3/18/17 SJV Tourney report
Mar 20, 2017 19:46:02 GMT -5
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Mike, drag4striper, and 1 more like this
Post by steviejayvaughan on Mar 20, 2017 19:46:02 GMT -5
Weather: 40-60 some clouds scattered showers in the afternoon
Water: 48-50 and clear
Techniques: 2oz downlines, freeline planers, redirigs.
Bait: 6-15" gizzards and 1 6" BB.
Time: 7:00-3:15
Cooler tech: Water, high brew coffee, and fried chicken
Tournament started the weekend prior loading the home tank with big nasties. Then a cold front came through and lowered the temp in my home tank to 38 degrees. Only lost one medium bait, but there seemed to be a lot of scale loss in the bottom of the tank. . I didn't really know what the bait situation was at the lake, but planned to catch bait Friday to pre fish with and use the big boys for Saturday. This doesn't usually happen, ok it never happens...but I was able to catch bait fairly easily and help a few other boats that were pulling blanks on deep bait. The taped net was deadly and was pulling up anywhere from 5-30 baits a throw big and small. Loaded the tank up and headed out for some scouting. After catching zero fish in the two previous tournaments just being able to catch bait was a win.
Found a spot I had previously fished that was holding a fair amount of bait. Deployed the spread and found fish immediately. Missed a hookup on a planer and circled back around. Hooked up on a downline with a small bait 9lber to the boat. Made another circle on the same area and hooked up again on a small bait on downline. This time much better at 17lbs. Satisfied we had found our spot for the morning we headed in.
Woke up at 5:30 and headed out in the dark around 6:00. Reached our destination and I tied up a few smaller hooks and before we knew it 7:00 had arrived. The morning was very slow for us and only had one run on a bait by 9:30 or so. I think around 10:00 we finally hooked up on a bank side planer board with a big bait. Landed a 30.5" fish that got us on the board. Stinger hook got him right in the tongue. Fish measured and released.
Baits at this point were not looking so hot. Half of them were sluggish and Iknew they would not draw the bite of a curious fish when chased. Decided to catch some smaller bait and whatever else we could pull up. We had been marking good concentrations of bait in 30ft of water where we were fishing. Pulled the taped net out and caught some mediums and a few more 12" and greater baits within 30 minutes...once again never happens this way, but was super glad we got it done that quick. Moved up the lake just a ways and deployed just bankside planers and a redirig. 15 minutes in to the pull the middle planer with a medium bait takes off. Halfway into the fight the big bait on the back board shot off but the hook never got him and he was quickly off. Concentrated on landing fish number 2 and got him in the boat and measured. 28.5 incher and we had our two. I knew it would take 70" plus to win so at this point we concentrated on finding a big fish. Break out the big bait and we just pulled baits along the bank the rest of the day. Somewhere in there a fish rolled on a bait out from a submerged tree. He swung back around and crushed it. Third and final fish to the boat went 31 inches.
We ended up 8th overall and Lauren got 2nd in the youth division. Still recovering, but can't wait to get back out there for the April tournament. Fish are looking healthy and ready to bust.
Water: 48-50 and clear
Techniques: 2oz downlines, freeline planers, redirigs.
Bait: 6-15" gizzards and 1 6" BB.
Time: 7:00-3:15
Cooler tech: Water, high brew coffee, and fried chicken
Tournament started the weekend prior loading the home tank with big nasties. Then a cold front came through and lowered the temp in my home tank to 38 degrees. Only lost one medium bait, but there seemed to be a lot of scale loss in the bottom of the tank. . I didn't really know what the bait situation was at the lake, but planned to catch bait Friday to pre fish with and use the big boys for Saturday. This doesn't usually happen, ok it never happens...but I was able to catch bait fairly easily and help a few other boats that were pulling blanks on deep bait. The taped net was deadly and was pulling up anywhere from 5-30 baits a throw big and small. Loaded the tank up and headed out for some scouting. After catching zero fish in the two previous tournaments just being able to catch bait was a win.
Found a spot I had previously fished that was holding a fair amount of bait. Deployed the spread and found fish immediately. Missed a hookup on a planer and circled back around. Hooked up on a downline with a small bait 9lber to the boat. Made another circle on the same area and hooked up again on a small bait on downline. This time much better at 17lbs. Satisfied we had found our spot for the morning we headed in.
Woke up at 5:30 and headed out in the dark around 6:00. Reached our destination and I tied up a few smaller hooks and before we knew it 7:00 had arrived. The morning was very slow for us and only had one run on a bait by 9:30 or so. I think around 10:00 we finally hooked up on a bank side planer board with a big bait. Landed a 30.5" fish that got us on the board. Stinger hook got him right in the tongue. Fish measured and released.
Baits at this point were not looking so hot. Half of them were sluggish and Iknew they would not draw the bite of a curious fish when chased. Decided to catch some smaller bait and whatever else we could pull up. We had been marking good concentrations of bait in 30ft of water where we were fishing. Pulled the taped net out and caught some mediums and a few more 12" and greater baits within 30 minutes...once again never happens this way, but was super glad we got it done that quick. Moved up the lake just a ways and deployed just bankside planers and a redirig. 15 minutes in to the pull the middle planer with a medium bait takes off. Halfway into the fight the big bait on the back board shot off but the hook never got him and he was quickly off. Concentrated on landing fish number 2 and got him in the boat and measured. 28.5 incher and we had our two. I knew it would take 70" plus to win so at this point we concentrated on finding a big fish. Break out the big bait and we just pulled baits along the bank the rest of the day. Somewhere in there a fish rolled on a bait out from a submerged tree. He swung back around and crushed it. Third and final fish to the boat went 31 inches.
We ended up 8th overall and Lauren got 2nd in the youth division. Still recovering, but can't wait to get back out there for the April tournament. Fish are looking healthy and ready to bust.
