Back from Weiss CUSA!!!!

[David Waters]

crappie angler on tour

I left Thursday afternon and drove over to JR's. I love that place. Nice clean rooms, and every room they had was booked. Backed the boat up and got a good nights sleep, that is if you think staying up all night thinking about the tournament.

I was going to fish around JR's, but I got to thinking that night. Running the lake from JR's to Bay Springs was not something you want to do on this dangerous lake. If I was to find fish around JR's, I would have a tough choice to make where to fish. I felt comfortable enough with Bay Spings to prefish over there and not JR's.

Friday morning I got to Bay Springs about 6am. I launched and went straight over to where I had found fish 4 weeks ago in the Anderson cove area. I long line trolled 16th ounce jigs, all with blue curl tail southern pro grubs to start with. Fish were stacked in these areas. I caught several fish in the first 2 hours. If I found fish, I just kept going and never hit the same place twice. I was glad to know they were still there, but no real good fish. Just average 10 inch fish was all I caught. I decided to use the next few hours to run around and hit all the sloughs I didnt' get to fish last month.

The first place I went to was Hawthorn slough. It was pretty shallow but I started catching fish as shallow as 7 feet. Still, no big fish. Pulled out into the middle of the lake and found fish in 12 feet, but the wind was kicking up bretty bad. I fished about an hour there and caught maybe 4-5 fish. One was about a pound.

I then went up to the next slough up, which I can't remember the name of. It was bigger and full of boats. I made one long pass in and out of the slough and didn't get a strike that I know of. This slough was deeper, but didn't seem to have the structure and cover the others had.

I then decided to move up to Yellow creek. When I got to the mouth, huge white caps were rolling out of the slough, so I changed my mind quickly. The entire slough looked rough, so I ended up driving around to a slough they call big nose. I made one long pass in and out without hooking up, and the wind was pretty bad there too. The main lake was a mess. I wasn't catching fish so I cranked up and headed back toward bay springs.

If you ever get caught in a heavy north wind, Bay springs is very protected. I could not believe the difference in the main lake and bay springs. It was almost slick in spots while 2 foot white caps in the lake. something to think about for the future.

I hit a few more spots catching only one more fish. I had put a huge strain on my batteries so far in this wind, and I felt good about Anderson cove. I called it a day around noon and went and had a great cheeseburger at Bay Springs motel resturaunt.

I went back to Jr's to get things ready for the tournament. Plugged up my batteries and began a very interesting conversation with 2 guys about to leave to go home to Ohio. They had been there all week. They began to tell me about all the fish they were catching in a slough called Dead Boy. And big fish too. 2 days prior they brough in 5 over 2 pounds. That caught my attention. Usually I don't usually get caught up in fish stories, but these guys were genuin, as most crappie anglers tend to be. They wanted to help me. It was to late to go back that day, plus the wind was 20mph by that time.

I went to the seminar that night and thought about dead boy slough all night. I found it on the map, and made a decision to fish there fish thing in the tournament. That was taking a huge chance, but I needed big fish. And if I didn't have any luck, I could always put it back on the trailer and go to bay springs. With this in mind, I got NO SLEEP THAT NIGHT!!!!!!!

So, that is what I did. I put in at Riverside boat launch, and putt-putted over to dead boy. Man, what a dangerous part of the lake. Sand bars,logs, stickups all over the place. Had to ease over 2 feet of water to get into it. I got in the slough about 6am and waited for 6:30 to get there. By 6:30am, I counted 17 boats. I must have been in a good spot.

On my first pass down the slough, I caught 17 fish. 2 were about a pound and a quater. I counted boating 60 fish by 10am, and estimated catching between 120-150 fish by 3pm. I was using 16th ounce jigs, and caught fish between 4 feet and 12 feet of water. I just increased my speed when I got shallow, but the speed that worked best was 1 mile and hour, which put my jigs at about 7 feet deep. It was one of the best fish catching days I have ever had. This was a chance that payed off for once. I left around 3 and went to the weigh in.

I weighed in 6.95 pounds. My biggest fish was 1.39 pounds. I was one of the first ones to the weigh in, and was in first for about 10 minutes . But when it all came out, I finished in a solid 20th place in the amature ranks out of 48 who weighed in, and 57 who paid I think it was. My buddies Keith Dodd ad Don Ledbetter had 7.28 pounds and finished in 17th. They were fishing up river from me, Totters I believe. The winning weight was just shy of 10 pounds caught in Waterhouse slough.

I had a great time and it was a good experience all the way around. Met some fine folks and felt good about my performance. If any of you can get over to Weiss this time of year, I strongly suggest it. That has to be one of the finest fisheries in this country. Thanks for all the help before the tournament from my crappie.com freinds.

[CrappiePappy]

20th place in 48 places puts you in the upper ranks of the middle of the field ...... not bad for a first timer on a new lake. Congrats !!

Considering the conditions ... you did good. Thanks for the report ... and I recognize all of those "names" of the places you mentioned - will be heading down there soon, myself. And I know you'll be going back :D .... cp

[speedy]

Glad to see you enjoyed your trip. Sounds like you fished all the places we did. We decided to make Trotter cove our main location, even though we did pop in and out of Dead Boy and Water House. We weighed in 6.85 lbs. That end of the lake is something you have to learn to deal with. Very tricky. Well once again glad you had a good time and come back again.

[FIREHELMENT]

Dave, congrats way to GO!!!!! you make us all proud and thanks for the report Were going next week if everthing works out......

[izzysfishin]

Great report David, as pappy said you did well under the conditions. Congraulations...izzy (sure enjoy reading reports like yours, very informative)

[GRIZZ]

If your going to troll next time pull a few crankbaits. I bet that would have landed you a few larger fish.

Man I miss doing those tournies. I'll have to start again.

I'll have to hit CUSA's website and see if any are close to watts when I'll be there next time.

[fish_detective]

Great report and I was very happy for you... Thanks for the thread.

Fish Detective

[WIMPY]

David,

Congratulations, Thanks for the report,
very informative.

WIMPY

[mighty]

Congratulations, keep up the good work. Also thanx for the detailed layout. Helps a brother know what to luck for.