Saturday 4/30 - Mafia Tournament
May 2, 2022 9:47:40 GMT -5
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mwardncsu, R22, and 3 more like this
Post by BentRod on May 2, 2022 9:47:40 GMT -5
Weather: overcast, light showers
Water temperature: 62-66
Techniques: 8-13” Shad on freelined planer boards; bottom fish 8” Shad
We fished the Mafia event Saturday. The fish, as expected, made a big shift this past week. We really went into Saturday not knowing what to do, but we relied on history and focused on areas on the lower end we felt like should be good and on areas we found large shad present. No surprise, every cove we found big shad, there were lots of fish present. Our first spot was loaded with fish, but the two we caught in the first hour or so were sub 30” fish, so we made the decision to leave active fish (usually a bad idea) to find bigger fish. The next spot was pretty sweet - a decent group of fish that never left a small stretch of water all day. We worked that area for about 6hrs and slowly picked off another 12 fish or so, including one 36” fish which ended up being a difference maker for us in the tournament. The rest were in the 28-31.5” range. I think there were a bunch of smaller fish there too that we kept missing on big shad. We ended up going through almost all of our baits and had to break the cast net back out. Decided we’d make some moves about 1pm to see if we could find one more decent fish before the 4pm check in. We ended up catching one more and losing another right at the end that may have helped us slightly but it didn’t matter in the end. We felt fortunate and surprised to get the win given the good bite - we thought a few boats would catch bigger fish, but the big fish just seemed to be turned off Saturday or more focused on the approaching spawn.
Congrats to the other guys that placed - know there were a few that post here. Big thanks to Mward for continuing to put these tournaments on after 7yrs - not sure how he does it with all the work, drama, complaints, etc. that come with it, but thankful for it.
Even bigger thanks to his company Back Creek Custom Rods for supplying us with some amazing rods to fish with this spring. If you like to pull big bait for big fish, you need to check out these rods - I’ve been very pleased and my teammates are ready to place an order with Mike for some more rods. I’m excited to try them in Tennessee, hopefully later this summer.
Sorry, I literally didn’t take any pictures other than on the measuring board - not even of the 36” fish as it was bleeding and we got it back into the lake quickly.
Water temperature: 62-66
Techniques: 8-13” Shad on freelined planer boards; bottom fish 8” Shad
We fished the Mafia event Saturday. The fish, as expected, made a big shift this past week. We really went into Saturday not knowing what to do, but we relied on history and focused on areas on the lower end we felt like should be good and on areas we found large shad present. No surprise, every cove we found big shad, there were lots of fish present. Our first spot was loaded with fish, but the two we caught in the first hour or so were sub 30” fish, so we made the decision to leave active fish (usually a bad idea) to find bigger fish. The next spot was pretty sweet - a decent group of fish that never left a small stretch of water all day. We worked that area for about 6hrs and slowly picked off another 12 fish or so, including one 36” fish which ended up being a difference maker for us in the tournament. The rest were in the 28-31.5” range. I think there were a bunch of smaller fish there too that we kept missing on big shad. We ended up going through almost all of our baits and had to break the cast net back out. Decided we’d make some moves about 1pm to see if we could find one more decent fish before the 4pm check in. We ended up catching one more and losing another right at the end that may have helped us slightly but it didn’t matter in the end. We felt fortunate and surprised to get the win given the good bite - we thought a few boats would catch bigger fish, but the big fish just seemed to be turned off Saturday or more focused on the approaching spawn.
Congrats to the other guys that placed - know there were a few that post here. Big thanks to Mward for continuing to put these tournaments on after 7yrs - not sure how he does it with all the work, drama, complaints, etc. that come with it, but thankful for it.
Even bigger thanks to his company Back Creek Custom Rods for supplying us with some amazing rods to fish with this spring. If you like to pull big bait for big fish, you need to check out these rods - I’ve been very pleased and my teammates are ready to place an order with Mike for some more rods. I’m excited to try them in Tennessee, hopefully later this summer.
Sorry, I literally didn’t take any pictures other than on the measuring board - not even of the 36” fish as it was bleeding and we got it back into the lake quickly.
