Day two we had a lot more wind and it was coming out of the east. It had been out of the west for several days and I knew this would change things up on me. When you get a change in wind direction it most often will reposition fish and with smallmouth this can be a move of several miles. Well this day it hadn’t moved all my fish out of that area but there wasn’t the same numbers and they weren’t as eager to eat. With boats covering up my plan ‘A’ spot again that was out so I decided to stay and grind on them. I ended up only catching two small fish from the area but I stayed a lot longer than I should have because my co-angler had his 3 fish limit and over a 4lb average. I just couldn’t do anything right that day. At the very end I bailed and ran to a spot and caught one more small fish but it was too little too late. I finished the day with just 3 fish for 7lbs and fell off the map. In hind sight I should have leaned on my shallow fish because I never went there and I know I could have caught 10-13 lbs real easy and that would have been more than enough to make the cut and get a cheque. I stayed with the big fish and it cost me but I am not too disappointed because even if I had went and caught a small limit a cheque would have been all I would get. It would have taken me out of contention to win and I fish to win. Some days you make all the right decisions and some days you just can’t do anything right and this was one of those days. To cap off the day I ended up being late for check-in because although I made it back in time I had a motor issue in the no-wake zone, 50 yards from the check-in boat!!!! I couldn’t imagine if that had happened and I had caught another big sack. It ended up being a spark plug issue which I had the service crew check the day before and was told it was fine. But that’s another rant all on its own. This time it didn’t cost me because I didn’t have the fish but it was just the perfect ending to a very frustrating day of fishing. Add over an hour of driving in 4 foot waves and you can probably imagine how frustrated I was when I broke down that close to the check-in. But that’s just how it goes and I’m already thinking about the next event. You just need to learn what you can from your mistakes and move onto the next one.
Curt
This event I used three different baits. My main bait and the one I caught all my fish on was a green pumpkin Slammer made by X Zone Lures (formerly called Strike Zone Tournament Baits). I also employed a 3 1/2 inch green pumpkin tube on a 1/4 ounce jig head and a 3/8 ounce black and blue flipping jig with a black Zoom Big Salty Chunk. I threw the Slammer on 6lb test
Well this trip to Maryland's Chesapeake Bay was much less productive for me than in 2009. The tidal fishery whooped my butt this time around. Once again I fished for smallmouth in the Susquehanna River however it was a different time of year than last year and those big fish just weren't around. After practice I knew this was going to be a brutal event and just catching a limit each day would
My answer --- They could charge twice as much and I would still have two on my boat. Everywhere I go I get asked "what are those things sticking up on the back of your boat?" Well they are Power Poles, the next thing you are going to want to add to your rig. Power Poles are a hydraulic shallow water anchor which will silently anchor your boat with the push of a button in depths of 8 feet
It's always great when you can fish a tournament with only two rods on the deck and this was one of those times. I was dragging tubes and dropshots in 14-18 ft of water and I was also dropshoting directly below the boat. For the tube I was using a 7' MH Abu Garcia Vendetta Spinning rod paired with a Abu Garcia Soron STX 20 reel with 20lb SpiderWire Stealth braid and a 10lb Trilene 100%
Sunday April 17, 2011 BassTalk is a great learning tool for any angler. Each event features 6 of the countries top anglers and the best part is all the great food!!! $75 ($30 for kids 14 and under) gets you six seminars from some the most knowledgable speakers in the industry, coffee and snacks in the morning, lunch and great deals on electronics from the folks at Radioworld at the end of
Curt Richardson is a Canadian tournament pro who fishes the FLW Stren Series Northern Division, the B.A.S.S. Northern Opens, and various Canadian events. His blog gives you a behind the scenes look into the world of competitive bass fishing.
