Cumberland Bassmasters May 12th tourney...

I knew that there was a good chance that the shad spawn deal would still be going on, so we ran uplake a couple of miles to an area with some rip-rap, docks, and a little bit of grass. I worked a ½ oz War Eagle tandem willow spinnerbait around the cover trying to capitalize on the early shad bite. Around 6:15 am after covering a lot of water, I told Carl that if we didn’t get a bite on the next cast, we were bailing on the spot. The next cast produced a healthy 3 lb class largemouth on the blade. This keyed me in to the area a little better, so we moved out further from the bank and stayed on the deeper areas. I caught two more legal keepers including the big fish of the day off of the corner of a dock and added a keeper spot. Carl also caught a nice three pound class fish and another keeper in the area. So, I left the first spot with around 11 pounds on four fish. We moved around a bit on some shallow spots with no luck, and at around 8 am, I committed to fishing out on the ledges to try to catch some better fish. I had three solid fish and one dink, so I would have 5+ hours to catch two good fish and hit my goal of 17 lbs. We spent a lot of time idling around looking at the electronics trying to find the mother lode of a school, but we didn’t find much. I made a move to the dam to fish a ridge with some hydrilla on it, but there were two boats working it over. I eased upriver about a half a mile to a waypoint that I had put in sitting in the driveway at home that looked promising on the map. It was a ditch mouth that came up to 6 ft and on either side and then intersected the main river channel. On about the fifth cast, Carl hooked up with a nice 3 ½ lb class fish on the C-rig (smoking blue Zoom lizard). I knew the area had a lot of potential, so we committed to working it over. I couldn’t get the fish to eat a crankbait, and after Carl caught his third fish on the rig, I put down the crank and went to dragging. We worked the area on both sides of the ditch mouth, and we found that the sweet spot was a patch of mussel shells sitting in 6-10 ft of water between the hydrilla and the deeper ledge. The action was slow, but I was able to finish out my limit with a small club keeper, and Carl finished his off too. At around noon, I had a bite that felt much better, and I set the hook on a solid fish that was pushing 4 lbs. I was able to cull the little one, so I was now up to around 15 lbs. If I could catch one more 3 lb class fish I would hit my goal of 17 lbs. We fished hard for the final two hours, but we couldn’t find another good school. The key to today’s success was picking the right early morning area to take advantage of the morning feed and also doing a lot of map study at home with the Navionics chip. I had marked ten or so ledges that I wanted to check on tourney day, and it just so happened that the first one we stopped on had a nice school of fish on it that we could work on for most of the day. Also, I have a good bit of experience fishing on TN River lakes, and I have a decent understanding of the places that the fish will set up to feed out off the bank. I love the challenge of finding fish out in open water, and it fits my strengths of dragging and winding out wide.

PAA Prefish....

I don't know where to start. I was really excited when Elite Series pro Russ Lane invited me to ride along with him and fish during the three day official practice period for the PAA event on Old Hickory. We talked Sunday night and agreed to meet Monday at Sauders Ferry Ramp on the lower end of the lake around 7:00 am. We were starting late because the tournament would not be taking off until around that time. Monday: Russ pulled out of the ramp area and immediately started idling around on some deeper ledges just studying the sonar. He told me his two main goals during practice are to eliminate water / patterns and to locate four or five potential winning schools of fish in a manageable area. We left the deep water area and headed into a major creek to try the bank grass deal. We moved around for a couple of hours, but we only had one bite in the grass. From here, he moved out to some secondary points in the creek that had a hard bottom and relatively deep water nearby. Russ managed to catch a 3 1/2 lb fish in the middle of a cove on the crankbait, and I also caught a keeper here. He'd seen all he needed to, so we continued to run that pattern for a while. When we got out to the mouth of the creek, Russ caught the big fish pictured here on the crankbait. Next, we moved out to the main lake and concentrate on roadbeds on long flats. We found two more good schools of fish and hooked several more keepers during the day. Russ could have probably culled to around 15 lbs that day, so he was fairly confident he was on to something. We stayed out until around 6 pm. The biggest lesson I learned on day one was how much the pros rely on their electronics to find productive areas. Also, it was obvious that he was looking for more subtle feeding places that would not recieve a ton of fishing pressure during the week. He stressed that he needed to fisn places that would hold up over three days and that the more obvious places would not last. Tuesday: We met at Station Camp Creek, and Russ planned to practice in Spencer and then run upriver to check Spring and Barton's Creeks. We struggled to find anything shallow in the morning, but we did find one promising area near the mouth of Spencer that would be free from much fishing pressure during the week. The common theme for the productive areas that we found was that they all had a hard bottom, and the magic depth seemed to be 8-15 ft. After we hit Spencer creek hard, we made the long run upriver. We fished the backs of Bartons and Spring Creeks, and we found a decent bite on a squarebill and flipping a creature right on the bank. We probably caught 10 keepers up there, but we never hooked a good fish. Russ knew that he could run up there and scratch out a limit if he needed to, but those fish would not win the event. From this point on, he would concentrate on finding those good offshore schools with the crankbait. We found one decent school of fish just down from the powerlines near the mouth of Spencer, and we left the lake around 5 pm. Wed: We met back at Saunders Ferry, and his plan was to work the offshore ledges near the ramp and try to find three or four more areas within a 3-4 mile stretch of river so that he could manage them during the event. We started a bit earlier on Wed since it would be a short day due to the meeting in the afternoon. We hit some marina slips for a little while, but we only had one bite here. Next, we moved out to the main lake and started covering water with a spook and trap. Russ landed two solid keepers on the spook, and I nailed a 3+ lb fish down near Lock 3 on the trap. After the early morning feed died down, we moved out wide and started checking for schools on the main lake. We fished all the way from the ramp to the dam and back. We located four or five decent schools along the way, including three or four bass in the 3-4 lb class. We headed in around 2:30 so he would have time to organize his boat and tackle and we could make it to the meeting at Bass Pro Shops on time. I can't tell you how awesome it was to spend three days getting inside a touring pro's head and watching him break down the lake. I learned a ton, and I would love to try it again sometime. Russ ended up fisnishing 16th with around 21 1/2 pounds in two days. He caught fish in most of the areas where we found them, but the big ones just never showed up. I ended up finishing 16th on the co-angler side. I fished with two great guys- David Hendrick from NC and Elite pro Greg "The Rooster" Vinson from AL. Greg ended up in 19th I think, and David was around 30th. It was a great week, and I have a real appreciation for how much work these pros put into their job. Until next time, tight lines!