Small Club Tournament Coming Up --Sept 19-20...Need Info

[blainefred]

Hello everyone,

I'm a newbie, never having fished SML before.

I see many reports, but many are from March and April.

I would greatly appreciate on the preferred locations and lures.

You can send a private message if you don't want to reveal your strategy on the open thread.

Thanks.

Fred

[jason]

I've had luck on zoom flukes on points.

[greenmonster]

Fred, let us know how you do. Good luck!

[blainefred]

SML Largemouth and Smallmouth Fishing Report

Sept. 17-21, 2014

I’m a member of a LM/SM bass club in the Washington, DC area. We had a small club tournament Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19 and 20, 2014.

We stayed at the Halesford Harbour Inn, a very nice place with excellent hospitality. I understand that the place was closed due to bankruptcy a few years ago. It was bought by local investors, led by a retired Navy Captain. The scuttlebutt was that $3-million was put into it to repair, remodel, refurnish, etc.

We had 16 boats in the tournament, many with co-anglers. I am a co-angler. The club last fished SML three years ago, and that was in the spring. So it was essentially an all-new fishery to us.

My boater and I arrived around 9:30 AM, Wednesday, for two days of pre-fishing to identify patterns, etc. A number of others arrived on Thursday to pre-fish.

Conditions on Wednesday and Thursday: stained water, unusual because many expected very clear water. Water temps were 72-75 degrees, getting warmer in the afternoon. We concluded that the conditions continued a “summer bite” rather than autumn. Very little wind on Weds and Thurs with some clouds.

Wednesday and Thursday Pre-Fish. -- The pre-fishing did not go very well for us. We fished points, docks, and shorelines with a variety of lures, including 3-inch Senkos (sometimes an excellent smallie lure); 5-inch Senkos in various presentations including unweighted wacky; a 7-inch Jackall finesse worm rigged with a Zapu-Inchi jig head; lipless cranks; a 3/8 oz jig; and crank baits. All that with very little fish caught by the two of us. The dock talk on following the pre-fish on Thursday afternoon was very pessimistic. The long trip and associated expense made it even worse.

We were unable to identify a significant pattern during our two pre-fish days. But we did eliminate some pattern possibilities. There was no top-water bite; there was no jig bite; and the bass were not hitting lures thrown into or under docks. We did identify an unusual pattern of bass biting in small coves and between two docks that were spaced 10-20 yards apart, where there was shallow water in between. There was shallow water in between the docks, and the bite was a Zoom Finesse worm and/or a yellow and black crankbait like a Strike King KVD square bill. The Slider Head, 1/8 oz Spider model, rigged with a black Zoom Finesse worm or a Black/Blue Trick Worm was working.


I say that these lures were working, BUT the fish were all small, less than 14 inches. So the lures weren’t really working to catch good fish.

My boater caught several small bass using a shakey head. I used a shakey head and a drop shot, but no luck on either.

Friday --- Day 1 of tournament -- the day began slowly, and rain began to fall. It was overcast. With all that and the stained water, I went to a 1/8 or 3//16 Charlie Brewer Slider Head (the Spider model) with a black Zoom Finesse worm. We were fishing the shallow water in between the docks, and I put on my rain suit as it began to drizzle and then rain around 10:00. We were fishing a small cove up near the Coast Guard Auxiliary station, maybe 100 yards away from it.

I was tossing the black worm with a spinning rig with 10-lb fluorocarbon line, I felt a small hit and then a heavy weight on the line. I reeled and the drag went off, and the rod bent as I tried to keep the fish from going under the boar. The boater did a very nice job with the landing net, and it was a great fish that weighed in at 4 lbs-14 ounces. The fish turned out to be the tournament overall lunker.

I caught three more fish during the day, including two small ones that I could weigh in. Total was over 7 lbs.

My boater also caught four, including two small ones. His big fish was a 3+ lb smallie that hit his crankbait.

Saturday – Day 2 of tournament. – I caught two nice bass on the Slider Head and black Zoom Finesse worm. That gave me over 11 lbs for the two days, and the top #1 weight in the c0-angler category. The bite disappeared for us around 12:00 Saturday.

My boater caught two on Saturday.

The guys revealed their locations and lures at the end of the tournament. Some guys caught fish on a point on Friday, and returned Saturday expecting the same thing, only to come up zero.

One guy caught nice bass fishing docks near the arcade where Mango’s Bar is located. He used a Slider Head and worm. But the docks were 8-9 feet deep. He was the only angler to catch bass off or under docks.

One angler found a jig bite, and that was in a cove with shallow water.

Many of the anglers caught bass using the Slider Head, with some using a Zoom Finesse worm in Watermelon Purple Glitter of green pumpkin; and others used the Trick Worm. Colors varied.

Hope this report is helpful.  I would appreciate your comments. 

[jason]

I was there on Wednesday and the fishing pattern really changed since the previous Sunday. Main channel points that produced several bass earlier disappeared and had me wondering how the tournaments would do over the weekend. Glad you were able to adapt. Good report.

[Jason54]

Great report and Congrats on the win!

[blainefred]

There was a large BFL tournament down lake on Saturday, with 100 or so boats. We didn't many of them in our areas.

Friday's rainy and overcast weather kept the pleasure boats and jet skis away, but they came out on Saturday making waves and disturbing the water for us bass anglers.

[blainefred]

Sept 24, 2014 19:58:16 GMT -5 jason said:

I was there on Wednesday and the fishing pattern really changed since the previous Sunday. Main channel points that produced several bass earlier disappeared and had me wondering how the tournaments would do over the weekend. Glad you were able to adapt. Good report.

Thanks Jason.

I presume that the weather and barometric pressure had something to do with the changing patterns. 

The changing patterns in  a few days....is that normal for SML?

[blainefred]

On the BFL...

88 boat field. 12 lbs total weight got a check on the boater side and 4 lbs total weight got a check on the co-angler side. Our top 6 or so on both the boater and co-angler side would have placed in this TX.

The top few places on the boater side were pretty impressive, but that's to be expected from the top local guys. I think we did really well as a group, it was obviously extremely tough for everyone.