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!!!

Wednesday – November 14 – Tournament Day 1
Day 1 was a beautiful looking day for fishing.  My partner Brian Greenwood from Vermont made it to our starting area in the back of Gray’s creek.  Had it all to ourselves, I started throwing my Vixen hoping to draw some fish up and my partner drug a senko behind the boat.  Nothing happening, I then tried a BuzzR Bait, DT6 and an Inchi Wacky Rig, not a bite.  I think we each caught one channel pickerel each.  We then tried some areas in Little Creek, I saw several nice fish cruising in there, but could not elicit a strike from any of them.  I finally broke out my flippin’ stick and started dropping a black neon speed craw on a 3/4oz Tru-Tungsten Flippin’ weight rigged on a 3/0 BMF Hook.  I switched my flipping rig from braid to 20# Fluorocarbon during the tournament hoping to get some more bites.  I quickly got a 12″ keeper on that.  On the way out, my partner caught a small keeper on a white super fluke.  Activity seemed to be picking up, so we headed back to Gray’s.  I quickly caught a decent keeper on my mat punching rig.  I then caught two quick shorts, couple pickerel, and had a few more missed bites, kind of a small flurry of activity.

Time was running a bit short, so I ran to my area in Bussey Recreation area.  I tried the crankbait there and then went back to flipping.  I missed one bite and then lost about a 1.5lb fish next to the boat that I saw.  It was soon time to go, tried cranking near the check in and caught a small perch.  Frustrating day for my partner and I both.  My two keepers weighed 2.61lbs, that left me in 165th place out of 222 guys on the boater side at the end of day 1.

Thursday – November 15 – Tournament Day 2
I had decided that I needed to change things up on Day 2 for my sake and my partner’s sake.  My non-boater Anthony Ferranto was in 4th place after day 1.  He had caught his fishing dragging a baby brushhog on a carolina rig.  I had decided I was going to start the day on main lake points and see where the day took me.  The first two points we stopped at were very rough, winds probably started 15-20mph.  The third point was equally windy, but I did manage to catch one nice keeper that was nearly 3lbs on a parrot colored DT10.  We worked that point for a long while with several baits, nothing more.  We continued to try to work points for several more hours.  All we caught was a small perch and a big gar on DT6.  Towards the end of the day, I revisited some other area including the mat that produced several bites the day before, hauled more water.  We kept fishing points, coves, weeds, docks and anything else that we saw on our way back to the check-in.  Just that one keeper was all we boated.  My single bass weighed 2.88lbs, not good enough.  It did move me up ever so slightly, to 157th after day 2.  Man, I had myself in quite a hole after two days.  I knew I needed to change things up again on day 3.  On a positive note, I was only about 9lbs out of the Top 25 and 6lbs out of the money.  I knew if just boated 10-12lbs, I could make a check.  I spent the evening running ideas through my head and talking with my buddy Billy Harris, as he was in a similar position as I.  After racking my brain all night, my plan was to start on that point where I had caught my nice fish and then keep on the move from there.  I had an idea that I wanted to work some areas that got pounded by Day 2’s harsh winds as I figured there should be plenty of food in there and bass would have likely followed the food in there and also those fish should have seen little pressure with all that wind.

Check back tomorrow to see how Day 3 went.

Hey all,  I am back from a long week of fishing down at Clarks Hill.  I am going to wrap my practice into a single entry for the sake of keeping current. 

Saturday – November 10 – Pre-Practice Lake Hartwell
My buddy Billy Harris and I fished Hartwell the last day of off limits as we had read & heard that the lake fished similar to that of Clarks Hill and they both had healthy populations of Blueback Herring.  We also decided to have a friendly little tournament.  Weight of each of our best 5 fish, winner gets a bait out of the others boat at the end of the week.  We also wagered a similar bet for the Clarks Hill tournament, highest finisher gets to steal a bait as well.  Well fishing was tough at Hartwell for us, I managed on nice 2.2lb spot on a 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten Green Pumpkin Brown Jig under a dock in about 18ft of water.  Other then that, we each caught a few short spots.  I caught a handful of small spots on a Zappu Inchi Wacky Jig paired with a Jackall Flick Shake worm.
 
My winning 2.2lb Spotted Bass                                       Inchi Wacky Jigs

Sunday – November 11 – Official Practice Day 1
My dad & I fished together all week, as he was fishing as a non-boater.  I caught a quick keeper in the cove next to where we launched on a Vixen (Aurora Blue)  We started our endeavors in Gray’s & Little Creeks up the Little River on the GA side of Clarks Hill.  Based on our research, these seemed like reliable creeks that held good bass populations to help form a pattern. I caught one small keeper early on a Sebile Flatt Shad off a road bed.  We then hopped around, I started to notice healthy mats of hydrilla in the backs of some of these creeks and one in particular, I saw fish swimming on the edges going in & out of the mats.  So I started punching the mats with a 1oz Tru-Tungsten Flipping weight and Green Pumpkin Chigger Craw.  It did not take me long to catch a pickerel and then a nice keeper bass.  We then went to the next creek & found some similar water.  I flipped the mat, my dad started to catch some keepers on  wacky rigged green pumpkin salty sinker off the edge of the hydrilla and I caught one more bass flipping.  I then threw off the deeper edge and pulled on some fish.  This felt like a good area to get a limit.  We then finished out the day fishing some main lake rocky points with a variety of baits with no bites. 

Sebile Flatt Shad 77

Monday – November 12 – Official Practice Day 2
On this day we started out on some points near the Bussey recreation area, never got a bite until we moved into some creeks in that area.  I finally started getting bit on a Parrot DT6, which is what I use when I fish similar looking grass edges back home.  I caught 4 fish on that fairly quickly in 3 different areas as well as getting two other pretty good bites on it.  I then picked up my flipping rig to punch a some mats and ended up getting a 5lb+ fish on Gambler BB Cricket.  I was feeling pretty good about this pattern, so I decided I needed to see more of this giant lake.  We ran all the way up the Broad River which is about a 45 minute ride.  Water was a lot different up there, much dirtier and the banks flatter.  Had a few bites up there, but nothing to write home about.  Fished our way back a little bit, caught one small keeper off a bluff on a drop shot.  Lot of my fishing time was used up by running up the lake that afternoon.  I was excited about this flipping bite, it is probably only now viable with the low water creating the mats and most guys would not try it.

Tuesday – November 13 – Official Practice Day 3
Final day of practice.  Checked out a bunch of creeks near the dam.  Did not get any bites and did not see the kind of water I had been catching them on.  Did find some really good looking docks with brush all around them, no bites, but if it worked out, I would consider checking them in the tournament under the right conditions.  I then decided I would check out Keg & Wildwood creeks near take off to duplicate what we had found earlier in the week.  I found some water that looked just like what we had been fishing and was positive we would get bites there.  I was wrong, could not figure that out, the food was there and everything.  We ran around and fished a handful of other pockets, I ended up catching one small keeper and had one other hit, both on the DT6.  We hit a couple main lake rock points with no avail, then we had to call it a day to get our stuff together and make the meeting.

After that last day, I was concerned about the fish we found the first two days.  But with boat #49, I was sure I could get to one of my creeks up in the Little River without too much problem.  I figured those fish we caught in the afternoon should surely bite well in the morning.  My plan was to get 4 or 5 quick keepers, leave and run new water looking for bigger fish.   Well that was the plan, check back tomorrow to see how the plan panned out on day 1.

Well you probably know this by now, unless its your first time to my blog, I will be fishing the Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championships next week on Clarks Hill Reservoir (a.k.a. J. Strom Thurmond).   I will be down there competing against 220 of my closest friend from all over the country for a chance at $100,000+ and more importantly a coveted berth in the 2008 Bassmasters Classic on Lake Hartwell in February.  My buddy Billy & I will be fishing Hartwell on Saturday as pre-practice as is on the same river system as official practice does not start until Sunday.

The past couple weeks I have been scouring the internet for info on Clarks Hill, studying the map I ordered, watching old Bassmasters shows that I had taped from the past two years on my DVR and also bought some new lures in preparation.

Here is the tackle that I have amassed in the last few weeks:
Sebile Flatt Shads
Strike Kind Red Eye Shads in Sexy Shad color
Aaron Martens Scrounger Heads
Vicious Fluorocarbon
Variety of Optimum Swimbaits
Acme Sidewinders & a few other spoons
Zappu Inchi Wacky Jig Heads
Jackall Flick Shake Worms
BassTrix Paddle Tail Tubes
Money Minnows
Silly Rabbits
Skinny Dippers
A single Pencil Popper
Bottle of Mend-It to repair my plastics
Sebile Magic Swimmers

Ofcourse this is in addition to the large inventory of baits that I already have.  In a perfect world, I would be able to key in on a strong bite with my go to Tru-Tungsten Jig.

My basic plan of attack is to spend most of the first day driving and looking at my electronics to understand what the baitfish are doing.  From there I hope to key in a particular type of structure (i.e. channel bends, main points, secondary points, flats, etc.), build confidence in a bait or three and then try to duplicate it all over the lake then run those areas during the tournament.  I think this tournament will be won by a strong pattern more so then any single honey hole.

If I can, I will try to enter some entries updating my practice and tournament days, but you may want to check my forum, as it will be easier to put quick updates on there.  I would say its got to be just about every tournament anglers dream to fish/win a Bassmasters Classic.  Next week, I get to take a shot at making it there!!