of trying to mine areas where I found fish in previous days.  Also, bait adjustment.  My buddy Billy had caught all his fish on a chrome blue lipless crank the first 2 days, so that prompted me to give the Sebile Lipless crank a more honest try.  Also, my Secret Weapon Lure Pro kit, allowed me to quick build and match the spinnerbait that my partner was having success with and fill my limit and get a kicker fish.  Felt good to cash that $1300 check, but at the same time angered me that I did not figure them out a day or two earlier, I could have been in the mix and fishing on day 4.  Oh well, I feel like I really learned a little about fishing in southern impoundments that will help me next time. 

I hope you all have a safe and fun Thanksgiving!!!