Sat, 10-31 Sat am tourney...

Blasted off by myself at 8 am from Fate Sanders. It was cloudy and cool, with a West / SW wind blowing around 10 MPH. Headed to a bluff end point right near LHSP, where I had caught a 4 lb smallie last week. The wind was on the bank good, so I opted to chunk the 300 Bandit in TN Shad. First cast- wham- a 4 1/2 lb LM. That's what I'm talking about! In the box with her. Stayed on that bank, but no other takers, so I head down under the bridge to another bluff end with a small cove adjacent to it.

I had been pounding the fish here lately, so my confidence was farily high. Unfortunatley, the fish didn't read the playbook. Nothing doing here, so I eased over to a bluff just down lake, and I only had one bump on the jig, but I didn't connect.

I proceeded to run around down lake, alternating b/w the crankbait and jig, but it just never happened. I only caught around 8 more fish all day, with one of them being a keeper spot (12 1/4").

I guess the first cast jinx is for real.

I ended up with just over 5 lbs, and ended in around 5th place for the day. The good news was that my 4 + lb fish won the big fish pot, so I got my money back, plus a little.

I'll report back next time.

RBK

Sat 10-24-09 Sat am tourney Priest...

Blasted off at 8 am from Fate Sanders. Headed down lake to a point at a bluff end just under the bridge where I've been catching them well lately. We threw crankbaits for an hour or so in that area, and we caught 4-5 fish, but the biggest was a 14 1/2" LM. Moved down to an island near Suggs Cr, but only two small fish here on the crank.

The wind was HONKIN big time, so we went to fish a jig on a fairly protected mini-bluff in a major creek down lake. Two bumps on the jig, but they weren't eating it well. From here we headed to a western shore bank near the YMCA camp that was fairly protected from the wind. My partner caught a 12 1/2" spot here on the crank, so we had one in the box.

Next, we went to a main bluff bank near our starting place. Again,they were just nipping at the jig, and we only caught a couple here. We decided to head back to the bank where we started the day, and we proceeded to catch around 6 more fish, with one being a solid 15 1/4" keeper largehead.

We now had less than two hours til weigh in, so we needed to make a move and go for a big bite. The next and final stop would be a main lake point at the head of a cove near LHSP. When we got down to the point, I felt an ever so slight tap on the jig, set the hook, and I knew it was a good one of some kind. The fish kept digging, and when we got her in the net, it was an 18 1/2" 4 lb brownie (pictured here).

We headed in with our three keepers, and weighed in 6.75 lbs, which was good for 6th place (only paid 3). My smallie just missed the big smallmouth prize (winner's was 4.5).

Good day all in all. Around 15 fish, and 3 keepers.

Tight lines.

RBK

10-18-09: Cold this morning. Water temp had dipped to 60 deg (7 degree drop from last week). Caught 10 fish, and the one here is the best of the day.

Most fish on a jig in 10-15 ft near the channel. The nice un here was caught on a Bandit 300 in Shad Color at the end of a bluff down lake in around 8 ft.

Good day considering the brutal front and high skies.

Tight Lines.

RBK

Saturday. 10-10-09...

Headed out to JPP early to see what the topwater bite had to offer. The weather conditions were perfect for a big brown fish, so I decided to stay in the lower end of the lake and stick with topwater most of the day.

Started in a mainlake pocket down by Elm Hill, and caught two nice sized spots on the first two casts on the point heading in. Kept working my way in to the pocket, but the bait was not active back in the back, and I only caught 4 or so small spots off of the big rocks up shallow.

From here, I moved over to the mouth of Hamilton Creek to see if the NE wind had the food chain up on the points. I caught a nice 14" smallie on a crankbait right off the bat, but as I worked further back in the creek, I did not find anything moving or feeding.

Next, I moved back towards the Hobson Pike Bridge to a pocket between two bluffs where I have been hammering the fish lately. Seems they had all disappeared, b/c I only had three small fish nip at the bait. I idled out on the main lake, to the end of a bluff to where the main river channel worked away, and I caught another decent smallie on the point on the pop-r. I worked my way into the pocket, and again the bait was nowhere to be found, and no more fish.

Next, I headed back down lake to a major island near Suggs Cr, and I caught around 4 fish on the crankbait off of the big rock to gravel transitions (near the point). No keepers here, but they were biting fairly well.

From the island, I eased on into Suggs, and I decided to slow down, and fish a bit deeper with the jig. I hit a long mini-bluff on the right in the seven points area, and I caught four fish pretty quickly on a 5/16 oz Eakins finesse jig in around 10-14 ft. The biggest was a solid 16" keeper LM.

I then ran over to the YMCA Camp area to fish the big rocks, but no one was home.

The last stop of the day would be a flat behind a long point in the Four Corners area mid-lake. I started out on the point dragging a rig, looking for a big smallie. No takers here, but I did catch one largemouth inside the point on the flat in about 6 ft. I worked up shallow on the flat, and had a couple of more bumps on the jig and rig, but none in the boat.

By now it was 12:30, and it was time to head home.

Totals for the day- around 20 fish- 1 keeper largehead and three small keeper spots for around 6 lbs.

Looking back, I wasted too much time back in the pockets. Most of the topwater and CB fish were on the points. Should have just run and gunned with a TW and CB on points all day, and then slowed down with the jig more.

Next time out, I'm heading uplake to see what's happening up there.

Until then, tight lines.

RBK

Final F3 Club tourney...

Tough day:

Rain and storms all morning. The topwater bite I had been on basically disappeared. I did manage 4 club keepers (12+ ") and lost three others that were hooked up including a nice 2 lb smallie that was clearly my mistake. Coolest thing all day was when I caught my two largest keepers on one cast on a Zell Pop.

Weighed in 4.4 lbs. Good enough for around 4th place on the day. Most importantly, I was able to hold on and close out the year as points champion / angler of the year.

Good year all in all. I managed a limit in all but the last tourney.

Until next time.

RBK

Sat 9-19 JPP....

We headed out Saturday under cloudy skies, with rain in the forecast. Ran down lake to a new pocket near a marina that I suspected would be holding fish. We proceeded to catch around 9 fish on top water and cranks in shallow water in this particular spot. No bigguns here, but we did catch a couple of decent sized spots on top.

From there, we went back up lake to the cove where I had caught them the day before (and last couple of weeks). We snagged around 5 more in there with one of them being a chunky keeper spot. We eased up a bluff in the same area to where the river channel swings away, and I caught a solid 2 1/2 lb largehead on the top water bait on the point. We worked on up into the pocket, and my partner caught two short largemouths on a crankbait in around 5 ft of water. Shad were popping in the area, but we never got on a group of them here.

Next, we headed under the bridge to the mid-lake area, and went looking on the flats. We eased up on a shallow bank with big rocks, and on the third cast I caught another chunky 2 1/2 lb LM on top. We had a couple of other blow ups in that area but no hook-ups.

While we were there, we decided to probe a long gravel point where the smallies tend to feed. My partner was working a c-rigged lizard in around 7-10 ft, and he got a good bite. it was the smallie pictured here, which was around 17" and pushing 3 lbs.

We worked some different types of stuff for the next hour or so, but we never found a really good group of fish. Off the water by 12:30. Totals for the day:

22 fish with three good ones, and a handful of keeper spots.

I'll report back after our final club tourney on Saturday.

Tight lines,

RBK

Fall is showing up- topwater time...

Here's a nice 5 1/2 lb Largemouth caught on a topwater bait today on JPP. The water is high, and the fish have moved shallow. Sorry for the crappy photo, but I was solo when I caught her.