Thanks for all the encouragement. Justin and I had a large time as usual but our pre-fish big fish dried up the 1st day and we couldn't get back on any good fish. All we heard from folks we trust in pre-fish was they weren't catching anything but dinks. We were running into some spots that held zero fish that would hit cranks then run into spots that we caught a couple of nice fish really quick and we would get out of there and leave them alone until later. We felt pretty good going into Friday. Then reality set in.
We got into our nice slabs Friday right off the bat then it was 4 pound bass, 2 pound catfish, 5 pound bass, 5 pound drum, 4 pound catfish, 4 pound bass----you get the message. We couldn't keep the crappie we were hooking on the hook, something that had not happened in our previous 2 tournaments.. Our big crappie dried up. I should say all crappie dried up because after putting 6 decent fish in the box, we spent several hours chasing ANY 10 inch crappie to fill out our limit. It didn't happen. We went to the scale with 6.
We had hooked and lost the fish we needed for a Top 5 start. The catfish and bass had gotten so troublesome about late morning, I grabbed a rod with a heavy fish on it and started to wench it to the boat, not at all thinking it might be something other than a trash fish.. I looked back at the electronics just as a large crappie mouth surfaced and POW, here came the PICO crank at my head. According to Justin, it might have been our largest crappie of the tournament. Things went from good to really bad. We had a serious thunderstorm hit the resort we were staying at and we were without power for 3 or so hours. My boat ended up looking more like we had been gathering brush than fishing. It was full of sticks and small limbs.
Day 2 started out with us debating if we would try to launch closer to where we wanted to fish but after all the storm damage we saw on the drive north, we decide to launch at Sportsman's again. The day began with south wind, then east wind, then west wind , then north west wind with some serious looking clouds, then thunder, then monsoon for about an hour while we stayed tucked into a small cove, under a canopy of tree limbs, while lightening popped around us. Many times in my past experience, a thunderstorm brings fast fishing immediately after. It must have been somewhere else. The lake looked like the ocean when we started across. The 23 foot Bay Pro was welcome in the 5 foot rollers. We headed back to the area near Sportsman's with one small keeper, wet rain gear, and our bottom lips on our shoes. We never saw this one coming after such great fish in practice.
Our demeanors changed with each small crappie that hit a PICO and came to the boat. Our dreams of a Top 10 finish became hopes we could catch a limit with maybe a kicker big fish or 3. The kickers never came. We gladly took our limit of dinks and headed toward Tennessee. We knew we had worked hard against conditions that worked hard against us. The fact that we had set out to pull cranks the whole time probably worked against us just as it had worked for us in Top 5 finishes in the 2 earlier tournaments. That's who we are when we team up.
I spend my time on the lake with clients trying to put them on the best possible chance to quickly catch fish. Pulling cranks does that. I'd be naive to think there are not times that other tactics work much better. This tournament was such a time. We had seen the stake beds and brush piles full of crappie that didn't want to come out and play. We knew this tourney was stocked with folks who could make them play by spider rigging or vertical jigging. They caught decent fish and we didn't. End of story.
It was wonderful to meet new folks and put faces with names.I want to thank each member who took the time to walk up to me and say I'm so and so. Same goes for those who may not be members but read my posts as well as my reports and articles. Justin is always great to fish with and we constantly throw new ideas off each other. Looking back, I don't know what we might have done differently given the limitations we put on ourselves. It is what it is. 46th place won't get it done but every dog will have his day.