Last update: June 20, 2008
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Last update: June 20, 2008
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What: BASSMASTER Classic
When: August 1-4, 2001
Where: Louisiana Delta, LA
Finish: 32nd
Winnings: $4,000.00 I approached the tournament with a win-or-lose strategy and simply didn’t try to fish any of the areas that are known for smaller limits of fish. From past tournament results and local information I felt that there were only three areas that could possibly produce the winning fish. Considering how vast the Mississippi delta is – I had to eliminate 80% of it to start with because the remaining 20% that I looked at in June’s pre-practice was still huge! I chose not to fish the Venice area because we had flood conditions during the pre-practice and that would have made it very difficult to find the fish. Additionally, I had never been to Venice before in the only other tournament that I’d fished in the area (BASS Top 150 in September 2000). I fished in the Bayou Black area for last September’s tournament and wasn’t that impressed with the fish there. Probably everyone knows about the two-year drought and how it affected the delta so I won’t go into detail here. Bayou Black was simply a lot better two years ago when the Classic was previously held in New Orleans. The surviving vegetation was being sprayed (with herbicides) heavily when we were there last September – ruining the area that I’d been catching them in. On a more positive note: the Army Corps of Engineers is about to undo a lot of the damage that they did in past years by opening a freshwater culvert from the Mississippi River into the Bayou Segnette area. The delta will soon become more stable (able to withstand saltwater intrusion) and we should see great bass fishing again in about two to four years. I chose to pre-practice in the Delacroix area, which has the only other freshwater culvert. The culvert has been in place for a number of years (about ten?) and the bass population has rebounded in recent years. Although the oyster fishermen dislike the culvert, the Army Corps has almost restored the area to what it was like before they modified it (about fifty?) years ago. I caught quality fish on Lunker Lure buzzbaits and Hawg Caller soft plastics but the biggest problem was going to be catching a limit of fish during the tournament hours. What made it worse was the long ride and locks that would require about two hours of boat-riding each way to the fish. I committed to the area and felt that it was by far the best place for me to maximize my odds of winning. The biggest factor was the tropical depression that came in during the Classic. The long boat ride was even longer due to the high winds and rough water but that’s not what kept me from catching fish. The fish that I found had been relating to the fresh water flowing through a shallow grassbed of milfoil and hydrilla. When the tropical depression came the storm surge and this resulted in dingy salt water flowing into the grass and raising the water level. When the water level rose the fish scattered out in search of cleaner fresh water and made it impossible for me to pinpoint them. After catching not catching any fish on the first day of the Classic I simply went out the next two days in search of a limit of smaller fish because I knew that I was not in a position to win. I started using a Hawg Caller spinnerbait the last day and caught three fish on my first three casts, ultimately catching a limit and culling a few times.
What: BASSMASTER MegaBucks
When: May 8-11, 2001
Where: Douglas Lake, TN
Finish: 14th
Winnings: $6,000.00 I had to gamble on a high finish in order to qualify for the BASSMasters Classic. My strategy involved borrowing an aluminum boat with a Mercury jet outboard. The rig would run through the shallowest water and allowed me to access deep pools up in the Nolichucky and French Broad rivers that no other competitor could get to. Despite a slow start on the first day I progressively found bigger fish on the second and third days. I weighed in a mixed bag of largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass. Most fish were caught on a combination of floating worms and spinnerbaits by Hawg Caller but the biggest fish fell for a Lunker Lure Rattleback jig with a Hawg Caller Big "E" soft plastic chunk. I haven’t had so much fun in a long time – the fish were strong river fish and great fighters. I achieved the high finish that I had strived for and qualified for the Classic twice in two seasons.
What: BASSMASTER Central Invitational
When: April 19-21
Where: Table Rock Lake, MO
Finish: 39th
Winnings: $1600.00
This was an obvious sight-fishing tournament from the start of practice. Prolonged warm weather had stabilized the water temperatures throughout the entire lake. As a result the dominant pattern was sight-fishing – the only question was whether to target largemouths or spotted bass since the smallmouths weren’t numerous enough to target. The spotted bass tended to be more numerous in the lower end of the lake and had the benefit of generally out-weighing the leaner largemouth. I learned this too late as I spent too much time on the first tournament day catching largemouth. The second and third days I steadily moved up in the standings by first catching a limit of spots and then going for a "kicker" largemouth. I caught the most aggressive fish on a Hawg Caller white 4" Tube and the spookier fish on a Hawg Caller watermelon Log Crawler.
What: BASSMASTER Top 150
When: March 28-30, 2001
Where: Lake Wheeler, AL
Finish: 51st
This lake is recovering well from it’s fish-kill several years ago. Mechanical problems shortened my practice down to only 1-1/2 days and the fish that I had found diminished during the tournament. It’s important to remember that when one pattern goes away that means that somewhere else on the lake there’s another pattern developing. I found that pattern on the second day of the tournament but could only catch smaller fish.
What: BASSMASTER Central Invitational
When: March 1 - 3, 2001
Where: Sam Rayburn Reservoir, TX
Finish: 63rd
The bass were spawning but a cold front on the last practice day pushed most fish back out of the shallows. I sight-fished to some extent but caught most of my fish on a Hawg Caller soft jerkbait. The jerkbait triggered reaction strikes from non-aggressive fish. I would have had a great tournament if I had determined how to catch them earlier.
What: BASSMASTER Top 150
When: February 21-24, 2000
Where: Toledo Bend, LA
Finish: 76th
Toledo Bend is absolutely among the best bass lakes in the country. I found the fish to be catchable in a variety of areas with a multitude of lures. The only problem was that I never found a concentration and couldn’t catch the bigger fish during the tournament.
What: BASSMASTER Top 150
When: January 17 - 19, 2001
Where: Lake Toho, FL
Finish: 19th
Winnings: $4,000.00 A relatively tough practice and good final practice day didn’t prepare me for the shock of the first day’s weigh-in. I had a lousy practice until the afternoon of the last day when I found a number of fish close to spawning that had just moved into the area. This meant that I would probably find them more aggressive on the first day of the tournament. After the final practice day I felt certain that I would catch 10-20 pounds on the first day and told my roommates (Brent Chapman, Randy Blaukat, and Danny Correia). They all told me that 15 pounds would be phenomenal based on the previous two tournaments held here. So I was real excited when I caught 16 pounds and was headed up to the scales. I couldn’t believe what I saw: some pros skunked and some pros were carrying two bags (their fish were too big for one bag). Fish Fishburn wasn’t even weighing fish for the daily "big fish award" if they didn’t look to be at least ten pounds. Dean Rojas weighed over 45 pounds (five fish) to break all previous B.A.S.S. records. It turns out that he and I were using the same bait (Hawg Caller Log Crawler). I just never found the huge fish that some of the pros found. I say "some" of the pros because most of the Top 150 fishermen also never found the huge fish. In fact, the local fishermen read the newspaper the next day and went fishing on the lake the next day because they had never seen such incredible weights on Lake Toho. The weather conditions during the first three days of the tournament were probably the best three days of the year and we happened to hit it just right. I continued on my steady pace by out fishing most of the fishermen around me and weighing consistent 16 and 14 weights for the remaining two days. I ended up with over 47 pounds and just barely made the top 20. INCREDIBLE. Now for my opinion of why the lake was so incredible. First of all, the timing was perfect with respect to the weather. But mostly, those big fish were all there because they lived in hydrilla. Lake Toho probably (my guess) has hydrilla in about 40% of its total acres. This means that the bass have a tremendous supply of baitfish that thrives in hydrilla and the bass themselves live in it too. This is unlike other types of vegetation in which the bass only visit to feed because they can’t take refuge in it. Hydrilla is what makes Lake Toho so special. The community of Kissimmee/St. Cloud should be proud of their fishery but rumors are circulating that they are considering applying herbicides "full scale" to eradicate the vegetation. This is considerably different than their current approach of spraying only small areas at one time (which allow the fish and wildlife to move around and survive). If they get the government to contribute the necessary matching funds we will probably (my opinion) see another Harris Chain situation: 18 pounds to win a three day tournament. Only time will tell if the community values their natural resources.
What: BASSMASTER Eastern Invitational
When: January 11-13, 2001
Where: Lake Okeechobee, FL
Finish: 23rd
Winnings: $1,900.00 Unlike every other time I’ve been to this great lake there is very little vegetation in the lake anymore. Temporarily the Army Corps draws the lake down for half a year on every tenth year (1981, 1991, etc). Fortunately, there’s plenty of fish in the lake and they are quite healthy, they just don’t have much cover during the draw down. The long-term benefits of the draw down far outweigh the short-term hazards. The silty banks are drying and hardening. This will improve the spawning success in future years as will the native vegetation that is getting re-established. In the short-term, however, the lake is more hazardous than ever before to navigate and the fish are hard to locate. Also, because of the lack of cover, they are constantly on the move – pursuing baitfish. A cold front just before the tournament did the two worst things that can happen to the fishing – it cooled the lake by over 15 degrees and muddied the water. Such severe conditions meant that most everybody was in the rim ditch or other canals and tributaries to the lake, instead of fishing the lake itself. I fished the rim ditch and only found one concentration of fish in practice. When I returned in the tournament I found that big fish had moved in. I weighed a limit at over 17 pounds the first day and was in 4th place. Since I had the area all to myself and other top competitors were fishing in a crowd I had good reason to believe that I could win the tournament. I felt certain that I could weigh over 15 pounds each of the next two days. I still don’t know what happened to the fish. I don’t think the weather changed (or the water color), but the fish just plain quit. I caught only two small fish the second day and one on the last day. I felt that I had to stay in the area and figure out the fish. Figuring out the fish is probably the most important key to success on Florida lakes, and I simply didn’t figure them out.
When: December 7-9, 2000 Where: BASSMASTER Eastern Invitational Lake Martin, AL Finish: 129th Here’s a tournament where I just never got going. The previous year I finished 12th by burning a Rat-L-Trap on flat banks. The lower water this year didn’t make a difference but the cooler temperatures made a big difference. The largemouth had moved out deeper but hadn’t settled deep yet. The resulting largemouth bite was sporadic at best and people who caught them one day couldn’t catch them again because they were on the move and hard to pinpoint. One of my biggest weaknesses is fishing for Alabama’s spotted bass. They behave different than largemouth and smallmouth and even spots in other parts of the country. They are significantly less aggressive (in December) than spots in Missouri and Arkansas, for example. I think they’re more aggressive in the summertime too. Or maybe it’s just my perception. The deep fishermen and carolina-riggers (not always deep) consistently brought in spots each day and finished well. I found only one deep area that held fish and it had big fish but I only caught one in the tournament – a 3 ½ pound spotted bass. He was about 50 feet deep and hit a Hawg Caller Log Crawler (watermelon w/ purple flake) on a drop-shot rig. Apparently he was all alone. This was one of those tournaments where a person could fish a carolina-rig throughout the entire practice and find enough fish to get a good check. This is not my preferred style of fishing but I will remember to give it more time when I’m faced with a similar situation.
When: November 9-11, 2000 Where: BASSMASTER Central Invitational, Lake of the Ozarks, MO Finish: WON!! Winnings: $51,000 The winter-like temperatures at Lake of the Ozarks spent more time below freezing than above with an equal mix of rain, sleet, snow and sun. I truly enjoyed fishing this tournament, even in such weather, because of the beautiful mountain setting and the abundance of quality-size fish. The weather did not turn cold until the official practice began. This meant that the colder water areas of the lake would be less affected by the change and I was able to find fish further up the lake that bit my Lunker Lure jig. The water cooled so dramatically during the tournament that I had to use a suspending jerkbait (Rogue) in order to trigger the strikes. My catch the first day put me solidly in the lead and I never looked back. Leading the first day and ultimately winning (by almost seven pounds) is quite rare in multi-day professional tournaments. In spite of the cold, the fish actually fed best early in the morning and then feeding slowed down as the day warmed up. I adapted by fishing more precisely and covering less water. I would like to credit my Minn Kota trolling motor with allowing me to get close (quietly) to the fish. Also, my Costa Del Mar polarized sunglasses gave me the ability to see my line twitch – indicating a strike. I would like to thank Mercury for producing the fuel-efficient Optimax motor. The distance that I ran coupled with the fact that the marinas were closed for the season meant that I had to stretch out the fuel that I started with each morning. Using the Mercury smart craft digital gauge I knew exactly how many gallons I had left. Most of all I would like to thank my wife Brandy for encouraging me to fish the event. My overall standing was low due to a poor finish in the Louisiana Invitational so she said, "Go for the Win." The tournament highlights will be shown on "The Bassmasters," March 2nd, on ESPN 2.
When: October 18-21, 2000 Where: BASSMASTER Top 150 Trail, Mobile Delta, AL Finish: 96th The drought was especially hard on the Mobile Delta as many dead bass were seen in pre-practice. The salt-water intrusion forced the fish further into the fresh water than they normally live. Typically, the bass adapt well to a small degree of salt water and the abundant vegetation (milfoil). However, the salt water (I think) killed the milfoil and the bass had to go further up the river. Many people blamed the difficult fishing on the shrimp brought in with the salt water. If bass eat shrimp they won’t eat artificials, they say. I applaud my friend Randy Blaukat for having won the event. He fished a little area so far up the river that it was largely overlooked by locals. Fellow competitors, for the most part, honored the area that he was fishing and gave him the opportunity to win his second B.A.S.S. title. I blanked the first day. Subsequently I totally changed areas and fortunately found fish the second day. If I had found them the first day I would have gotten a great check because once I figured out which jerkbait they favored I caught a good limit on the third day. I triggered the fish with a very small hard jerkbait. Otherwise they weren’t feeding.
When: October 12-14, 2000 Where: BASSMASTER Central Invitational, Red River, LA Finish: 248th This fertile fishery was simply in a slump too. Reduced flow meant that the fish were only active for brief periods throughout the day. I concentrated on the backwater areas of pools 4 & 5 because that’s where I caught them in the May tournament and I was sure that the fish never left the areas in the summer. However, I never got the first bite in the backwaters in practice and didn’t get many bites on the main river. The bite was so slow that a small limit of 7-8 pounds each day would have been a good tournament. Most everybody was fishing the rock jetties, however, and you almost had to take a number to fish them during the tournament. I chose to try to catch them in other areas and never found them. Most of the high finishes were from competitors who locked all the way down to pool 3 and subsequently didn’t have to share the numerous rock jetties. This ended up being almost the worst B.A.S.S. tournament of my life and took me out of contention for the Classic through the Central Invitationals.
When: September 20-23, 2000 Where: BASSMASTER Top 150 Trail, Louisiana Delta, LA Finish: 92nd This is an awesome fishery that B.A.S.S. unfortunately hit at a bad time. A summer drought allowed salt water to intrude into areas that were previously fresh water. Some competitors reported catching more red drum than bass. As a result the fish were isolated in a few areas where conditions were more favorable. I don’t really understand if the salt water actually killed the bass or simply slowed their metabolism so they fed considerably less. I suspect that the later. I’m looking forward to returning to this area under normal conditions. I caught a decent limit on the first day that had me temporarily on the money list. But I had to work just to get five bites and couldn’t repeat it either of the next two days. I stayed in the same area (fairly salty) because of my first day’s weight and then couldn’t catch them again. Lots of competitors that didn’t catch them the first day switched areas and then caught them the second two days. This was what I should have done after having barely caught my limit the first day. I caught most of the fish on black/blue lizards that I flipped around wood cover. Strikes were fairly lethargic and the fish were 2-4 pounds. Their inactivity and healthy look (not skinny) makes me optimistic that with fresher water the fishing will be great soon. I look forward to returning to the New Orleans area soon.
When: September 14-16, 2000 Where: BASSMaster Eastern Invitational, Old Hickory Lake, Tennessee Finish: 61st This lake is yet another casualty of man’s ignorance with aquatic herbicides. About four years previous Chad Brauer won a Top 100 here with great weight – over 47 pounds in three days. Shortly after that tournament the homeowners put herbicides into the lake at the same time that the Army Corps did. Each group pointed their finger at each other because the herbicides predictably led to a catastrophic fishkill. When B.A.S.S. fished this week we had nearly ideal fishing conditions: water temps 72-76’, water visibility 1-3’, abundant cover such as docks, chunk rock, bluffs, and of course, milfoil. Small baitfish were absolutely everywhere. The weather was stable with more sun than clouds. We simply should have had great fishing. But instead the fish population hasn’t regrown yet (it will take a few more years if herbicides aren’t applied again) and the winner only caught a total of about 23 pounds, three days, 15 fish. I can’t believe that a community would invite B.A.S.S. to their lake after their chemistry experiment failed. About the fishing: when a lake has very few bass you have to adjust your attitude such that any 12" bass is a "great" fish. You also have to fish quickly and cover water because slowing down and finessing will result in your fishing too much dead water. I caught four fish (all 12-13") the first day and could only catch two more each of the next two days. I concentrated on areas where local tournaments released their fish because otherwise most areas simply didn’t have any fish.
When: August 23-26, 2000 Where: BASS Top 150 Potomac River, Maryland Finish: 9th Winnings: $7,000.00 This tournament was a "homecoming" of sorts because of the amount of time I spent on the Potomac in my high school years. Between semesters in college I would fish the river in the mornings and deliver pizzas at night on a daily basis. I was somewhat nervous fishing in my first Top 150 but I was completely comfortable with the river. In practice I located numbers of fish way down the river (unfavorable tides) and better quality fish up the river where the more favorable tide (low and outgoing) dominated the morning. For some reason I just didn’t catch much the first day but more than made up for it by bringing in two great limits on the second and third days (15 and 16 pounds). Qualifying for the top ten was a great achievement and on the final day I simply spent all of my time on the better quality fish. I knew that if they fed I could catch 15 pounds easily. I was flipping/pitching a Hawg Caller Log Crawler around clumps of milfoil. When the tide was high the fish (for some reason) fed most. This is the opposite of normal fish behavior. It pays to be observant and always listen to the fish – no matter what your experience may be. The Saturday boat traffic muddied up the area I was fishing and I only caught two fish (7 ½ pounds). This was proof that I was fishing for the "right ones".
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